Undead Nation

UNDEAD NATION
Outbreak
by Brent Acuff
aethuel.wordpress.com
Acuff / UNDEAD NATION / 1
Book 1 - Outbreak
CHAPTER ONE Rumors
Alex sat at his desk listening to the local news on the TV behind him and staring at the coffee cup in front of him. He needed to start on his work, but could not motivate himself to begin the tedious task ahead. Alex was a quick-return stock investor, buying stocks at low prices and selling them soon after for a quick profit. He had been fairly successful over the last few years, but quick success always turns bad after a time. Lately his stock picks had tanked instead of rising, causing Alex to lose some much needed cash in the process. His daily routine of checking the "Wall Street Journal" and an array of online investment sights was about to begin. Considering his luck lately, things couldn't get much worse. Ten minutes into his scan of the newspaper a report on
the television caught his attention. The news anchor began telling of a contamination spill in the downtown Austin area. "Two blocks surrounding the area of 200 West 12th Street have been blocked off to prevent anyone from entering the area," the reporter read. "Traffic in and around the Capitol building area is at a standstill..." The address made Alex turn around to stare at the TV. The reporter was talking about a street next to the Texas Capitol, only four blocks from his daughter's school. Alex quickly put down his newspaper and turned to face the television. He punched the volume button and listened closely. "We go now to a live report at the scene. Jim." "Robert. The authorities here are not giving many details about the spill. What we have learned is that it is a chemical spill that is extremely toxic. Medical personnel are in the contaminated area treating those affected. Police, firefighters, and soldiers from the Texas National Guard are patrolling the barricade preventing anyone from entering the area." "Jim, is there any word as to the number of people affected by the spill and what the time frame for cleanup is?" "No word yet, Robert. Everyone here is keeping things quiet, making sure that only authorized personnel enter the
area. I will say that there is a sense of dread that we have gotten from the men and women working the containment area. Many of the reporters here have expressed concern over the lack of information coming from those in charge. Rumors of a terrorist attack have been spreading throughout the news crews, and, from what we are seeing here, that could be a very real possibility." A loud knock at the door startled Alex from his chair. His heart was racing and he took a few deep breaths to regain control. Taking quick glances over his shoulder back at the TV, Alex hurriedly made his way to the front door. He peeked through the peep hole before opening the door. Janet Forrester stood at his door looking panicked and anxious. Alex unlocked the deadbolt and chain and opened the door. "Hi, Janet. What can I do for you?" Alex asked this with a weariness in his voice. Janet and Alex had never gotten along. Once their two daughters became friends at school, Janet began blaming her daughter's troubles on Alex's little girl, Gemma. The blame soon turned to Alex, and Janet would accuse Alex and his wife of inferior parenting. Instead of ignoring the accusations of someone who was obviously wrong, Alex felt the need to antagonize her and push Janet's buttons. And it had worked, if not a little too well. Alex never knew when to give up.
Janet stood in front of Alex's door, wringing her hands and unable to looked directly at Alex. "Hi, Alex. Um, have you been watching the news this morning?" There was a tremor in Janet's voice. A tremor that Alex had never heard before, and one that was now starting to worry him. "Yeah, Janet, I have. Would you like to come in? You don't look too good." Alex swung the door wide for Janet to enter and made to usher her in. Janet, now looking even more nervous if that was possible, looked around the door frame as if trying to find an excuse not to enter. With a great sigh she looked at Alex. "Thanks," she said and slowly walked through the doorway. She looked around the room, taking in the surroundings and searching for something to latch onto. Her eyes fell on the TV in the study. "We are being asked by the police to turn off our cameras and move another block over. There seems to be some urgency taking place in the barricaded area, but we are still unable to see much of anything..." Janet suddenly turned on Alex. He was caught off guard and nearly ran into her. He stumbled back a few feet before regaining his balance. "Alex, would you mind going and getting my little girl from the school? I mean, could you go and get both our girls? I don't like what I've been seeing on the news,
and I really don't want Becky to be there. I would go but, I...I'm..." Janet's voice trailed off and her eyes searched the ceiling. Tears were welling in her eyes and she bit her lower lip in a desperate attempt to keep what was left of her composure. "Janet, what's going on? What are you not telling me?" Alex probed her face, trying to find what she was hiding. Janet sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. Her lip quivered and she refused to look at Alex. "I'm scared. I'm too scared to go and get my own little girl. I need you to get her for me because I can't." And with those words Janet broke down. Great body racking sobs overcame her and she collapsed to the floor in front of Alex. Not knowing what else to do, Alex moved to her side and place his arms around her shoulders. "Everything is okay, Janet. Don't worry. I'll go and get the girls and bring them back here. I really don't think that there is anything to worry about, but if you need me too, I'll go and get them, okay? Janet?" The sobs slowed and Janet regained control of her crying. She looked at Alex and hugged him. "Thank you. Thank you so much." Alex was at a loss for words or actions. He had seen Janet emotional at times, usually yelling at him and blaming him for unknown reason, but never
like this. Never this vulnerable. Alex detached himself from Janet's arms and helped her from the floor. "I'll be back in forty-five minutes with the girls. Go home and try to relax." Alex escorted Janet to the front door, then turned to go back into his apartment. A hand on his arm stopped him. "Thank you, Alex. You really are a good guy." A quick smile graced her lips and she was off, headed down the stairs to her own apartment in the complex. Alex stood in the doorway looking after her until she was out of sight. He turned to the apartment to get his keys, and thought it a good idea to leave to note for his wife. She would be home soon and wondering where he had gone. Alex fully expected to be back before her, but felt it would be better safe than not. Who knows how many other parents would be rushing to the school to pick up their own child? It was worse than Alex could have imagined. Traffic was not just backed up, everything was at a complete standstill. Two blocks from the school, a few hundred cars filled with worried, and increasingly angry parents lined every lane of traffic. Horns blared and tempers rose quickly as fear began to set in. Alex checked the dash clock. He had already been sitting there for a half an hour and did not expect to reach the school
anytime soon. Alex grabbed his cellphone and started to call the school, but stopped himself. If the traffic trying to get to the school was this back, then the phone lines would be worse. News reports on the radio continued to rehash the same details that Alex had seen earlier. Still no word as to the cause of the contaminant spill, nor of what had actually been spilled. Local news reporters had been moved back further away from the contaminated area and the officials on scene had increased the size of the perimeter. Glancing out the passenger window, Alex could now see the barricades erected to keep the people out. Alex could also see the armed military men patrolling those barricades. A sense of dread was starting to creep into Alex's mind. The sound of breaking glass and numerous horns blaring jarred Alex's attention back to the sight in front of him. A car a half a block ahead of him, apparently trying to make a U-turn, had smashed into two cars. The angry occupants were now yelling obscenities at one another, trying for all their might to be heard over the others car horn. Car doors were flung open and the drivers began exiting. The shouting intensified, but at least the car horns had stopped. Alex sat back in his seat and tossed his cellphone into the passenger seat. Reaching up he put the car in park and
settled in for what was going to be a long wait. Over the shouts from the drivers in front of him Alex heard another bang, followed quickly by a second. These came from his right and Alex glanced out the passengers window to see who else had been in a car wreck. The sight that greeted Alex made his heart stop. The National Guardsmen who had been manning the barricade were now facing into the quarantined area. Their guns were raised, taking aim on some danger that Alex could not see. The bangs had not been cars hitting one another; the soldiers had begun to fire their weapons. An urgency was taking over the soldiers who were now frantically waving and pointing at something inside the blockaded area. Almost at the same time, every soldier at the barricade opened fire. An explosion from two blocks away shook the ground. Alex started and cries of surprise erupted from the cars around him. Gunfire filled the air. Alex's car rocked suddenly and a blur of movement passed his window. The people in the cars behind him were now pushing past one another, fighting their way through the now increasing mob to try and reach the school. Alex's car rocked again as someone else was shoved into his car. Panic gripped Alex as he thought what he should do. He threw open his car door and entered the mob fighting its way to the school.
The crowd of parents became thick, making it difficult to stay on one's feet. Alex tripped, nearly toppling over to be trampled on by the onrushing crowd. He grasped the person to his right and fought to regain his balance. The man he clutched shoved Alex's hand from his arm, shouting intelligibly at him. Alex continued to push his way through the crowd, becoming increasingly more desperate to find his daughter. Another explosion thundered in the distance. Alex pushed harder, physically moving the crowd from his path. He was fifty yards from the school now and slowly getting closer. A woman screamed ahead of him and a knot formed in the crowd as if something had suddenly appeared in their path. The momentum of the mob behind them pushed them forward once again and the screams of the woman stopped abruptly. As Alex reached the spot of the disturbance he tripped again. He quickly regained his balance and looked at the cause of his stumble. The bloody and broken body of a woman lay under his feet. Alex tried to stop for an instant, but was forced on by the surge of bodies behind him. The woman lay still, unmoving. The gashes covering her body still flowed with the life blood that had until moments ago sustained her life. A greater sense of urgency gripped Alex. He realized that if he did not find a way out of this crowd, he stood a good
chance of meeting the same fate as the woman who body had been trampled and broken. The crowd was thickening the closer they were to the school and Alex could see that at the door there was a gridlock. Very quickly no one would be going anywhere. Frantically he looked for any other options. He spotted a fire escape on the side of the building and began pushing his way out of the stifling mob. A six foot hurricane fence separated the fire escape from the front courtyard. At a full out run, Alex leapt at the fence, slamming into the top rail and knocking the wind from his lungs. Alex hung from the fence for a moment, fighting to breath. Nausea welled up in him and stars began to filled his field of vision. He squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths to calm the sick rising in his throat. Seconds later, Alex's vision cleared and bile eased in his throat. Alex heaved himself to the top of the fence and over, landing heavily on the playground on the other side. The fire escape hung above him. It was designed to allow people to exit the building, but not enter, providing Alex with a challenge to reach the stairs. A picnic table sat twelve feet away, its bottom supports covered in gravel and sand. It might provide enough height to allow Alex to jump to the bottom step of the stairs and lower it. He prayed that is wasn't
chained into the ground. Alex covered the distance to the table in an instant and heaved at the table. It shuddered, but remained in place. Again and again Alex yanked at the table trying desperately to free it from its barrier of gravel and sand. A searing pain flashed through Alex's back, causing him to cry out. With his last amount of strength the table moved, freeing itself from the earth that held it in place. The picnic table shifted without warning and Alex lost his balance. He cried out again as he tumbled to the ground, grabbing at his back and sides where the strongest of the pain was concentrated. The worst of the pain eased quickly and Alex struggled to clear the stars from his eyes. As Alex's vision cleared, he saw that the table had moved almost three feet from its original location. Alex scrambled to his feet and yanked the table again. The pain in his back flared again, but this time Alex was expecting it and was able to keep himself from crying out or succumbing to it. The table screeched and slid another few feet before Alex stopped to take in some quick breaths. He closed his eyes and again heaved on the table, moving still closer to the fire escape. Gun shots blared from just on the other side of the
fence. Alex dropped the table and scrambled to cover his ears in his surprise. Screams quickly followed and Alex turned to see two men only ten feet from him. One man stood over the other, aiming a smoking revolver at the others chest. The second man writhed on the ground in obvious agony, clutching at the wounds that were now spilling his life blood in an increasing patch of red across his clothes. The man holding the gun had a deranged look in his eyes, one of intense anger and hatred. The woman who had screamed was now beating on the man's chest and shoulders with her fists. She was screaming about her husband, about her children. The gunman did not even seem to notice. An explosion, deafening and very near the school, ripped Alex's attention away from the scene of chaos in front of him. A fireball sped upwards from a block away, black smoke and orange fire roiling within. The woman screamed and covered her ears, throwing herself to the ground as if the explosion had occurred just feet away from her. The gunman was also pulled back into the present, looking from his gun to the now still man laying on the ground at his feet. His gaze shifted to the woman, then fell on Alex. Tears welled in his eyes before he turned back toward the school and the search for his child inside. Alex's heart hammered in his chest and he regained his composure from the scene he had just witnessed. Judging the
distance between the table and the fire escape, he determined that he would be able to make the jump. Carefully he climbed on to of the old picnic table and balanced himself to jump for the stairs. Alex crouched, said a quick prayer and lept. The table shifted just as Alex pushed away, throwing his balance off. Alex cursed and flailed to regain his balance as he flew through the air. His fingers brushed the bottom rung of the fire escape and with all his effort, Alex was able to catch hold of the metal staircase. His full weight and momentum of his jump wrenched the staircase free, and with a grinding and metal screech, the staircase came free of its resting position. The fire escape dropped quickly to the ground, faster than Alex had anticipated. Once again Alex was smashed to the ground causing the pain in his back to flare again with a white hot intensity. With great effort, Alex was able to maintain his grip on the staircase. The pain receded and his vision cleared, and after a moments breath Alex regained his feet and began to climb. Faster than he would have thought possible, he reached the third floor landing of the fire escape. Yells and screams reached him from below, the fear and despair of so many parents just like him. More gunshots rang out and were quickly swallowed
by the cries of the desperate trying to reach their children. Alex turned to face the door and peered through the dirty window. Teachers were everywhere trying in vain to calm hysterical children and angry parents. How had throngs degenerated so quickly? Couldn't the parents see that what they were doing was only creating a bigger problem? Alex then remembered where he was; standing on fire escape three floors up after breaking in to the school yard. Everyone was losing their grip on reality, including himself. A quick tug on the door and Alex realized something else; of course the door would be locked from the inside. The school needed to keep the children safe from those on the outside. Alex's frustration boiled over and he began banging on the door. Either someone would let him in or he would have to go back down and find something to break the glass. Alex's shouts and pounding fists seemed to reach no one, when finally a teacher stepped into the hall and looked his direction. Alex recognized her immediately as Mrs. Toolson, Gemma's school teacher. Alex began shouting her name and pleading with her to open the door. She hesitated, looking towards the parents forcing their way onto the floor, then to the children in her classroom and finally back to Alex. Mrs. Toolson started towards the fire escape.
Mrs. Toolson was steps away from the fire escape door, seeming to move in slow motion and taking forever to reach Alex. Someone behind her began yelling loudly, enough for Alex to hear him over any other commotion going on. "Get the fuck out of my way, you bitch!" Another teacher was thrown aside, slamming her head against the wall and slumping to the floor. She lay there motionless. Alex looked into the eyes of the man responsible, the same man who had shot and probably killed another father outside the school. His arm raised. The flash of the gun; the explosion of sound; the look of confusion and pain across the face of Mrs. Toolson. Blood and bone exploded from her chest as the bullet tore a fist sized whole from her. She was standing so close to the fire exit that the bullet smashed through the glass of the door, spraying Alex with broken glass and narrowly missing him. Mrs. Toolson's body continued forward and slammed into the fire exit door. Her momentum carried her through the shattered window expelling what remained after the bullets destructive path. Her body slumped over the frame, blood pouring from the bullet wound and now from gashes carved into her from shattered glass. More screams of sheer terror erupted from the school, the panic of students and teachers fighting desperately
to escape. Alex reached down for Mrs. Toolson in a vain attempt to help her. Grasping beneath her chin and shoulders he began to lift her. Toolson's body shuddered once and remained still. Panic sought to overwhelm Alex. The witness of two murders, moments apart screamed at Alex to run, hide and only come out when he was sure it was safe. A child's scream was all that kept him there, alone on the fire escape. Alone save for the still warm body of Gemma's school teacher. Gemma...Gemma was screaming. His daughter was screaming for him, terrified. The world closed in around him and then disappeared. Everything was very clear at that moment. Alex did not think about what he needed to do, he simply acted, and in doing so the world seemed to bend to his will. Instinctively he moved into and through the building, knowing precisely where his daughter would be. Huddled in the corner of her classroom, clutching her friend Becky to her as if the simple act could save them both from any harm, was Gemma. "Daddy!" she screamed, hope and fear flooding her voice. "Let's go," Alex commanded holding his hands to both children. "I'm here to get you out." His voice was calm and soothing. It startled him to hear this sense of peace in him
after the horror he had just witness. Horrors that would pale in comparison to the events which were to come. Both girls released their grip on one another only to transfer that desperate act onto Alex. He gathered the girls into his arms and lifted them from the floor. Pain in his back flared again, but Alex would not let it slow him from getting his daughter safely home. Alex stepped into the hallway, angling his body left then right to see around him and the girls he was carrying. The murderer was there, still with the gun raised, but now with a wild look about him. A wild beast seemed to be there, desperately waiving this gun about, searching for a new target. Their eyes met. The gun swung in Alex's direction and he pushed forward, twisting his body to the left in order to protect the two girls. The gun spit forth another bullet, but the aim was wide, splintering the wood around the door Alex had just come through. Alex let momentum carry his body around and his back slammed through the door across the hall. Alex and the two girls crumpled to the floor. Each of the girls let out screams of pain and surprise as they were roughly thrown across the floor. Alex was the first to his feet and grabbed each of the girls arms in turn, yanking them to their feet and pulling them to the far
side of the room. He hurried them behind a large desk. "Stay here, be quiet, and don't move till I come get you. Do you hear me?!" Tears streamed down Gemma's face and she reached for her father. "Did you hear me?" Alex demanded as he stripped Gemma's arms from around his neck. "Do you understand me?!" Gemma's lips quivered and she pleaded with her father. "Where are you going? Don't go, daddy! Don't go!" "I'll be right back, sweetheart. I promise. Can you stay here and stay quiet till I get back? Both of you?" Alex looked to Becky. He had almost forgotten she was there. "Can you stay here till I get back from helping your teachers?" Alex knew without thinking that he had to do something about the mad man with the gun. He would never be able to get down the hall carrying the two girls if the maniac was waiting out there. Something would have to be done. The girls looked back and forth to one another and slowly nodded. Alex knew his little girl and knew she would obey...she always wanted to make her dad proud. Alex reached out and pinched each girl's cheek, forcing a smile. "I'll be right back." A quick scan of the room provided no immediate ideas to help their situation. This was the average and all too
ordinary elementary school classroom, designed solely to keep distractions and safety concerns to a minimum. Alex search every corner until his eyes settles on the stool. Alex was across the room in two strides, flipping the stool to it's side. With as much force as he could, Alex brought his foot down on the stool leg highest from the ground. The leg snapped off with an loud pop and the dislodged leg skittered across the floor. Quickly Alex repeated the maneuver with the remaining three legs scattering them around the room. Gathering the pieces Alex checked the ends of each broken leg and selected the two sharpest, if not most jagged pieces. Everything around Alex came into sharp focus. The gunman came around the corner of the door, arm outstretched, leading the way into the room with the gun. He did not see Alex to the side of the door until it was too late to react. Alex swing one of the stool legs down in a vicious arc connecting with the gunman's arm about halfway between the elbow and the wrist. Alex, using an underhanded grip, then brought his right hand across his body at the gunman. The jagged edge of the stool leg entered the man's chest just below the right collar bone. Blood sprayed from the vicious gash and Alex moved now to finish the job. His left arm swung up, driving the second ragged
spike into the man's side below the shoulder and exiting out his back. The man never screamed or even yelled. The look of shock and surprise were the only reaction that Alex saw on the man's face as he dropped the gun then fell to the floor. Alex released his grip on his improvised weapons and stooped to pick up the gun. It was a revolver. Five shots. Empty. The girls had remained where they were, quiet sobs escaping their lips. Each girl had her face buried in the other's shoulder and both seemed that they would squeeze the very life out of the other. "Everything is okay," Alex said softly. He said a quiet prayer that the man had not screamed when Alex had attacked him. Now he had to think of a way to get the girls out without them seeing the bodies of the gunman or their teacher. "We're going to get out of here now, but I still need you two to do something for me." Both girls released the grip they had on each other just enough to look towards Alex. "I'll carry you out, but I need both of you the squeeze your eyes shut and keep your heads buried in my shoulder. Can you do that? Can you keep your eyes closed no matter what?" Both girls nodded their agreement, happy to finally get out of this nightmare. They would do just about anything as long as it meant going home. Carefully Alex scooped the children
into his arms and stood to leave. "Remember, keep your eyes closed until I tell you it's okay." There was no argument from the girls, each trying desperately to push their faces into Alex's shoulder as far as they could. With the care and grace of moving a sleeping child, Alex began to make his way out of the building. ----Morgan Kemp paced the apartment, chewing her fingers nails and quietly cursing the phone. She read the note in her hands again, "Gone to get Gemma and Becky from school...be back soon. Alex." Three hours ago. Alex had left the apartment three hours ago and still wasn't home. The news reports were getting worse and Alex refused to answer his phone. "Where the hell is he?" she cursed. A knock on the door startled Morgan into dropping the note. For a moment she hoped that it was Alex and the girls, for some reason without keys to unlock the door. "Who is it?" Morgan asked timidly. "Morgan? This is Janet. Can you open the door?" Janet's voice was shaking and she sounded on the verge of losing control. Morgan hurried to the door to let her in. "Morgan, have you seen Alex? He said he was going to get Becky and Gemma, but I haven't seen him in forever. Have you
heard from him?" "You spoke with Alex before he left?" Morgan asked, confused. "Well...yes. I asked if he could go and get Becky. There's something going on near the school and I didn't want Becky there." Morgan snapped at her, "So why didn't you go and get Becky?" There was no love lost between the two. Fleeting thoughts of something going on between Alex and Janet had recently begun creeping into her mind. The two of them stay-athome parents with too much time on their hands, Becky and Gemma being such good friends. Alex never seemed to be willing to talk about what went on throughout his day and all but refused to talk at all about Janet. The thoughts racing through Morgan's head were wrong, she knew. With a shake of her head she dismissed them and apologized to Janet. "I'm sorry, Janet. I've been watching the news lately and am a bit uptight." Janet interrupted her, "Oh I understand...it's okay." "Janet, I haven't seen Alex since I got home. All I know is that he went to get the girls. You're more than welcome to come in and wait. I'm sure he'll be here soon." Morgan tried to sound as inviting as she could. She didn't like Janet very
much, but she figured waiting with Janet was better than waiting alone. "Thank you," Janet said uneasily, not sure if Morgan was being truly courteous. She carefully entered the apartment glancing from side to side as if looking for something, or someone. "What can I get you?" Morgan asked playing the good host. Morgan did not like Janet, but there was not reason to be rude. Both of them were worried about what was going on at the school and concerned that they had not heard from Alex. Each of them could use some company right now. "Nothing, thank you," Janet said absently. She was staring at the TV, intently watching the news reporters and the breaking news scrolling across the bottom of the screen. Morgan picked up the remote from where she had placed it and unmuted the sound. Janet jumped from the sudden noise now coming from the TV set. "City officials are still very vague as to the actual events that are taking place within the barricaded area. Word of a possible terrorist bombing have been circulating around the crowd gathered here, including some of the police officers that have been patrolling the barricade. In the last thirty minutes, the Texas National Guard and Austin police have pushed back the
barricaded area almost three city blocks. Anyone outside of the restricted area have been asked to disperse and go home. All residents and employees within the barricade have not been allowed to leave." "My god," Janet whispered from behind her hand. "As we reported earlier, a small amount of gunfire could be heard. There is no word yet if that gunfire had come from within the restricted area or outside it. National Guardsmen and city police have been rather hostile towards those who have been gathering around the barricades, many of whom claim to have loved ones trapped inside the area." "Morgan," Janet's voice was shaking and tears had begun to roll down her cheeks. "Morgan I need to find Alex. We need to find Alex. I need my baby." Janet's voice was raising to an almost hysterical pitch and she began gesturing with her hands frantically. "Janet, you need to calm down. What do you plan on doing and where would you go? Alex probably has the girls now and is headed here. If you leave now you'll miss them in passing and just cause more problems at the school than needed. I'm sure you're not the only parent who went to get their kid -- or sent someone." There was a venom that creeped into Morgan's voice. She shook her head trying to clear the irrational thoughts from
her mind and to speak calmly to Janet. "With everything that is going on I'm sure the phone lines are probably all jammed up. I'd bet that is why Alex hasn't called. I'm sure he's been trying and he'll get through soon. Janet was wringing her hands and if she were trying to remove some invisible substance stuck to them. She was panicking and searching around the apartment for something for her mind to latch on to. Behind her gunfire erupted from the television. Both women started from sudden assault on their ears and senses, then gathering their wits ran into the other room to see what was happening. The news reporter on at the scene was frantically speaking into the camera as the gathered crowd began to run in every direction. "...gunfire can be heard coming from the barricaded area. No one knows what is happening in the area and there is utter chaos..." One of the crowd ran into the reporter knocking him off his feet. The man continued forward, his momentum carrying him straight into the cameraman and also knocking him to the ground. The image on the screen shook violently as the camera was dropped, coming to rest on its side with the National Guardsmen and police in view. Some of the gathered crowd were running into the restricted area instead of away from it, hoping in the confusion to be able to get through
to their loved ones trapped inside. Horror gripped Janet and Morgan as the Guardsmen and police fired upon those entering the restricted area. Blood sprayed from the back of those hit, knocking them off their feet to land face first on the hard pavement. The guns of the guardsmen continued to belch forth their lethal contents striking others in their flight and continuing to punch bloody holes in those that had already fallen. Boots came in the the cameras field of view blocking the image. Shouts and orders could be heard, most likely from the man standing over the camera. Someone was demanding that the camera be turned off, to hand them over. The camera's view shifted again as if being picked up. Gunfire exploded near the camera and the view once again tumbled to the ground. A hand covered in blood fell into view just before the network signal cut out completely. "Oh my god...oh my god..." Janet was muttering to herself over and over; Morgan simply sat staring at the screen. "What just happened?" Morgan whispered and absently reached for the phone. She had to get in touch with Alex. She had to make sure everything was alright. Morgan was dialing the phone when Janet collapsed to the floor unconscious. "I don't need this," she sighed and placed the phone down next to her. As she bent to help Janet she said, "I need to find Alex and
Gemma." ----Gunfire was still popping behind them, but far in the distance now. It was just over two miles from the school to the apartment and Alex felt as it was on the other side of the world. Alex had been on the run for almost an hour now and had only covered a few blocks. On the run was not actually the right way to put things. Carrying two girls was no easy task, no matter how small they were. He was panting with the effort and needed to stop for a moment to catch his breath. "Girls, I need to put you down for a minute," Alex gasped. Both of the girls clung to Alex tighter, choking him in the process. "Girls, girls...I can't breath. I just need to put you down for a minute, then we'll head home. Okay?" The little arms around his neck eased a bit and he bent to put them on the ground. Alex's back flared with pain and he groaned with the effort. "Alright," Alex sighed. "Just a minute and we'll get going again." He sank heavily to the ground and held his head in his hands trying to clear the thoughts fighting for control in his mind. Alex was unsure how long he had been sitting there before he shook his head to focus again. The two girls were standing in front of him, still staring down at Alex, waiting
for him to take them home. He looked up at them and smiled a little smile. "Okay, you two ready?" The girls nodded their heads slightly and looked as if they would cry at any moment. "Come on," Alex said and struggled to get off the ground. "Each of you take a hand. Let's go." Another block over Alex and the two girls came to a shopping center. Alex's eyes were drawn to the big red letters proclaiming "GUNS" and stopped abruptly. "We need to make a stop," Alex told the girls. Each of the girls began to protest weakly and Alex shook their hands. "It will just be a minute. We just need to stop for something important." The girls relented, too young and too scared to protest much. The bell above the shop door tinkled as the trio entered. The man behind the counter jerked in their direction and pulled the pistol from the holster at his hip. "What the hell are you doing?" Alex yelled as he pulled the girls behind him to shield them from the man. The shop owner was shaking, the gun hopping up and down in his hands as he aimed at Alex. "Put the gun away, man! I've got too kids here!" The shop owner seemed to snap out of his fright at the mention of the children and he lowered the gun. "I'm...sorry. I'm sorry. Awe shit, man...sorry," he stammered.
"Put the gun away," Alex ordered. "O...okay...yeah, yeah," the man continued to stammer until he finally holstered the pistol again. "Wha...what do you want?" Alex relaxed his stance and met the man's gaze. "I want you to relax. I've got two kids here and you are not going to hurt anyone, got it?" Alex's voice was low and commanding. "I need some supplies. Have you got any .38 special ammo? I also need some .22 hollow-point and some .410 shotgun shells." The man behind the counter looked towards the TV and back to Alex, a look of shock and surprise on his face. "Dude, have you seen what's going on out there?" The question was serious. So was the look on Alex's face. "I'll take ten boxes of each, please. Have you got them?" Alex stared at the man, anger radiating out from his body. "Oh, yeah. I guess you have." The man licked his lips and actually looked even more nervous than when they had first entered the store. Alex didn't believe that possible. "Sorry, man. I think we are all out." He spread his hands wide as if there was nothing left to say. Alex looked as if he had been slapped across the face. He craned his head as if he were struggling to see the shelves
behind the man. There were stacks of ammo in every caliber. "Do you think you could check in the back? Maybe you have some there." The sarcasm dripped from Alex's voice. "I'm sorry, man. There's nothing that I can do for you." The man was trying to sound sympathetic towards Alex and his problem, but the gesture fell short. The amount of ammo stacked behind the man was enough to start his own revolution. "Hey girls. Would you mind waiting right over there in that corner? I need to talk to this man about something. Wait right there, okay?" Alex nudged the girls slightly in the direction he indicated, then turned to face the man behind the counter. "So how about those boxes?" he asked as he crossed the room. "Listen," commanded the shop owner. "I told you that we were all out of those. So if you wouldn't mind..." His hand moved to his hip and the pistol holstered there. Faster than the man could react, Alex reached across the counter and grabbed the shop owner by the front of his shirt. Alex yanked the man off balance and reached behind his back for the revolver stuck in his belt. The metal of the gun flashed in the light as Alex brought the barrel to the man's forehead. The smell of urine hit Alex's nostrils and he winced. "I would like to purchase some ammo from your fine
establishment. Do you think you could help me?" The shop owners eyes were crossed as he tried to focus on the barrel of the gun pressed against his forehead. After a moments hesitation he nodded his head in agreement. "Good. Now, slowly take the gun and place it on the counter." The man hesitated a moment, his eyes flicking to Alex. "I don't want your gun. I just want to make sure you don't use it." The shop owner slowly removed the pistol from the holster and gently placed it on the counter. Alex released the man's shirt and straightened. "Alright. Now, I need ten boxes each of .38 special, . 22 hollow-point, and .410 shotgun." Alex reached and picked up the pistol from the counter, setting down the revolver in his right hand. With a practiced hand Alex released the clip, checking it's contents and slipping the clip back into the gun. "Oh," Alex said almost absently, "and I'll need a couple of boxes of ammo for this. I think it's a .357?" The jaw of the shop owner dropped. "What? You think I'd actually point a loaded gun at another person? I'm desperate, not crazy." ----The plastic bags banged up against Alex's leg with every step he took. Gemma held her dad's hand and Becky held Gemma's. The girls walked in silence taking two steps for every one of Alex's. They had been walking for almost an hour now and
neither of them had said a word since leaving the gun store. Alex's attempts to engage the girls in small talk had been futile and pointless, each of them too scared of Alex and terrified from what had happened throughout the day to have anything to say. In reality, Alex wasn't much for talking at the moment. He was too embarrassed by his actions back at the store and didn't feel like trying to make small talk with anyone. "We're almost there," Alex said as a matter of fact. The sky was quickly getting darker and the street lights were beginning to hum to life, spilling their warm light and illuminating the shadows. Gun shots could still be heard in the distance and there were cars speeding everywhere. The sight of Alex and the two girls walking almost calmly down the sidewalk on their way home was nothing less than surreal. The world around them was falling apart. The apartment complex came into view as the trio rounded the corner of the block. The sight of home lightened everyone's step and they all moved a little quicker. "We're almost home," one of the girls whispered quietly, the first thing that either of them had said in a long while. Alex smiled down at the two. "Almost there," he said, an overwhelming sound of relief clouding his voice. "I bet your moms are going to he happy to see you." He tugged at Gemma's
hand. "You ready to see momma?" Gemma's face scrunched up and she began to cry. Alex knelt down and put his hands on Gemma's shoulders. "What's wrong, baby? What's the matter? We're almost home." "I wanna see momma!" Gemma wailed throwing her arms around her father's neck. Becky couldn't contain herself either and began crying too. Alex dropped the bags he'd been carrying and reached out to pull Becky into his arms. The two girls cried uncontrollably into Alex's neck and it was soon too much for even him. Alex started to cry as well, the three of them overcome by the events of the day. After a few minutes for release Alex hugged the girls a little harder and pulled away. "You girls okay?" he asked through the tears. Each of the girl nodded their agreement in their own time, sniffling and hiccuping after their crying jag. Alex wiped away the last of the tears off of their faces and reached to pick up the bags at his feet, hanging them in the crook of his elbow. "Okay," Alex said taking their hands. "Lets go home." The three turned towards the apartment complex and walked quickly home.
CHAPTER TWO Outbreak
"I don't give a damn what you think, Morgan. Get on the phone and call them," Alex's anger was at the tipping point. Something was very wrong with what was happening downtown and Alex couldn't wait on the city officials to fess up to what was really going on. "Don't you dare talk to me like that Alex. This is ridiculous. What am I supposed to tell them, 'My ass of a husband says that we all have to get out of the city. He won't tell me how or why, but goddammit, don't fuck with him 'cause he's the man-with-the-plan?!'," she retorted. "Morgan, you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but you just have to trust me. This shit is real and if we don't get out now we're fucked." Alex knew he was only making things worse
by losing his temper. He needed to be calm and speak rationally, taking his time to make the right decisions. Yelling at Morgan wasn't going to help anything, but actually confiding in her and telling her what was really happening would really send her off the deep end. Alex took a couple of deep breaths and forced himself to calm down. "I'm sorry, Morgan. I didn't mean to lose my temper and I'm sorry. I really need you to call your parents and tell them we are leaving the city. I don't know what to tell you to say to them, but we have to get out and we have to get out now." Alex caressed! Morgan's shoulders and tried to calm her. "There is something very wrong here. I have an idea what is happening, but I'm afraid if I tell you now you wouldn't believe me. I need you to trust me, please." Morgan was still fuming, but turned away from Alex. She grabbed the house phone and began dialing. Alex knew this was not over. He would have a lot of explaining to do and a lot of smoothing over to take care of. He and Morgan were already having troubles, he knew, but this could very well end everything. Right now the only thing that mattered to Alex was keeping his family safe. Everything else could be dealt with at a later time.
Alex continued to pack up the family suitcase, trying to only grab items that would be essential for the short term. Enough clothes for a week, needed medicines and most importantly the rifle and pistol ammunition. Alex cursed himself for not stockpiling more than he already had. Damn redneck right-wingers may have been right. They had been stockpiling ammo every since the Democrats had won the White House again, certain that the left-wing hippies were going to take away their guns. He now wished he had followed their example if not their thought process. The phone clicked down in the other room and Alex could hear Morgan coming. He had to keep his calm with her no matter what. Losing his temper would only serve to inflame the situation worse than it already was. "So what did they say," Alex asked trying desperately to keep any kind of inflection or tone out of his voice that could even minutely be misconstrued. "They say you're insane and they are not going. What next genius?" Morgan stood in the doorway, arms crossed and still furious at Alex. "Well, what did you tell them?" Alex could guess any number of things that were probably said about him. He used to be welcome in their house, but these days, they were a little
less welcoming. "I completely agreed. You are insane and this crap about getting out of town is utter bullshit. Tell me...why is it so damn important that we leave? Huh? Just give me something to believe you with. That's all I ask." Morgan's voice was not quite as venom laced as it had been moments before. Both of them were upset. Upset at what had happened and what was most likely going to happen. "You would never believe me if I told you..." Morgan interrupted Alex before he could finish. "Believe you! Why the fuck should I believe you?! Our daughter is in her room curled up in the corner of her bed. All she'll do is rock back and forth and mumble things about the bad man. What bad man?! What is she talking about? Start there if you want me to believe you. Start anywhere dammit!" Morgan's voice continued to raised to an almost frantic pitch. Behind them Gemma began to cry, those cries quickly becoming a desperate wail of fear. "Shit!" Morgan cried and once again stormed out of the bedroom. Alex ran his hands through his hair and sighed. Alex wondered to himself what he was supposed to tell her. If he said anything about what had happened at the school she would demand that they stay and call the police. If he told her what he thought, no, knew, was really happening she would leave, but
Morgan would also take Gemma and leave without him. If he could only get her out of the apartment and on the way to her parent's house, maybe then could he start to confide in her. Maybe. Alex reached into the suitcase and brought out the gun he had take from the man at the school. He turned it over, briefly wondering if he would have, or could have done anything different if he had only known that the gun was empty. Everything had happened so quickly. The panic and chaos had overcome so many faster than Alex could have thought possible. There wasn't anything else he could have done he told himself. There was no way to know the gun was empty; no way to know that the man was at the moment Alex killed him, harmless. Footsteps from down the hallway brought Alex back to the present. "What's that?" Morgan said with barely concealed alarm. "Where did you get that?" "I'll explain later. How's Gemma?" Their five-year-old daughter clung tightly to her mother's neck. Her body moved in slight motions up and down, silently crying. "How do you think she's doing? We're going to my parents..." "Let me finish this and I'll get the car loaded." Alex wasn't going to let this opportunity go by. They may not be out of the city, but at least they were farther away from the
problem. "No, Alex. I don't want you to come. If you can't tell me what's going on then I don't want you around us. You're not welcome." There was a finality in her voice that struck Alex deeply. "I'll explain on the way, but I have to get a couple more things." Alex moved from the bed, heading for the closet and trying to look as busy as he could to keep Morgan's objections at bay. She started to protest. "Listen, I don't think you understand. I don't want..." Her voice trailed off as Alex brought a shotgun and two rifles out from behind a pile of clothes in his closet. Morgan sputtered and tried to find words. "What the hell are those? Where did they come from? Alex..." "They were my grandfather's, okay? I never told you because you would never have allowed them in the house. When my grandmother was cleaning out his things she asked me if I would like them and I said yes, okay? I wanted them...they were the only things left of him." Alex laid the rifles down on the bed next to the suitcase and ran his had down each rifle almost reverently. Every time he handled them he remembered back to hunting squirrels in the woods with his grandfather. It was in
those times that he could forget about the problems his own parents were having back home. "You don't have bullets for those things, do you?" Morgan glanced to the suitcase. Under the shirts and socks already packed she glimpsed the corner of a cardboard ammo box. "Dammit, Alex! I said we would not have anything like that in this home and you lied to me. You fucking went behind my back and lied to me, then hid them where our daughter to find them. I don't believe you!" Morgan turned to leave and Alex grabbed her arm, forcible stopping her in the doorway. "Yes, I lied and no, I never told you because I knew this is exactly how you would overreact. The guns are safe and have never been loaded in the apartment. Each one has a trigger guard and only I have the key. The ammo isn't even kept in the same room as the guns and are kept in a locked case. No one is in danger so knock off the dramatics. We are going to your parents as soon as things are packed, and yes I mean WE! You are not walking out on me...not tonight." Morgan wrenched her arm away from Alex and backed down the hallway. "I'm leaving!" she cried as tears streamed down her face. Alex watched as she ran down the hallway with Gemma still clutched tightly to her. Frantically she searched for the keys to her car, desperate to get away from the man she used to
trust. After a few moments of searching, Alex removed the bundle of keys from his pocket and showed them to her. "I was afraid you'd try and leave. I'm sorry, but I can't let you go. I need to protect you from what's coming. I'll explain everything in time." Morgan backed against the counter, shock and horror spreading across her face. "Give me a minute and we'll be on our way." ----Morgan never said a word during their drive to her parents house. The drive normally took thirty five minutes, but today it seemed an eternity. Alex couldn't take the silent treatment anymore. "They aren't telling us the truth, Morgan. The police and city officials are trying to fool everyone, and they don't understand what they are dealing with..." "And you do?! What makes you think you know better than anyone else?" Morgan was livid, and had every right to be. Alex knew this, but he still had to do what he thought was right for her and his daughter. He knew this would never be able to mend things with her...there was too much distrust and resentment now. But at least he could keep them safe. "Listen, you would never believe me if I told you what I thought was happening, but would you agree to listen to what I
know the officials in charge are going to say? And if I'm right, could you possibly give me some credibility that I might just be right?" Alex looked at Morgan, a desperation in his eyes that he could not hide. Alex wanted her to believe him, even if he did not want to believe himself. "Fine. Go ahead. You know that there is nothing you could say right now that would make me believe you. You just kidnapped your wife and daughter, you know." She didn't even try to hide the scorn and contempt in her voice. Alex took a deep breath and sighed. "The government is going to lose control of the situation very soon now. They will start to quarantine larger and larger areas, starting with downtown, calling it an outbreak of some highly infectious disease. The highly infectious part will actually be right, but the disease will be a lie. Curfew will be placed on the city soon after." Alex knew what he sounded like, but continued anyway. "This city is going to be locked down due to a virus outbreak that no one has any idea how to contain. It will spread outside of the quarantine zone within a day if not in a matter of hours. Panic is going to take over and this county will fall into chaos." "Jesus Christ, Alex. Are you listening to yourself?
You've completely gone off the deep end, and now you've kidnapped two people..." Alex interrupted her. "Just shut up and listen. I told you that you wouldn't believe me, but if you'll just wait it will happen. Give it twelve hours tops, and if you still don't believe me I'll leave. No fights; no argument. I will grab what's mine and leave." Alex realized there was nothing else he could do. This was his last ditch effort to get Morgan to understand. Alex was facing Morgan, trying to force understanding and acceptance into her. Blaring horns brought Alex's attention back to the road. Alex and Morgan looked back at the same time and saw the cars, the man in the middle of the road. "Look out!" screamed Morgan. There was only a car's length between them and the man, traveling at 70 mph. Alex barely had time to step on the brakes before the car slammed into the man. The windshield spidered as the man's head slammed into it. The car jerk left and Alex fought to maintain control, desperately trying to keep from crashing into any other vehicle on the road. In a moment Alex thought of the seconds that had just past. The shambling gait; the unwavering focus ahead of him. Alex glanced in the rear view mirror and stepped on the gas.
"What the fuck are you doing?! Stop the damn car, Alex! You just hit someone!" Morgan was panicking, shifting back and forth in her seat and looking around her as if she could stop the car by her will alone. "Stop this car now!" She began hitting Alex, venting all of the frustrations of the last few hours in the blows now raining down on Alex's shoulders and arm. With an effort Alex was able to shove Morgan back into her chair. "Stop hitting me, I'm trying to drive!" "A lot of good you are doing too. Stop the car!" Morgan resumed her assault on Alex's shoulder, trying the only thing she could think of to stop him in his mad dash away from the scene of the accident. "Stop it, Morgan! I've seen and done too much today and you are not helping the situation." Morgan drew back as if she had been hit. "This is the start of everything...we need to get to your parents." "What..." Morgan started to protest. "I killed a man today. I killed a man at Gemma's school. Everyone was panicked and I had to kill someone to get Gemma and Becky out of the school." Alex turned to look at Morgan for a moment. She could see he was telling her the truth. And it terrified her. "What are you saying..."
"He murdered Gemma's teacher and killed another man. I saw him do it and he was trying to hurt Gemma." Alex looked ahead of them again. "I had to do something to get us out." ----Alex pulled into the driveway of Morgan's parents. She had been crying uncontrollably ever since Alex had confessed what had happened at the school. Turning off the engine Alex touched Morgan's knee. She recoiled slightly away from his touch. "We need to get inside. Things are going to get bad soon." Morgan, red-eyed and crying, could only look at Alex with fear and contempt in her eyes. The front door opened and Morgan's mother came running out. Panic and fear laced her voice as she ran to the car demanding to know what had happened and if everyone was okay. Morgan started to open the door when Alex stopped her. "You need to get out on this side. There is blood covering that side of the car and it could be infected. You'll need to crawl through to this side." The look on Morgan's face was of shock and disbelief. Was he serious? Had this really happened? Did he really just tell her that the car was covered with infected blood? Morgan moved to open the door again and Alex grabbed her wrist, pulling her hard to his side of the car. Kicking and fighting, Morgan
was dragged from the car. "What the hell is going on here?" Morgan's father had seen her dragged from the car and was coming at Alex with murder in his eyes. Grabbing Alex by the neck he threw him violently to the ground and stood over Alex, ready to defend his daughter. The revolver flashed from behind Alex as he raised it to aim at Sam, Morgan's father. Sam jumped back away from Alex and cursed. "Shit, man! What the hell is wrong with you? Put that thing away." Not taking his eyes off of his father-in-law, Alex ordered Morgan to get Gemma from the car. "Get her out on THIS side of the car. Don't touch anything that looks like it may have blood on it." "You've completely lost your mind, Alex. Put the fucking gun away before you hurt someone else tonight!" Morgan looked as if she was ready to attack Alex. "Someone had to see the license plates of the car, and the police are probably looking for us right now." "The police are about to have more on their hands than they are capable of dealing with. They'll never bother looking into the murder of a dead man." Morgan looked again as if she had been hit. "Get Gemma out of the car and get her inside. I'm sorry I had to do this Sam. You should go inside too." Alex
lowered the gun and moved towards the car, his eyes still never leaving Sam. Carefully Alex unlocked the trunk and started unloading the contents. After removing the rifles he asked, "Mr. Ingram, Sam, would you mind taking those into the house for me?" Alex indicated the rifles propped next to the car. "They're unloaded right now, but we are going to need them." Dumbstruck, Sam moved to grab the rifles. He knew that Alex would never give him the chance to even the odds, so he resigned himself to doing as asked, hoping that he would soon find the opportunity to take out the man he had once called sonin-law. ----Morgan's mother, Paula, and Morgan sat on the sofa, cradling Gemma between them. Sam stood guard in front of them, eyes locked on Alex. "Would you mind turning on the TV, Sam." He was pacing back and forth on the opposite end of the room, revolver still clutched in his hand. At the request, he stopped and faced Sam. "Please, Sam. Would you mind turning on the TV." "Anything in particular you are looking for?" Sam's voice was tinged with sarcasm. "We need to watch the news. Morgan...needs to watch the news." Alex's voice was distant. He could not comprehend what had happened today and prayed everything was just a bad
dream. The TV kicked on and Sam flipped through the menu until he had found CNN. "This work for you, son?" "Actually, sir, if you could change to channel 36...we need a local station." His voice was matter-of-fact, as if everything was an ordinary visit. Sam huffed, but did as he was asked. The scene that greeted them was unexpected by everyone. Everyone except Alex. Emergency broadcasts were scrolling rapidly across the screen. "A mandatory curfew has been issued for the entire KXAN viewing area. Officials have ordered everyone to stay indoors. All highways have been closed and anyone attempting to enter the quarantined area for any reason will be arrested and detained by local authorities..." Newscasters were speaking rapidly, repeating much of the information that was scrolling across the screen, offering very little new information about what was happening in downtown Austin. "Emergency officials have not released any information as to the extent of the viral outbreak, nor have they given any possible causes for the emergency. There have been unconfirmed reports of a terrorist bomb, a dirty bomb, that may have been detonated just outside the Capital building, causing the current quarantine of the area and curfew for the surrounding area..."
Morgan gasped suddenly, startling Paula and nearly knocking Gemma to the floor. She looked between the television and Alex, hand over her mouth, unable to believe what she was seeing. Morgan met Alex's eyes; tears were streaming down his face. !! ! "I'm sorry..." was all that Alex could say. He held
the empty revolver out to Sam. It had never been loaded. ----Morgan and her family sat huddled around the television. News reports were coming in from around Austin of new and potential outbreaks of the virus. City officials could be seen on every channel urging the public to stay indoors and remain calm. Their assurances that everything was under control kept being undermined by new outbreak reports. The world was coming to an end and Alex knew it. "City officials still have not released any information about the nature of the virus, but continue to remind the public that it is highly contagious. Everyone is urged to remain at home and to stay away from the hospitals and emergency rooms. Any medical emergencies should be reported to 911 immediately." "This is absolute madness," Paula muttered, more to herself than to anyone in particular. "Sam, what does all this
mean?" Paula looked to her husband, worry and desperation lining her face. Sam looked as if he had aged ten years in a matter of moments. "I don't know, Paula...I don't know." He looked to Alex who remained on the opposite side of the room, now talking frantically into his cell phone. He cursed and punched the table in front of him. Everyone in the room jumped. Sam asked "What's going on?" Anger clouded Alex's features. "I can't get my parents to see reason." "And what would 'reason' be at this point?" Sam was genuinely concerned. Their world was coming apart around them and only Alex seemed to know why. "What do you want them to do?" "Get guns; get out. Do anything but what they are doing! right now. There's no outbreak in their area, so they don't think it will be a problem." Alex punched the table again. "All they have to do is get to my grandmother's. She's far enough out of any major town that things will be okay for a while." He slumped in the chair. "God, why is this happening?" "What is happening, Alex? So far, nothing makes sense, so tell us...what's going on?" There was an urgency creeping into Sam's voice. He needed to know, to understand what was happening in the world. Why everything was falling apart.
Alex sighed and resigned himself. "I don't suppose you would think me any more crazy than you already do." He pushed himself back into his chair and propped his feet on the table. "Would you believe me if I said that the dead were rising from the grave?" Sam snorted, but Alex was not sure if it was out of humor or disbelief. "Do you mean to tell me that the virus is causing dead people to come back to life? Shit boy, you are crazy." Alex's expression never wavered. "Actually, Sam, that is exactly what I'm saying. But it's not happening how you think it is. There is a virus that is spreading, and spreading fast. It is highly contagious and is spread through bodily fluids...mainly blood." Alex stood quickly and continued. "The virus replicates quickly and attacks the brain. People start to experience sickness, pained skin, sweating and soon after exposure die. Once the infected person has died, the virus then is able to reanimate the body, using the nervous and musculature systems to move the body." Alex spread his hands wide in resignation. "That's it in a nutshell. Oh, and it also causes the reanimated body to crave living flesh. They're...well...zombies." As if on cue, the newscaster on the screen announced a
shocking discovery. They had obtained footage from inside the quarantined zone itself, and the reporters responsible for the footage had not been able to be reached since minutes after they had transmitted the video. "We warn our viewers that the next images are very disturbing..." A shaky camera filled the screen. The camera crew seemed to be headed towards a movie theater near the Capital building. Shouts and screams could be heard, followed quickly by a massive volley of gunfire. People could be seen running from the theater entrance, passing the camera on either side, their shouts and screams too garbled to make out clearly. The gunfire was quickly fading away, now sounding only as random bouts of gunshots. The camera crew moved closer, still focusing on the theater entrance, the reporter off screen frantically pleading with the cameraman to go back to the truck. When they were about twenty feet from the theater entrance the reporter pointed out movement from inside the building. The person appeared to be injured, moving slowly and shuffling along in a slow and awkward gait. "Hello?" cried the reporter. "Are you okay? Sir, is everything okay in there?" The shuffling figure exited the building and a cry escaped the reporters lips, the camera shuddered as if the cameraman had nearly dropped the device. The sight before them
was horrific. The man couldn't have been, and shouldn't have been alive let alone moving and able to walk. His lower jaw was completely missing and the left arm hung at it's side, attached to the shoulder by only a few strands of skin and tendons, the bone a jagged and shredded mess protruding from the wound. At least a dozen bullet holes could be seen on his torso alone. The man's glassy and milk white eyes fixed upon the camera. It let out a terrifying and horrid moan. The camera shook again as the cameraman began moving away from the theater entrance as quickly as he could while trying to avoid the debris that littered the sidewalk and roadway in front of the building. Another man could now be seen coming out of the theater. This man was dressed in army issue BDUs and he was clutching the side of his face. Blood streamed from between his fingers as he screamed and held the tattered remains of his cheek and ear to the side of his head. The man was nearly blind with panic and fear and he never saw the creature that was now stalking him. Blood sprayed in a wet cloud as the creature grabbed the man and tore into his throat. The soldier was begging the cameraman and reporter for help, but only the sounds of wet gurgles could be heard. The creature tore at the soldier again,
sinking teeth into the man's shoulder and back, tearing flesh away in great strips. The soldier fell to the ground unable to stand the onslaught of the creature and the pain any longer. The creature descended on him and began to feast on still living flesh. "Holy fuck! Go, go, go! Get out of here. Get..." Another scream on pain and terror echoed from off screen. The cameraman turned in the direction of the reporter to witness yet another gruesome attack. Blood splashed across the camera lens as the throat of the reporter was torn away. His screams stopped instantly, his throat held tightly in the jaws of another man, eyes milky white, its face burned almost beyond the point of recognizing it as human.Through the blood and gore smearing the camera's lens one could see that this man's body was scorched and blistered down the left side as if the man had walked through an enormous bonfire. The skin had melted away from the bone exposing the lower ribcage and spilling intestines that now dragged in a bloody trail behind the creature. Panic and what little common sense the cameraman still possessed now took over. There was no fight left, only flight. He began running erratically, presumably back towards the same news van from which he would send back the horrific and disturbing scenes everyone had now seen. A picture would flash
of more shambling and disfigured creatures exiting into the streets. A van came into view, a frantic search for keys and finally he was inside. Desperate prayers could be heard from the cameraman as he fumbled with the camera to retrieve the tape and it's contents. The picture froze on the camera man's face... Morgan vomited on the floor at her feet. "Fuck..." was all that Sam could utter. ----All of the stations had been broadcasting static for almost twenty-four hours now. There was nothing on television or radio, no internet or land line phone service. It was almost as if a switch had been flipped, immediately plunging the world everyone knew into another time. Electricity was still flowing, but the blackouts were becoming more and more frequent. Gunshots echoed through the neighborhood and surrounding area constantly, the screams of the dying and the moans of the dead a constant reminder that this was not a dream. Alex had not had any complaints when he told everyone to grab all of the food, weapons, and clothing that they could carry and move quickly across the street. The Ingram's neighbors lived in a two-story home which Alex believed would provide them with a greater defensive ability that the Ingram's own singlestory. Windows had been blocked and the doors leading outside
secured with whatever could be found. In preparation for the worst-case scenario, the doors from the inside of the house had been removed and fastened to the staircase to prevent the stairs from being used by anything that might get inside. Alex was able to make all of the arrangements that he needed without argument. No one seemed willing to even offer suggestions or ideas, giving their safety and well-being over completely to Alex. Weapons, both conventional and improvised were collected and sorted. A watch schedule had been draw up and implemented; Alex had given them as much of a chance to survive the night as he could. Sam was out on the roof of the first story keeping first watch. The moans of the dead were coming from miles around, accompanied by the screams of their neighbors and loved ones. Alex walked through the separate rooms checking on those in his charge. "Here. Put these in your ears. They won't keep the sounds out completely, but they will help." He handed out small bits of cotton to everyone in a vain attempt to block out the sounds assaulting them all. He knew that one of the biggest dangers now was not what was out there, but the madness that could come from the creatures hunting their prey. After checking on everyone Alex headed to the window and the first floor roof. Sam paced nervously outside, his head
in constant motion looking for anything that might be considered dangerous. The noise of the opening window startled him and he swung the rifle in his hands to meet the perceive danger. "Careful there Sam, we don't need any accidents." Alex's hands were raised and his voice was calm. Everyone needed some down time to relax their nerves, but that would not be happening anytime in the near future. "Just wanted to come out and see how you were doing." The gun lowered and Alex continued out onto the roof. Carefully moving to stand next to Sam, Alex looked around the neighborhood to get some idea of the situation. "Have you seen anything yet?" Alex asked this with surprising ease and nonchalance, as if they were out on a hunting trip and the quarry was playing hard to find. "There hasn't been anything moving that I've seen, but there sure has been a lot of gunfire in the neighborhood. And God, that moaning..." Sam shook his head in a vain attempt to get the sound out of his ears. "That moaning can be heard for miles around. It's their way of telling others where the food is." Alex chuckled. "Just so happens that the food stuff is us." Sam was not amused by Alex's humor. "Do you think this is funny, son? The dead are coming alive and eating every living
thing in sight and your laughing about it?" Alex shook his head, still grinning from ear-to-ear and placed a reassuring hand on Sam's shoulder. "No, no...it's not that at all. I just think that it's rather ironic, that for all of these thousands of years, humans have been the sole creature at the top of the food chain, and in one fateful night that food chain is ripped apart. Literally." Alex giggled again to himself, shaking his head and looking at his feet. "You'll go crazy if you don't try to keep a hold of something human. Laughter is still the one thing that we can do and they can't. Find something to laugh about...anything." There was still a smile on Alex's face, but Sam knew that he was deadly serious. Without something to keep you grounded, the stress of everything would quickly drive a man mad. But Sam still wasn't ready to give himself over completely to Alex's logic. "What makes you the damned expert on this? How do you know what is going on and what is going to happen if the government doesn't even know? What, you a psychic or something?" Alex laughed again, a little louder than he knew he should. "You see? You do know how to keep your humor in a bad situation. A psychic? If I thought I was one of those, then I really would be crazy." He slapped Sam on the back, intentionally harder than he needed. "I can't read the
future...I just know how to read." "Read? You mean there's a book about this?" Sam was starting to lose his patience with Alex again. "Actually, yes. There are tons of books about this, but they are all in the Science Fiction section of the book store. The ideas that there are zombies out there are based in legend and myth, probably true to some extent. But who could ever believe that a zombie outbreak would ACTUALLY happen...guess us wierdos who read that kind of thing knew what we were doing. Max Brooks was a genius, and the really scary thing is how precisely he predicted what would really go on," Alex's brow creased as he pondered that last thought. "Oh come on..." Sam started, but a moan from behind them stopped him short. There was a zombie somewhere behind them that was way too close for comfort. A scream from inside the home startled both men and each had to hold on to the other to avoid falling off the roof. As if appearing out of nowhere, Morgan was at the window and she looked terrified. "There's one in the back yard! It's trying to get in the house!" Morgan yelled. Sam and Alex moved together, carefully but quickly making their way around the second story to the back of the house. Each man looked around the backyard then at one another. Nothing was there, but the moan seemed to
be coming from right under them. The sound of a window breaking finally showed the two where the creature was; right below them under the awning of the house. Alex wanted to hit himself for not figuring it out on his own, but considering this was their first real encounter with a zombie, everyone was just a little off their game. Leaning of the edge of the house, Sam raised the gun and started to take aim at the zombie trying to get in. Alex grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the edge. "Don't pull the trigger. If that gun goes off it will bring zombies from miles around. You'd be advertising fresh meat." "But..." Sam started protesting. Alex held up a hand to stop him before he could argue anymore. In two steps Alex was at the upper story window, knocking calmly at the window pane. Morgan's face appeared again at the window. "Is is gone?" she asked through the glass. Alex motioned for her to open the window. "Could you hand me a golf club? Driver please..." As if waiting for the party in front of him at a golf course to tee off, Alex calmly stood outside the window, scanning the backyard and surrounding area for any other signs of movement. Morgan quickly returned with the golf club and handed it to Alex with a puzzled expression on her face.
"Thanks," Alex chirped as he turned away. "Go ahead and close the window. I'll be back in a minute." Taking the club in his right hand and swinging it like a scythe, Alex practiced for what he was about to do. "Sam, hold my left hand and don't let me fall." Grasping his father-in-law by the hand, Alex leaned out over the edge of the house and placed the club head next to the creatures left temple. With the practiced ease of a golfer Alex brought the club back smoothly then, reaching the top of the swing arc, brought the club down and through the target. A sickening, wet crack echoes through the backyard, silencing the moaning of the creature immediately. For a few seconds after only silence could be heard; no guns, no screams, no terrifying moans of the damned zombies. To Alex, it was peaceful. "Is it dead?" Sam's harsh whisper broke Alex's revery. "Well, technically it was already dead," Alex snarked as he hauled himself back from the edge of the roof. "But if you mean will it walk again, no. You have to destroy it's brain to kill it, and I think that gold swing took care of the job." He peered over the edge once more. "How did it get back here anyway?" Alex scanned the surrounding fence line and walked the perimeter of the yard. The side gate hung open. "Well I'll be
damned. We nearly had a serious problem on our hands because we forgot to lock the side gate." Alex crouched at the edge of the roof and pivoted, swinging his body around in order to lower himself to the ground. Hanging from the gutters about to drop to the earth, Alex's heart stopped. A deafening moan sounded from his left only feet from where he hung from the roof. A shambling nightmare appeared from the darkness, reaching it's broken and bloody hands for Alex who was desperately and unsuccessfully trying to pull himself back up to safety. A gray, lifeless hand grabbed his shoe... The rifle exploded above Alex's head, tearing the creature's head from it's body. What was left of the zombie slumped to the ground and remained still. Alex's ears sounded as if a bomb had gone off in his head and he realized that he was holding his breath. Alex gasped for the air to fill his lungs and began to hyperventilate, causing his vision and senses to become overwhelmed with the rush of oxygen. His vision began to fade and stars burst in his eyes. He lost his grip on the roof. Alex's last thought was to push himself away from the corpse lying on the ground under him. He landed off-balance and the tunnel vision made it impossible for Alex to keep his feet under him. Alex landed hard against the fence, slamming his head into the wooden supports and finishing the job his hyperventilation
had begun. Alex's world faded into darkness. ----Alex awoke to gunfire and something cold pressed against his forehead. He could hear crying as if from a long way distant, he sat up suddenly, realizing it was Gemma. The quick movement was too much for Alex's pounding head. He leaned to the side just in time to keep from retching all over himself. Once the contents of his stomach had emptied realization set in. "What did you do?! Why am I here? Dammit, you should have shot me when I was knocked out." Alex struggled to get out of bed, hands and a spinning head keeping him from doing so. Paula was holding him down. "Lay down, Alex. You took a really hard fall and need to rest." Alex had stopped struggling and now allowed Paula to readjust the washcloth on his head. "Sam and Tony are on the roof handling things so you stay put." There was a tremor in her voice that she could not hide. "Where's Gemma and Morgan?" Alex felt as if there was something being kept from him. "How long have I been here?" This last was asked with urgency. "You've been asleep for almost three hours, but you lost a lot of blood when you hit your head. You need to take it easy for a while. Morgan and Laura are with Gemma right
now...they don't need you," Paula cut off her last sentence abruptly, pain and embarrassment washing across her face. She winced and tried to take back what she had just said. "I'm sorry, Alex. That's not what I meant it to sound like. Of course they need you, I just meant..." Alex interrupted her. "I know what you meant to say, Paula. It's okay." Alex moved again to get out of the bed and Paula tried once more to stop him. "I don't want to be rude, but don't try to stop me again. Those two are making the situation worse, not better." Alex struggled to his feet and made straight for the window. He threw open the window and began yelling at the two men on the rooftop to stop shooting. "Put the guns down, dammit! You're going to get us all killed." Alex struggled onto the roof, the exertion causing his head to spin wildly. He had to hold on to the window frame for support and to keep from tumbling off the roof for a second time. "All you two have accomplished is to announce our presence to every zombie in a five mile radius and waste our all too short supply of ammo," Alex noticed that even without the gunfire, the noise level was unbearable. The moans of the walking dead were deafening coming from a single creature. Alex could not even count the number that now fought their way to the
front of the house. Raising his voice above the din of noise below them, Alex began issuing orders. "Both of you get inside and find everything I'm about to ask for. We need golf clubs and baseball bats out here on the roof immediately. We also need some for of rope or cord...something to fasten us to the roof in case we slip. If you fall into that mob, there will be no chance of rescue." Sam and Tony look at each other confused. "We need to destroy the brain, but we also need to do it quietly. The rifles will continue to bring in zombies from the surrounding areas, so our only other option is to hang from the roof line and crush their skulls one-by-one." Alex looked apologetic. "This isn't going to be fun or easy, but it's what has to be done." At that Alex motioned for the men to find the requested items. "Oh, and bring back one rifle. Just in case." The two men scampered inside, bent on completing their assigned task. Alex turned to face the assaulting mob, a desperate plan forming in his mind. ----Hours passed and the horde of undead kept coming. Alex had glanced at his watch at the start of their assault...1:30 in the morning. It was now two in the afternoon and the untold number of dead from the night before were now a mere handful.
Alex had lost count of the number they had killed, but by the mound of!corpses piled against the house, it had to be in the hundreds. Alex's plan had worked, but it had been far from perfect. The golf clubs that they had started with were designed for launching a 12 ounce golf ball through the air, not for bashing in the skulls of the walking dead. The clubs had quickly been rendered useless with many zombies still at and coming to the house. Bats, crowbars, even studs from the walls that were ripped free were used to dispatch any zombie attacking them. Actually, the wall studs proved most useful, providing the defenders with sharp and jagged objects with which to pierce the skulls of the attacking horde. As the sun baked down on Alex and the defenders, the last of the creatures was dispatched, it's body rolling down the mound of corpses piled almost as high as the roof top. Their success was a double-edged sword. As the bodies piled higher, the men were forced to wait as the next few zombies to make their way to the top of the pile before having a chance to take them out. There were times that too many zombies would crest the pile of bodies threatening to overwhelm the defenders. Each time Alex and the others were able to hold them off, but only just. Alex knew that there was a better way to secure themselves, but
it couldn't happen here. "Okay" Alex huffed through his exhaustion. "Everyone inside." Each man crawled through the open window back into the relative safety of their home. Sam collapsed once inside, shaking uncontrollably and Tony retched on his shoes. "Morgan" Alex called through the house. Morgan's head appeared around the corner of the door. She was afraid to enter. "Morgan, I need you to take the next watch." Morgan gasped. "I...I can't...I don't know how..." "You don't have to do much. Here, take this rifle," and Alex handed the 410 bore double barreled shotgun out for Morgan to take. "If you see anything moving, stick your head in the window and holler for me. I'll be right here in this room, but I'm exhausted and have got to get some food and rest. Sam and Tony are the same. If you think something is getting too close, just aim and pull the trigger. It doesn't kick that much." The shotgun hung there in his hands waiting for her. She did not move to take it. "Morgan, you know I'm right about this. I'll be right here of you need me for anything. And I do mean anything. But we've got to let your dad and Tony rest. They can't take much more." Morgan physically shuddered at the prospect, but moved
to take the shotgun from Alex. "You don't even have to go all the way to the edge. If you could just sit right outside the window and keep a watch out, Sam and Tony can get some rest and relieve you soon." Morgan took the shotgun. It was cold and heavy in her grasp, something deadly and frightening. Alex placed a comforting hand on Morgan's shoulder. "I'll be right here." He took her hand and helped Morgan through the window onto the rooftop. After settling against the wall of the house Alex asked her if she could handle this. "I'll be fine, Alex," Morgan said with a tenderness he had not heard from her in a long time. "Get some rest. I'll call you if I need anything. Go rest." Alex ducked back inside the window and chose a spot on the floor where he could lean against the wall and see directly out the window. Morgan leaned around the window frame and started to ask him a question. Alex was already fast asleep.
CHAPTER THREE Flight
Alex had been asleep for almost two hours when an urgent whispering woke him. "Daddy?" a tiny girl's voice said. "Daddy? Are you awake?" Alex's eyes fluttered open and the face of his fiveyear-old daughter was in front of him. Her question floated in his mind, a moment of childhood innocence that he was not sure he would hear again. "Of course I am sweetheart. What's the matter?" Alex straightened his back against the wall, wincing at the pain and soreness of his body. He wasn't old by any measure, but the brutality that his body had just taken would take it's toll on anyone. Gemma crawled into his arms and curled in his lap. "Daddy, I'm scared." Gemma's voice quivered and she
sounded as if she would cry at any moment. "Everything is okay, sweetheart. Mommy and daddy won't let anything happen to you, okay?" Alex squeezed the tiny person closer to him, desperate to take away any of her fears. "Okay," Gemma sighed as if resigning herself to something that she didn't quite believe. She paused for a moment and Alex sensed that there was something else that she wanted. "Gemma, is there something else that you wanted to say to me?" His daughter had always been a very forth-coming child, but considering everything that she had witnessed over the last two days, Alex was not sure how much she would be willing to confide. "Daddy," she hesitated. "Did you kill that man back at the school?" Gemma looked up at her father, tears welling in her eyes. Alex could not tell if she was angry or sad at what he might say. He had never lied to his daughter and he supposed now was not the time to start. "Yes, Gemma. I killed that man. Are you angry with me for doing that?" "No, not really," Gemma creased her brow and looked away from her father's gaze. "He hurt people, didn't he?" "Yes, sweetheart. He hurt a lot of people very badly. And he was trying to hurt you and Becky. Daddy was just trying
to protect you and get you two home safe. If I hadn't done what I did, he would have hurt you and Becky very badly and probably hurt more people too." Alex gently lifted Gemma by the chin and turned her to face him. "Gemma, do you understand that daddy had to do what he did? Can you forgive me?" Alex and Gemma sat quietly for a few moments before Gemma kissed him and gave him a big hug. The tension and stress of the previous days drained from Alex. His shoulders relaxed and he began to cry. "Don't cry, daddy," Gemma said. "You'll fix everything...you always do." Alex squeezed his daughter to him a little tighter. "Thank you, sweetie." He broke the hug and pulled her back from him so that he could look her straight in the eyes. "Gemma, can you go and find you grandma and grandpa and tell them that we all need to talk? Tell them to meet me in the big bedroom. Okay?" With a big nod that shook her entire body, Gemma said "Okay," then climbed out of his lap to run down the hall to find her grandparents. Alex got to his feet to check on Morgan. His body protested the simply act of getting up from the floor, his muscles screamed at him to sit down and fall back asleep. Willing his feet to move, Alex headed for the window, careful to keep away from the sick that still covered the floor and filled
the room with an every growing rancid smell. Alex could see Morgan still sitting outside on the roof, her knees pulled up to her chest, her body rocking slightly from side-to-side. "Morgan," he called as he stuck his head out the window. Morgan jumped and swung the rifle in Alex's direction. He ducked back inside the window and crouched beside the window leading to the roof. "Morgan, it's me...it's just me." A quiet crying floated in through the window and slowly Alex peered back around the edge of the window frame. The shotgun was still pointed in the direction of the window, but Morgan was covering her mouth with her hand, the barrel of the shotgun resting on the rooftop. Carefully, Alex reached through the window and took the gun from Morgan. She did not resist, but let Alex take the gun from her, the now free hand joining the other in a desperate attempt to hold back the tears and crying that were beginning to overtake her. "Take my hand, Morgan. Come back inside. You did great." Alex held out his hand to Morgan, who took it and with great effort climbed back through the window. "Wait right here," Alex said as he closed and locked the window behind them. "Everything is okay, Morgan. I promise." Alex placed an arm around Morgan's shoulders and led her out of the room.
----"You want to do what?" Tony shouted. "Just hear me out, Tony. I think you'll agree with me when I finish." Alex was trying to keep his calm, but Tony was not making it easy. "We have everything here that we need and you want to just up and leave? We've already proven that we can keep the damn things out of the house. Why would we simply walk away from that?" Tony's face was red with anger and his body showed that he was gearing up for a fight. "Rotting and diseased corpses are not a very good thing to have lying around, Tony. Those things out there are going to start to decompose, and when they do, the smell will be the least of your worries." Alex gestured towards the front of the house where the hundreds of dead bodies were piled so high they blocked all light trying to come in through the windows. "In a couple of days it won't be the walking dead that kill us, it will be the disease that we won't be able to stop. There is no other option here...we have to leave. And the sooner the better. It'll be getting dark soon and I think we can all agree that being outside in the dark with those creatures is the last thing anyone wants." Tony's eyes were wide with anger and he stared at
Alex, body heaving as he fumed with rage. Turning to Sam he said, "Do you believe this guy? He actually wants us all to walk out those doors straight in to the damn zombies." Tony was jamming his finger at the front doors of the house. "Well, actually," Alex began, "I would recommend we go out the back doors. I think those would be a little hard to open." Alex's sarcasm was the last thing that was needed in this situation. Tony lunged at Alex grabbing him by the front of the shirt and pulling him forward. Tony raised his fist to punch Alex. "Stop it, Tony!" Sam yelled. Tony stopped suddenly, his head turning to face Sam. "So far he is the only one of us who has had any ideas that have actually been worth a damn." Sam met Alex's eyes. "I think we should hear what he has planned." "I don't believe this," Tony spat. He released Alex's shirt, giving him a shove backwards in the process. Alex stepped back a couple of paces, then reached up to straighten his shirt. "Sam, I have always listened to what you've had to say in the past, but this is ridiculous. Are you listening to what he is saying?" Tony threw up his hands in mock desperation. "Well, I'm trying to listen to what he is saying, but I can't hear him for all the damned screaming you are doing.
Just shut up and listen. After we hear everything, then we'll decide if it is worth anything." Tony stood motionless staring at Sam. After it seemed that Tony would cause no more disruptions, Sam motioned for Alex to continue what he had started. "If you just think about it, the answer is simple," Alex began again. "Where is the greatest concentration of people? In the cities. More people, more infected. And the denser the population, the quicker it will spread. If you could get yourself to an rural center, the concentration of infected is going to greatly diminish. Properly supplied and defended, one could hold out for a long time. Maybe even for the duration of the main crisis." Alex looked from one face to the other as he calmly tried to make his point clear. The three women nodded their heads gently in agreement while Sam and Tony remained motionless. "Even a well stocked and defended home is going to need additional supplies, but if you could get yourself set up initially, one could give themselves enough time to make additional plans." Alex crossed his arms in closing, letting the two men ponder what he had proposed before saying anything else. Sam spoke first. "So where do we go?"
Tony looked as if he had been struck. "Sam, you can't be serious? Do you know what it's going to be like out there? Can you..." "No, Tony. I don't know what it's going to be like out there, but I sure as hell know what it's going to be like in here. And I'm not going to resign myself and my family to a slow death from disease when there is another option," Sam crossed his arms, ending any argument from Tony before he could speak. "I suggest you come with us, but I can't force you. You have to choose for yourself." Sam looked again to Alex. "When do we leave and what do we need to take with us?" Alex was a little taken aback. He had prepared himself for a longer, more drawn out battle concerning this. Sam's almost immediate agreement threw him for a loop. "Umm, I'll have to...give me a minute." Alex shook his head and brushed the hair away from his face. "Look, Sam. He doesn't have a clue what to do and you are just going to blindly follow him..." Sam interrupted Tony again. "I told you that we are going so shut up. Tony, you are my friend and I would hate to leave you behind. But I have to look out for my family, and right now the only option I see is getting out of this city. You need to come with us." Sam's
eyes were pleading. He knew he couldn't force Tony to leave, but he hoped his long-term friendship with him would be enough to make him change his mind. "We'll leave in the morning," Alex said. "That will give us enough time to make our plans and get things ready. It will also give us the maximum amount of light for the trip to Liam and Trinity's." "Liam and Trinity's? They live just a few miles from here. Do you think that is far enough away from the city to be safe?" Doubt was seeping into Sam's voice. "No, no. Liam and Trinity's house is just a place to stop, rest, and supply before the long trek out. Liam has enough guns and ammo in his house to supply a small invasion force, and their family farm in Eustace will be the perfect place to hold up. I just hope the cell phone towers are still operating enough that I can get word to them we are coming." Alex reached for the cell phone in his pocket, a piece of technology that was all but useless now. "Eustace? Isn't that in North Texas near Dallas? How do you plan to get us there?" Sam was now starting to doubt his decision to go along with Alex's plan. "I don't know, Sam. But once we get to Liam's, we'll come up with something brilliant. We always do." Alex smiled. He
and Liam had been friends since college and the two of them always came up with weird and creative ideas. The two of them together could come up with something. "Morgan, try your brother again. They'll be close enough that they might be able to get to Eustace, too. Paula, try to get a hold of your brother and I'll try mine. Both of them live in town and we need to see if we can get them to Liam's if we are going to get them out. There's not a lot of time, so everyone start thinking about what we need to take with us. We'll be on foot until we get to Liam and Trinity's, so think only essentials. And think light." Alex punched a number out on his cell phone and raised it to his ear. "Everyone know how to handle a gun?" ----Morgan was awakened by the racking of a gun slide. Alex was standing across the room from her, inspecting the rifles and guns in front of him in preparation to leave. "What time is it?" Morgan asked. "Just before dawn," Alex replied without even looking at her. "I'm going to start waking everyone up soon to get ready to leave, so try to get a little more rest." Morgan pushed herself up from the floor and sat up, stretching. "How long have you been awake?"!! !
"I never went to sleep last night." Alex looked at her. Even in the dim light she could see the dark circles under his eyes. "Alex, you need rest. It's going to be a long day and we need you at your best. I'll get everyone ready, you get some sleep." Morgan started to get up from the floor, but was stopped by Alex. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You get a little more rest and I'll finish getting everything together." Alex stood up from where he had been sitting. It took quite a bit of effort on his part. His body was sore and every muscle screamed at him to sit back down. "I'll wake you up in a little while." "Sit down, Alex. You never listen to anyone, but dammit, you're going to listen now. We need you today, and we need you to be at your very best. If you haven't slept in twelve hours, then you are not going to do us very much good." Morgan crossed the room in two strides and forced Alex to sit down. "Sleep. And if you can't sleep, then at least rest without thinking about or doing anything. I'll finish packing and I'll wake everyone up." Morgan glanced around the room to form an idea about what Alex had been doing. She reached for a gun. "Which of these has been checked?" "I'll take care of..." Alex started.
"No, you won't." Morgan's voice was firm and commanding. "I told you to get some rest and that I would take care of things. You've shown me how to do this, so I'll do it. Now, which ones have been checked?" Morgan looked at Alex like a mother looks at a child who will not listen. What could he do? "I've checked all of them but these two," he indicated the revolver and the shotgun. "Everything looks good in all the others. These two probably just need to be loaded." "Okay, I'll take care of that. What else needs to be packed?" Morgan was determined to get things finished without the help of Alex. "Everything is packed. I was just going to double check it all." Alex gestured towards the pile of backpacks and rolls stacked neatly against the adjacent wall. "Well, if everything is already packed, then there is definitely no reason for you to be here. Go!" And with a motion for Alex to exit the room, Morgan set herself to checking and arming the last of the weapons they would need. ----There was surprising little sound that Alex and the others could hear outside. Alex had determined that they would head out through the back door and then through the neighbor's backyard. The pile of bodies at the front of the house would be
nearly impossible to navigate around, and Alex was positive that he did not want to submit Gemma to any more horrors than he had to. The men were able to quietly pry boards off of the back fence, opening a large enough gap to allow access to the neighbors back yard. Their trek out of the neighborhood proved uneventful and surprisingly easier than thought possible. Making their way north through the streets, Alex and his party came to a dilapidated fence, the only physical obstacle between them and the highway that would take them to Liam and Trinity's house. Tony began prying at a piece of fence which seemed to just be hanging when gray, rotting hands reached through at him. The creature's head thrust through the opening, the flesh hanging from it's face where something had ripped the skin away. It's broken teeth bared and it tore at Tony's hands. Tony screamed and wrenched away from the zombie, fingers breaking and skin tearing. Tony's blood was everywhere. A tremendous moan went up, it's call being picked up by other creatures in the area. Tony writhed on the ground clutching his hands to his chest, screaming for help and cursing Alex. "This is your fault, Alex! I told you this would happen!" Tony began to climb up from the ground, using his broken and torn hands to push him up from where he lay. "I'll kill you for
this," he screamed as he reached for the rifle he had placed against the fence. "I'm sorry," Alex whispered, the gun already aimed at Tony. "I'm sorry..." The gunshot rang out and Tony's head snapped back. Bone and brain matter spraying out the fist sized hole in the back of his head, a bloody cloud dissipating quickly from behind the man. Tony's body convulsed once before falling to the ground. Cries from Tony's wife were drowned out by the report of the handgun firing again, this time into the brain pan of the zombie struggling to get through the fence. "What the fuck..." Sam began to yell. "Move! Move now, we've got to find another way out of here!" Alex snapped into motion, grabbing one person and shoving another back down the road they had come. He had to physically drag Linda away from her husband, yelling at her to keep away from the infected blood. She tore at Alex's arms with her fingertips, scratching and punching at him to let her go. "What did you do?!" Morgan screamed at Alex. "What I had to do. He was a dead man." Alex struggled with Linda, literally dragging her behind him kicking and screaming to be let go.
"They weren't that bad, the wounds. We could have helped him..." Alex interrupted Morgan. "There is no help once you've been infected. If you are bit by a zombie or contaminated by their blood, the only help is a bullet to the brain. Either we finish him off now, or we do it later when he's turned." A zombie stumbled out from behind a house, the right side of it's body mauled and hanging in shreds, it's face a ragged hole where the lower jaw and right eye should have been. Sam raised his gun towards the creature and hesitated. "Shoot it!" Alex yelled and raised his own gun at the creature. Sam's rifle cracked and another gapping hole opened in the zombie, this time softball sized in it's chest. Alex's pistol cracked and what was left of the zombie's head dissolved in gray matter and bone. "Head shots, god dammit! Aim for the fucking head!" Another creature shambled towards them from down the street, nearly whole and moving faster than the last on legs that worked better than Alex would have preferred. Morgan quickly raised the shotgun she carried and pulled the trigger. It thundered and the shot flew a little high, but the spread of the shot was such that a few found their mark, dropping the creature to the ground to remain motionless.
The shotgun blast had been close and it startled Alex enough that he lost his grasp of Linda. She headed back in the direction of Tony. "Linda!" Morgan screamed. "Let her go, she'll want to be with him." Alex reached behind Sam, grabbing for the 22 caliber Remington repeater. "She needs to be with him." Linda sank to the ground, clutching at Tony's body and wailing for her love. She straightened at looked back at the Morgan, Tony's blood covering her clothes, hands and face. The rifle cracked and Linda's body slumped over Tony's "Run," Alex breathed. There were more zombies now coming at them from every direction. Alex spun, looking everywhere for a way out. There was nowhere to go, not even back to the house they had abandoned just an hour before. "Oh god, I'm sorry." Gunfire erupted from the four adults, dropping a zombie with almost every shot. The creatures kept coming, they killed more. An eternity passed and Morgan yelled that she was out of ammunition for the shotgun. It clattered to the ground in front of her as she knelt and clutched her daughter close to her. Each gun sputtered and went silent as they were forced to reload, losing precious moments in the process. The creatures were closing in on them, only feet away
from Alex when his rifle click on empty. Without hesitation he grabbed the hot barrel of the weapon and swung it over his head, crushing the skull of the nearest zombie. With a swing another creature fell, and another. Almost a dozen zombies had been killed before the stock broke, one more swing causing it to come free with a sickening crack. Alex's left hand desperately groped for the baseball bat in his back pack. A horn blared and tired screeched. A blur of yellow and the rapid thudding of bodies being slammed into by a fast moving object. Alex turned at saw a large truck heading in their direction, changing direction to find the next target, the next walking dead to destroy. The truck flashed in front of Alex slamming into the zombies almost simultaneously and clearing a path in front of him. "This way," Alex yelled not wishing to waste the miracle that had been presented to him. He reached down and grabbed at Gemma's coat, pulling her to her feet and then into his arms. He was determined to get her out of this danger. Weaving in between the bodies the scattered the ground in front of him, Alex ran towards the only refuge he could think of. Back to the house he had forced everyone to abandon. The gunshots from behind him died away as Sam, Paula, and Morgan raced to follow Alex in his mad dash for safety.
The rev of an engine caught Alex's attention and he glanced left. The smiling face of Liam greeted him sitting behind the wheel of the truck. "Need a lift?" he laughingly asked. ----Alex and his family were crowded into the small cab of Liam's truck. "What are you dong here?" Alex asked somewhat annoyed. "You should have stayed at home and kept safe." "What, and let you have all the fun taking a stroll on this beautiful day?" Liam was grinning from ear-to-ear. "I thought that you might need a lift, so I jumped in the truck and headed your direction." "You've probably made things worse, Liam." Alex barked at his friend as if Liam had just gotten him in trouble with the school principal. "It's not safe driving around in a car." "Then what the hell were you doing walking?" Liam snickered at the thought. "I'll have an easier time outrunning those bastards on a truck than on foot. And I can take a few of them with me in the process." Liam braced himself as another zombie thudded against the grill of the truck. Everyone was thrown back and forth as the zombie was then dragged under the tires of the vehicle. "Shit man, that one hung on for a while," Liam said more to himself that to anyone else in the car.
"Jesus Christ, Liam. You've just announced our presence to every fucking zombie in the whole area." Alex was furious and he was taking his anger out on Liam. "I've announced us? Then just what would you call guns blazing in the middle of the street? I could hear you over the engine." Liam was not going to let Alex place the blame on anyone, even himself. "Damn, Alex. It seems to me that you were doing what had to be done. Fight or flight, man, and it didn't look like you had any chance to fly anywhere unless you was planning to sprout wings." Liam reached over and punched Alex on the leg. "You worry about the fightin' and I'll take care of the flyin'." Liam's laugh seemed maniacal and ecstatic at the same time. "Come on, let's get out of here." The engine roared as Liam stepped on the gas. He swerved through cars on the highway narrowly missing collision after collision. Zombies were beginning to approach from everywhere it seemed, drawn to the road by the loud roar of the truck. Liam chose his targets carefully and turned into them, trying to catch them just on the corner of the fender, breaking their bodies and pushing them to the side of the road at the same time. Alex looked back after each successive strike trying to determine if the creatures had been killed. Some tried to move, many lay still just at the side of the road.
"You know we can't go back to your house in this thing, don't you?" Alex's temper was ebbing and he was beginning to think a little more rationally. "What do you mean? We'll just step on the gas, outrun the bastards and then drive right into the garage. They'll never see us." Liam glanced quickly at Alex before returning his attention to his next target. "You're right, Liam. They may never see us, but that doesn't mean they can't find us." Alex looked in the back of the cab to check on his family. "We've just let every creature in a five mile radius know where we are, and they are right now telling every other zombie where we are going. Their moans will lead every undead creature right to us." Alex looked forward through the windshield. The successive bodies that had crashed against it were beginning to take their toll. The glass was beginning to spider and crack. "We've got to abandon the car somehow. And we've got to do it away from your house to draw the creatures away." Liam sneered at Alex. "And just what do you have planned?" ----Morgan and Sam held the door of the truck open slightly, Paula clutching Gemma to keep her from falling out of
the truck. Sam and Morgan looked at each other, trying to find reassurance in what was about to happen. "Okay, when the truck stops, all four of you get out and run like hell into the house. Trinity is already at the door and she will let you in and lock the door behind you. Get your asses in the attic and pull up the stairs. And whatever you do, don't come down and look for us. We'll be there as soon as we can be. I promise." Alex's focus and attention were on the road and area ahead of him. He had to be sure that there were not any zombies at or around the house, and if there were, he had to kill them quickly before they could react and call any more zombies in the area to the house. If there were too many, this plan was doomed. Liam took the final corner leading to his house a little to tight and fast, nearly spilling Morgan out of the door. Sam grabbed her just as the door swung open and pulled her back inside as the door slammed shut. "Sorry," Liam apologized. "I'll work on those corners." He grinned over at Alex. "You guys ready?" "I don't like this plan, Alex," Morgan protested. "You two need to get in the house with us. We'll be able to handle any of those creatures that follow us..." "Stop whining and get ready to run. You know that
we've got to do it this way so just do it! Get yourself and Gemma inside as fast as you can. Liam and I will draw any other creatures away from the house, ditch the truck and meet you back there." Alex turned to face Morgan. "Keep our girl safe," Alex asked. "I'll see you soon." "Looks like there's a welcoming party," Liam announced. Two zombies were shuffling down the road in their direction. Alex could see their mouths open, could hear their moans starting over the rumble of the trucks engine. They would be at the house before the zombies could be taken out with the truck. Alex's grip of the 22 rifle tightened and his hand moved to the door handle. "Get inside, I'll handle this." Alex was already calculating the distance, preparing himself for the shot. "Hold on," Liam warned as he took the curb, angling through the trees in the front yard of his neighbor to get them as close to the front door as possible. "Liam, kill the engine as soon as we've stopped." Alex's last minute command was met with a confused look. Guessing at the question forming on Liam's lips, Alex answered. "We need to be able to hear if there are lots of those things in the area already heading this direction. We won't be able to hear clearly enough with the truck running, so kill the engine
and listen for a moment. Then we'll crank her up and get them out of here." Liam looked impressed. "Damn, man. You're good." Liam made another adjustment to the path of the truck and prepared to hit the brakes. "Hang on everyone." The tires locked and the truck began to wobble back and forth. "Shit," Liam cursed as he fought to regain control of the truck. The back end of the truck began to swing around and everyone was thrown to the opposite side of the cab. "Shit!" The back end of the truck slammed into the support column holding up the awning covering the front door. The truck was spun around 180 degrees crashing into the corner of the garage where is stopped suddenly. "Is everyone okay?" Liam asked. "No time," Alex yelled, forcing himself from the floorboard and wrenching the door open. "Everyone out! Liam, kill the engine." Alex was out of the truck cab in a flash, taking two steps away from the truck and kneeling to the ground in one fluid motion. The gun raised to his shoulder and he took aim at the approaching corpses. The rifle cracked followed almost immediately by a second, dropping both of the zombies before Morgan, Sam and the others could exit the truck. "Everyone out, now!" Alex was on
his feet grabbing at the opening door and nearly pulling Morgan out of the truck by her arm. "Get her inside," Alex commanded grabbing for Gemma's outstretched arms. The front door of the house swung open and Trinity appeared in the doorway. "What the hell just happened?!" Trinity was looking at the car with a questioning look, and finally through the cracked windshield at Liam. He shrugged his shoulders and mouth "Sorry" to her. Paula and Sam were scrambling over the rubble of the destroyed column, turning to help Gemma and Morgan over the ragged pile of bricks and mortar that blocked their way to safety. Everyone stopped in mid-run. It sounded as if a million voices had just been awoken. "Get inside!" Alex yelled and he dove back into the car. Morgan and Gemma were pulled over the remaining rubble pile and rushed towards the door, Trinity ushering everyone in through the door. Just before Morgan disappeared from view she looked back over her shoulder. Alex could just make out the words "I love you" on Morgan's lips. "I love you, too," he whispered to himself. "Come on, love bird. What do we do now?" Liam's sense of adventure was one that Alex had never gotten used to. He supposed it would serve them well now.
"Well, Liam. Now we make as much noise as we possibly can." As the door closed behind them, Morgan and the others could hear the truck roaring down the street, car horn blaring as they drove into the distance. ----"Christ, man. Do they every shut up?" Liam was peering through the curtains of the attic window at the mob that was now surrounding the house across the street. "Well, what do we do now?" he asked stepping away from the window and looking at Alex who was quietly pacing the floor in the middle of the small upstairs room. Liam and Alex were approximately one mile away from Liam's house and relative safety, taking refuge in the largest and closest house they could get into after abandoning the truck. Their plan had been to jump out of the moving truck, leaving it running and hopefully drawing the zombies a little farther away from them. The truck had instead veered to the left just after their exit, jumping a curb and slamming into a tree and lodging the horn so that it continued to blare through the neighborhood. "To answer your questions in order, 'no' and 'I don't know'. Does that help any?" Alex was sarcastic and at the same time very truthful. This hadn't gone exactly to plan and he was
stuck. Right now there were countless numbers of zombies converging on the truck leaving them little or no place to go. "I'm stumped, how 'bout you?" "Hey, hey. I'm the brawn here, the blockhead who just does what he's told. You're the brains of this operation so get to braining." Liam had always been able to match Alex snark for snark and usually shared in Alex's feelings of humor in any situation. But Alex couldn't tell if Liam was being serious now or just poking some fun at him. Alex decided to not let him off the hook that easily. "Liam, you are one of the smartest and most creative people I have ever met. If neither one of us can come up with some kind of idea, then we must really be screwed." Alex dropped to the floor, crossing his legs and resting the rifle he was carrying in his lap. He held his head in his hands, shaking his head slowly from side to side. "Okay, you want creative. I'll give you creative." Liam crossed the floor and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. "What if we just walk out the door?" Alex's head stopped in its nervous motion. Slowly he looked up to meet Liam's gaze, then in a moment of realization he creased his brow and smiled. "I told you that you were one of the smartest men I knew. That might actually just work." Alex
shrugged Liam's hand from his shoulder and stood quickly. "Now wait a minute," Liam started to back peddle. "I was just kidding. We can't go out there! Those things will be everywhere." "Exactly, and they will all be head in one direction...straight for the blaring car horn." Liam still did not understand what Alex was getting at and shook his head again in protest. "Alex, we can't go out there. That'd be suicide." Liam began backing away from Alex, turning back towards the window to look once again on the growing horde of zombies. "Liam, think about it. What is the loudest thing happening in the area right now?" Alex's eyes gleamed with a light that seemed to come from inside. "The, uh, car horn?" Liam was confused and did not want to agree to anything that Alex was proposing at the moment. "Exactly. With that car horn blaring, what are the odds that anything is going to hear us sneaking out the back door of the house?" Alex moved with excitement at the idea forming in his head. "And even if one were to hear or see us, or however it is that they track their prey, it's moans from looking for the truck horn would not raise any other suspicion that there might be something else alive and moving in the area.
Right now, the only zombies that we have to worry about are the ones that see us, not the ones that hear us." Alex crossed his arms as if he had just delivered the most brilliant insight possible. "And I don't know about you, but I really don't plan on being seen." Liam's head hung in resignation. "Shit. I hate it when you are right." He looked again out the window at the growing number of zombies surrounding the truck across the street. Looking back at Alex he said, "So, when do we go?" Alex smiled. "Before that horn gives out." ----The rifle butt cracked against another zombies skull, crushing the bones and sending shards into the brain. The creature dropped to the ground, silent. "Got another. How many you get?" Liam smirked. "Shut up," Alex snapped. "Keep quiet and keep your eyes open." Alex's head swiveled back and forth, searching the shadows for another shambling corpse. "Seven," he whispered. Liam grinned. The two had spent the last hour creeping through the woods in a desperate attempt to avoid any walking dead in the area. Considering the number of zombies they had seen surrounding the truck earlier, both men considered themselves
pretty lucky. Only twelve zombies had crossed their path, and all of them obviously headed for the sound of the blaring truck horn now audible only in the distance. In fact they had come across these creatures almost by accident and were able to dispatch them before most of them had even become aware that the men were near, if you could consider the zombies aware at all. "It's going to start getting dark soon," Alex mentioned quietly. "What do you think we should do?" His evermoving head stopped moving for just a moment to glance in Liam's direction. Liam furrowed his brow in concentration and looked around the area quickly trying to determine exactly where they were. "We're not too far from the house. I guess we could try to move a bit faster. Maybe get there in fifteen or twenty minutes, depending on how many of those bastards we run into." Liam looked to Alex for his thoughts. Alex had stopped a few feet back, his head craning back in the direction they had come from, concern coloring his face. "Alex?" Liam asked quietly. Alex looked back to Liam. "Does it seem quiet to you?" Both men looked back towards the wrecked truck. Realization dawned on the two at the same time and their eyes went wild with fear. The truck's horn had stopped. A moan sounded from the shadows near Liam. Each man turned to face the zombie that was
crawling through the underbrush, trying to reach them. Liam swung his rifle in a devastating arc connecting with the temple of the zombies head and nearly severing it from the neck of the creature. "Shit, man," Liam cursed looking again at Alex. Alex was again looking towards the truck, fear racing across his features and his breathing rapid. "They're coming," Alex warned. Liam spun on his heels to see the hordes of dead now facing him, cloudy white eyes appearing to reflect the lowering rays of the sun. Alex turned to face Liam. "Run!" Alex began sprinting away from the massed corpses, grabbing Liam as he went by and pulling him along. "Keep your eyes open. We don't want to meet any of them ahead of us." The two men had a good head start on the approaching horde, but concerns about leading them back to the house and their families forced the two to slow their pace and try to think of a solution. Abandoning the relative cover of the treeline, Alex and Liam chose to take the path of least resistance, running down the middle of the street. Cars, both empty and not, littered the street. Most had been abandoned when the initial panic of the outbreak had hit. Some were jagged wrecks from the
collisions caused by impatient and panicky people desperate to get out in front of everyone else. These two types presented little problem other than obstacles impeding the two men's path. The worst, however, were the cars that were still occupied. These cars did not contain living souls that were still attempting to leave the area. These cars were instead inhabited by those who had been infected before getting in their cars, only to succumb to the virus and reanimate trapped behind the wheel of their vehicle. These creatures, now alerted to the presence of living flesh, began to moan their desperate hunting cry and reached from the shattered and broken windows of their car. "We can't go to the house, Liam," Alex cried, any attempt to keep quiet suddenly abandoned. "Give me your thoughts. I'm out of ideas." Alex paused momentarily to raise his gun and dispatch another zombie that was leaning out of the broken window of a car, shredding its body on the broken glass trying to reach the two of them. There was no benefit of stealth now, just a mad dash to find safety. "Come on, man! Give me something!" Alex was becoming desperate, his mind racing and at every turn coming up blank. "Crazy ideas count?" Liam called ahead of him to Alex. "Anything," Alex yelled back as he again took aim on
another zombie. "I'll take anything at this point." Liam cackled behind him. "Famous last words. Okay, try this one on. Why don't we just keep running?" Alex's snort could be heard clearly above the sounds of the zombies in the cars surrounding them. "And what, if you don't mind me asking, will that accomplish?" "Well, the way I see it," Liam said, "we at least won't be taking them back to the house. Sounds like the best idea we've got. And considering it's all we've got, I say we go with it." Both men ran on in silence for a moment. They were approaching the street that would take them to Liam's house and their families. Both men slowed at the corner and stopped, glancing in the direction of their loved ones. "You in good shape?" Alex asked. Liam's smile spread across his face. "Looks like we're going for a jog." Each man looked towards the house and waved in that direction. Alex held his hand out to Liam and the men shook. "Glad to have you with me. I have always said you were one of! the most creative people I know." The men turned to face the approaching mass of bodies. Alex knelt and they took aim at the nearest zombies. "We should probably make sure they will follow us, don't you think?" The crack and pop of their guns echoes through the streets. -----
"What are they doing?" Morgan screamed. The gunfire from Alex and Liam could be heard from down the street and drew everyone to the window. Everyone crowded around the window peering out at the scene before them. Alex and Liam continued to fire stopping only to reload their rifles. Each man took care to sight each approaching creature, dropping a zombie with every pull of the trigger. There was a crack each second, taking time to ensure that their aim was accurate. After what seemed an eternity, the first of the zombies appeared around the corner in their pursuit of the two men. Those in the house watched as Liam stopped firing and placed a hand on Alex's shoulder. The two of them began running in the opposite direction of the approaching creatures, continuing down the street and not towards the house. "Where are they going? Where are they going?!" Morgan started to become hysterical and began to reach for the door. Sam pulled her away from the door and held her wrists to keep her there. "Let go of me. You're hurting me," she cried. "Stop it, Morgan. You know what they are doing and you know they have to do it." Sam looked again towards the window. "If they were to come here they would bring every one of those zombies with them." Paula hurried to Morgan's side to place a comforting arm around her daughter. "Holy Christ..." Sam said. Josh Morgan, Liam's coworker, rushed past them to the
window. Pulling aside the curtains he gasped; there were hundreds of zombies outside, all of them heading down the street in the direction that Alex and Liam had gone. "Everyone upstairs." He turned back to face everyone. "Everyone upstairs, now!" Pulling closed the window curtains, Josh hurried to shuffle everyone from the front room. Trinity was trying to help Paula and Sam with Morgan who was still fighting desperately to get to the door. "Let me go. Alex is out there and I need to help him. Dammit, don't any of you care?!" Morgan wrenched her arms away from her father and ran in the direction of the front door. Josh caught her in mid stride, lifting her bodily from the floor and shoving her back into Sam's outstretched arms. "Morgan, stop! Stop it, Morgan! What about Gemma? Huh? What would Alex want you to do about Gemma?" Sam was struggling to keep a grip on his daughter, his age suddenly showing as he wrestled to keep control of her. Josh's wife, Stacey, appeared in front of Morgan holding her daughter Gemma. Morgan's will broke and she sagged in Sam's arms sliding to the floor. "Can't you see that he's doing this to protect you," Sam softly spoke. "Can't you see he is trying to protect Gemma and the rest of us? He wouldn't want you or any of us to go out there. He and Liam are trying to keep us out of the danger. If you leave this
house, then you have destroyed everything they are trying to protect." Silent sobs racked Morgan's body. She wasn't sure that she could go on. "Upstairs," Josh repeated, motioning for them all to take refuge in the one place that might save them. "Liam and Alex aren't stupid. They'll figure out a way to get back here and won't take any unnecessary chances. We've got to be ready when they get here." Morgan looked up at him from the floor, tears staining her cheeks and falling in her lap. "Promise?" she asked, hopelessness tainting her voice. "Sure, I promise," Josh relented. "As long as it gets you in the attic," he whispered to himself. Paula and Stacey helped Morgan from the floor and one by one they all climbed the stairs into the attic. Josh was the last to go and he pulled the stairs up behind him. ----"I'm not so sure this was such a great idea," Alex said as he squeezed the trigger of his rifle. Another zombie's head exploded in a cloud of bone and gray matter. "I never said it was great, just said it was an idea." Liam's riffle cracked twice in quick succession. The zombies were so close now that it was almost impossible to miss. "You
were the one that agreed to do it, so don't complain." The proximity of the creatures was both a blessing and curse. While it provided the opportunity for the men to fire quickly and with a high degree of accuracy, it also meant that the zombies were closing in on them and their supply of ammunition was running dangerously low. "I've come up with the last two ideas. Your turn." Zombies were now surrounding the two men, cutting off any easy route of escape. If they were going to get out of this spot, they were going to have to find a way to fight their way out. "I'm not sure there is a way to fix this one, Liam. How's your ammo?" The click of an empty rifle sounded behind Alex and he paused briefly in his firing to check on his friend. "You have some damned bad timing, man. I'm out." Liam flipped his rifle over turning the high powered firearm into an expensive club. "Time to do this the old fashioned way." Liam took a few steps forward and swung the rifle like a baseball bat. The arc was wide and connected with two zombies, crushing their skulls and dropping them to the ground. "This'll be interesting." Alex continued to fire with the remaining ammo he had forcing himself to make every shot count. "Do you think we drew them away from the house?"
"Man, take a look around. I think we got every dead bastard in the county here with us. Yeah, I'd say at least THAT part of our plan worked." Another swing, another wet crack, and another zombie collapsed at Liam's feet. "This isn't looking good, Alex." The first notes of concern were creeping into Liam's voice. If Liam was worried, Alex knew they were in trouble. Alex's rifle cracked again punching a small hole in the zombie nearest to him, then the rifle clicked empty. His hand groped for the pouch containing ammo for the rifle, but his had came away empty. He was out of bullets. "That's it, Liam. We're out of ammo." Grabbing the barrel of his useless rifle, Alex began clubbing the creatures as they approached. Both Liam and Alex tried to meet the creatures as far away from the center of their ever closing circle, desperate to keep as much free area for them to fall back into. The space was growing smaller by the second. "I don't think we are going to make it out of this one, man." Liam's voice was shaky as if he was fighting back an almost uncontrollable terror inside him. Alex could not blame him at all. Alex could not even speak around the terror that seized him. Take out as many as they could to make it easier for Morgan and Trinity back at the house. This is what the two men resigned themselves to do.
Ten feet of open space. More zombies crowded in, their moans at a deafening pitch now. Eight feet. Body after body slumped to the ground, some moving still, but most remained still. Six feet... A car engine roared to near Alex and gunshots rang out. The sound of dozens of bodies slamming into a car and someone whooping filled the air, covering the moans of the dead creatures bearing down on the two of them. Alex's eyes glanced to his left just as a large Ford pickup truck, its brush guard and over sized wheels covered in gore, tore a path straight through the mass of zombies, narrowly missing Liam and Alex in its destructive path. There were three young men standing in the bed of the pickup truck, each holding a rifle or shotgun and blindly firing into the crowd of walking dead. A blast issued from the shotgun and Alex heard Liam yell. ! "I'm hit," he cried and Alex could see the trickle of blood spilling from beneath the fingers which held his left arm. Liam's rifle clattered to the ground and he stood defenseless. Alex's fight-or-flight instincts took control and he spun around to aid his wounded friend. Three swings of his empty rifle cleared the immediate area from around his friend and Alex gasped for air to speak. The mass of zombies had been thinned in
to the south of them and Alex latched onto the only opportunity for escape. "Get your butt in gear, let's go." Alex grabbed Liam by the arm eliciting a painful yelp from his friend. Swinging his rifle one handed, Alex began to clear a path through the zombies trying to get the two of them through the mass into a clearing. And the clearing was getting smaller very fast. The last of the creatures blocking their way to relative safety dropped and Alex pulled Liam through the opening. The truck with the young men had turned around and was heading back towards Alex and Liam, rifles blazing and engine roaring. The truck turned towards Alex, heading straight for the two men, throwing corpses in every direction. At the last moment Alex pulled himself and Liam out of the way of the truck, narrowly escaping the murderous path of the vehicle. The truck sped by continuing down the street for thirty yards before slamming on the brakes and cutting the wheel to turn back around. Alex looked up from where he lay on the ground and locked eyes with the!driver. The man was grinning and had murder in his eyes. He revved the engine twice and released the brakes. A cloud of smoke erupted from the tires as the truck lurched forward again. Scrambling to his feet Alex struggled to get Liam
moving. Both men began a mad dash away from the mob at their back and perpendicular to the path of the truck barreling down on them. Alex and Liam were able to scramble around the side of a house before the truck could reach them, forcing the driver to turn away and enter again into the horde of zombies behind them. "What the fuck are they doing?!" Liam yelled. A rifle cracked and a bullet sounded off the wall above their heads. "Christ, man! They're trying to kill us!" "Let's go," Alex said with more calm than either of them thought possible. Carefully this time, he pulled on Liam's arm, escorting him around the front of the house and across the porch. Both men hugged the wall trying to keep as low a profile as they could from both the zombies and men in the truck. A volley of rifle and gun fire rang out and both men flinched, ducking for the ground. There were now bullets that struck near them and Alex realized that the men in the truck were firing on the mass of zombies they had driven into. Over the noise Alex could faintly hear someone yell for the driver to "turn around and get those bastards!" Alex assumed the bastards were Liam and himself. "Shit, man! What do we do?" Liam was panicking now, unable to think clearly or logically. "We now use them as a decoy." Alex smiled a wicked
smile. It unnerved Liam. "Come on, around the corner of the house." Keeping low to the ground and moving fast, both men ducked around the corner of the far side of the porch. Moving as quickly as they could while still keeping an eye out for zombies, the two men raced for the fence of the backyard and ran inside. A shotgun blast sounded behind them and buckshot scattered off the fence they had just crossed, well behind their escape to cause much concern. "Head for the adjacent corner. We'll duck through the backyards and make our way to your house. If those guys stay in the truck, then they won't be able to follow us easy. Just keep your head down and let's try to stay out of sight." Crouching low, the men ran through the backyard and quickly scaled the fence into the adjacent neighbor's yard. They could hear more gunshots and a lot of cursing coming from the truck on the road behind them, but no shots came close to the two men as they scaled fence after fence. Every other fence Alex could hear one of the men shout "there they are," and the tires of the truck would squeal as they attempted to out flank Alex and Liam. Being on foot and not restricted to the streets, the two men were able to continuously change their direction and avoid the shooters. After almost forty-five minutes of this
chasing around, Liam and Alex were finally able to enter the backyard across the street from Liam and Trinity's house. The men peered through cracks in the fence at their destination. Liam turned his head from side to side, listening for the whereabouts of the truck and their pursuers. "You think we should make a run for it?" Liam finally asked looking back at Alex. They could hear the truck close by, probably on the other side of the block judging from the direction the sound of the engine was coming from. Alex thought a moment before answering. "What other choice do we have?" His shoulders shrugged in resignation and acceptance. They were fifty yards from safety and neither man knew if they were going to make it. "Where is the gate to this fence?" Alex and Liam looked around the yard, finally spotting the gate granting access to the yard on the other side of the house. Staring at one another the men weighed their options. "That's going to be a long run from around the other side of the house, but it would probably be quicker than climbing the fence," Alex said. "Not to mention we would be completely exposed as we scaled the fence. There is not a decent tree to provide cover anywhere in this yard." Alex was looking around desperately, trying to come up with a better plan. Nothing came to mind.
"Alright then," Liam said. "I guess we make a run for it. We'll be exposed on the north side of the house when we come through the gate, but once we get around that first corner we should have some protection. We just run like hell and pray." Alex slapped Liam on his good shoulder. "You ready for this, old man?" he chuckled. "Ready and able to outrun your fat ass," Liam jabbed. "Let's get this over with. I need a shower." The two men crept across the yard and stopped at the gate leading into the front yard. They paused for a moment trying to determine the position of the truck. The two could hear the truck in the near distance, but were unable to determine its exact location. "Well," Liam said. "No time like the present." In one fluid motion, Liam stood and opened the gate to the yard. The latch released with a loud metallic clang that resounded farther than either man would have liked. Throwing open the gate with his good arm, Liam began sprinting along the side of the house, head down, looking for any obstacle that might trip him up. Alex was only two steps behind. Alex and Liam were only six feet from the corner of the house when they heard the first shot ring out. The bullet flew wide and struck a car that was parked in the driveway,
sparks shooting out from the impact. A second and third shot issued in quick succession as the two men raced around the corner of the house, each bullet missing its intended target by mere inches. They hugged against the wall as closely as they could trying to provide the smallest target to the attackers behind them. Shots rang out, faster each time as the shooters began to zero their aim on their prey. Liam rounded the corner on the other side of the house and fell to the ground, tripped up by what Alex believed to be a bullet. The moan that went up froze his blood. A zombie with the lower half of its body in shreds, lay just around the corner of the house. Its outstretched arms had tripped Liam in mid stride causing him to lose his balance and fall hard to the ground, landing awkwardly on his injured shoulder. He let out a cry of surprise and pain as fresh blood from the newly injured shoulder poured on the ground. The zombie struggled to pull its ravaged body towards Liam. Alex leapt over the moving corpse as it reached out for Liam's foot and pulled his friend away. Another shot rang out, this time from behind them. The bullet passed by Alex's ear, the pressure from its passage making his ear ache before it slammed into the zombie. The creatures head disintegrated into a pool of blackened wetness.
"Shit," Alex thought. "They're behind us." Alex continued to pull Liam in the direction of the house, desperation the only motivation driving him at this point. More shots, but from in front of him again. Alex looked up to see the truck bearing down on he and his injured friend. A whispered prayer went up. The windshield in front of the driver cracked and his head snapped back. Blood sprayed the inside of the windshield and the truck lurched to the right, slamming into the curb and throwing the truck off balance. The forward momentum carried the truck past its tipping point and the truck rolled throwing the men standing in the bed of the truck through the air. Surprised yelps escaped the lips of the men before they were replaced by shouts of pain when then hit the ground. Gunfire cracked behind Alex and one of the young men clutched his throat, blood spraying from the destroyed artery in his neck. His cries were replaced by gurgling wet screams as he collapsed, writhing on the ground. "Get in the house" someone yelled from behind Alex. "Get in the house now!" More gunfire from the house behind him and Alex turned. On the roof was a lone man, assault rifle raised and fire spilling from the barrel of the gun each time the trigger was squeezed. "Thank you," Alex gasped and bent to pick Liam from
the ground. With a strength he never thought he could have, Alex threw Liam's good arm over his shoulders and carried the wounded man across the street towards the house. Gunfire erupted behind him, the shots sounding off the roof and brick sides of the house. The door opened in front of them and Sam rushed out to meet him. "Come on," Sam yelled and grabbed Liam to help him inside. Liam cried out at the pain from Sam's help and nearly passed out. Between the two of them, Alex and Sam were able to get Liam inside. The door slammed closed behind them and after a few intense moments the sounds of gunfire died down from outside. "I told you it wasn't a great idea," Liam snarked just before he fell unconscious.
CHAPTER FOUR Refuge
Alex was vaguely aware of whispered voices in the room. He could not quite hear what was being said, but he knew that someone was having a very heated argument about something. The fog in his mind began to lift, and Alex was able to make out what was going on. "We need to get out of here, and we need to get out now." "Are you serious? Have you seen those things out there? They're everywhere. We need to stay where we are." "If we stay where we are, we are going to die either way. I'd rather take my chances fighting than stay here and starve to death." "We have plenty of food for a long, long time. We
aren't going to starve..." "You don't know how long we are going to be here. It could be days, months, or even years! And how much food do we really have, even if we went to bare rations now..." "I'm not going out there..." "Then stay here!" Alex lurched from his position on the bed, disrupting the argument taking place in the door of his room. Everyone stopped abruptly and turned toward Alex, a bit shocked to see him awake. Morgan came rushing to his side. "Are you okay, Alex? Where do you hurt? What do you need?" Alex held a hand to stop her before she could ask anymore questions. "I'm fine, Morgan...I think." Looking towards the others in the doorway he asked, "How long have I been asleep?" "Almost three hours," Sam answered. "Liam is in the other room still out. Trinity and Stacey are keeping an eye on him." Alex shook his head to clear the cobwebs. "How is he? Was the gunshot wound bad?" There was concern in Alex's voice, but only a small part of that concern was for the gunshot wound. "Does he have any fever? Is he unconscious? What exactly..."
Sam interrupted Alex's string of questions. "You're almost as bad as Morgan with your questions. To answer your questions, Liam is going to be fine. There is only a slight fever and the wound was minor. It went straight through without hitting anything major--no bones or cartilage, just some fat and muscle and it nicked a vein or two. Good thing your mother-inlaw's an RN. She patched him up in no time." Sam turned and came in the doorway unblocking the way through. "You want to go see him?" Alex pulled the covers from around him and swung his legs to the floor. "I need to see him. And we've got to talk about how to handle this in the future. We may not be out of the woods concerning this just yet." Everyone in the room looked at each other confused, not sure what he was talking about. "Liam's going to be fine," Morgan said trying to calm Alex's suspicions. "Mom cleaned up the wound and we even found some left over antibiotics in the medicine cabinet." Alex tried to stand and had to grab on to Morgan's shoulder to steady himself. His head was swimming and the room was spinning around him. Bile rose up in Alex's throat. "I'm going to be sick," Alex said and was given a bucket in just enough time to keep him from retching on the floor. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand Alex said, "Get
me up and in to see Liam. The gunshot is the last of our worries." Alex motioned for someone to give him a hand and both Sam and Josh crossed the room to get him. With one on each his sides, Alex was helped to his feet and escorted out the door of his room. Trinity and Stacey were holding vigil at the side of Liam's bed. Trinity's eyes were red and her cheeks were stained from the tears which had so soon stopped falling. At the sound of someone entering the room, both women turned to see who was coming. The room was dark and were lit by only two candles burning on the nightstands flanking the bed. The flickering light cast jumping shadows across the face of everyone in the room and only amplified the worry on Alex's face. Trinity forced a small smile and asked, "Alex, I'm glad to see you're up. Are you okay?" Alex eyes raised from his injured friend to meet Trinity's. He did not answer her immediately and aside from his eye contact, one would not even believe that Alex had heard the question at all. After a moment of awkward silence, Alex shrugged off the help of the two men and spoke. "Everyone needs to leave the room except for Trinity. Make sure you close the door behind you." Alex's eyes glanced at Stacey, then to the other men and women standing around the room
before falling again on Trinity. "Now, please." "Alex, what are you..." Trinity began to protest, but was quickly interrupted by Alex. "Trinity, I need you to make sure everyone is out of the room and the door is closed. I'll explain everything in a moment, but not before everyone is out of the room. Please." All of Alex's concern and urgency shone through his eyes and the weight that seemed to press down on his shoulders. "Please, Trinity. I need your help." Trinity's breathing quickened and a look of panic crossed her face. Her gaze flicked quickly and sporadically between the confused and almost angry faces of those gathered in the room. She opened her mouth to protest what Alex had requested, but stopped before uttering anything. She eyes locked with Alex's and in an instant she understood what he was asking. Trinity's body shuddered and her knees gave out beneath her. Trinity slumped to the floor and Stacey quickened to her side to help, but Trinity held up a hand to stop her where she was. Looking around the room once more she spoke. "I need everyone to leave the room, please." Trinity locked eyes with Alex again and everyone in the room began to protest at once. A wave of Trinity's hand stopped them all mid-sentence. "Please. Everyone out." And looking to Stacey, "And
make sure the door is closed behind you." Against their better judgements, everyone exited the room. Stacey was the last to leave and she pulled the door silently closed behind her. ----"Trinity?" Alex's voice was soft and calming. "Trinity, you know why, don't you?" Trinity's breathing had slowed some, but was still fast and she stared down at her husband laying in bed unconscious. "If one of those things out there got to him, then there is no way to save him...no hope at all." Her voice quivered and her breath caught in her throat. She turned her head to gaze at Alex. "And if he was hurt by one of them, then what do we do? What do we do?" she pleaded. Alex took Trinity's hand and squeezed it gently. "Then we help him in the only way we can." A tear escaped Trinity's eye and she sniffed trying to hold back the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm her. "Okay," Trinity said as she looked down on her love once more. "What do we need to do?" Alex squeezed Trinity's hand one more time then reached for the blankets covering his friend. Carefully he removed the blankets and the two began searching Liam's body for
any wounds that they knew he could never recover from. ----"What the hell is this all about?" Stacey cursed as she closed the door behind her. "What are those two doing in there?" Everyone in the room shrugged, all of them as confused as Stacey. Each of them sat in silence as one minute stretched into five, then ten. Thirty minutes became an hour and everyone waited in silence, listening for any sounds coming from the room. When the time reached nearly an hour and a half everyone was startled by a sudden cry from the room and sobbing. They all met each others gaze and Stacey turned to force her way back into the room when the door opened and Alex stepped out. No one spoke, but simply stared at Alex as he made his way to the couch and sat down in the almost complete darkness of the room. After a moment of stillness Alex put his head in his hands and his shoulders began shaking. He started to sob. Everyone rushed to Alex and began asking at the same time what had happened in the room. Alex was shaking his head and trying to get everyone to stop asking questions while he composed himself enough to speak. "He'll be fine," Alex squeaked. "He'll be fine..." and Alex's voice cracked waves of relief washed over him and he
cried uncontrollably. Morgan put her arms around Alex and hugged him tightly trying to provide him with the warmth and support he desperately needed. Everyone gathered in the main room gave Alex the time he needed to release the tension and concern that had been building up in him. After a few minutes Alex's sobs began to weaken and he was able to gain control of his emotions. He wiped the tears away from his eyes and took a deep breath before speaking. "We had to check him...we had to check Liam to make sure he wasn't wounded. Wounded from the zombies, that is." Alex took another deep, rasping breath and continued. "You have to understand. If someone is wounded or injured by one of those creatures, then there is no help. There is no cure or chance of survival. The virus that is carried by the zombies is highly contagious and cannot be cured. There is no immunity for it and it will kill the host, sometimes in a matter of hours before reanimating the body as another zombie." Alex gazed at each of the people in the room, stopping at each of them to drive home his point. "The only cure is to...well, put a bullet in their head." Everyone gasped and pulled back away from Alex, horrified at what he had just said to them. "Surely you aren't serious? There has to be something..." Paula began.
Alex stopped her. "No. There is absolutely nothing that can be done to save them. Nothing." Alex stared at his feet and finished. "One hundred percent casualty rate. That's it." Alex leaned back and settled into the cushions on the couch. He places his head in his hand, ending all discussion. "Stacey, Trinity needs someone. Would you mind?" Alex looked tired and seemed as if he was ten years older. "I'll make sure she's okay," Stacey said and headed into the room. No one seemed willing to speak for a while and it was finally Alex that spoke. "Everyone here needs to realize something and you need to come to terms with this fact or none of us have a chance of surviving this." Alex looked to each one of those gathered as he spoke. "If anyone, in this group or that we meet out there is injured by one of those creatures, there is only one option available to us. That person MUST be killed, their brain destroyed." Someone gasped in the room, taken aback by what Alex had just said. "If that person is infected, there is only one option, and that is to kill them as quickly as possible. The virus will quickly spread through the host and they will become a danger to everyone near them." "But Alex," Morgan asked. "Isn't there a way to know if the person is infected? Isn't there a way to make sure?"
Alex thought for a moment before answering. "There is one way, but we need a dog." Someone in the room snickered and everyone turned to see who the culprit was. "Seriously?" Josh chuckled. "A dog? And just what do we do with this dog." Josh was skeptical of Alex's suggestion and he stood across the room, staring a challenge down at Alex. "Actually," Alex began with a serious, matter-of-fact tone, "nothing." Josh snorted and feigned shock. "So why do we need the damn dog?" Josh's scorn was almost overwhelming. "Well, Josh," Alex said, "dogs can actually detect the infection in people. Plain and simple." Josh threw up his hands in disgust. "Come on, are you serious? And just how could you know this? So far nothing has worked right, everything has been fucked, Liam has been shot and now this moron," Josh indicated Sam, "wants us to walk out the door into that shit because...why?" Sam looked as though he could have killed. His gazed locked onto Josh and the effort to keep from hitting the man was visible. "I told you," Sam said through gritted teeth, "that we have to get to some place that we can defend better and be able to stock resources for a long time if needed." Josh interrupted Sam trying to push his buttons. "And
just why can't we defend this place? And speaking of resources, we are close to everything that we need right here." Josh threw up his hands in a challenge to Sam. "And just where do you expect us to go, even if we could get out the door without those things out there catching us?" "I told you, I don't know..." Sam started, but was again interrupted before he could finish. "Oh," Josh said, still mocking Sam, "but you think that we should leave anyway; pray for the best, right?" He was trying to get a rise out of Sam, and it was working. Sam's anger reached the boiling point with Josh. Sam was Josh's senior by over thirty years and could not stand for the insolence that the young man was showing. Sam's fists clenched and he began walking across the room. Josh just smiled wider, happy that he had accomplished his goal. A hand on Sam's shoulder stopped him immediately. Alex was standing next to Sam holding Josh's gaze, his hand the only thing keeping either man from entering into a fist fight there in the living room. "Sam is right. We need to get out of this place." Josh chuckled at Alex. "And just why is that, huh? Your father-in-law can't give me a reason, and I doubt that you could give me a decent reason either. But let's give you the benefit of the doubt...hit
me with it." Josh crossed his arms and waited for Alex to speak. Alex eased his grip from Sam's shoulder and motioned for him to step back. "Well, Josh," Alex began, using the same matter-offact tone that one would expect form someone describing something that happened everyday. "It's all about supply and demand. The supply is the still living population and the demand is from zombies wanting that supply. The greatest concentration of people are in cities. The larger the city, the larger the population and the greater the supply. A large supply in a relatively dense area, with a contagion that spreads quickly and completely means that the population of that area will quickly be used up, creating zombies in their place. The more people, the greater the number of zombies. And the number will only grow exponentially." Alex's hands flashed through the air as if he were explaining something exciting and fun. "Inversely, if you were to be in a large area with a small population, the chances of spreading the contagion would be less so, giving everyone in that area a -- how should I say -- buffer zone?" Alex emphasized this with a shrug of his shoulders. "More distance between people, less chance of contact with the living or the dead, more chance of survival." Alex turned to each of the people in the room checking
their faces to see if anyone questioned his logic. There was only one. "Bullshit," Josh spat. "Utter bullshit. You are not taking us out there to be slaughtered by those things," and Josh placed his hand on a pistol that was hung on his belt. "I won't let you." "Shut up, Josh!" A voice from behind everyone startled the group. All eyes turned to meet those of Liam who was standing in the doorway of his bedroom, supported on both sides by Trinity and Stacey. "You haven't seen these things up close and you don't understand what we are up against. Alex and I have, and I can tell you Alex is right. We have to get out of this place." Liam met Alex's eyes. "And the sooner, the better." Alex nodded his ascent as did many of the others. Josh still held out resistance. "Christ, man! Do you realize what you are sending us into? We are going to die out there..." "We are going to die in here!" Liam shouted and nearly collapsed into Trinity's arms. "Those things are going to find a way in, either by luck or through sheer numbers. We don't have the ammunition, defenses, or the food supply to last here if we face what Alex and I saw today. We have to get out of here." "And where do we go?" Josh shouted. "Fuck that, how the hell do we get there? Have you thought about that? We don't
have enough cars to get us anywhere and even if we did, with what you two are telling us, we won't even be able to get out in cars." Josh's eyes were like daggers at Alex. "What's your plan for that genius?" "Simple," Alex said calmer than anyone would have thought. "We get a truck. A really big truck." ----All of the women had been asleep for hours now, too exhausted to even let the sound of nearby zombies keep them awake. Alex, Liam, Sam and Josh, however, had been in a quiet, but very heated discussion about what exactly they were going to do. Josh had stopped trying to convince anyone to stay where they were. Liam had suggested his family's farm in Eustance, TX about eighty miles southeast of Dallas. Even Josh agreed that there was a significant enough distance from any major populated areas to provide them with some form of buffer zone. Provided what Alex was saying was correct. With the destination agreed upon, the men set about to come up with a plan of how to get there. Of course, no one agreed. "I don't understand why we can't just get in to a couple of cars and drive there. Nothing is moving on the roads except for the zombies, and they can either be outrun or run
over. It's a win-win situation." Josh's attempts at pushing everyone's buttons had subsided, but he still felt the need to try and prove he was right in every decision. "Are you kidding? Any truck we get into will draw those things from miles around. Get enough of them blocking the road and surrounding the car and you are screwed. Jesus, can't you understand that?" Sam's frustration with Josh was still as strong as it had been hours before. Sam looked on the younger man as a showoff and know-it-all, and Sam could not stand those traits in anyone. Especially when they presented themselves at the same time. Liam and Alex sat quietly listening to the to men argue back and forth. Or at least, that's what Sam and Josh thought they were doing. In reality, Alex and Liam had already quietly plotted out just how they were going to get out of the city and make their way up north. Their only sticking point was where to find what they were looking for. "God dammit, boy! You think you know everything don't you." Sam's lost what self control he had remaining and yelled at Josh. "This isn't about you. It is about everyone here. We have to look out for everyone, not just your ass." Josh was also losing his composure for the first time today, his face flushing red and murder flashing in his eyes.
"Listen, old man," the words were spit out with such disdain and contempt that Alex winced. "If you send us out there you are going to get us all killed, and I'll be damned if I let that happen to me and my wife." Both men were looking for a fight and it was only a matter of time before someone started throwing punches if no one stepped in. "Lookin' out for your own ass and don't give a shit about anyone else. That's just what I would expect of a selfish pissant like you!" Spit flew from Sam's lips and he jabbed the air with his finger to drive home his point. Josh jumped up from his seat and drew back his fist to punch Sam. Liam stepped in front of Josh while Alex moved to block Sam. "Okay, gentlemen," Alex said. "I think that we are all getting just a little worked up here," and Alex gently pushed Sam back down in the chair. "I think that both of you are trying to come up with the best ideas possible, it's just that all of your ideas are shit." Alex spoke casually as if what he were saying was in no way offensive or inflamatory to the situation. "While you two have been bickering and arguing over what we are not going to do, Liam and I have decided the best course of action." "Sit down, Josh" Liam said to his friend. He was still weak, but was ready to do whatever it took to keep peace among
everyone in the room. "Sit down Josh, or I will put you down." Josh snapped his gaze away from Sam and stared hard at Liam. Alex moved to stand just over Liam's left shoulder, prepared to back up his friend if necessary. Josh eased his posture and retreated slightly. "So this is how it's going to be?" Josh asked as if he had been hurt. "Nothing that I have to say will be considered, it's just up to the three of you." "Actually, just Liam and I," Alex chimed in. "Shut up," Josh snapped at Alex. Liam stepped closer to Josh and squared his shoulders to the man. "Sit down. Sit down now," Liam said, pointing at the chair behind Josh. "Your opinions, both of them, have been heard. And they are both crap. I know where we have to go and Alex knows how to get there. So shut the fuck up before we have an issue here." Josh huffed out a breath and stared each man in the eye before resigning to his seat. He crossed his arms and looked as if he were about to pout. "So what IS this brilliant plan that the Wonder Twins have devised to get us killed?" Josh's voice contained only sarcasm and a hatred. "Well, we had only planned for you to get killed..." Liam began. Josh jumped in his seat and Alex put a firm hand on
his shoulder to keep him where he was. "Liam is messing with you, Josh. No one is going to die, not if we all follow through with the plan." Alex could feel Josh's tension ease in his body and took a step back from the man. "Everything has been planned out except for the transportation. At least the major part of the transportation." Josh looked between the two men standing in front of him. "Just what do you need?" The sarcasm was fading from his voice and he almost sounded as if he were willing to help with the preparation. Liam and Alex looked to one another and smiled. "Any idea where we can get a semi truck?" ----Josh and Sam spent the next forty-five minutes listening to Alex and Liam as they detailed their plan to get everyone to Eustance safely. They would commandeer a semi truck, load everyone in the back of the trailer with enough food, supplies and ammunition to get them to the Beard family farm and, as quickly as the roads would allow, make their way north. A second truck would follow the semi carrying two to three people who would be used to draw off approaching zombies and help to thin out any crowds of gathered dead that would most assuredly mass around the truck. It was the hope that the semi, if driven carefully, would be able to navigate the chocked
highways by either driving the shoulders and dividers, or gently pushing its way through the mass of cars. Both Alex and Liam admitted that there were lots of unknown variables that they would probably meet along the way, and hoped and prayed that they would be able to handle anything that cropped up until they could reach the farm. Those who were in the back of the truck would be able to take care of any zombies who might crowd around the back of the truck, and a retaining wall of bags filled with dirt and mud would provide them with added protection and safety. Josh and Sam listened intently for the majority, only interrupting here and there to interject something, ask a question or to get clarification. At the end of the description of what they wanted to do, everyone remained still and quiet for a minute or two, digesting what was said. Josh broke the silence. "You're going to need more people," he said. "We'll never be able to pull that off with just the eight of us..." "Nine," Alex interrupted. "Gemma can help." Josh shook his head, dismissing the idea immediately. "It's all well and good to say that your daughter can help, but this is serious. She'll never be able to perform out there the way that she would have to in order to do any good. I mean no
offense, but if you insist on her helping, she will actually do more harm than good. She's just a kid; let her stay that way just a little longer." Alex blushed and started to protest before he stopped himself. "You're right, Josh. On both accounts. But if we need more people, where do we get them from?" Alex was stumped and honestly did not know what to do next. "Now who's being self centered?" Josh mocked. "There are more people still alive out there than just those of us confined to this house. We advertise, and see what we get. They'll have to provide for themselves and anyone who can't will have to be left here. There's nothing that can be done about that." "That's not an option and you know it," Sam snapped. "If there are people out there and they want to come, we will take them, no matter how useless you think they may be." Sam's face flared red again, and he was not going to compromise on this. "We can't save everyone," Liam piped in. "It's just not practical or logical. We can only take those who are going to give something back to the group; not just on the way there, but once we are at the farm. Those without any useful skills will only be a drain..."
"Do you even hear yourself? We are talking about intentionally leaving people here to die..." Alex interrupted his father-in-law. "It can't be helped," Alex said, again with his matter of fact, this is the way it is tone in his voice. "To save everyone that we come across would do nothing but overburden our resources. Instead of helping them, we would be condemning them to certain death, as well as everyone else who is with us." Alex put his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, staring hard into Sam's eyes. "The great ideals of 'what can you do for your country' are dead. As dead as those things walking around out there. You'll see real quick that everyone is going to be looking out for number one." As if to accentuate his last statement, the front window exploded in glass shards and a hail of bullets began eating at the wall. The crack and pop of gunfire echoed just outside the house and everyone dived to the floor to escape the death that was flying just over their heads. More glass shattered, this time smaller as if a glass bottle had broken on the floor. Orange flames erupted in the front room of the house from the bottle that had just smashed against the wall. "Fuck!" Liam shouted and began crawling across the floor towards the kitchen. "Somebody tell the girls to get on
the floor and stay in that room." Liam snaked around the corner of the kitchen, moving surprisingly fast for someone who had only hours ago been shot. Sam rolled and crawled towards the back bedroom to take care of the women and Josh and Alex grabbed for the nearest weapon they could find. Josh grabbed his M4 rifle and rolled until his view had cleared the hall corner and he could see into the front yard of the house. "Shit! There's a whole truck full of them," and Josh squeezed the trigger of his rifle, dropping one of the gunmen who was careless enough to be standing in the open. Liam reappeared from the kitchen, wet towels on his shoulders and two pots filled with water in each hand. "Cover me!" he yelled as he ducked his head and ran down the hall towards the front of the house. The flames were quickly crawling up to the ceiling and would engulf the house in flames before too much longer. Once Liam passed through Josh's line of fire, the M4 cracked again, followed quickly by two more shots. Alex flattened himself against the wall and steadied his aim before firing is own .22 rifle out the destroyed front window. Liam ducked behind the front door, just missing the incoming fire from the attackers outside. "When I count to three," Liam shouted back to Josh and Alex, "lay down heavy fire
for five seconds. Once you stop, I'm going to douse the flames." Both Alex and Josh nodded once to indicate they had understood. "One...two...three!" Both Alex and Josh pulled the triggers of their rifles as quickly as they could, emptying their rifles of their ammunition. When the rifles clicked empty, Liam jumped up from his position and threw both pots of water on the rising fire. The flames sputtered and Liam again threw himself back against the front door. Taking the wet towels from his shoulders, Liam proceeded to pinpoint the small pockets of flame still clinging to the wall. With pinpoint accuracy he was able to knock out most of the remaining flames. The gunfire from outside increased and Liam had to crouch into a corner and cover his head from the flying debris. A bullet struck the wall just above Josh's head. "The fire's out," Liam yelled. "Get me out of here!" Alex and Josh let loose another volley of heavy gunfire as Liam raced back up the hallway, hugging the wall to provide the lowest profile possible. Their guns clicked empty just as Liam was about to cross their one of fire. "The fire's out," Liam repeated over the sound of the guns outside. "Now what do we do?" Alex shoved the rifle he had been holding into Liam's hands. "Keep them busy," he said and rounded the corner into the
next room. Alex grabbed Liam's Kel-Tec Sub 2000 9mm rifle from the room and as many magazines as he could stick in his pockets. Then Alex headed into the garage. A moment later Liam and Josh could hear the attic stairs being lowered followed by footsteps in the attic. The sound of a circular saw buzzed to life above them.! "What the hell is he doing?" Josh asked between shots of his M4. "Beats me," Liam replied, just as confused as Josh was. Thirty seconds later and the sound of something heavy slammed to the rafters in the attic. "Hey Alex," Liam yelled, "I don't think destroying my house is going to make them leave!" Footsteps pounded across the rooftop and the sound of a 9mm rifle rang out from above. The attackers outside were thrown into confusion and chaos as Alex rained down pinpoint accurate fire on them. The laser sight on the Kel-Tec Subcompact and his vantage point from the roofline gave Alex an overwhelming advantage against the men in their trucks outside. And in the darkness, hidden below the roofline, the attackers could not locate him. Alex shot five out of the eight remaining men before the wounded and dead were abandoned by the others in their hurry to flee. Alex remained at guard on the rooftop for another four or five minutes before
relaxing his attention. The moans of the walking dead could be heard in the near distance, and the sounds were getting closer. "You didn't have to try and cut down my house, man" Alex looked back to see Liam with his head poking out through the hole in his roof that Alex had just cut. "Needed a better vantage point," Alex smirked. "Seemed to be the best place." Alex looked back over the front of the rooftop at the carnage that had just taken place. "We had better get that front room locked down," Alex said as he turned back to Liam. "We are going to have company soon, of a different variety." ----Within minutes the front room had been secured with whatever they could find as well as they could get it. The dining room table, desks, couches and chairs had been piled and braced with whatever items could be found and utilized. The problem did not come from! the hole in the front of the house, it was the wounded men outside the house. "We can't just leave them there, Alex!" Morgan was screaming at her husband, furious at was he had suggested. "They are dying, and those zombies are coming. They will be killed if we don't help them." "And just what, exactly, is the problem with that?"
Alex had been able to keep his cool all night, but when Morgan started yelling at him that they should go outside and help those wounded men, Alex couldn't keep his temper in check. "Those people out there were trying to kill us, trying to kill Gemma, Morgan! I for one, don't care if they die. They deserve what they get." "Who made you their judge, jury and executioner? They are human beings and we had all been talking about the need to stay together or we won't survive..." Morgan was interrupted in the middle of her rant by Liam. "He's right, Morgan." Liam's voice was calm and matter of fact. "Those people out there had no problem attacking us for no reason and trying to kill us...ALL of us. If we hadn't moved quickly, we would all be dead." Morgan stood slacked jawed at what Liam had just said. She could not believe what these people, her family and friends were saying. They were going to leave people outside to die intentionally. Morgan didn't think the situation could get worse, until Liam finished explaining just why they could not go out and help the men outside. "There is a large number of walking dead heading this direction, right now. They know there is something here alive, and are going to be looking for the source. If we bring those men in here, those zombies are going to come knocking at our
door, and I'm not sure our makeshift window repair would hold against such an onslaught. We've got to give them some bait to keep them off of us." It wasn't just Morgan who recoiled in horror. Everyone in the room seemed just as sick at the thought of what Liam had just suggested. Everyone except Alex. "You're a monster," Morgan gasped. She covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide in horror. "You're...you're being..." "Practical," Alex interjected. "Liam is just being practical. Not only did those men try to kill us all, but they have caused us to compromise our position, endangering everyone here including our daughter. They have chosen their punishment, we've just decided on the method. They will earn their redemption by keeping us safe when those zombies show up." The sounds of moaning had grown close and the men outside began to scream for help. "It doesn't matter now, they -- and we -- are out of time." Looking around the room at everyone gathered, Alex began giving commands. "Everyone kill all the lights and get in the attic. This is going to be a long night and we have to make sure that we are careful. No one talks, no lights, nothing at all that could alert the zombies to the fact that we are just inside. We pull up the stairs and wait until they've finished and left." Alex looked around one last time. "Any questions?"
Heads nodded slowly, realizing that there was nothing left to be done but wait out the night. Then they would get out of this place. ----The screams from the men lasted only a few minutes, but could be heard clearly by everyone in the attic, but the glares and accusations continued the rest of the night. By the grace of god, the zombies had finished feeding and continued on their way to look for other victims. Only a few of them had stayed around the house for any length of time, but they too finally moved on to continue looking for prey. One by one, everyone in the attic began to nod off to sleep, leaving only Alex and Morgan awake. "I don't know who you are, Alex. What have you turned into?" There was accusation as well as sympathy mixed in Morgan's voice. "I haven't become anything that I wasn't already. I'm a husband, a father and a friend who is doing what it takes to keep the ones he loves safe. I'll do whatever it takes within reason to do that." "Do you call what you did tonight 'within reason?' You condemned those men, those living people out there do die. And not just to die, but to be torn apart by something so evil no
one could ever think they were real. Those men suffered..." "They tried to kill us, Morgan." Alex was trying very hard to keep his voice in check. For all of the anger and frustrations that Alex was feeling right now, he knew that everyone in the room needed the much deserved sleep that they were getting right now. "Morgan, you have to understand that I'm not a monster. I'm not out to save just myself and those that are around me. But we can't save everyone. And if those people are going to attack us and try to take away from me everything that I hold dear, well, I'm going to protect that with everything that I have at my disposal." Alex shrugged his shoulders, resigning himself to what he had done. "If that means that I do nothing, then I will do nothing." Morgan shook her head and tears welled in her eyes. "I don't know if I can live with that, Alex. I don't know if I want to live like that." Alex held Morgan's gaze for a long time. "So just what are you saying, Morgan? And I'm not going to guess what it might be, so you need to just let me know now. What did you mean by 'I don't want to live like that.'" Morgan shook her head again and shrugged her shoulders, the tears that had been gathering in her eyes now running freely down her cheeks. "I don't know, Alex. I just
don't know." Morgan leaned towards Alex and buried her head in his chest. Her shoulders began to shake and she began to cry uncontrollably. "I don't know if I can do this!" Morgan said. Alex put his arms around his upset wife and hugged her tightly to his chest. "You can do this, sweetheart. You just have to let me help. I'll get us through this, just let me help us all get through this." Alex rocked Morgan back and forth and stroked her hair, content to let her cry until she had released all of her pent up fears and frustrations. "Just trust me, please. I'll get us through this. I won't let anything happen to you or Gemma, I promise." Alex held his wife until she had cried herself to sleep. He gently laid her down and climbed onto the roof to keep watch over everyone. ----Alex and the others moved down the street as silent as ghosts. Liam was on point, Sam and Josh guarding their flanks, and Alex running vanguard. The wives were in the center with Gemma in the middle of everyone. Each person was armed and the double ring of protection was in place to provide the youngest member of their party with two separate walls of defense. Alex hoped it would be enough if things went bad. The group had taken almost two hours to make their way
from Liam and Trinity's house through the neighborhood and out to Brushy Creek road. They had met very little resistance and what few zombies they had come across Liam was able to dispatch with the only silenced weapon they had available to them, a Walther P22. Liam had built the silencer himself and fitted it to the small caliber weapon for the simple reason of seeing if he could do it. Lucky enough for the group, the silencer worked absolutely perfectly with only the click of the slide giving any indication that the gun had fired. That and the zombies who were felled by it. Brushy Creek Road was rather isolated, an artery between two bigger highways leading from Cedar Park to Austin. It's isolation was a blessing and a curse at this time. Being off the main road, the numbers of walking dead were somewhat limited, the natural terrain offering some barriers to keep additional zombies out. But the isolation also made it extremely difficult for Alex and his group to get out of the area on foot and forced them to walk in the open, forsaking most of the cover to facilitate a faster exit. The group continued down Brushy Creek, eyes open for the next threat to come their way. The plan that had been decided upon was a little more complicated than Alex had wished. The group would make their way toward the nearer main road,
US183, in hopes of finding a semi truck and trailer that they could commandeer. Once this had been found, the group would then scour the area looking for supplies, ammunition and food that would be necessary for their trip north. Everyone agreed that a large 4x4 pickup truck would be rather easy to find and their lowest priority. Once the scavenging had been completed, they would find suitable accommodations for the night to wait out the dark hours between sunset and sunrise. In the morning they would set out again in hopes of finding additional men and women to come with and help them in the long trip to Eustace. Everything had gone to plan so far, but there was still a long way to go before they were at a point where they would be ready to leave. The group approached the raised overpass of US183A, the toll road that bypassed Cedar Park. Cars lined the thoroughfare, some smoking, most abandoned or wrecked. "We're never going to get through that," Josh announced to the group. "Now what do we do?" he said looking back toward Alex. "We don't talk unless absolutely necessary and stick to the plan. We'll find a way through, and if we can't, then we will discuss our options." Alex never met Josh's eyes, instead keeping his eyes moving back and forth, looking for any movement that would alert him to danger. "Just keep an eye out for
anything out there," and Alex stole a quick glance at Josh. Alex was still not sure that Josh was committed to the plan that had been agreed upon. However, considering how few people they had and how many they needed to pull this off, they were going to have to put up with him until he proved that he was a problem. Movement from on top of the fly-over caught their attention. The shambling movements told them that not every car had been abandoned. The pale skin of a zombie could be seen making it's way through the mass of cars and everyone stopped where they were, hoping that they could avoid being seen. Josh raised his rifle to take aim, but Alex appeared at his side anticipating this response. "Leave it be," he whispered. "If you pull that trigger you may hit it, but you will let every other damned creature know we are he. Put the gun down!" these last words were not a request, but a command and Josh took their full meaning. He glared at Alex as he lowered the rifle. Everyone held their breath as the zombie continued on it's way, and as soon as it was out of sight behind a car Alex motioned for everyone to move forward slowly. Each person in their group crept along, desperately trying to keep as quiet as possible. In a few moments they had made it to the cover of the overpass and crowded around the base of the column to rest for a
few minutes. Josh took the opportunity to seek out Alex, determined to settle the issue of who was in charge once and for all. "Now you listen to me, Alex," Josh said a little too loudly." Alex raised his hands and motioned for him to keep quiet. "No, Alex, you don't get to give me orders..." Liam and Sam rushed towards the two men, determined to stop the confrontation that was about to take place and most likely draw attention to them. "This is bullshit. I've gone along with your screwball ideas because I've given you the benefit of the doubt, but this is it. You want us to let those things go? I could have taken that damn thing out with one shot and boom, it's over." Josh gestured wildly with his hands, the rifle he was holding waving frantically back and forth. "Done, and we go on with this plan of yours with one less fucking zombie to worry about." "And a shitload more that are going to come looking for that rifle crack," Alex countered. "You just don't get it, do you? This isn't time for any Rambo 'I'm going to blow the fuck out of everyone' antics. We have to be realistic and we have to use our heads. You stop doing either one of those and you can kiss your ass, and most likely ours too, goodbye." Alex stared back hard at Josh, refusing to back down or give in to
this bully. Josh wanted to meet every obstacle head on with guns blazing, but Alex -- and hopefully the others -- knew too well that this kind of tactic just wouldn't work. One was going to have to be smart to survive all of this, and pulling the trigger at everything that moved simply would help make them any safer. "You are not the leader of this rabble," Josh spat indicating the other seven people who were with them. "You don't get to make all of the decisions." "Actually, it's you that don't get to make any decisions," Alex corrected. "Everyone else here knows that I'm right in that we can't go out, guns blazing and hope to survive. So until you realize that, it's going to be the course that we've decided upon." Josh bristled with anger and his hands tightened on his rifle. Liam stepped between the two men and Sam placed a firm hand on Josh's shoulder. "You're not going to do anything you are going to regret," Liam told Josh calmly. "If you truly want to settle this for good, then I have a suggestion." Josh stared at Liam with barely controlled rage. "Will you agree to listen?" Liam asked. Josh nodded his head once and returned his hate filled gaze back onto Alex. "We take a vote. Everyone gets one vote and we all agree to stick to the results. Would you agree to that?" Liam's question was directed right to
Josh who remained silent for a minute, weighing the options before him. Josh turned to look at Liam and replied slowly, "Fine." "Does everyone else agree to this?" Liam asked turning to see everyone around him. Wary and unsure glances passed between Morgan and the other ladies, but slowly each one agreed in turn. "Okay, lets settle this once and for all. Whose going to lead the rabble," Liam asked rubbing his hands together. "All for Josh, raise their hand." Josh turned to face everyone and glared. There was not a hand raised in vote of him. "Okay," Liam said, feigning embarrassment. "Um, everyone for Alex?" Slowly hands began to raise. Josh's face began to turn red, but his anger boiled over when he saw his wife, Stacey's, hand raised. "What the fuck are you doing?" Josh growled at Stacey. "I'm sorry, Josh, but Alex is right. We can't afford to run around without a plan, shooting everything up..." "I have a plan!" Josh yelled. "I can't believe you would do this to me. You're supposed to support me, I'm your husband!" Josh's voice was getting louder and louder, increasing the chances of something hearing them. "Stop it Josh! I do support you, but Alex is right.
His plans seem like they are what we need to do, and I think we should listen..." "Fuck you!" Josh screamed at her and came at Stacey with murder in his eyes. "You'll regret this," he said and swung a fist at her catching her on her right eye. Stacey screamed and fell and Josh wasted no time crouching over her to continue the assault. "I'll kill you," he growled and hit his wife three more times before anyone was able to react. Sam and Alex pulled Josh from on top of Stacey and wrestled him away from his battered wife. Josh was kicking and screaming, fighting with his captors trying desperately to get free. Josh connected an elbow with Sam's chest and the man fell back, grabbing at his chest and crying out in pain. With the second man's grip lost, Alex could not keep a hold on Josh and he tore his arm away. Josh's eyes fell on Alex and the anger at his wife instantly change it's point of aggression. "This is all your fault, faggot! I'm going to make you suffer for this," and Josh began raging against Alex. Josh's fists were flying too quickly for Alex to do anything but protect his face and head, and Alex struggled to keep on his feet. Josh threw a punch that caught Alex between his hands and connected with his nose. Blood sprayed across his face and Alex's world began to spin around him. He lost his balance and
fell hard, hitting the back of his head against the asphalt road when he landed. Alex's vision shrank to a pinpoint of light in a tunnel of darkness and he fought to stay conscious. Through the haze he heard someone in the distance say "I'm going to end this here!" Alex could not move. Morgan screamed when the gun cracked. "Alex!" She started to run towards her husband and the man standing over her when Paula grabbed her, keeping her away from the violence taking place. Another shot rang out and a second fist sized hole opened in Josh's back. He staggered over Alex and turned to look behind him. Confusion and pain spread across his face when he saw Stacey pointing the barrel of a smoking gun at him. "You cunt," he stammered and tried to raise his gun. Stacey squeezed the trigger two more times, one bullet catching him in the lower right of his abdomen, the other catching him just on the left side of his head above his left eye. Josh's head snapped back with the force of the impact and a cloud of red blood sprayed behind him. Josh's lifeless body pitched backwards and fell on top of Alex. Josh did not move. "Alex," Morgan screamed again and wrenched herself free from Paula's grasp. She raced to her husband and fell to her knees trying to see where he had been shot. From behind her a woman screamed and a final shot went off causing Morgan to
loose her balance and fall to the ground next to Alex. Searching for where the shot came from, Morgan saw Stacey sobbing and Paula clutching Stacey's arm that held the gun. Paula was frantically telling Stacey that she did not need to do that. Morgan realized that Stacey had tried to kill herself with the last bullet remaining in her gun. Liam raced to Stacey's side to help Paula calm her and Sam appeared next to Morgan. "I think he's been shot," Morgan cried and resumed her desperate attempt to get at her husband who remained motionless underneath the dead body of Josh. Sam pulled at her hands and away from the bodies laying in front of her and pushed her behind him. "I'll help him, Morgan. Let me do it." Sam turned back to the bloody mess that was Alex and Josh and began to carefully untangle the two bodies. Blood was everywhere and Sam had a hard time determining who's blood it was. Or even if it was from both men. Sam managed to untangle Josh's body to a point that he was able to roll the lifeless form off of Alex. A groan escaped Alex's lips. Followed by more groans. And these did not stop, but continued to grow louder and gain more voices. Sam looked around it confusion until the realization of who was groaning set in. The blood drained from his face.
"We have to get out of here," whispered Alex through the pain and haze of a broken and bloody nose. "They're coming." ----The joy of finding Alex alive and relatively uninjured save for a broken nose was quickly replaced by near panic and a frantic attempt to leave. Stacey fell to Josh's body as she passed, her tears starting again and let loose a wailing that drowned out any groans from the walking dead approaching. Gunfire cracked from Liam's rifle and he dropped a zombie that had appeared nearest them from behind a support column. A shadow from above passed over the party, followed quickly by a second, and the wet crunch made clear what they were seeing. Zombies drawn by the sound of gunfire and moans from beneath them were falling from the overpass in their attempt to reach prey. The impact, thankfully, destroyed the creatures brains killing them instantly. "We have to go," Liam commanded. "They're falling from the fucking sky!" Another gunshot cracked, another zombie fell. Sam helped Alex to his feet and Morgan and Paula pulled at Stacey to leave. Stacey hugged Josh's lifeless body one last time and kissed him. "I'm sorry," she whispered and rose to leave with the others. Liam grabbed the guns that Josh had been carrying as he
passed. Good fortune smiled down upon the party for there was not a single zombie in their path of escape. The sound of bodies crashing down from the overpass above accompanied the pounding of their feet as they ran towards safety. Crossing up and over the train tracks, Liam led the group off the main road towards a commercial park full of warehouses and strip centers. Liam knew that they were taking a huge risk by running as they were, making it hard to pick out any movement from the surrounding areas, but Liam felt it was worth it. The gunfire and yelling would have been heard by any zombies in the area, and the moans of the alerted creatures would carry further in the distance. Liam's hope was to put as much distance between them and the area before the hellish demons could converge. Hope at finding safety was quickly dashed as the aparty neared another train crossing. Cars lined the streets in all directions and crossroads, most of the twisted together in tangled masses of metal and fiberglass. Every driver tried to beat everyone else, causing accidents and pileups, clogging the streets and intersections. They could see movement in some of the cars and it took a few moments before they realized what they were seeing. Infected drivers who were trying to leave the city had died in their cars, only to reanimate locked behind the
wheel. Most of these would not have been a problem, trapped by their seat belts and the windows of the car. But this was not the case every time as Liam began looking for the arms and heads of trapped zombies who were reaching from their windows, some hanging halfway out the doors only to be tangled in their safety restraints. And Liam knew they had to get through. "Give me the scoped .22," Liam ordered. Sam quickly switched the scoped .22 rifle for Liam's AR-15. "Don't let anything creep up behind us," Liam said as he knelt and took aim. The rifle popped and cracked once every second until the magazine was emptied, each round fired finding a moving target somewhere in the tangle of cars. Windows shattered and sparks flew as bullets ricocheted off the doors and roofs of cars. Another magazine loaded and emptied, followed quickly by one more and Liam surveyed the area in front of him through the scope. Sam spoke up from behind. "Liam, we've got a problem." Liam turned to see a mass of fifty to sixty zombies cresting the train track overpass. Once more Liam surveyed the area in front of them and came to a decision. "We're going through the cars. Watch out for grabbers and anything moving in or near the cars. Keep your eyes moving and don't forget to check the ground you are about to step on
for broken class, blood, or crawling zombies." Liam turned around to stand next to Sam. "Give me the AR-15 and get Alex and the women through there. Watch out for any zombies that may be crawling of reaching through windows as you pass and avoid any areas that even look as if they are contaminated with blood. I'll be right behind you." With a shove Liam pushed Sam, Alex and the others towards the intersection and turned back towards the zombies approaching from behind. The party could hear the crack of his rifle as they carefully navigated through the cars. ----The flames from the burning cars still illuminated the night, even hours after Liam had set fire to them. His plan was pretty ingenious really. Liam lured the zombies straight into the blocked intersection, shot holes in the gas tanks of several cars, then set fire to the gas spilling on the ground. The flames spread quickly and consumed everything they touched including the nearby trees and grass. This was the only thing that did not go exactly to plan because it threatened the buildings and homes that Liam and the others had planned on taking refuge in. The zombies, on the other hand, walked straight into the consuming flames. Their clothes caught fire and the flames spread through the massing dead. Luck continued
to smile down as the lead zombies collapse in the only openings between the cars, causing others to trip, fall and further block the ways through the cars. Soon the last of the approaching zombies succumbed to the flames and Liam relaxed his guard and began searching for his family and friends. A sharp whistle alerted Liam to someone standing at the corner of a children's clinic. Sam waved Liam over and the two rounded the corner and entered the clinic. Most of the windows were shattered, others were full of so many bullet holes that Liam could not understand how they had not shattered as well. Two heads pupped up from behind the counter, guns drawn and aimed at the door Sam and Liam had just entered. "Whoa, it's me...Sam! Put the guns down." Both Liam and Sam had their hands over their heads hoping that they would not be shot where they stood. "Sorry...sorry, dude. We...we didn't know." A scared kid no older that sixteen stammered as he spoke to Sam, the gun in his hands shaking more than his voice. "It's okay, just put the guns down. This is the man I was telling you about," and Sam indicated Liam who was standing just behind him. The two kids slowly lowered their weapons and stood gawking at the newcomer. Cautiously Sam and Liam lowered their hands and proceeded to move farther into the clinic. "Alex
is back here. We were able to find some penicillin and Paula was able to patch him us. She said that he looks worse than he is and will be back on his feet in no time." Liam stopped Sam with a hand to the arm and turned him so that they could talk face to face. "We have to get out of here, Sam. That fire outside is dangerously close to this clinic, and if it catches the fire or grass we may not have enough time to get out." Looking back over his shoulder Sam asked, "And who are those kids?" "Those are my two boys," a thin dark haired man stepped out of one of the side rooms, closing the door behind him. "My name is Dr. JJ Cahn, and my boys are Markus and Perry. Their good boys, just a little skittish. But who could blame them?" Liam stood transfixed for a moment unable to talk. "My apologies," he finally said. "I'm Liam Beard. It's good to meet you." Leam stepped forward and held out his hand in greeting. "Likewise" Dr. Cahn said, taking Liam's hand and shaking it firmly. "Did I just hear you say that we needed to leave?" Liam shook his head in agreement. "There's quite the fire raging outside and we can't afford to take the chance it won't head this direction. We need to pack up as much supplies
as we can and get out of here." Liam looked around the room taking stock. "Do you think that they left anything here that would be useful?" "I certainly hope so, this is my clinic." Dr. Cahn put his hands in his pockets and looked rather proud of himself. "We were able to keep the people out of here who were looting and stealing. We had some help." Just then two men entered the hallway behind Dr. Cahn and coming into the room where Liam stood. They seemed to be heavily armed, each with guns strapped to various parts of their bodies, tactical vests bulging with spare clips, and a large caliber rifle in their hands. "Speaking of," Dr. Cahn half turned to introduce the men approaching. "Mr. Beard, this is Shawn Davies and Luke Berryman. These two gentlemen are owners of the gun store just across the parking lot from this clinic, and were extremely helpful in keeping this clinic secured. I owe a lot to these men." "Mr. Beard," each man said in turn, shaking Liam's hand in greeting. "We were just talking to your friend Alex back there, and he seems to have an idea to get everyone out of here. Sounds like it could work and we would like to help out if you'll have us." Both men seemed to be waiting for approval from Liam, who in turn had no idea what he was supposed to do. "I'll have to talk to everyone else, make sure they
are okay with this, but I can't see that there would be a problem." Liam shrugged his shoulders, hoping that he was not overstepping his bounds. The man introduced as Shawn chuckled. "Actually, everyone else said that we would have to talk to you. Apparently Alex," and Shawn threw his head back indicating that Liam's friend was behind them in one of the rooms, "is in charge, but he wouldn't give overall consent because he was high on pain killers." Shawn laughed again and looked at Dr. Cahn. "Seems the Doc here has some pretty powerful stuff back there. Knocked Alex on his ass when they gave him that shot." "And he needed it," Dr. Cahn defended himself. "That boy was messed up something fierce. Not to mention that he is utterly exhausted, couldn't tell me the last time he had slept. He'll be out for a few hours now." "A few hours?" Liam interrupted. "I'm not sure we have a few hours here, Dr. Cahn. We need to come up with some idea and get out of here before that fire or something worse shows up. But we've got to move now." "Hang on there," Luke said. "We've already got a plan from your buddy in there. We just need some time to get things together. We've taken care of things around here long enough, we can handle a little more. But the real question in, can we
come?" Luke grinned wide, already knowing the answer. "You own a gun shop...are you kidding?" ----It only took the group a couple of hours to collect all of the necessary equipment that they would need from the clinic and prepare to head out. Dollies and rolling carts were utilized to move the heavier equipment with the lighter supplies loaded in duffel bags. They were able to gather more supplies from the gun store, loading up on ammunition and weapons. Hand trucks from the back of the shop were loaded with as much as they would carry and they began to make their way through the adjoining neighborhood, looking for a place to hole up for the night. Alex's plan was simple, but quite hard to accomplish. He had found the trucks they would need, remembering the stone quarry less than a mile away from his home. The long night allowed Liam, Shawn and Luke to build upon Alex's original idea and a final plan was agreed upon. The following morning the group made their way to the stone quarry, finding the trucks they needed to make their run up north. Within three hours of reaching the quarry, gas tanks had been topped off and additional gas supplies had been gathered and stored for the trip. The open bed of the gravel trailers would allow for three hundred and sixty degrees of fire when they
needed it. Gemma was made as comfortable as possible in the sleeper section of the cab along with Morgan and Paula. Stacey refused to stay in the cab, so she joined Alex, Sam, Dr. Cahn and his sons in the bed of the truck. Luke and Shawn would be following Liam and the main truck in a smaller 4x4 truck and would try to distract or clear the path of the rig. Everyone prepared for the night and the long road ahead of them tomorrow.
CHAPTER FIVE The Farm
And lo, a wandering minstrel wafteth through the village of zombieapocalypseburgville, singing: "Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party don't stop. Ain't no party like a zombie brain party cause a zombie brain party
don't stop." The zombies around Alex shook and gyrated as if they were at a middle school dance. The beat of the music was entrancing and Alex felt himself lose the grip on his rifle, letting it slip to the ground as his body took up the rhythm and he began to dance among the dead...
Alex shot straight up in his sleeping bag. He looked everywhere around him, searching for the dead that had just surrounded him only moments before and found nothing. Placing his head in his hands Alex realized that he had been dreaming one very strange dream. Ever since he had been drugged up in the clinic four days ago, the nightmares and dreams that took over his mind in the night were vivid and strange. But of them all, this one topped it. Alex and his party had been on the road going on five days and had nearly been overrun numerous times. As the sun set on their group two nights ago, the bodies of the dead and walking dead were piled so high around the truck that those in the bed of the trailer were threatened to be overtaken by zombies who simply walked up the mounded bodies. That was the horrific night that they had to pass through Waco, TX. Judging from the number of zombies attacking them that night, Alex was
not sure that anyone in the town had been left alive or uncontaminated. The battle that took place had a second consequence in that it put a severe drain on their ammunition. Most of the large caliber rifles and handguns were now useless, the empty casings littering the floor of the trailer. By the grace of god, Luke and Shawn were able to topple the pile of bodies stacking up against the front of the truck, giving Liam just enough space that he was able to move through. Alex and the others were forced to find any shops and stores that might possibly contain ammunition. The thought was that when, or if, they made it to the Beard family farm, there was equipment available to reload some of the ammunition, but if they ever faced another night even half as bad as Waco, they would never make it. Luck again shone down and the group had found a gun shop that had been only slightly looted. Most likely the looters had been caught in the midst of stealing the guns and ammunition and were scared off before they could finish. The store had then been left completely abandoned except for the three zombies that were trapped inside. A few well placed shots with the .22 Remington and they were able to move cases of ammunition to the truck. Alex had stood over the bodies of the zombies and assumed that they were the owners of the shop who had prevented it from
being looted. He said a silent prayer of thanks for the three, thanking them for giving Alex and his family a chance to make it. Their sacrifice, whether intentional or not, had most likely saved them. Two more days and nights of slow driving and some intense battles and Liam was turning on the final road that would lead them all to the farm and hopefully salvation. A plume of smoke rose in the distance and Liam was unable to tell if it came from his father's farm or not. They had come too far now to have everything destroyed right before them. "How much farther,? Alex said through the passenger window of the truck, startling Liam out of his reverie. "Oh," he stammered. "Not much farther. 'Bout a mile down this road and we'll be there." Liam forced a smile that hardly seemed genuine. "Told you there would be no worries." A hole punched through the windshield, narrowly missing Liam's head and the intact glasses spidered. A split second later the crack of a large caliber rifle was heard. Everyone was shocked and confused by this turn of events that Alex did not move and was nearly struck down by the second bullet that ripped through the side view mirror next to him, showering him with broken glass, metal and plastic. This caused everyone to react.
Alex let go of the door and fell to the ground, curling his body and letting the momentum carry him away from the rolling tires of the truck. Liam yelled for everyone to hold on and jammed the brakes to the floor. The truck groaned and squealed in protest, but submitted to the demand to stop. The truck was moving at a slow enough pace that it stopped quickly causing everyone in the cab and trailer of the truck to be thrown forward. Stacey's head slammed into the front of the trailer wall opening a large gash in her forehead. The blood spilled quickly from the wound and bathed the floor at her feet a bright red. Sam, able to direct his fall on a less dangerous part of the trailer floor quickly ran to Stacey's aid, placing his hand on the gash to try and stem the flow of blood. Stacey weakly fought against Sam and tried to convince herself that she was okay. Her slurred speech and the nausea rising in her stomach told the real story and Stacey leaned forward to vomit at her feet. She slumped in Sam's arms and fell unconscious. Alex climbed to his feet as fast as he could after taking the fall he had, and ran towards the back of the trailer and the ladder that he could use to climb in to safety. A third shot clanged off the side of the trailer showering sparks down on Alex as he ducked around the back of the truck.
Luke and Shawn raced passed the truck and trailer in their 4x4, the engine full throttle in an attempt to close the distance between the shooter and them. The were too far away to take an effective shot back at whoever was attacking them. Their only hope was to close the distance in order to give Shawn a decent chance at firing back. The windshield shattered as a large caliber round penetrated the cab and sent shards of the glass raining on the occupants. Luke shouted out in pain and grabbed at his right shoulder. His hand caught the steering wheel and pulled it to the right causing the truck to swerve out of control. Reason and clear thoughts broke through the pain in Luke's shoulder just long enough for him to slam on the brakes. The truck skipped and fishtailed before slamming into a stone embankment. The two men leapt from the 4x4, scrambling for cover behind the large wheels. Another shot clanged off the hood of the truck and Shawn and Luke prayed that they were in a safe enough position to come up with a better plan. Shawn looked up towards the semi and trailer and began shouting. "What are you doing?! Get back!" Liam was running down the middle of the road, dust from the unpaved road partially obscuring him. He was waiving his arms over his head and screaming for them to stop...whoever 'them'
was. "Don't shoot!" he yelled. "It's me! It's Liam!" Whoever Liam was yelling at could not possibly hear him, especially if they were far enough away to make such a large gun necessary. As Liam crossed paths with the wrecked 4x4, Shawn dove out from behind his hiding place behind the wheel and tackled Liam to the ground. As quickly as he could, Shawn then dragged Liam behind the truck and into some cover. Liam was kicking and screaming like a little kid, trying desperately to get himself free. "Let me go! Let go of me goddammit!" Shawn wrapped his arms around Liam's, placing him in something of a bear-hug and pinning his arms to his side. The pain from the days old gunshot wound erupted in Liam's shoulder and he immediately stopped struggling. "They'll kill you," Shawn yelled at Liam. "What the hell were you thinking?" A vehicle could be heard approaching them from the direction of the farm. Something was coming and it was coming fast. Shawn released Liam and grabbed the rifle he had been carrying in the truck. He stood to face the approaching danger and raised his rifle to take aim at the truck barreling down on them. This time it was Shawn that was tackled and Liam drove
his knee into Shawn's gut, knocking the wind out of the man. As he gasped for breath, Shawn watched as Liam stood to meet the newcomer with his hands raised above his head and shouting, "It's me! Don't shoot!" The truck ground to a halt just feet from the 4x4 which Luke and Shawn were hiding behind. An older man nearly fell out of the driver's side in his rush to get out and Shawn and Luke watched as Liam and the older man embraced like old friends. "I thought you were dead. Thank god, I thought you were dead." The man was sobbing and his tears were soon accompanied by Liam's own. The two stood hugging one another for a long time and Shawn was startled when he saw that Alex had approached them without his notice. "Shawn and Luke, meet Charles Beard...Liam's father." ----Charles Beard related the stories that he and the others at the farm had been facing since the outbreak. Looters, walking dead, even law enforcement had tried, unsuccessfully to take over the farm. Charles had always been a sort of survivalist and 2nd amendment fanatic all his life. The stores of MREs, weapons and ammunition would have armed a small militia. Alex thought of all the times he had called people like this dangerous and ridiculous, conspiracy theorists convinced
that the government was going to take away all of their civil rights. Now he was thankful that some of the people were around, and that he actually knew one of them. "I'm sorry, son. I'm sorry to all of you," Charles apologized for the hundredth time. "I didn't know it was you..." "It's fine," Liam assured his father. "No harm, no foul. We're just happy that your aims sucks." Nervous chuckles echoed around the room. "That aim has kept me here, hasn't it? Can't be too bad, if you ask me." Charles smiled and winked at Alex out of the corner of his vision. Santa...that's how Alex would describe him, with the gray scraggly beard, balding head and wire rimmed glasses. Well, Santa if he were a gun-toting conspiracy theorist. Footsteps from behind them alerted the group that Dr. Cahn was coming back into the room. Luke was right behind him, shirtless with a white bandage covering his right bicep. "It was only a flesh wound, luckily. Probably shrapnel from the bullet fragmenting in the cab." Dr. Cahn stepped to the side to usher Luke into the room. "Pretty lucky guy, here. If that bullet had been six inches to the left..." and Dr. Cahn winced and grimaced at the thought of that outcome. "Jesus, man. I'm sorry...I'm really sorry," Charles
began begging again for forgiveness. "It's alright," Luke said waiving off any more apologies. "You were protecting your home from what you thought was a threat. Any one of us would have done the same." He met each of the people gathered around the kitchen table and held their gaze for just a moment. "Now the real question is, what do we do now?" Luke's eyes fell on Alex and stayed there, putting all of his trust in the man who had planned their escape from Austin. Soon everyone's eyes were on Alex, waiting for him to speak. Alex looked embarrassed as he suddenly realized that everyone was looking to him for guidance. "Listen, I...I don't..." He stammered and coughed, uneasy with the trust and hope now thrust upon him. "Alex," Sam started. "You've been the one that has been the most logical and thoughtful with everything so far. It's been all of your ideas and plans that have kept us safe and gotten us here." "Not everyone," Alex mumbled, remembering the three people who had died in his presence since this all began. "And that's not your fault," Liam interjected trying make Alex come out of his stupor. "Those were beyond your control, and you can't blame yourself. Not everyone can be
saved, you know this. Hell, you said it yourself..." "But that doesn't mean I'm right," Alex spat at Liam, a little more hate in his voice than he had planned. "I'm sorry, Liam. It's just...what makes you think I'm right?" Alex shrugged his shoulders to emphasize his uncertainty. "So far, so good," Sam said. "Yeah," added Shawn. "And just how do you know what needs to happen? It's like you've read a book about it or something." Shawn chuckled, but Alex's head snapped in his direction, eyes wide at what had just been said. "What? You mean you've actually read about this?" The laughter in Shawn's voice was now gone. "If I tell you, you'll only think I'm crazy," Alex replied and looked down at scratched table top. "Crazier than the dead rising form the grave and hunting us down like prey?" Sam asked and probed Alex to share. "Okay fine, I read a book on this, okay?" Alex was frustrated at their questioning and knew that by answering them it would only make things worse. "Really?" Liam asked. "What's the book?" His voice contained no sense of sarcasm or mocking tones. Alex looked up to see that Liam had asked the question in all seriousness and that none of the others gathered around the table were mocking
him either. Everyone was serious...they wanted to know. "It's silly, really," Alex began not believing that he was actually talking about this. "It was 'The Zombie Survival Guide' by Max Brooks, but it was only a spoof," Alex quickly admitted. "There wasn't anything serious in there, it was just a piece of fiction." Alex looked around the room pleading with anyone to believe him, to not put their trust in him. "Sounds like an excellent piece of nonfiction now. Hell, maybe even reference material," Liam smiled at Alex and clapped him on the shoulder. "So, what's it tell us to do now?" ----The next five days were filled with hurried preparations and construction. A hole was cut in the roof of the farmhouse, braced and a ladder attached to allow access to the highest vantage point available to them. Sand bags were filled and arranged so as to provide a stable shooting platform more than protection from enemy fire. A backhoe loader proved to be one of the most useful pieces of equipment on the farm and it inspired Alex to create a unique defense of the farmhouse. A six foot trench was dug around the entire perimeter of the farmhouse with the excavated dirt used to create a four foot berm just behind the trenches. One of the barns was dismantled and the corrugated metal roof and side and the beams
and studs were used as scaffolding to shore up the berms. This, once completed, created a nine foot high barrier completely encircling the farmhouse. The only way through this perimeter was a four foot wide opening in the berm which was then blocked with the front loader of the backhoe. This could then be moved to allow entrance to and exit out of the farmhouse in the case of an emergency or to allow teams to go out and forage for food and supplies. Alex made clear the necessity of planning for the eventuality that they would have to venture out into the surrounding areas to replenish their food and supplies. This work did not continue uninterrupted, however. The constant noise caused by the backhoe loader and the deconstruction of the barn drew in every zombie from the surrounding area. Several times a day the workers would have to retreat to the relative safety of the house until the threat could be neutralized. Body removal was the first real unwanted task implemented. Alex explained to everyone that while the dead bodies could just be left in the hot sun to rot away, the chances would increase of disease to arise. This piece of logic was latched onto by the resident doctor, who stood by Alex when the plans for a body detail was formed. After each battle a team of people would go out of the perimeter to set fire to the dead bodies, cremating them and destroying any trace of the virus or
disease causing bacteria. This group would be watched over by two individuals on top of the roof who would use binoculars and scopes mounted on rifles to look for any stragglers. A second wave of defenders posted on top of the berms to give them additional height would also serve as protection for the body detail while they were out taking care of their duties. As imagined, no one volunteered for the body detail. Concerns were raised about setting fire to the dead bodies. The fear was that the fire would spread unchecked through the countryside and spread to the farmhouse. Dr. Cahn explained that it was necessary to the health of the group and Alex eased concerns by reminding everyone that the ditches and berms would provide an adequate barrier until the first fires died out. Alex then explained that they only need worry about the first fire as it would consume the majority of the substances that would fuel the fire and leave little if anything left to threaten the group afterward. The defenses were put in place, duty schedules and procedures for handling contact with the walking dead were agreed upon and put in place, and everyone settled into an uneasy sense of calm. Everyone knew that something bad was coming, but no one could think of what it was. ----"Contact on the southwest. Two slow movers heading
this way." The call came down from roof and everyone on standby jumped into action. Alex was on duty as the backup and headed up the ladder for confirmation. Over the last couple of weeks the Beard farm had grow to include thirteen additional souls who had been lucky enough to stumble upon them. The first contact that they had with these refugees had almost been a disaster. Just days in the wake of their near deadly arrival, the same mistake had been made concerning the living, uncontaminated survivors. The Cahn boys had been on lookout, a mistake that Alex had never let happen again. Thinking that they would eliminate the approaching zombies at a distance that would not require them to have to burn the bodies, each of the boys began firing on the targets without alerting anyone or getting confirmation. One of the four targets was hit, a cloud of red blood spraying out the back of the victim. The boys began celebrating, giving each other high fives and missing the fact that the three remaining targets drug the fourth to cover. Zombies do not spray red blood from gunshot wounds and certainly do not care for their fallen. Liam had been on his way to the rooftop to relieve the brothers when the shots rang out. He darted up the remaining steps of the ladder to find the two whooping and carrying on as if they had won the war. Grabbing the binoculars that were
hanging on the side of the ladder, Liam asked for the two to show him where the zombies were. Grinning, they pointed to the north and Liam searched for the approaching danger. His face drained of all color. "Man down!" he yelled. "Man down! We got an living man down! Dammit, you two just killed a living person because you're too stupid to check." Liam raced down the ladder and was greeted by Dr. Cahn as he prepared his medical bag to go help. "Don't forget the dog," he said casually as if this were just another day at the office. Alex hurried in with Shawn and Luke in tow. "Shawn and Luke, you'll accompany Liam and Dr. Cahn to check on the victims. Sam and Sid will head to the roof to take over the watch. Boys!" Alex yelled up through the roof access. "You're done. Get your asses down here now!" Alex looked to Dr. Cahn, realizing that he was about to discipline the man's sons and not sure how he would react. "They screwed up," Dr. Cahn told Alex. "They did not double check before pulling the trigger, and because of that, someone is dead or dying. They suffer the consequences...as you see fit, sir." Alex hated when they called him sir. Since the first night at the farm, after listening to his ideas and plans for their survival, he had been declared the leader of their
group and taken to calling him 'sir' all of the time. This bothered Alex more than he would let anyone know. They were placing their survival on him simply because he had read a book. The Cahn brothers skulked down the ladder, not wishing to face the punishment that was sure to await them below. They knew they had screwed up, and screwed up big and they were in for it. Their eyes locked on their father's once they had set foot on the bottom rung of the ladder awaiting his stern words of disappointment. "Oh no," Dr. Cahn said to his sons. "You'll receive no such luck. You screwed the pooch, and the punishment that awaits you from Mr. Kemp here will be far worse than any I could put you through. I have to go clean up your mess if I can. You'll have to face him." Dr. Cahn shouldered his bag of medical supplies and turned towards the door. "Let's go, gentlemen. Paula," he yelled through the farm house, "We'll have wounded when we get back. Make sure everything is ready." Paula had become Dr. Cahn's right hand man ever since he had found out that she was a registered nurse with six years of emergency room experience. The two of them had made a near perfect team, taking care of any medical emergency either big or small with extreme care and precision. Everyone but Sam was on duty at the perimeter exit.
These proceedures had been put in place in the event that some unforseen zombies lurked just outside the entrance. Sid Beard, Liam's younger brother, started up the backhoe loader and slowly backed it out of the entrance to allow the truck with Dr. Cahn and the others to leave. Everyone tensed for a moment until the truck had cleared and the backhoe was moved back into place. The Cahn brothers stood behind Alex with sullen expressions on their face. Alex turned to meet them stone faced and terror rose within them. "We...we're s...sorry, sir. It was an accident." "Shut up," Alex snapped. "This was no accident, this was carelessless and stupidity and because of it someone is most likely going to die. You little shits couldn't even bother to warn everyone else before you started blasting holes on anything that moved. There were signs that could have prevented this, but you two couldn't care less to look for them." The two boys were literally shaking as they stood facing Alex. The others who had gathered for the perimeter defense were now watching the goings on with increased interest. "Your father seems to think I have a right to punish you as I see fit. And what do you think about that?" The brothers stared at the ground, kicking imaginary rocks at their feet in a vain attempt to avoid the question. "I asked you a question," Alex yelled suddenly
startling the brothers and everyone else gathered around. "And a question deserves an answer! Now I'll ask it again; do you deserve to be punished for your stupidity?" The boys looked nervously at each other, neither one wanting to be the first one to speak. "Answer me!" Alex shouted. "Yes sir," the younger of the two squeeked. "What?!" Alex shouted again louder than before. "Man up and speak your mind! Do you deserve it?" Both boys nodded slowly and looked at their feet. "Fine. We'll decide your punishment when we see just how bad you fucked up. Give me those rifles." Alex held out his hands for the weapons and the brothers handed them over. "Now inside both of you, and I don't want to see you until I come and get you." The boys quickly retreated under the fury in Alex's eyes, the tears flowing freely down their cheeks. ----The rescue party returned with three survivors and one corpse. The bullet had torn a softball sized hole in the man's back, tearing out muscle, bone and part of the man's lung on it's destructive path through him. The three survivors had told Dr. Cahn that he had died shortly after they had pulled him into the cover of a stand of trees. His suffering ended quickly, they said.
The incident was not a complete shambles. It turns out that the three survivors were actually Alex's relatives, his brother- and sister-in-laws, Hayden and Theresa, and his nephew, Bob who Morgan had called so many days ago. Their journey to the farm had taken them so long because of their decision to competely bypass the Dallas-Fort Worth area all together. The back roads that they had traveled were only slightly less congested and dangerous, but they had managed to make it this far. The gentleman who had been killed was a stranger that they had picked up along the way, someone who was following them like a lost dog more than being invited to tag along. "The world is coming apart around us," Hayden said as his mother, Paula, rained hugs and kisses on them. "Mom, stop," he said as he tried to pull himself away from her ministrations. "I can't believe you made it here," Morgan said holding her five year old nephew and hugging him tightly. Alex had made his greetings earlier and now sat away from everyone quietly keeping to himself. The Cahn brothers had nearly killed someone from his family and he wanted their heads for their stupidity. But he knew that he had to be fair and keep the best interests of the group in mind. The punishment needed to be firm and fair, but at the same time they could not afford to remove anyone who could be useful in defending the farmhouse.
Alex knew that anything he decided upon, there was going to be some anger and outrage, possibly a lot of resistance. Bur there had to be discipline, and the consequences had to be severe enough to disuade any further intances. "We need to deal with the issues at hand," Alex said interrupting the celebrations. He stepped forward from where he had been standing. "You boys," he said indicating the Cahn brothers, "come with me." Alex walked out of the farmhouse into the main open area. He headed straight for an telephone phone that used to feed electricity to the house standing in the middle of the yard. When he reached it, Alex turned to address everyone who had followed him. "We can't afford to have mistakes such as the one that caused the death of an innocent and uncontaminated individual. Policies and procedures were ignored for the sake of laziness and bravado, something that cannot continue. You all have elected me as your leader and as such, placed me in charge of enforcing these policies that we have all agreed on." Alex crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked to the ground in front of him. "When faced with the possible extinction of human kind, and when we struggle every minute for survival, the penalties for breaking with the policies of this stronghold must
be quick and severe. We can no more afford the loss of one of our defenders either through lack of vigilance or through the consequences of their actions. Therefore, after much thought and deliberation, I have come to the punishment that will be exacted upon the accused." Alex looked up to meet the eyes of the Cahn brothers. Their father stood between them, a hand on each of their shoulders for support. "Marcus and Perry, each of you will receive fifty lashing for your roll in causing the death of an innocent and uncontaminated citizen of humanity." A gasp spread throughout those gathered. Alex continued, "After such a time, each of you will be reassigned to active duty separate from one another, and at no time shall you be allowed to work the same detail until it has been decided by the council that you have proven your abilities to sustain this stronghold individually." "You can't do that," Paula gasped. Her face had gone white at the thought of the two young boys being lashed. "They are just kids..." "No one is just a kid anymore," Alex interrupted. "If these two are old enough to handle weapons and defend everyone here, then they are old enough to follow the policies set in place and suffer then consequences of breaking those rules." Alex was stone faced, his mind set as to what had to happen and!
no one was going to change it. "Alex," Morgan began in a soothing voice. "This isn't right. This is barbaric and you know it. Lashing? With what?" She started to approach Alex, but the look in his eyes made her stop where she was. "This isn't barbaric, nor is it wrong. These two caused the death of an uncontaminated individual simply because they were not following the course of action we had all agreed upon. They were careless in a time that we can not afford to be careless. If this were normal society, they would be locked up in prison for their involvement, but this isn't normal society. We cannot afford to lose anyone for the defense of this stronghold, but there has to be consequences for their actions to ensure that this never happens again. From anyone," and in saying this, Alex scanned everyone in the audience to drive home the point that no one, not even himself would escape the consequences of their actions. "This punishment will suffice and still allow them to return to their duties as defenders and citizens of this stronghold." Alex looked hard into Morgan's eyes, ending any further argument from her. "Alex," Sam spoke up. "You talk as if this is some sort of, well, new colony, for lack of a better term. What are
you getting at?" The faces of the gathered crowd echoed the thoughts and questions expressed by Sam. "What else would you call it?" Alex responded. "The world we once knew is over, perhaps never to return. There is no government, no police force. For all we know, there isn't even a military presence available to come to our aid. We have to start thinking of ourselves and how we are going to govern and set policies. Billy and Tyfanny found us, and so will others. We have to come up with a way to prevent confusion and disarray. We have to set forth a set of rules that will be agreed upon by everyone and enforced by this group of people. In essence, we have to set up our own little nation with laws and a governing body to over see it." Alex's tirade was starting to sink in with the people. Heads started to nod and realization began to set in. There was no one else out there who was going to come and rescue them...they would have to do things for themselves. Liam spoke up. "You mentioned a council earlier. What did you have in mind?" ----The punishments set out by Alex were delivered upon the Cahn brothers in front of every person in the stronghold. It was necessary, Alex insisted, that everyone witness the punishments as an example of the necessity of following the laws
that were already in place and would soon be expanded. Dr. Cahn himself delivered the lashes at his own request. He knew that the two brothers had made a huge mistake and deserved the punishments that were required. Being a doctor, he explained quietly to Alex, he knew how much punishments the boys bodies could withstand and not cause them to become incapable of returning to their duty assignments. Dr. Cahn wept through the entire ordeal. That very evening, the terms of a governing council were set out and voted on by everyone in the stronghold, including the Cahn brothers who were still cowering from their punishments and their father who had not left their sides since he had carried out their sentence. Paula and Dr. Cahn had set immediately to tending the wounds delivered to them by the bull whip that was used as the means of delivering the lashings. Some of the wounds had been deep, but none were life threatening nor were they such that any of the gashes required stitches. Within the charter of the new council, the name of their enclave was set and voted upon. The Colony of New Hope was founded and would have a governing body of three individuals who would set rules, policies and proceedures, as well as determine and carry out any punishments for those individuals who failed to follow the policies set out. A fourth member of the council
was proposed and accepted, that being a strategic advisor who would offer expert advice, such as it was, but would not have a direct vote in council hearings. There was some opposition to the determination that the council only would vote on matters concerning the New Hope Colony, believing that it would allow for the quick implementation of new policies that were of a major concern to everyone. It was Alex himself that had proposed the position of strategic advisor to the council, refusing to even be considered for a ruling position on the governing board, despite the vehement opposition to this decision. Most of the people in the colony felt that it was by Alex's leadership alone that they had been able to survive as well as they had so far. And no one was too happy to turn over their care and survival to three individuals that they felt were untested in this new world that they now occupied. Their objections were heard and immediately turned down by Alex, only giving in to the position of strategic advisor to stop any more discussion on the matter. The following morning, everyone gathered in the yard, minus the two lookouts on the rooftop for a vote on the governing council. It was by overwhelming vote that the three individuals who would serve on the council would be Sam Ingram, and Liam and Charles Beard. Each of these individuals would hold
the office until they received a vote of no confidence by the majority of the colony members, or until circumstances presented themselves that they would no longer be able to serve. Everyone knew what this last statement meant, but no one wanted to talk about it. The first policy proposed by the council and unanimously passed by the three governors was that the strategic advisor, namely Alex, would be granted complete authority to command all members of the colony in the event of an emergency. The term emergency was defined as any time a zombie threatened their stronghold or another serious threat presented itself, the strategic decisions would fall to Alex. That was the only time Alex wished he had a vote on the council. ----The Colony of New Hope continued in this fashion for the next few weeks, following all procedures set out by the council. Since the punishment of the Cahn boys, no one had been lax in their duties. In hindsight, the punishment that had caused so much dissention in the colony members was the most effective motivational tool to keep the stronghold's defenses secure and the people inside safe. The Cahn brothers had taken a few days to get over the lashings, but now followed all policies
in place with a new vigor and attention to detail. These two became the biggest enforcer of defensive procedures in the colony aside from Alex himself. Threats from the walking dead came and went without any serious consequence. Newcomers straggled into the colony and were welcomed once they had been screened for the zombie virus. Four very large dogs were utilized in this screening process, and each person entering the walls was allowed to become a member if they chose to sign and follow the articles that were in set in place by the governing council. It was not until the third week after the creation of the colony charter that the citizens of New Hope were faced with what to do if an infected person tried to enter the walls. "You have to let him in," cried Linda, the wife of Damion who it was found out have been infected by the zombie virus. "He'll be fine. We've treated the wound and the medic told us he would be fine." "You were lied too," Alex told her. "There is no cure for the infection. There are only two options available to you: we either put him down now, willingly when he can say goodbye to you, or we can leave the two of you outside the gate and wait for him to turn. Then we'll still put him down and most likely you as well when he infects you."
Alex turned his back on the frantic woman who was being held at bay by the armed citizen guards of New Hope Colony. Two other individuals had their rifles trained on the infected man who looked to his wife with panic in his eyes. Alex spoke directly to the infected man. "Damion, you need to make this decision. You are going to die with a bullet through your skull. That can either happen now or later, but later will most likely involve the death of your wife as well when you infect her too." Alex stepped closer to Damion, putting himself in between the man and the guards ready to put a bullet through the man. Alex spoke to the man in a low voice. "Damion, you damn well know that there is no cure for your infection. I'm offering you a quick and painless death and the chance for your wife to survive. We will protect her, but you have to convince her this is the right thing." Alex turned away from Damion saying, "It's all up to you now," and walked away from the group. He leaned near to Sam who was overseeing the guards. "If he refuses," Alex said quietly, "kill them both." Without looking back, Alex strode into the farmhouse to begin making rounds of the New Hope perimeter. ----"Anything exciting?" Liam asked of the two high guards
who were placed on top of the roofline. "Nothing. And nothing for days." The young man smiled back at Liam. "Maybe we are out of the woods?" This glorified kid had been with them for only a week and he had already declared an end to the zombie war twice...this was his third. "Maybe, Marshall. Maybe." Liam grinned at the young man. "Why don't you two take a break? Alex and I will take over for a while." He slapped both the young boys on the back and stepped up out of the roof hatch to allow the men to exit into the warmth of the farmhouse. "Alex," Liam called through the roof hatch, "get up here. It's our watch." A moment later, Alex's head popped out through the opening in the roof. "What's going on? What's out there?" Alex scrambled through the hatch and grabbed the binoculars looking everywhere for what was threatening the farmhouse. "Would you relax?" Liam chided Alex. "Just because you are called doesn't mean that the world is coming to an end." Liam chuckled at his own joke. "Well, again." "So what's going on?" Alex asked, unsure to the motives that Liam had called him up to the roof for. Liam chuckled and shook his head. "Just want to talk, man. Just want to talk." Alex's shoulder's and body visibly relaxed and the two men sat down behind the sandbags in the
lookout positions, each facing opposite directions. "So," Liam began and Alex could hear the sarcasm rising in his voice. "How are things?" Alex's body sagged at Liam's carefree banter. "Liam," Alex sighed, "is this just going to be a waste of time?" "You used to enjoy wasting time, Alex. You really should relax a little." Alex put the binoculars down and turned around to face Liam. "Are you serious?," Alex asked. "With everything going on you think that it's time to relax and goof off? Take a look around here and tell me it's a good thing. Think about what happened to Damion and his wife, huh? Tell me again we should be having a good time." Alex huffed. He couldn't believe the balls of his friend to actually suggest that they goof around and not take things seriously. Liam did not respond and Alex eventually returned his attention to the area in front of him. "We could be out there," Liam said quietly and still with a little lilt in his voice. "And what happened with Damion and Linda was their own doing. They had choices and they chose their own fate. Don't you dare demean their decision to stay together by making it anything other than a choice they took together." Liam's voice lost some of its frivolity and took on a harsher tone.
"We could all still be out there, Alex, but we're not. We have our families and we have our friends. We have a safe place to be and smart people who are working to keep it that way. We have more than most people do right now so yes, I say let's celebrate that fact." This time it was Liam who turned to stare at Alex. "Every single person within these walls has survived history's most devastating plague. We should all be dead, but somehow we've made it, and I for one can appreciate that fact." "So we should all just let down our guard and throw a big party? Forget everything that has actually kept us alive and 'celebrate life'? Is that what you're saying?" It was now Alex's turn to inject sarcasm into the conversation, but Alex's words were also full of spite unlike Liam's. "Fuck no, man," Liam cursed. "We still do everything that we've been doing, but we have got to do something to break up the tedium and tension. If we don't do something, then we are going to wind up turning on each other. We've got to celebrate being alive." Liam stopped talking and turned his back on his friend. Liam was right and he knew it...and so did Alex. Both men sat in silence for a long time, the sound of their breathing and the voices carrying up from below were the only thing that accompanied the two men in the lookout. Alex
listened to the voices coming from below. Not the words necessarily, but the tone. Everyone was just getting by and no one was living. Everyone had spent so much time and energy trying to survive that they had all forgotten to actually live. But the thought that struck Alex the most, the realization that chilled this heart, was the fact that he had not spent any time with his daughter in days. Not one single minute, instead, sleeping at his work station and spending his entire waking hours checking and double checking the security measures that were in place. In his effort to save his family, Alex had completely forgotten them. "Liam," Alex began slowly. "Liam, your right. We need..." "Contact. Northwest corner," Liam said, his voice flat and hurried. "What the hell is going on?" Alex swung around to see what had gotten Liam concerned. Through the binoculars, each man could see a truck without lights speeding towards them, then quickly change its direction to angle across the road leading to the farmhouse. Two men jumped out of the back of the truck and hurried around to the back where at least ten more men waited. But something was wrong about the men in back. Grabbing the scoped rifle, Alex adjusted the
magnification until he could make out the scene a little more clearly. He cursed. In the back of the truck, bound, gagged and blindfolded, were at least ten zombies. The two men grabbed ahold of a leading rope each and pulled hard, directing the zombies to exit the truck single file. The creatures shambled along as their captors pulled on the ropes and directed them to face the New Hope stronghold. Now dropping the guide ropes, the men hurried again back to the truck, this time removing another man who was also bound and gagged, but not blindfolded. They brought this person to the front of the line of zombies and forced him to face them. One of the men leaned next to the man and spoke in his ear. The man turned to look towards New Hope and nodded his head slowly. The second man pulled a gun on this last one and placed it against the temple of his head. He yelled something at him and immediately the walking dead began to move quicker. The gag was removed from this last man and he began running towards the colony, screaming loud enough to be heard by Liam and Alex. The two captors then ran back to the truck and started to drive off. Alex thought this odd when the unthinkable happened. There was a small jerk as the roped tied to the hitch of the truck snapped taught then fell limp. The binds of the
zombies and the gags over their mouths fell away and the moans of the dead rose up immediately to fill the night air. Alex couldn't believe what he was seeing. The men in the trucks were using zombies as a weapon against the colony. ----Everyone in the farmhouse moved with frantic, but controlled movements. All were armed and took up positions in and out of the farmhouse in their predetermined defensive positions. The plan that was in use had been designed to handle the possibility of overwhelming numbers of walking dead attacking them at once. So far they had never had to implement the plan, and Alex hoped that it would suffice for the living as well. Alex and Liam remained on the rooftop scanning the horizon. Both of them knew that something was not right, that the deployment of ten zombies was not the end of the attack, but as of yet they could not find the bigger threat. Ten zombies would be nothing for the defenders to handle, but a group of living, thinking attackers was another case altogether. "See anything?" Alex asked Liam. "Nothing, man. It's too dark to see much and those dead heads are making enough noise to cover the approach of a small army." Liam looked up at the night sky. "No moon tonight.
Whoever these guys are, they planned this." Sam's voice called up to Alex and Liam through the roof access. "Hey guys, there's someone approaching the outer wall. What do you want us to do?" "Shit, man," Liam started. "What do you think we should do about that guy?"!! ! "Well, one thing is for sure. We don't let him in. At least not right now. We can't be sure if he's infected or he might even be working for those guys out there." Alex shrugged his shoulders in frustration. "Either way, we don't have time to find out." Alex called back down to Sam. "Don't let him in, no matter what. And if he tries to get in..." Alex caught Liam's eye over his shoulder, "well, take care of it." "Um, alright," Sam said. "Let us know what's going on," and Sam hurried out of view to spread the orders around. "Found 'em," Liam said to Alex. "There's a group of fast movers to the north." He chuckled. "Distract us with zombies in the south while the attack from the north. Not too bad actually. What do we now?" "What do you mean, 'what do we do?' We let these fuckers know we're serious." Liam's face broke into a wide grin and he turned to meet Alex's eyes. Alex was smiling too.
"The fifty's?" Liam asked. "The fifty's," Alex responded. As fast as they could move, Alex and Liam were down the ladder and unpacking the two .50 caliber rifles that New Hope had in their arsenal. Liam's father, Charles, had bought one of the rifles off of an acquaintance years ago as a favor. The man was down on his luck financially and couldn't find anyone who had the means or the finances to take it off his hands. The second .50 caliber was owned by Shawn and Luke as the main display feature of their gun store. The limited amount of ammunition available for the rifles made them unfit for everyday use, but would prove themselves today. "Hayden, get up here," Alex shouted and his brotherin-law came racing around the corner, a scoped 30-06 rifle in his hands. "What's up?" he asked a bit frantically. "Get upstairs and help Liam and me keep a lookout." Alex winked at Liam. "We're going to roll out the welcome mat." As Liam and Hayden raced up the ladder, Alex called for Sam. "Let everyone know that someone is going to try and get in the perimeter. Under no circumstances," and Alex paused to let those words sink in, "is that person allowed to enter. I don't care what he says or what happens out there. Do NOT let him in."
Sam nodded in understanding and hurried out the door spread the word. Alex turned and headed up the ladder, .50 caliber rifle in tow. Up on top of the roof Liam was finished with setting up his rifle and Hayden had already taken up a position behind him to provide feedback and contact information. Alex hurried to set up his rifle as Hayden began calling out enemy positions. "Four contacts at ten thirty almost four hundred yards out. They are in some tall weeds..." The .50 caliber just below Hayden exploded and he jumped backwards cursing. "Shit! Warn someone before you do that." Liam grinned up over his shoulder as he ejected the cartridge from the slide. Alex could barely contain his laughter. Trying hard to regain some of his dignity, Hayden quickly stood and scanned the horizon once again looking for the approach gunmen. "A hit! You nailed one of the bastards!" Hayden could barely contain the excitement. "The other three hit the dirt about six feet from the downed attacker." Still looking through the binoculars, Hayden said, "They're backing off. They're backing off! I think they are leaving." He looked down at Liam and Alex for confirmation of his assessment, but received none. "Think about it, man," Alex spoke in a commanding voice. "They weren't planning to take this stronghold with four
men and ten zombies. There will be more." As if on cue, shots rang out from the west and Alex swiveled his .50 to meet the threat. At least fifteen muzzle flashes could be seen scattered in the darkness about one hundred yards from the perimeter berm. The bullets began hitting the side of the farmhouse, some bouncing harmlessly off the side while others found a weak spot and punched on through. Someone from below cried out in pain. Alex pulled the rifle in tight to his shoulder and sighted a muzzle flash before squeezing the trigger. The gun erupted and one less rifle flash was visible on the horizon. "Contact," Liam called from the east. "A dozen and a half at least, all heading straight for the farmhouse. Everyone's fighting west and no one is in place to stop this advance." "You are," said Alex. "Shoot the fuckers," and Liam's gun exploded again. "Seventeen, but they're still coming," Liam announced. "I can't stop them by myself." "Jesus Christ!" Alex cursed and hefted the rifle to assist Liam. "I thought you were a crack shot. You can't handle this by yourself? Damn you're getting old." "Shut up," Liam snapped. "I'll fight every fucking
thing I shoot at, but there are too many to stop before they get here." Both men fired almost simultaneously, two more attackers falling before the echo of the gun shots had died away. "Hayden," Alex yelled. "Get over here and take over. There's not a lot of ammo for these, so don't you dare miss." Alex moved back and hustled Hayden into the firing position. "Time to hit the perimeter defense." Alex swung over the edge of the roof hatch and disappeared from view before popping back up again. "Hey, let them get a little closer," he said before disappearing again. Hayden and Liam looked at each other confused. Alex ran through the house, grabbing Liam's AR-15 and three extra clips of ammunition before heading outside. Gunfire popped from everywhere and a bullet cracked in to the side of the house just above Alex's head causing him to duck low in reaction. Dr. Cahn and Paula were crouched low on the front porch attending to Marcus who was writhing on the ground, blood spreading from a wound in his right leg. "How are things going on out here?" Alex asked of the two eliciting surprised and sarcastic looks from them. "Everything's great," Dr. Cahn snarked. "Love the fireworks. When's the finale?" "Give me a minute." Alex smiled and winked. "It's
going to be spectacular!" Alex stayed crouched low and sprinted across the open field towards the perimeter. Bullets pockmarked the ground around Alex and he slide the last few feet to land at the base of the eastern berm. Stealing a quick look over the top of the berm, Alex saw at least eight muzzle flashes still advancing on the farmhouse. Alex motioned for the defenders behind them to cease fire. A moment later, and a few confused looks later, all of the gunshots from within the perimeter ceased, save for the explosions from the .50 caliber erupting from the rooftop. Slowly, the gunfire from outside the eastern perimeter died away and an uneasy silence descended, broken only by the large caliber rifles that Liam and Hayden were utilizing. Whispered voices drifted over the top of the berm, just south of Alex's position. He waited, letting the attackers closed the distance before giving them the ultimate surprise. A head crested the top of the berm, and Alex sprung his trap. The torch in his hand arched through the air and sparked the thick liquid that lined the bottom of the trench and a fire erupted. The flames raced around the entire length of the perimeter trench, eight foot flames crawling over the men trying to breach the New Hope defenses. Their screams tore open the silence and caused the two men on the rooftop to cease their
attacks. The night was erased as the flames completely encircled the New Hope colony. The screams of the attacking men faded as they succumbed to the fire and an uneasy silence fell over the colony. The guns were silent the rest of the night. ----Everyone was on high alert for the next few nights, fully expecting another attack. Nothing came. All in all, fifteen attackers had been killed, six of them in the fire that Alex started, nine by gunfire. The New Hope colony only lost one - Marcus, who bled out from the gunshot wound he sustained in the fighting. Four others had been injured in the fighting, but suffered only minor wounds that were easily cared for by the medical team of Dr. Cahn and Paula. The consequences from the night were many and some far reaching. The resources and ammunition from the battle were severely depleted and the governing council knew that a foraging party had to be formed to find new supplies. The concern over the late night attack kept the council uneasy, and Liam's vote to send out a small squad were outvoted by the senior members. A week after the attacks, Sam and Charles agreed to send five men out into the nearby city to find food, medicine, and ammunition. Alex volunteered to lead the team, was outvoted, then pulled
rank and chose his team anyway. Alex made a stirring argument that this was of strategic importance and stopped any argument that could be made. Alex and his team left the New Hope colony the following morning in one of the two trucks still available to them. They left just after dawn and planned to be back at the colony before sunset when it would be too dangerous to be out in the countryside, unable to see any threat around them. Plans were made to signal the colony when they were nearing the entrance. One signal to indicate that they were safe and clear of any dangers, the other if they were under attack or duress. Everyone prayed they would never have to use the second signal. ----The trip into Canton took just over an hour. Canton was the largest of the nearby cities and Alex viewed it at the most likely source of the supplies they needed. It would also prove to be the most heavily infested of the cities, seeing as the population of Canton was larger. "Okay, listen up," Alex said grabbing the attention of the other four men. "Our main priority is to try and get some ammunition to help replenish our stores. After that medicines, and finally any food we can find." "But isn't food more important, sir?" The young man,
Pierce, spoke up. He had been in the colony for two weeks and still had not found his rhythm within the group. Every time he spoke it was timid and questioning, never with confidence. Alex chose him for this mission for two reason: he hoped it might help him find a place within the colony, and he was expendable. If Pierce couldn't get past his intimidation with every aspect of day to day living in this new world, he would only be a drain on the colony and never make it. "We have food in the colony and a few cattle left for fresh milk and meat. Worst case scenario, we slaughter a cow and head out into the nearby cities in search of food stores." Alex stared hard at the young man, willing comprehension on him. "But if we don't have ammunition to protect the colony and those food stores, then there is no reason for this little jaunt into the outside world, is there?" Everyone in the back of the truck kept to themselves, each one trusting in the direction of the man who had gotten them this far. They all knew why Pierce had been chosen for this mission, but none of them wanted to talk about it. "Yeah," Pierce said timidly again. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He sank down into his seat in the back of the truck looking to the other two men there with him for support. He did not receive any.
Liam had provided Alex and Shawn with the directions to the gun stores located in Canton. There were two of them plus a Wal-mart that might still have supplies of ammunition. Alex knew full well that the first things to be looted when an nationwide crisis like this would happen would be the gun stores and the food stores. He just hoped that there was something left for them to take home. "Contact," Shawn called through the open window of the cab. "Two slow movers just ahead." The foraging party had discussed this plan in great detail, making everyone aware that driving a truck into the city was not going to be subtle. They were going to be advertising their presence to everyone and everything in the area, so their guard had to be high and the actions quick and decisive. Alex made a standing order that no one, even if they were believed to be clean and uninfected, was going to be taken back to the colony with them. Each person asking would be given the directions to the New Hope colony, but would have to get themselves there. At that time, their health status and usefulness to the colony would be assessed, but not before. The directive was not well received by any member of the foraging team, but no one dared to question it. Logically, it was the correct thing to do. But it was no where near humane.
In these times of chaos, everyone would have to fend for themselves. Alex stood and moved the the front of the truck bed, placing the rifle and the top of the cab to steady his aim. Liam had been able to fashion some additional sound suppressors for some of the rifles and these would be the first line of defense used this afternoon. Two barely audible pops issued from the small caliber rifle and the zombies fell to the ground. Shawn turned left on Main Street and stepped on the brakes. Cars blocked the road in front of them leading to the gun store two blocks ahead. "What do you want to do?" Shawn asked through the opening. "Kill the engine to begin with," Alex ordered and the truck fell silent. Without the sound of the small block engine affecting their ears, the small foraging party could begin to hear the moans of the walking dead. Alex assessed their situation and surroundings and began to form a plan. "Everyone out of the truck and let's clear that building." He indicated a tall building on the corner at the intersection of the two main roads in Canton. "Clear it, secure it, and we'll move from there." Alex's team moved with surprising precision and efficiency despite the fact that this was their first trip outside of the stronghold to forage for supplies. With two men
on point, two guarding the flanks and one bringing up the rear, the small squad moved quickly away from the truck to approach the front of the building. The doors were locked and Shawn stepped away from the building, reaching for the sawed-off shotgun slung across his back. "Stand back, everyone," he warned and gave the team just a moment to clear away from the entrance doors. The shotgun boomed and the lock in the door disintegrated as the double-00 buckshot tore a fist sized hole where the lock used to be. "They'll have heard that," he said and hurried to switch the shotgun for the scoped hunting rifle. "Inside," Alex commanded the team, "and keep your eyes open." The three men entering the front of the building, Mark, James, and Pierce, drew the sidearms from their holsters and pushed the door aside. "Contact," one of them yelled and small arms fire erupted inside the building. Alex and Shawn entered behind the men, their rifles shouldered looking to support the men already inside. They had talked and planned for instances such as this, entering, clearing and securing a building, but this was their first practice. And it had all gone wrong. Fresh, red blood stained the floor and it spread from the multiple gunshot wounds in the two victims splayed out on
the floor. "What the fuck did you do?" Alex yelled at the men, quickly realizing that talking about entering a possible infected building and doing so were two completely different things. "We...we thought..." Mark stammered, trying to find the words to explain what had just taken place. "No, you didn't think!" Alex fumed. "God dammit! Use your fucking heads BEFORE you pull the trigger!" Shawn was at the victims sides, checking for a pulse in the bodies lying on the floor. "Dead," he announced to the group. "Wake up, people. This isn't a fucking video game. If you shoot something it dies. If something bites you, you die! Screw your heads on or you're going to get me and Shawn killed here." Shawn chuckled at this statement. Alex was pissed, but at least he was trying to keep some humor. Ever since the attack on New Hope a week ago, Alex had been a different person; a better person. "Clear the building," Alex ordered, "and for God's sake don't fuck up again." The team of five men proceeded to move throughout the building, checking each room with utmost care. Shawn remained below, securing the door against anything that might try to enter.
The building was free of any walking dead and any additional living people. Alex had figured as much, but knew that they had to follow through with the proceedure to be sure. Once he was satisfied, Alex and the other four returned to the bottom floor to regroup with Shawn and discuss further plans. "Shawn, head to the roof. You are going to provide cover for us. The rest of us," and Alex looked to each of the other men standing there, "are going across the street to that gun store." Pierce gave a visible shudder and the other two didn't feel much better. "Give me five minutes to get in place. I'll whistle when I'm ready." Shawn dashed up the stairs and was not being too subtle about his approach to the roof. An eternity seemed to click by as Alex and the others waited, when finally a soft whistle issued down the stairwell. "Okay, gentlemen," Alex said, breaking the silent prayers of his team, "this is where you earn your keep. Don't take any risks with your lives or mine. I plan on seeing my little girl tonight." As the three men stood there dumbfounded, Alex removed the barrier to the store front and pushed open the doors. ----A flare rose up through the darkness surrounding the
colony of New Hope. Excited talking soon filled the farmhouse and gathering area as word that the foraging party had returned. The red flare signaled a secure entry and guards moved to their positions to let Alex and the others inside the perimeter. Their quiet excitement soon faded as they saw what was returning to them. The truck was covered in blood, the bed filled with supplies, and only Alex and Shawn were visible within the cab of the truck. Shawn looked exhausted; Alex looked furious. Sam and Dr. Cahn ran to meet the truck as soon as it had cleared a safe distance inside the perimeter to allow the frontloader to reposition itself and seal them in. "What in God's name happened?" Sam asked, struggling to comprehend exactly what he was seeing. "Where's everyone else?" "One body is in the bed of the truck," and Alex gestured with his head behind him, "the other two bodies are still in Canton." The door of the truck creaked as Alex forced it open, the deep gash in the front fender and the large dent new fixtures in what was a pristine truck upon leaving. "Don't bother checking, doc," Alex said to Dr. Cahn without looking. "He was dead before we could even get out of the Canton city limits." Everyone gathered around the truck, but few dared to
even approach the grizzly site. Blood trails, almost black in the flickering firelight that lit the gathering area, streaked the sides of the truck. Drops of the gore still dripped from the tailgate and darkened the ground where they landed. Alex did not fare much better. He was covered from head to toe in gore, the blood still wet and making his shirt cling to his body. "What happened?" Sam demanded, his cry now being taken up by other citizens of the colony gathered near the truck. "We got all the supplies we were looking for and then some. Three men died. We move on." Alex continued walking past Sam and the others towards the farmhouse, not wanting to talk or look at anyone. Sam grabbed his arm and spun Alex around to face him. Alex's fist flew without warning, connecting with Sam's jaw and knocking him to the ground. "I said, we move on!" Sam was helped to his feet while Alex continued on his journey to the farmhouse. No one else dared to stand in his way. ----The story of Alex and Shawn's journey into Canton began to circulate throughout the colony over the next couple of days. Shawn had been injured as well, a gunshot wound through the right side of his abdomen!had caused him to lose a lot of blood. Alex had not talked to anyone since returning and it was the account of Shawn that everyone heard.
It was revealed that taking Pierce into the city had been the catalyst of a disaster awaiting the men. His nervousness and inability to follow simple commands had compromised the team from the beginning. The foraging of the first gun store had proven somewhat successful and they were able to find several cases of ammunition, but no additional weapons. The second gun shop had been a waste of time. The windows were completely smashed and the shop had been looted right down to the light bulbs. The team then attempted to find the clinics which Liam had given Alex some information about. This is where Pierce's incompetence began to cause problems. The first clinic was infested with zombies, but zombies who were easily encased behind sliding glass doors. The team of five men approached the building to reconnoiter the situation, coming dangerously close to the glass door entrance. As Alex turned away from the building, determining that it was too dangerous to enter, a zombie stumbled past the solid glass door. Pierce fired. The glass in the door exploded into tiny fragments of broken glass, giving the trapped creatures a means of escape. Their moans filled the air as they jostled one another trying to get out the door. Flying glass covered the team, gouging deep wounds in some of the men. One of the creatures grabbed Mark and
sank its teeth into his shoulder, tearing a large portion of flesh away as the man screamed and fought free. The team retreated to the truck and were able to easily outpace their pursuers. Mark begged to finish the mission, swearing he knew he was a dead man, but wanting to help the colony before he succumbed. Alex relented only after Mark agreed that he could be put down at any moment the team felt he was a danger. The second clinic proved more helpful, giving up some much needed medical supplies, while the third held some more. On their way out of Canton, the team stopped at the food store for what they hoped was the last delay before returning to New Hope. Mark could not get out of the truck. As Mark's legs gave out from the blood loss, Alex ordered Pierce to drag him from the beg of the truck. Pierce had refused, but finally did as ordered when Alex placed a gun to his head. Mark's eyes rolled back in his head as his body hit the ground and Alex quickly put a bullet in the Mark's head. Against the protests of Pierce, and with the gun at his head again, the remaining four men entered the grocery in search of food. Mostly empty shelves greeted the men, but there were some items that were still there and would be welcomed back at the colony. As Alex, Shawn, and James were loading a cart full of
the food stuffs when shots rang out. One of the first bullets caught James in the temple, his brains and skull plastering the shelves behind him. Shawn cried out with the next couple of shots, grabbing at his side and yelling that he had been hit. He collapsed to the ground as Alex drew his pistol and began firing blindly in the general direction of the gunfire. Someone else cried out in pain and silence descended. Pierce lay on the floor at the end of the aisle, clutching his chest where the bullet had struck him. No one would ever know for sure if Pierce's intension were murderous or if he had generally made a mistake, too jumpy at being in the city and frightened at having wandered away from the group. His pleas were of such a mistake, but he would never be given the chance to have those pleas heard by any other members of the New Hope colony. Taking sets of bungee cords that had been found still on the shelves, Alex drug the man out of the store and tied him to the concrete pillars outside. Alex then helped Shawn into the truck who drove through the plate glass windows in order to load the supplies with greater speed. Alex also insisted on taking James' body back with them. As the two surviving members of the colonies' first foraging party drove out of the city, their escape was covered by the screams of Pierce being eaten alive.
----After the disasterous first trip away from the colony, the governing council chose not to send any additional parties out unless absolutely necessary. The food stores were well stocked and the ammunition sufficient to allow the colony to sustain itself for quite a while in their current state. Alex was relieved of his duties as strategic commander for the time he needed to recover from the foray, as well as Shawn who needed a lot of time to heal from the gun shot wounds he sustained. With two of the senior defensive members out of action, many of the other colonists had to work double shifts. Liam continued to consult with Alex every day, while Sam and Charles chose not to. After learning the details of their semisuccessful mission, no one blamed Alex for his unwillingness to talk about what happened. Nor did anyone really wish to speak to Alex about what he had done to Pierce. Some agreed, but many others began viewing Alex as a loose cannon which no one was safe from. When he did venture out into the open areas around the farmhouse, he was given a wide berth from everyone he met. The fallout from the Canton expedition soon began to fade. Shawn slowly fell back into his normal rotation, and Alex started back as strategic advisor. Although Alex returned, he
still remained distant, talking to no one but his family, governing council and closest friends. Three weeks passed with relatively little excitement other than the occasional zombie or new colonist. New colonists started to out number the zombie sightings and the people of Nrw Hope started to feel as if the worst of the crisis was past. "Contact," came the call from up top. Alex was joined by Liam at the base of the ladder to confirm the nature of the approaching threat. "How many?" Alex asked as his head cleared the roof top access. "Don't know, sir. Can't see bodies, just a dust plume." The man behind the rifle scope was Trevor, a solid veteran of quite a few zombie attacks both here at the colony and outside the stronghold. "What do you mean, 'a dust plume?'" Alex grabbed the binoculars that were held out to him by the second lookout, John. He pointed to the northwest horizon and Alex looked through the binoculars. "What the fuck is that?" he said to himself. "What are you looking at?" Liam asked as he too joined the other men on the roof top. Alex stepped to the side for Liam to get a better view
and handed the binoculars to him. "See for yourself, and let me know what you think it is." Liam looked in the direction that Alex was pointing. He pulled the binoculars away from his face with a surprised look. "Beats the hell out of me. Either it's a mess of zombies headed here or...shit I don't know." Liam gave Alex a puzzled look. "Keep an eye on that," Alex told the roof top guards. "Call us when you can see anything that'll let us know what's coming." Alex clapped the men on the back and headed down the ladder. He and Liam stayed in the farmhouse close to the guard post just in case. Another forty-five minutes passed before an excited call came down from above. "Contact, sir. We have contact. It's the army! It's the fucking army, sir." John could barely contain his excitement at the thought of seeing a military presence headed their way. With an unsure glance at one another, Dwrek and Liam scrambled up the stairs. Sure enough, when Alex peered through the binoculars, a convoy of military vehicles was headed their direction. Alex passed the binoculars and waited for Liam to see what he had seen. "What do you think?" Alex asked.
"Looks like a whole bunch of military trucks to me." He winked at Alex. "I'll be damned...the cavalry did come." Alex winced at the joke and asked for the binoculars again. "I'm not sure about this, Liam. We need to keep our guard up and our eyes open." "Oh come on," the second lookout spat. "It's the fucking army. We're actually saved now." Alex and Liam exchanged a glance and both knew exactly what the other was thinking. "Come with me, man," Liam said, taking the mouthy lookout by the shoulder. "You need a break and Alex will take your place." A glare was sent at Dwrek from the man being removed and he was escorted down the stairs by Liam. Before Liam's head completely disappeared below the roofline, Alex leaned close and whispered "Send up the fifty's and ammo. Get everyone ready, just in case." Liam nodded his agreement and sank from view The camp burst into action almost immediately. ----It took the convoy of trucks another two hours to reach the outskirts of New Hope. A total of twenty-two trucks in all accompanied the military convoy with a total of three hundred soldiers in all. Cheers rose up from the colonists which was quickly replaced with anger when Alex refused to open the
perimeter wall to let the troops in. "We can't just let everyone in," Alex argued. Sam and Charles were furious that their presummed saviors were not being given a warm welcome. Liam agreed with Alex. "We can't be sure that these guys are actual military or not. We've got to be sure before we let them into our safe area." "You are unbelievable, Alex," Sam shouted. "These men are here to rescue us, and you are treating them like the enemy. Get off your high horse and let them in, I order you, as a member of the governing council to let them through!"! "I second that vote..." Charles said. "I don't," Liam said before his father could continue any further. "It doesn't matter," Sam said. "The votes stand two in favor or allowing them in and one against. You have to let them in." Sam smiled at his obvious coup, daring either of the men to go against. "No, Sam, we won't be letting them it. It does not matter if you have the votes or not. This is a security issue," and Alex paused to let the impact of those words set in, "and you yourself voted to give me complete control over the colony, its members and its resources when there was a security issue at stake. They will not enter here until we have confirmed who they
are and what they want." Sam fumed at this decision, knowing full well that there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Charles stormed off in anger and Sam soon followed. "I think I just pissed them off," Alex said looking towards Liam. "Huh, you think?" Liam smirked back at Alex then turned to look at the awaiting convoy of military vehicles. "Guess we should go and figure out what they want, don't you think?" "Guess so." Liam and Alex strode towards the only entrance into New Hope determined to get some answers about their new visitors. ----Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Hill was none too happy about holding a meeting outside of a secure stronghold when there were a number of zombies in the area. Alex insisted. "Lt. Colonel Jonathan Hill of the 102nd Expeditionary Force of the US Army. Just who am I speaking to?" Lt. Col. Hill used his most commanding voice, attempting to instill as much intimidation as possible in the colonists. Alex and Liam had been through too much to be intimidated by someone in a clean uniform. "My name is Alex Kemp and this is Liam Beard. How can
we help you?" Alex knew that his tone of voice was going to do nothing but infuriate the situation, but he could not stand the pompous air of this man. The colony of New Hope had survived for almost twelve weeks without help from anyone even claiming to be from the government, and they sure weren't going to just bow down to anyone at this point. "Mr. Kemp, Mr. Beard," Lt. Col. Hill said, nodding to each of them as he spoke their names. "I have come on behalf of the United States Government in order to rescue any American citizens left alive after the hantavirus outbreak and am authorized to provide any assistance necessary to ensure the safety of those citizens." Lt. Col. Hill puffed out his chest as he spoke trying to convey his important to the two men standing in front of him. Alex and Liam still were not impressed. Giving a sideways glance at Liam, Alex said, "Thank you very much for your kind offer, Lt. Col. Hill, but the colony of New Hope does not need rescuing. We've survived pretty well since the outbreak and feel that your services could probably be put to better use in another area." Alex crossed his arms and stared hard at the commander. "And, with all due respect sir, we all know that this is no hantavirus outbreak. If you really want us to believe and trust you, then I suggest we start with the truth. What can we here at New Hope do for you?" Alex forced a
smile, but his voice carried the truth of his feelings. For some reason, Alex did not trust this man. The commander chuckled softly and turned to wink at his NCO, Command Sargeant Major Matthew Cuzman. The NCO's face was stone still, not even cracking the slightest smile when his commanding officer turned toward him admiring the inside joke. "Gentlemen," the commander began, "I can see that we are dealing with true American patriots. Hardworking sons-a-bitches that won't let anything stop them. Although I would say that your hospitality needs a little refining." Hill reached into the breast pocket of his uniform shirt and pulled out a cigar. Without a word, he turned to his NCO who had already produced a flame from which to light the cigar. Hill turned to look over his shoulder as if noticing the agitated sounds of the approaching zombies for the first time. "Tell you what, gentlemen. How about we go inside, just the three of us and we talk about just what is really happening out there? We just happen to make a pretty loud racket as we come through the countryside, and seem to have stirred up a whole hornet's nest. We go and talk, I'll have my NCO circle the wagons and take care of this little nuisance for you, and all of your...colonists, can have the first restful evening in a while." Lt. Col. Hill smiled a little too broadly. "What do you
say, gentlemen?" "We accept." The voice boomed from behind them as Sam came striding up the back of the berm, Charles in tow. "It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, sir. My name is Sam Ingram and I am a member of the governing council of this colony. This is Charles Beard, also a member." Each of them held out their hands to the Lt. Col. and smiled their brightest sCharles. "A pleasure to meet you, too," the commander said, taking each of their hands in turn and shaking it firmly. "Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Hill here, ready to relieve you." Sam and Charles looked as if they were ready to burst with joy over the sight of the commander standing on the wall of their makeshift defenses. "It seems as though there is a bit of difference in opinions here," Hill said as his eyes shifted between the four men. "Mr. Kemp here is a little overprotective of us all here in the colony. And really who could blame him," Sam said. "We've had it pretty hard here..." "I wouldn't necessarily say hard," Alex interrupted. "Considering what everyone else outside of these walls is having to deal with, I think we have it pretty good." Alex eyed Sam wishing that the man had stayed away and kept his mouth shut. Sam backtracked as quickly as he could. "Well, I guess
if you want to put it that way. But things still haven't been easy. We've dealt with numerous attacks on this colony, some even from the living and we've been able to repel them all." "Shut up, Sam," Alex remarked under his breath. "What? We've done well considering that we've got nothing more that a few business men and farmers, none with any military training..." "Shut up, Sam." This time Alex did not even try to be discreet. He was furious with the man, not just for belching out their strategic weaknesses and assets, but for not having a clue to realize what he was giving away. The commander chuckled again. "Boys, boys. I can understand completely both of your views. You just want," and the commander indicated Alex with a wave of his cigar, "to keep all those under your protection safe from the unknown. And you," the commander now indicated Sam, "just want someone with the discipline, training, and firepower to step in and do it right. Gentlemen, I'm a military man through and through. I can understand both of your wants." At this, Lt. Col. Hill put a hand on Sam's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Why don't we all go inside and talk it over. My men out here will take care of those monsters that are about to come calling at your door and I promise not a one will set foot here in your
walls until we've sorted this all out. Sound good to everyone?" The commander looked to everyone in their little circle waiting for them all to agree. "I vote no," Alex said, stone faced and unmoving. "Sam and I say yes, and since you don't get a vote..." Charles began. "I have strategic command of this stronghold. My command overturns yours." Alex fixed Charles with a glare that could have killed. Liam stepped in front of Alex, breaking the stare. "Maybe we should just go in and talk," Liam said quietly. "What harm could it do? Really?" Liam searched his friends eyes, hoping that he had made a difference in his mind. "When you let the wolves into the sheep's pen, even just one..." Alex remarked. "We need help from someone, and maybe this is it. Maybe not, but we should at least sit down and talk it through." Liam's eyes were pleading. He too wanted someone to step in and take over. "You're going to regret this," Alex told his friend. "Before the night is over, I promise you, you'll regret this." ----Promises, promises, promises. That was all that Alex
heard from commander and they all sounded too good to be true. The colonists were promised the protection of the American military with all the food and amenities that they had been used to before the outbreak and more. Not one request was made of the colonists, not one requirement, other than to let the military convoy in the perimeter walls to set up a secure base of operations. It was Christmas morning and they were all kids. Alex stood away from the rest of the group, arms folded and eyes burning a hole through the lieutenant colonel. Sam and Charles could not wait to head outside and open the gates; fortunately Liam was a little more skeptical. "I'm not sure I understand everything here, colonel," Liam began. "That's lieutenant colonel," Hill corrected. "Excuse me, lieutenant colonel," Liam groaned. "What you are telling us is that, we just have to open the gates, you'll come in and we are done? We don't have to do anything else. That's it?" Liam looked doubtful of everything the commander had said. "This all sounds too good to be true, to me." "And me," Alex spoke up from the corner of the room. "But then again, I've said that from the very beginning, haven't I?"
"Gentlemen, the American government understands completely the great distress and sacrifices that its citizens have made in these times, and wish to not burden those citizens any further. You have done your country a great service. Let us do the rest." Pops of gunfire began outside the farmhouse, most likely from the military as it began engaging the zombies that had been alerted to the colony when the military convoy rolled in. All talking stopped in the room for a moment as the members of the colony tensed in response to the gunfire. Another chuckle from the lieutenant colonel. "Gentlemen, it is obvious that you have suffered a terrible tragedy over these last few weeks." The commanders smile broadened, a little too much. "Let the army take care of this for you." Gunfire continued outside, becoming heavier by the second. Heavier and closer, and soon accompanied by screams. Alex and Liam's eyes met and each man raced to see what was happening outside. Before either of them could reach the door, it exploded inwards, slamming into Liam and throwing him backwards. Alex stopped immediately, the barrel of a Browning . 45 High Power denting the center of his forehead. Command Sergeant Major Matthew Cuzman stared down the sites of the
pistol at Alex. From behind him, Alex heard the voice of Lt. Col. Hill. "This could have been easier, gentlemen. This could have all been easier." ----"I'm offering you a way out, gentlemen." Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Hill circled the men in the room, the former governing council of the New Hope colony. Sam and Charles were nearly in tears, visibly shaking with fear and shame. They had welcomed this man in, and now their friends and family were being held hostage. Alex and Liam, on the other hand, fumed with anger and rage. "Your family and friends will be taken good care of here in your, what was it called," Hill asked, looking to his NCO for the answer. "New Hope," Sgt. Maj. Cuzman offered in a low, monotone voice. "That's right, New Hope." That chuckle again. "Cute." Hill stopped circling the men and turned to face them head on. "You gentlemen have done very well for yourselves here. So much so that I find myself in need of your services." Hill eyed Alex and knelt in front of him. "Especially you." Crying and feet scuffing the floor drew everyone's
attention to the door that led in to the sleeping areas of the farmhouse. A soldier dressed in full combat BDUs entered through the door dragging a screaming woman with him. A young girl shuffled forward in front of the soldier, silently crying. It was Morgan and Gemma. Alex moved to get up when Sgt. Maj. Cuzman struck him in the stomach dropping him to the floor. "Alex," Morgan screamed and was immediately silenced when the soldier placed a hand over her shoulder and muscled her still. The commander grabbed Alex's chin and forced him to look up. "Your wife and little girl are safe. All thanks to you. And now you are going to make sure that my wife and little girl are safe." Confusion clouded Alex's face as he tried to comprehend what was happening. "Come on, you can grasp this, can't you? Do you really think that cock-sucker of a president would let me take two companies of his good American soldiers into harm's way so that one measly commander of his, a man who has devoted his entire life to the service of his country, who has sacrificed time, and time again," the commander's voice was raising in pitch, becoming more frantic and menacing with every word, "could get his loved ones back, do you?" Realization dawned on Alex and he looked to his wife and daughter across the room. A moment passed before he spoke.
"I get weapons, supplies and the men of my choosing," he said and turned back to stare the commander in the eyes. Commander Hill smiled, his eyes creasing with the fun he was having at this moment. "Anything, sir. Anything you want."
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Acuff / UNDEAD NATION / 1

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CHAPTER ONE Rumors

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CHAPTER TWO Outbreak

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