Here is my first attempt at writing some zombie fiction. I have read various stories on here, and seeing as they seemed to have all been abandoned, I'd thought I'd give it a try myself.
I put this together, and have ideas on where I can take this. This is just one short chapter(more like an intro), hopefully I'll have some more out in the next few days.
I know the title is rather dumb(thought of it literally 30 seconds ago), but it's more of a working title.
The first chapter has basically no action, but the ground work has been layed. If you hate it, don't bump it. If this thing falls into oblivion, I probably won't finish, but if you guys like it I'll try to give you a regular zombie fix.
ETA: critiques, criticism and suggestions are more than welcomed
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The Setting:
Present day Wausau, Wisconsin. A small city in central Wisconsin, Wausau and the surrounding area has a population surpassing 60,000 people.  
The Characters:
Dale- A single 40 year old man from Green Bay, Wisconsin that is moving to Wausau. Dale joined the Army when he was 20, and served in the first Gulf War. He left the Army afterwards and was hired as a law enforcement officer in Brown County (Green Bay), a job he recently left after 15 years of distinguished service. Dale was growing weary of his job as a full time LEO, and was hoping to find work as a consultant for the numerous small law enforcement agencies in northern Wisconsin.
Scott- A competent 25 year old man originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, Scott has lived in Wausau for 4 years. He is employed as a salesman at a local window manufacturer. His roommate is Jack.
Jack- Jack is a sharp young man, 24 years old, but hasn’t done much with his life thus far. He works a dead end job at a local distribution center for Pepsi-Co. Jack grew up in the area, but his parents recently moved away to Florida, leaving him without a place to live. Jack moved into a small house with his friend Scott.
Chapter 1 (posted 1-23-07)
Dale was heading west on the highway, and switched the radio on in his truck. “…the Federal government insists that both international and domestic air travel will not be halted. Measures will be put in place to keep any infected persons off the airlines.”
Dale had been hearing about a “virus” for over a day now. Apparently people in Asia, then Europe, were going crazy and biting anyone in sight. People who were bitten became sick, and after a time started to attack people. Some news stories reported that the virus was fatal, and actually brought people back to life.
Dale thought it was all a little out there, and being as yesterday was April Fools day, he thought it was all a big hoax. Today was April 2nd though, and he wondered why they would keep up the charade?
The news cast continued, “The infected seem to be immune to riot control tactics, feeling no pain. Even gunfire seems to have little effect on these ‘zombies’, as some now call them. Whole cities in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East have been taken over by the infected, and it is believed that most of Russia and China are now overrun. Reports are now surfacing that the virus has started to spread across Africa, South America, and has even reached Canada and Mexico. Some say even the southern United States is in the early stages of an outbreak. The only populated continent not infected it seems is Australia, whose government has blocked all travel into the country.”






Dale switched off the radio and drove the next 45 minutes in silence.
When Dale reached Weston, just south of Wausau, he noticed the sign for his exit, and he exited the highway on the next off-ramp and took a right, heading north. He passed a car accident where a truck had rear-ended a car at an intersection by a convenience store. The fire department and ambulance was already there, so he didn’t stop.
After going several more blocks, he noticed his truck was handling a little different. He looked in his side mirrors and could see the tires on the U-Haul trailer he was pulling were all right. He pulled over on the side of the street and got out of his F-150. When he walked around to the other side of the truck he noticed the front passenger’s side tire was flat.
“Well there’s your problem” Dale said to himself. “I must have run over some glass from that accident.”
He flopped down under the bed of the truck to take a look at the spare. Dale had put air in all the tires, including the spare, last night. Years of road salt had not been nice to the rim of the spare tire though, and the fact that the tire was unable to make a seal on the rim was now evident.
“I was afraid this.”
“Afraid of what?” a voice came from beside the truck.
Dale looked out from under his truck and saw a pair of legs standing in the snow beside the truck. Dale slid back out from under the truck. There a young man wearing a dirty sweatshirt and some jeans greeted him.
“My truck has a flat and the spare is useless” Dale said. He could see a set of footprints coming through the snow on the lawn next to where he was parked, and figured this guy must live here.
“Are you from around here?” the young man asked, eyeing the U-Haul trailer.
“No, I’m just moving here from Green Bay.”
“Well, if you want you can use the phone book inside and call someone.”
“Thanks. My name is Dale, by the way.”
“Jack.” The young man said as he shook Dale’s hand.
The two walked up the sidewalk and the driveway just as a police car sped by, in the direction Dale had come from.
“Wonder where he’s going” Jack said.
“There was an accident a few blocks south, but it seemed to be under control. I have no idea why he’s in such a hurry.”
“Maybe some of those zombies made it here.” Jack said, half jokingly.
“Yeah.” Dale chuckled. Neither of them thought it was that funny though.
Just then an old blue Suburban pulled into the short driveway and stopped next to Dale and Jack.
“That’s Scott, my roommate.” Jack told Dale.
“What took so long!” Jack said to the new arrival Scott, as he rolled down the window.
“Gander Mountain, Wal-Mart, and most of the grocery stores are packed. I got some things at Dunhams and some more food at that small IGA down the road. They weren’t quite as busy. Who’s that?” Scott pointed towards Dale.
“This is Dale, his truck got a flat” Jack gestured toward Dale’s truck.
“I was wondering why that was parked there. Nice to meet you, my name’s Scott.” Scott gave a quick wave to Dale.
“A lot of people starting to freak out?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. I just heard on the radio that it has gotten really bad in Canada, and a lot of people are flying and driving into the US. The Detroit airport is overrun, and the local news guy just said that a flight from there must have landed at the airport in Mosinee, because it is overrun now.”
“Holy crap, that’s ten minutes from here!” Jack said.
“Yeah, I know. I tried to buy a shotgun at Dunhams but the background check system went down about a half hour ago. I picked up some ammo though.”
With that Scott pulled into the 2-car garage attached to the small ranch style house. Scott jumped out of the truck and carried two heavy looking plastic bags into the house. Jack again invited Dale into the house.
“I’ll be there in a second, I’m going to go grab something out of my truck.”
“Alright man, just come on in through this door.” Jack said as he ducked inside the door in the garage, closing it behind him.
Dale headed down to his truck again, opening the driver’s door and flipping the front seat forward, he started to dig under the various duffel bags and backpacks that were piled in the extended cab.
“Where is that thing? Ahh, here it is” Dale said as he pulled out a well used range bag.
Dale pulled out the old stainless S&W 4006 .40 cal semi-auto that he had bought from his department when they switched over to Glocks. Dale had always liked a pistol with a little heft to it, and the S&W with its steel frame offered that. Dale unbuckled his belt and slid on the leather holster he used to use for off-duty carry. He put a double magazine carrier onto his belt as well. He slapped an 11 round mag into the pistol and let the slide slam shut, chambering a 165 grain hollow point. He flipped the safety to the on position, de-cocking the hammer. He then slipped it into the holster and snapped the thumb break shut.
Just then he heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots a ways off to the south. Scott and Jack popped out the front door.
“Sounds like there coming from by the hospital.” Scott said. He had what looked to Dale to be an AK47 slung upside down on his left shoulder.
“That’s a pretty serious rifle you have there.” Dale commented.
“Yeah, I picked it up last summer at a gun show for a little fun. Never thought I would ever really need it. It’s Romanian, paid $350 for it.” Scott unslung it and let Dale give it a quick look.
“I’ve got an old Mini-14 in the trailer somewhere, might not be a bad idea to dig that out sometime.” Dale said, referring to the rifle he had bought when he was 18, all the way back in 1985. It was the only long gun he owned, and never shot it much. He was always issued his weapons. He tried to remember where he had packed it in the trailer, along with the 20 round mags and the old Winchester 5.56 ammo that was nearly as old as the rifle.
“We probably should get inside, the news should have some info for us.” Scott said as the trio retreated into the house.
Chapter 2 (added 1-31-07)
Jack opened the storm door and went into the house, with Scott and Dale following. Once inside Dale found himself inside the living room of the house. Scott went straight, entering what looked to be a dining room.
“We should unload the food. Jack, you come and help.” Scott said, waving Jack to follow.
“Make yourself at home.” Jack said to Dale, as he went to help.
Dale took a quick look around the place. He was in the living room of a small house, and to his right at the back corner of the room, next to the where Dale and Scott had went into the dining room, there was a small hallway leading off to the right, with a door on each side. Dale walked down the hall a bit, and saw one door was cracked open. Dale could see it was a bedroom. He guessed that the other door was for an identical bedroom. At the end of the hall was a small bathroom. Dale turned around and took a right into the dining room. It was adjacent to a small kitchen, with just a countertop peninsula separating them. At the back of the dining area was a sliding glass door that led to a small deck.
Just then, Scott and Jack came back in through the service door of the garage loaded down with grocery bags. They set them down on the counter top and then Scott went and pushed the garage door opener button on the wall, and then shut the regular door. The three of them then migrated into the living room and sat down, just as Dale heard the garage door finish closing.
“Well, let’s see what Fox News has to say.” Scott said as he pressed the power button on the remote.
“…we are unsure what exactly happened at our New York and Washington DC bureaus, they have been off the air for 20 minutes now. We will continue broadcasting from here in Colorado for as long as possible.”
“Doesn’t take too vivid of an imagination to guess what happened in New York and DC.” Jack interjected.
“Quiet, they have a guy coming on to talk about the zombies.” Scott said.
“…here with us now in the studio is Max Bodkin, a self proclaimed expert on what he calls the ‘living dead’. Max, what exactly are these things?” asked the anchor.
“Well, no one knows for sure, but rumors of a virus such as this have been around for hundreds of years.” A nervous looking man that looked like he spent most of his time in his basement came up on the screen.
He continued, “What we do know is this: These zombies have an insatiable, incurable, appetite for human flesh, and will spend the rest of their existence hunting down and, well, eating people.”
“Oh my, well, umm, Max, how do we stop this virus?” the anchor queried.
“Well, at this point, I believe we can’t stop it from spreading throughout the entire world, but people may have a slim chance of riding it out. You see these zombies will, or at least I believe, ‘live’ for about 5 years before rotting away to nothing. So in about maybe seven years the world will be mostly free of zombies, but the newly infected will extend the length of the epidemic for decades longer.”
“Well, Max, how can someone survive this disaster; ‘ride it out’, as you said?” The anchor said with a mixture of shock and horror.
“Well, assuming you have a relatively safe place to hide out for almost a decade, you should be OK. That is, as long as you don’t die from dehydration, starvation, and exposure. You will have to avoid being eaten by the zombies as well, which will involve beating back hordes of these things.”
“How do you fight these zombies?” the anchor asked, even more horrified now.
“Well, as far as anyone can tell, the only part of the body these zombies need is the brain. Destroy the brain, and they’re dead. Firearms are probably the most effective tools, as long as you shoot the head. But be careful, zombies will be drawn to all sounds, including gunfire, if closer prey does not distract them. Blunt force trauma also works. Zombies are slow and dumb, use that to your advantage, but they are tireless and relentless; when you’re resting they are still coming after you. Don’t get to close, or you’ll be bitten. If you are bitten, you’re a goner. There is no cure. As far as everyone’s research can show, the virus will kill you, and then you will reanimate. If you are killed outright by the zombies, but are not fully consumed, the process moves faster, and the body will rise. I really have to be going; good luck and God bless to everyone. You’re going to need it.” With that the man got up and left the view of the camera while it was still broadcasting.
Dale, Scott, and Jack sat there in a mild state of shock. Scott turned off the TV and was the first to speak.
“We probably won’t be able to stay here. We should think of a plan.”
“Maybe we can go to my family’s cottage up north.” Jack said.
“Well, I can’t think of anything better right now, so I guess we should get out a map and then start packing.” Scott said as he got up and went to what Dale guessed was his bedroom. Scott came out a moment later with a map of Wisconsin.
“Where is it?” Scott asked.
“Around Tomahawk.” Jack answered. He pointed on the map.
“Alright, that is maybe 40 miles north of here. That might not be far enough, but it’s the best we got. The most direct route is straight through town, but that isn’t really an option. Maybe we should head south a bit, and go around this whole area.” Scott said.
Dale had been through this area a few times already, and he knew that he was at the south end of the Wausau area. The area was well populated, but there was plenty of room for people to just move to the edge town and build, while still being a short drive from everywhere else. Dale thought he was in what was the edge of the suburbs maybe 4 or 5 years ago.
Dale looked out the big front picture window. He could see that all of the neighbors had their houses shut up as tight as the one he was in now. It was still winter though, everyone kept their houses like that. Dale wondered how many of the neighbors were home.
Scott and Jack were still looking over the map and talking things over when Scott asked, “Hey Dale, seeing as you’re sort of stuck here, you want to come with us?”
Dale stood for a second and stared out the window in thought. He realized he really had no where else to go. He would have to dig out some of the more useful items from his truck and trailer if he were going to leave them behind. He didn’t have too many other options though.
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind.” Dale finally responded.
“Don’t mind at all, three of us will make it a little safer I think.” Scott replied.
“OK, I’ll have to unpack a few things though.” Dale said.
“I was thinking, maybe we can hook your trailer up to my Suburban and we can pack some things in that. It might be too tight a fit without it. We can put it in the garage and unload it.” Scott said.
“Alright, we should probably go do that right away.” Dale said as he headed over to the front door.
“OK, I’ll back out Jack’s car while you unhook the trailer. Then you can try to move your truck and I’ll hook the trailer up to mine. Jack, you get security.” Scott said.
Jack ducked into his bedroom and came back out with a lever action rifle. Dale recognized it as a Marlin. Jack set down 2 boxes of .30-30 ammo on the coffee table, opened one, and started to load the rifle.
“Hey Scott, you get any ammo for my rifle?” Jack yelled to Scott, who was in the kitchen.
“Yeah, I got all Dunham’s had, 5 boxes.” Scott said as he carried the two heavy bags in that Dale had seen him with before, and set them down next to Jack. “You owe me 65 bucks by the way.”
“I’ll get right on that.” Jack jokingly replied.  “I’ve got another 30 or so rounds here, so that makes it about 130 now.”
“I bought the last of the 7.62x39 they had, 16 boxes, so along with what I already have I’ve got about 500 rounds for my AK.” Scott said.
“You said you had a Mini-14?” Scott asked Dale.
“Yeah, I’ve got the Ruger with maybe 200 rounds of ammo, I’m not certain, and I’ve got another 200 rounds for my pistol.” Dale responded, patting his sidearm.
“I noticed you were carrying, I thought there was no CCW in Wisconsin?” Scott asked.
“Well, I just left the police force after about 15 years, and considering the extenuating circumstances, I should be alright. I’ll leave it outside my shirt, so it’ll be open carry now, which is technically legal.” Dale said in a sarcastic tone.
“Well, that’s good to know, officer.” Scott replied in the same sarcastic tone.
The three then headed outside. Scott moved Jack’s car out of the garage to make room and then backed out his SUV, while Dale limped his truck out of the way. Jack stood watch. After some yelling of directions and some convoluted hand signals, Dale and Scott finally got the trailer hooked up and backed into the garage. They decided it would be safest to unhook the trailer and park both it and the Suburban in the garage with the garage door closed.
Dale opened the back of the trailer and went about setting aside the things he wouldn’t need. Jack and Scott started to dig around the house for camping gear and other useful items. Dale heard a loud crash as the contents of a closet in the house spilled out, followed by some laughing.
“Hey guys, you need to come in here, right now!” Jack yelled a little while later.
Dale and Scott headed into the dining room. There they saw Jack staring out the sliding glass door at a woman walking through the small back yard towards them.
“Look at the side of her neck!” Jack said.
Dale could see that the side of her neck had a large, gory wound that no one would be able to survive. There was dried blood all over her clothes, and her skin was pale and somewhat purple. As she drew closer, Dale got an even closer look at her, the blood was congealed in her neck. She then reached the glass door and started to paw at it, looking straight at them.
Scott and Jack grabbed their rifles and headed towards the garage. Dale followed them out the back door of the garage into the yard beside the small deck. They quietly moved around behind her. When they got closer she heard them and turned slowly. Dale had his pistol out, and Scott and Jack had their rifles at the ready.
When it turned around Dale could see the hollow look in it’s eyes. He raised his S&W and pulled back on the trigger, bringing the hammer back. Just as it broke, Scott fired as well, dropping the zombie with two bullet holes in the head. The tempered glass door behind it shattered.
“We need to get the hell out of here.” Jack said.
“Yeah.” Scott and Dale replied in unison.
Chapter 3 (added 2-15-07)
Dale, Scott, and Jack stood over the body for a moment.
“I hope it was one of the zombies, and not a person looking for help.” Jack said.
“It was definitely dead, did you see the look in it’s eyes, and it’s neck…” Scott responded.
“Yeah, no one could have survived that neck wound for more than a minute.” Dale said.
“The guy on TV said that if you were killed by one of these things that it wouldn’t take long for you to come back to life, if you can call it ‘life’.” Scott said.
“So you think that’s a bite?” Jack said, even though he knew he wouldn’t like the answer.
“Looks like it.” Dale said.
“So how did it get here so fast?” Jack asked.
“It’s been about an hour since we heard the first gunshots off towards the hospital. It could have walked here in that time.” Scott said.
“Yeah, but what are the chances it ended up in our back yard?” Jack queried.
“I don’t know, if there are a lot of them out there….” Scott responded.
“Do you really think there are that many of them?” Jack persisted.
“Well if one of ‘them’ each can infect, say, two other people every few minutes, before you know it they can multiply into thousands.” Scott stated.
“But it doesn’t seem like they are that fast, how do people even get caught by them?” Jack wondered.
“I’m guessing some people want to help, and don’t realize what it really is. With all the news about this virus you’d think people would get that these things are dead. If you’re still stupid enough to get too close…I’m not saying they deserved it, but…” Dale trailed off.
“In a crowded place you could get outnumbered and surrounded pretty quickly. Out in the open you’d think you should be able to avoid them, but if there are too many them you might get caught there too.” Scott said.
Just then the three men heard a gunshot from the west, followed by two more. There had been sporadic gunfire for the past hour, but this was closer than any they had heard before.
“That’s was pretty close to here. We should get out of here soon.” Scott said, realizing they had already wasted a few minutes talking over this dead zombie’s body.
“I’m almost done with the trailer, I need a few more minutes though.” Dale said.
“OK, we’re almost done gathering stuff together in the house. It’s just a matter of loading everything up now.” Scott said.
The three of them went back to work, making sure to keep their weapons close. Dale went back into the trailer, and finally found his rifle packed at the front of the trailer. He found the box with 5 20 round magazines and 10 boxes of old Q3131 5.56mm ammo packed next to it. Dale took a minute to load up the magazines and then locked one into the rifle. He finished throwing the things that wouldn’t be useful out of the trailer and then put back in the stuff that he thought would still be of some use. Mainly tools, some clothes and a few boxes of his old Army gear.
Jack and Scott piled in the supplies they had gathered together, and put some of the food in the trailer. The rest was put in the back of the Suburban, along with the more essential items like the ammo. Scott had filled up everything he could find that would hold water up and put those in the Suburban as well. Dale was a little surprised to see Jack loading up the trailer with bottled water, Mountain Dew and various other soft drinks.
“Where did you get all that?” Dale asked.
“I work at the Pepsi distribution center and all the stuff we can’t sell for whatever reason is just given away. I had a decent sized stash in my room.” Jack said as he opened up a bottle of Mountain Dew and took a drink.
Jack walked back into the house while Dale secured everything in the trailer and Scott finished packing up the SUV.
A few moments later Dale heard a gunshot from behind the house and he and Scott ran back in and found Jack on the back deck. They could see another zombie’s body in the back yard.
“Another one was coming through the yard. I though it might come in through the broken door so I shot it.” Jack said as he worked the lever on his Marlin and then let down the hammer.
“It might have been attracted to here by the gunfire from the other one.” Scott said.
“Maybe, and that means more might be on the way.” Dale said
“I think we got everything loaded, let’s get going.” Scott said.
The three of them hooked up the trailer again, and headed out, moving south. They saw one car go past them, heading the opposite direction. It was moving pretty fast.  They reached the highway over pass shortly afterwards, and could see a police car parked across the oncoming lane of traffic on the other side of the bridge. Off to the south the hospital could be seen.
“Stop here, we should go check this out.” Dale said.
“OK” Scott slowed down and stopped before the bridge.
The three got out of the Suburban and walked to the edge of the bridge. Dale looked across at the police car.
“Doesn’t look like anyone is in it or around it. That’s strange.” Dale said. “Jack, you wait here and cover us. Keep an eye on the truck too. Scott, you follow me.”
Dale and Scott moved forward across the overpass. Dale chambered a round in his Mini-14 and Scott clicked the safety down on his AK into the ‘fire’ position. They continued to cautiously move forward. When they got 2/3 of the way across the bridge Dale stopped and looked at the roadway.
“There’s some pretty fresh skid marks on the road, and here are some 5.56 shell casings.” Dale pointed out a half dozen brass casings to Scott. “Looks like someone stopped here, fired off a few shots, and then turned around and sped off.”
The two moved the short distance up to the stopped police car. It looked like it was put there to try and stop traffic from coming across the bridge. It had its front wheels nudged against the curb of the sidewalk, blocking the oncoming lane.
“Looks like they made an attempt to keep the zombies on the other side of the highway.” Dale said. “There are quite a few shell casings around this car.” Dale kicked around a few 5.56mm and .40S&W cases with his foot.
“Look at this.” Scott had walked to the other side of the car and was looking at over three dozen zombie bodies on the road leading up to police car.
“Wow.” Dale said upon seeing the gory scene.
“So what do you guess happened here?” Scott asked.
“Looks like there was a cop stationed here, he called for backup, then was outnumbered and over run. Seeing as I can’t find an AR-15 lying around here he probably drove off in another patrol car with his backup. That’s what left those tire marks up there.” Dale said as he pointed up the road.
Dale took a peek inside the patrol car and could see a shotgun inside hanging horizontally across the cage. He opened up the door, leaned inside and grabbed it. As he pulled it out of the car a zombie smashed its face against the inside of the cage. Dale jumped back, shouldered the shotgun, and chambered a round.
“What the…” Dale was interrupted by the bark of Scott’s AK. A group of zombies was making its way up the road towards them.
Chapter 4 (added 2/20/07)
Dale hesitated for a moment, wondering if there really was a zombie locked in the back of the car. When the thing started to claw at the window, smearing blood all over it, Dale decided it definitely was a zombie. He drew a bead on it and pulled the trigger, letting loose 9 pellets of 00 buckshot. The zombie dropped back, it had received the full payload in its face.
Dale then turned his attention to Scott and the rather dense mob of zombies that he was engaging. He was taking cover behind the front of the car, using it as a rest. The AK was getting warmed up, a little smoke started to rise from the wood covering the gas tube. The rifle flung its empty cases into the windshield of the patrol car. Dale heard the AK bark once again, and then the smack as the steel case hit the glass.
Dale heard a shot echo out from across the bridge. He looked and saw Jack work the lever on his rifle and aim it at another unseen zombie. Apparently they were being attacked from both sides
“Crap, I’m out of ammo!” Scott yelled. He had dropped over 15 zombies. “I don’t have another mag on me.”
“Take this,” Dale topped off the 870’s 4 round mag with 2 rounds from the side saddle and then handed the shotgun to Scott “it’s fully loaded, safety is on. Go reload your rifle and see if Jack needs some help. I can take care of the rest over here.”
Dale picked up his rifle, which had been leaning against the police car, and shouldered the Mini-14. There were over a dozen more zombies working their way up the road towards him.
Dale took aim at the head of a man, or what used to be a man, that was wearing scrubs. Dale had noticed many of the other corpses were dressed similarly.
“Must be from the hospital.” Dale thought as he squeezed the trigger and dropped the zombie.
Dale switched focus to a pair of zombies that were closing on him from the left. His first shot was low, it hit the zombie’s neck. It kept coming, so he let another shot off, this one dropping it in its tracks. Dale quickly got the second of the pair in his sights and dropped that one with a single shot.
Dale settled into a good solid shooting position and lined up his sights on the first of a bigger group of zombies. He picked each of them off, one by one. He missed a few shots, but was able to bring them down rather easily. The zombies didn’t even notice that their undead companions were falling in front of them. They just kept coming. Dale finished off that group and noticed one straggler quite a ways out. He took a breath, let some of it out, and took the shot.
“Damn.” Dale muttered. The shot had narrowly missed. He adjusted the rifle’s stock on his shoulder and then took another shot at it. The zombie crumpled. “That’s more like it.” he thought.
Dale had been so concentrated on that zombie that he hadn’t noticed the one moving up to him on his right, coming within 10 yards. Dale finally noticed it, and he snapped his rifle over, letting off two quick shots at its head. The first bullet tore off part of the zombie’s jaw, and the second took it down with a shot squarely between the eyes.
Dale checked the magazine in his rifle- it was empty. He pulled back the slide a little; there was a round chambered. Dale, like Scott, had neglected to carry extra rifle mags.
“Down to one shot.” Dale thought. He patted the pistol on his side to make sure it was still there. He was glad that it was.
Dale looked back at the Suburban, wondering what was taking so long. He was surprised to see another car back there, a small hatchback, and Scott leaning down to the driver’s window, apparently talking with the driver. Dale wondered what about.
Dale heard a sickening moan from behind him. He turned to see a zombie coming for him, but still 20 yards out. He brought his rifle up, and being aware that he only had one shot left, took careful aim and neutralized the zombie.
“Good riddance.” Dale thought. He was getting rather annoyed with all these zombies.
Finally Scott came driving up in the Suburban, with the small car following it. Scott parked it near the police car, but left it running, and got out.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Scott asked Dale.
“Sure.” Dale replied. He wondered what was up.
“This guy, Bruce, and his daughter’s boyfriend are heading down to Steven’s Point, a small city about 30 miles south of here, to pick up his daughter Jessica. I guess she’s down there at college. Anyway, this guy doesn’t have a gun or anything, and he wants us to be security for him. He said we just have to go down there with him to the house that his daughter lives at, pick her up, and depending on how bad things are, just get them on their way back up here. I wasn’t sure about what to do, but apparently he knows Jack’s parents, so Jack thinks we should do it. He seems pretty desperate to get his daughter back, I’m leaning towards helping him out.” Scott looked at Dale, waiting for him to reply.
“It’s your truck, I’m just along for the ride. I’m not anxious to get myself killed, but it sounds like something we could do.” Dale responded.
“He offered us some money and a couple cans of gas for our trouble. The money is pretty much useless, but we could use the gas. It’ll replace what we use going down there plus a little extra. We don’t have any gas cans now, so it would be good to get those too.” Scott said.
“Alright, it’s settled then. We should take a look in the trunk of this squad car before we go though.” Dale said as he leaned into the car and popped the trunk.
“What’s the plan?” Dale asked as he walked back to the rear of the car.
“Bruce is going to ride with us so he can tell us where to go. The boyfriend, Jeremy, is going to follow us in his car. If all goes well, they’ll drive back up here in that, and we can just go on our way.” Scott said.
“Is that going to put a major kink in our plan to get up north?” Dale asked as he started to look through the trunk. It looked like the cop that left the car here had taken with him any 5.56 and .40 ammo that might have been in the trunk.
“No, we can head west a ways from there and then take back roads all the way north. Bruce lives north of here, he said the highway heading north is packed. People started driving north on the southbound lanes even, and that is stopped too. Bruce said it is crawling with zombies now.” Scott said.
Dale knew that Wausau was a hub for 2 main highways, one heading east and west; it basically went from the Minneapolis/St. Paul to Green Bay. This was the highway Dale drove to Wausau on, and the highway that the overpass he was standing on crossed. The other highway headed north and south, it went directly north from Madison, and went straight through Wausau. That was the highway that everyone from as far south as Illinois drove north on when they wanted to spend a long weekend of recreation away from the big cities.
Dale figured everyone, including Scott, Jack, and himself, thought that north was the best direction to be heading to get as far away from the zombies as they could. That’s why the northbound highway was packed and the east/west highway was still open.
“It’s good we found out that the bigger highway is a no go. Hopefully the county highways are still clear.” Dale said. He dug around in the last part of the trunk and pulled out 25 rounds of buckshot. That was the only thing of use in the trunk of the police car.
“Alright, let’s get out of here.” Dale said as he slammed the trunk closed.
Dale jumped in the passenger’s seat of the Suburban. Scott was driver, and Jack was in the back seat next to Bruce. Dale turned back and took a look at Bruce. He was a heavier set guy, balding, and had a moustache. Nothing out of the ordinary, he’s just a normal guy Dale concluded.
They squeezed past the police car, and at first slowly headed south. Scott was trying to avoid most of the zombie corpses in the road, but they bumped over a few. Jeremy fell in behind them in his hatchback, and the very small convoy eventually picked up speed and was approaching its destination in just over a half an hour.
Dale reloaded the rifle magazine he had emptied on the bridge, and he reloaded Scott’s too. Dale dropped an extra 20 round mag for his Mini-14 in each of the 2 front pockets of the woodland camouflage field jacket he had decided to wear; he didn’t want to get caught without extra ammo again. Dale had found the jacket along with some of his old military issued clothes when he was unpacking the trailer.
Dale looked out the window as they started to get into the city. He saw cars speeding past, but saw no one on foot; that would be paramount to suicide he thought. He kept an eye out for zombies, but he couldn’t see any.
“Maybe there aren’t any around here yet?” he thought to himself. At that moment he thought he caught a glimpse of one of the ghoulish figures walking down a side street, but maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him?
“Turn here.” Bruce told Scott. The Suburban made a quick right turn. “It’s that blue house on the right up ahead.”
The Suburban rolled to a stop in front of the house. Jeremy pulled in behind them.
“Jessica!” Bruce yelled as he jumped out of the truck and ran towards the front door.
“What’s he doing, he’ll get himself killed.” Dale said as he, along with Scott and Jack, rolled out of the SUV and grabbed their weapons.
The trio started to move up the concrete walkway that lead up to the front door when they heard a man let out a blood curdling scream. Bruce ran out the front door, grabbing at a horrific bite on his neck. He stumbled down the front steps and collapsed on the walkway. He writhed around for a second as a pool of blood formed on the concrete. Then he stopped moving.







Chapter 5 (added 3/20/07)
“Bruce!” Jeremy, Bruce’s daughter’s boyfriend, yelled as he came rushing up to Bruce’s side. Jack started to go forward to help as well.
“WAIT!” Dale yelled at Jeremy and Jack. “He’s gone, just stay back! He’ll be one of them soon.” Dale said, realizing the inevitable.
Jack stopped, but Jeremy ran forward and knelt down next to Bruce. Dale ran up behind Jeremy and aimed his rifle at Bruce’s head.
“There’s nothing we can do for him.” Dale tried to console Jeremy. “We need to leave, it’s not safe here.”
“Not without Jessica, not if she’s still alive anyway.” Jeremy said. He got up and started to head towards the front door. At that moment a woman appeared in the doorway.
“Jessica, you’re OK, thank God!” Jeremy said as he moved closer to her. But as the figure moved into the light it became evident that she was not OK.
“Get out of the way!” Dale told Jeremy as he moved forward and lined up his sights on the zombie. He pulled the trigger, killing what was once Jeremy’s girlfriend.
In the seconds after Dale fired, Dale still had his rifle aimed towards the front door. Jeremy stood off to the side, in shock after seeing two people he knew die within moments of each other, while Jack and Scott lingered nervously between the house and the vehicles. Then all hell broke loose.
Zombies started to converge on their location in an endless stream of undead; they seemed to just appear out of no where. Scott opened up with his AK on a group moving up the street towards them. Jack, in a good show of foresight, advanced on Jeremy’s hatchback and retrieved the two five-gallon cans of gas. Dale was startled to see another form stumble to the front door of the house; he dispatched what he guessed was a roommate of Bruce’s daughter with a shot to the head.
Bruce, who a short time ago laid dead on the sidewalk in a pool of his own blood, started moving again. Jeremy had begun to slowly fall back to the SUV, but still in a daze, he didn’t notice Bruce’s hands reach out and grab his ankle. Bruce (or what used to be Bruce) pulled Jeremy off his feet and then sunk his teeth into the back of Jeremy’s leg. Upon hearing the screams of Jeremy, Dale turned and saw Bruce’s corpse wrestling with Jeremy. Dale aimed his rifle at Bruce’s head, which now was over Jeremy’s stomach, but hesitated after realizing his shot would probably go right through Bruce’s head and into Jeremy.
“What does it matter, he’s a goner anyway. But I can’t shoot him when he’s still alive. What am I supposed to do!” Dale thought. His mind was racing.
Dale stood over them, not knowing what he should do. Bruce ripped into Jeremy’s abdomen, and Dale gagged upon seeing Jeremy’s intestines spill out. Jeremy must have passed out from the pain, as he was no longer screaming.
“Dale, we need to get out of here!” Scott yelled at Dale, snapping Dale out of his daze. Scott rocked a fresh mag into his rifle and racked the bolt.
Dale started to move towards the Suburban. Scott was close behind, firing sporadically at the zombies that were coming at them from all directions. Jack had placed the gas cans into the trailer, and was latching the back doors. A zombie came around to the side of the trailer and grabbed Jack before he could react. He was able to avoid it’s snapping teeth, and he grabbed the shotgun that hung on a sling across his chest and pushed the zombie off of him. Before the zombie had time to came back at him, Jack swung the shotguns butt-stock at it’s head, impacting the zombie’s temple and dropping the ghoul.
Another zombie came around to the back of the trailer, and Jack quickly killed it with a blast from the shotgun. He moved out of sight on the other side of the trailer, with Scott following him. Dale heard a few shots from the AK and the shotgun as Scott and Jack moved to the doors of the Suburban.
Dale was nearing the passenger’s side front door when two zombies came up the sidewalk towards him. He raised his rifle and put 55 grains of lead through each of their brains. He got into the front seat of the SUV and placed his rifle between his knees just as Jack got into the backseat and Scott climbed into the driver’s seat. Scott quickly started the engine and put it into gear. He stomped on the gas and sped away from the house.
Dale looked back and saw Bruce still devouring Jeremy’s body. A few other zombies had already joined in. Dale shuttered. He was upset with himself for freezing up back there. He just didn’t have it in him to shoot Jeremy while he was still alive. He hesitated, and Dale resolved to never lock up like that again.
“I won’t last long if I hesitate like that. Scott and Jack handled this situation better than I did, and I’m a combat veteran.” Dale thought to himself. “I must be losing my edge now that I’m getting old.” Dale chuckled a little after thinking that.
Dale was surprised that he could actually laugh in a situation like this. It was a changed world now, he thought. It really hasn’t sunk in yet, but Dale realized life as he knew it was over. He had shot and killed a few dozen people today, and he didn’t feel a thing. Probably because they weren’t people anymore. What did bother him a little was watching Bruce and Jeremy die. It would be a little while before Dale came to terms with that.
Scott had worked his way out of the city, weaving around abandoned vehicles, bodies, and a few “live” zombies. He was able to make it over the Wisconsin River on a bridge at the edge of the city, and once they were over that, they were in more rural territory. The countryside was seemingly devoid of life, and they liked it that way.
The three of them had not said a word since getting into the vehicle. They seemed to understand that no one wanted to talk about what happened, and it was best if it was just forgotten.
“It’ll be dark out soon, we should probably find a safe place to stay for the night.” Scott was the one to break the silence after driving for about fifteen minutes.
“Yeah, I was thinking maybe an empty building, I don’t like the idea of sleeping out in the open.” Dale said.
“There is a small town coming up, we should keep an eye out for a good place.” Scott said.
The three kept their eyes peeled, and once they were about a mile outside of a small town of a few thousand residents, they noticed a new building that seemed like it was empty. It looked to be either a small industrial or commercial building. It was two stories tall, with block walls and the occasional window. A sign outside the newly constructed building informed them that it was a “business incubator”; a place for small businesses to get a start in building funded by a government grant.
They parked the Suburban by a side door and got out. Dale had his Mini-14, Scott his AK, and Jack had his new favorite weapon, the 870 police shotgun.
“Lets take a look inside before we move our stuff in.” Dale said.
Dale tried the door handle, but it was locked. He rattled on it for a few seconds, and then gave up.
“It’s not budging.” Dale said.
“Should we shoot the lock out?” Jack asked.
“No, I don’t want to if we can avoid it. Let’s check around back for an easier way in.” Dale said.
The three made there way around the back corner of the building, and when they did they were met with a surprise. Parked by the back doors was a small pick-up, an older Ford Ranger. There was gear piled in the back, and all three of them got the impression that it was not just parked here when the outbreak happened, someone was in the building.
“Let’s go back to our truck, it looks like we’re not the only ones here.” Dale said.
When they were walking back to the Suburban, the side door that they had tried to enter before opened and a man peered outside. Dale, Scott, and Jack gripped their weapons a little tighter. The man noticed them and stepped outside. He was wearing a pistol in a black drop-leg holster, but didn’t do anything threatening.
The man said, “Hello there! Glad to see some real people again. I was afraid everyone had turned into a zombie.”
Dale realized he wasn’t a threat, so he eased his grip on his rifle and returned his greeting.
“What brings you to these parts?” the man asked.
“We are sort of on the run, and are looking for a place to spend the night. We thought this looked like a good spot.” Dale said.
“Well I normally wouldn’t invite three armed strangers into my home, but these are not really normal times, and this isn’t technically my home. My name is Robert, but most people just call me Rob. Your welcome to stay here if you want.” Rob said.
Dale could tell that Rob was a good guy, he didn’t have much to go on, but he has dealt with a lot of people, good and bad, and Dale could tell Rob was one of the good ones. Dale was surprised how fast he was making friends today, first Jack and Scott, and now this guy.
“I guess there aren’t to many people left to make friends with, so whenever you meet someone with a pulse they are a new friend.” Dale thought.
It turns out that Rob had leased out the entire second floor, and the back of the first floor of the building. The rest of the first floor had not been rented out yet. Rob was starting a small mail order car parts business with one of his friends, and they were just getting moved in when the first rumors of the virus started coming out of Asia.
“Well, make yourselves at home, there’s plenty of room.” Rob said.
Chapter 6 (added 7/16/07)
Dale, Scott, and Jack took a quick look around the place, with Rob serving as tour guide. The front of the building faced east, towards the road. There were glass doors on the front of the building, and these lead into the unoccupied offices in the front half of the first floor.
The group had parked on the south side of the building, where there was another glass door that lead into a short hallway (this is the door Dale had tried to open, and the one Rob had emerged from earlier to greet them). On the left (west side) of the hallway was one glass door that lead into Rob’s office, and farther down was a wood door that led into the loading dock area. There were also two solid wood doors on the right side of the hallway that led into the back rooms of the front office space.













The room that Rob and his business partner leased on the first floor was divided into two parts. One room was an unloading area; it’s floors were bare concrete and you could see a small garage door for the loading dock. There was a regular gray metal door next to the loading dock’s door that led to the outside. At the back of the room were stairs that angled up to the second floor.
The second floor of the building was unfinished, and the ceiling was rather low. Shelves and boxes filled most of the upstairs. There were no partitioning walls, so you could see clear to the other side of the room by looking down the aisles between the shelves. Rob said it had been their warehouse.
The other room on the first floor that Rob occupied had served as their office. It was plain white drywall and had gray commercial grade carpeting. There were two computers set up and other standard office equipment was scattered about.
The office was now Rob’s home away from home. He had set up a cot and sleeping bag, and Dale noticed a small camp stove with an empty soup can nearby. There was a water cooler (now, due to the absence of electricity, just a water dispenser) with two extra 5-gallon jugs sitting next to it. There were also a few small boxes filled with soup and various other non perishable food stuffs sitting by the cot.
Along with the water and soup, Rob had a rifle case and a few ammo cans underneath his cot.
“What do you have in the case?” Scott casually asked, pointing to the gun case.
“Oh, that’s something my business partner, Mike, helped me put together.” Rob said.
With that Rob unzipped the case and pulled out an AR-15. Dale recognized that it was one modeled after the early M16A1s that were used in Vietnam and into the early ‘80s. Dale knew that this was most likely a semi-automatic AR-15, and not an M16, the AR-15s fully automatic military counterpart.
“My dad was a Sergeant in the Army during Vietnam and carried something very similar to this.” Rob said. “I bought the lower receiver at a gun store in the area and picked out the upper receiver at a gunshow last summer. Mike built his own AR-15 a few years back after the sunset of the ban so he helped me put this one together.”
“I looks very nice. I’m sure it will come in handy these days.” Dale said.
“My father did manage to bring home his pistol from Vietnam, and when he passed a few years ago he left it to me. It’s an old World War Two era 1911.” Rob said as set down the rifle and pulled a holster from underneath the cot.
Rob pulled the .45 ACP war horse out of the US marked leather. “I don’t shoot it much, especially now that I have the Glock.” Rob said, as he re-holstered the vintage 1911 and dropped it on his cot. He pulled the handgun from his drop leg holster.
“My Glock is a .45 too, a model 21.” Rob stated. “I had to use it on a few of ‘them’ in my driveway before I got out of there.” Rob said as he released the magazine and checked to see if it was topped off.
“Anyway, I hope Mike and his family are OK.” Rob said, slamming the magazine back into this Glock. “I talked to him before the phones went down and he was going to try and make it out here with his wife and daughter. That was more than 3 hours ago. He lives in Stevens Point, and it shouldn’t have taken him more than 30 minutes to drive here...”
“We just came from there. It’s not in very good shape. There are zombies everywhere.” Dale said. “We did notice one or two cars speeding around though, so not everyone there is dead.”
“Well, Mike can take pretty good care of himself, so hopefully he and his family are some of the people who make it out alive.” Rob said.
“Well, how about we unload our stuff before it gets too dark out.” Dale said, changing the subject. “Maybe we should post a look out on the roof to watch for any zombies while we unload. Do you know how to get to the roof, Rob?”
“Yeah, there is a ladder and a small hatch upstairs that leads up to the roof. There is a metal ladder on the outside of the building as well but it is placed high enough that you can’t reach it from the ground without a ladder of your own.” Rob replied.
“OK, how about you show Jack how to get to the roof upstairs. Then you keep watch with us on the ground while Scott and I unload.” Dale said.
“OK, I’ll go grab my rifle from the truck before I go up.” Jack said.
After Jack had retrieved his scoped Marlin from the Suburban he positioned himself on the roof. Dale and Scott unloaded what they would need for the night while Rob stood watch with his AR. He had an old style 20 round mag in the rifle and had a cloth bandolier with 7 extra 20 round magazines slung across his chest. Rob said he didn’t own any of the more modern 30 round magazines for his AR-15.
“This is an old style AR, and the 20 rounders made it look more authentic, so that’s all I ever bought for it.” Rob said as he chatted with Dale. “I sorta wish I would have picked up a few 30 rounders now though.” Rob said. “Mike has plenty of 30 round magazines for his AR though.” Rob told Dale. Rob’s thoughts once again focused on the unknown fate of his friend.
The group continued to unload some of the equipment and supplies they would need. Dale thought it would be best to bring in a majority of the food, water, and ammo for safe keeping. They kept a portion of those things in the vehicle though, in case they would have to make a quick exit. Just as the group was finishing up and the sun had nearly set, Jack spotted a set of headlights approaching on the road at a distance.
“Hey guys, we got company!” Jack yelled from his perch.
“What is it?” Scott asked.
“Looks like some sort of truck.” Jack yelled down.
The group quieted for a second, and they could here a diesel engine getting closer and closer.
“Mike drives a diesel F-350, that might be him.” Rob said.
”Yeah, it’s an F-350. Is his truck black?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, it is. That must be him.” Rob said.
The group relaxed a little, and put the last of their supplies in the building. As they came out of the building the truck slowed and turned into the driveway. The truck came to a stop behind the trailer and Suburban.
A man stepped out of the truck and yelled a greeting to Rob.
“Hey Rob!” Mike said.
“Glad to see you! I was beginning to think you didn’t make it out of their alive.” Rob said.
Mike remained silent as his daughter, whose name Dale later found out was Amber, hopped out of the front seat of the big truck. Dale guessed Mike’s daughter was no more than 19 years old. She was rather pretty, and seemed to be in good shape. But Dale could also see the anguish in her face, and noticed that she was crying.
“We didn’t all make it out.” Mike said as he lowered his head and wiped a tear from his eye. Dale remembered Rob mentioning that Mike had a wife, but Dale didn’t see her anywhere.
Chapter 7 (added 8/1/07)
Dale’s eyes opened. He wondered where he was, but all too soon it came back to him. Dale rubbed his eyes and surveyed the warehouse (they had decided last night that it would be better to sleep on the second floor). He sat up on the air mattress he had brought in out of the trailer last night. It wasn’t ideal, but it sure beat those foam camping pads that Scott and Jack had slept on.
Dale spotted Jack sound asleep in his sleeping bag on the floor. He looked over to where Scott had set up his sleeping bag and he was still sleeping as well. Rob’s cot was empty. Dale figured he must be up on the roof standing guard. Mike and his daughter Amber were no where to be seen.
Dale stood up and stretched. He had slept in his clothes, so he just threaded his belt back through his belt loops and secured his S&W semi-auto back in his holster. Dale remembered he had fired a round from the pistol yesterday at Scott and Jack’s house. He dropped himself back down on the mattress and pulled his range bag next to him. He opened up a box of .40cal hollow points, slid out the 50 round tray, and pulled 2 rounds from it (one to replace the fired round, and another to replace the one he had chambered). He released the magazine from his pistol and loaded the two rounds. He reinserted the mag. The pistol now was at full capacity; eleven rounds in the magazine plus one round up the pipe.
Dale took a look inside the range bag. He had put his .223 ammo and his spare Mini-14 magazines into the bag along with his pistol ammo. He noticed he was down to about 160 rounds for the rifle. He still had a little over 200 rounds for his pistol. Dale thought it would be a good idea to do an inventory of everyone’s weapons and ammo sometime so they would know what they had to work with. Dale figured they should do the same with food and water as well.
Dale stood back up, just as Mike came up the stairs and into the warehouse. Dale hadn’t really had a chance to talk with Mike last night. After Mike and his daughter had arrived, they had been hurriedly introduced as they all unloaded the truck. When they were done they had barricaded the doors, and everyone went to sleep.
“How are you doing?” Dale asked Mike.
“Oh, OK I guess.” Mike responded. “Amber is taking it pretty hard, she was very close to her mother, but she is starting to come to terms with it. I’m still finding this whole thing a bit unbelievable. I’m expecting to wake up out of a bad dream at any time.”
“Yeah, it is pretty crazy.” Dale said. “So where is Rob at?”
“He’s up on the roof with a set of binoculars just keeping watch. I think we’re pretty safe in here for now, but it’s probably good to have a set of eyes keeping watch anyway.” Mike responded.
“Yeah.” Dale replied.
“Well, I’ve got some breakfast ready, if you want to get these guys up.” Mike said, gesturing towards Jack and Scott. “It’s not much, but we’re going to need to keep our energy up.”
“OK, see you downstairs. I’ll go and get Rob down off of his perch too.” Dale responded.
Dale walked over to Jack, then Scott, and got them both awake. He then headed up to the roof.
“Hey Rob, how’s it going?” Dale asked as he emerged out onto the roof.
“Oh, pretty good. I saw a few of ‘them’ walking past this morning, and I’m sure a few went through overnight. I decided against taking any down though. I figured the noise would just draw more in.” Rob said.
“Your probably right.” Dale said. “Anyway, Mike said he’s got a little breakfast ready if you want to come down.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice!” Rob said.
Dale and Rob headed downstairs and joined Mike, Amber, Scott, and Jack for breakfast. The food was plain, but no one complained. They had some bread and butter that Rob had brought, and Mike managed to bring some fresh fruit from home. Mike had also grabbed some cereal before leaving his house, so they had some of that as well.
After everyone was finished, Dale addressed the entire group.
“I think we should take inventory of what we have in terms of food, water, weapons, and other essentials. We need to know what we have to work with, and how long we can survive with what we have. We should make a list of things we need more of, too.”
“That sounds good to me.” Rob said. “The hardest thing is going to be estimating how much food and water we will need for each person per day.”
“Well, my most conservative estimate would be maybe 2-3 gallons of water per person per day. That includes drinking, cooking, and washing.” Mike said. “I also remember reading something about a person needing to eat about 2500 calories per day to maintain their weight. I have no idea how accurate that was, and it obviously will vary from person to person, but it gives is something to work with at least.”
“Sounds pretty close to me.” Dale said.
“What do you guys think about going out and doing a small supply run today, if we have time. I think the sooner the better actually. The longer we wait, the more these things spread.” Scott interjected.
“We could just hit up something small, like a convenience store.” Jack stated.
“I’m not sure how much I like the idea of looting stores…” Dale trailed off.
“What choice do we have?” Jack said.
“This isn’t like Katrina or something where things will eventually return to normal.” Scott said. “This is the end of the world as we know it. The majority of the people on the planet have turned into a zombie by now.”
“I think they’re right.” Rob said. “As long as the stuff is abandoned, I think it’ll be OK.  We have almost no other choice. We’ll take what we need as long as we are as certain as we can be that no one will return for it. I’m not going to take supplies from a living person, but I have no problems taking it from a person-turned-zombie.”
“In any other circumstance I would be against it, but I think we will have to do it. These are some pretty bizarre times.” Mike said.
“I guess you guys are right.” Dale conceded. He still wasn’t 100% behind it, but he really had no other choices.
“Not too many stores will probably ever open for business again anyway.” Scott said. “I doubt the corporate execs and stockholders will be by anytime soon to reclaim their goods either, if any of them are even still alive. We can at least put the stuff to good use.”
“OK, we better get started on the inventory, and start making that shopping list.” Rob said, moving on to a different subject.
The group split up and started counting. Mike and Amber were in charge of food. Rob looked into how much water they could scrounge up. Jack and Scott started looking at where they were at in terms of other supplies. Jack and Scott were mainly looking for things they needed because a listing of what they did have would take too much time. Dale took on the task of inventorying the weapons and ammo.
Mike and Rob had brought out their gun cases and ammo cans and set them out on the table. They opened them up and started to look through the contents. Scott and Jack took a break from going through the supplies and brought out their firearms as well.
Mike seemed to be the best armed of all of them. He had a Bushmaster AR-15 carbine with a 16” barrel, and a case of Guatemalan surplus 5.56 ammo to go with it. He also had a vintage USGI M1 Carbine. Mike also had something else that would prove extremely useful. He popped the latches on a hard sided gun case and pulled out a Ruger 10/22 with a threaded barrel and suppressor.
“If you add it all up, I have as much money into the 10/22 as I do the Bushmaster.” Mike said. “The tax stamp alone cost me $200.”
Along with the Bushmaster AR-15, M1 carbine, and the 10/22, Mike also had two Springfield Armory XD 9mm pistols. The one he had on his hip was a 4” barreled stainless steel slide version. The other was a blued slide version with a 4” ported barrel. This was assigned to Amber, as she had had some trigger time in with it before the world was stood on it’s head.
No one bothered counting the ammunition to the last round, the numbers were very close approximations. Dale knew what guns he had and how much ammo he had for them, so he began his list with that.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
Dale-
Mini-14 (5.56) w/ five 20 round magazines
         160 rounds 5.56mm 55 gr. FMJ
Smith & Wesson 4006 (.40S&W) w/ three 11 round magazines
         100 rounds .40S&W 165 gr. FMJ






         100 rounds .40S&W 165 gr. HP
Scott-
Century Arms GP-WASR AK (7.62x39) w/ six 30 round magazines
         400 rounds 7.62x39mm 122 gr. FMJ
Jack-
Marlin 336 (.30-30) w/ scope
         110 rounds .30-30 150 gr. SP
Remington 870 Police (12 gauge) w/ side saddle
         20 rounds 12 gauge 00 buckshot
Rob-
AR-15 20” A1 clone (5.56) w/ eight 20 round magazines
         350 rounds 5.56mm 55 gr. FMJ
GLOCK model 21 (.45ACP) w/ five 13 round magazines






Colt 1911-A1 (.45ACP) w/ three 7 round magazines
         300 rounds .45ACP 230 gr. FMJ
Mike-
Bushmaster AR-15 16” patrolman’s carbine (5.56) w/ twelve 30 rounds magazines
         1,500 rounds 5.56mm 55 gr. FMJ
M1 Carbine (.30 Carbine) w/ five 15 round magazines
         400 rounds .30 Carbine 110 gr. FMJ
Ruger 10/22 with suppressor (.22LR) w/ two 10 round and three 25 round magazines
         2,000 rounds .22LR 40 gr. sub-sonic
Springfield XD9 (9mm) 4” barrel bi-tone w/ five 16 round magazines






Springfield XD9 (9mm) 4” ported barrel w/ five 16 round magazines (ten total XD mags)
         800 rounds 9x19mm 115 gr. FMJ
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Dale looked at the list and noticed the only ammunition they would be able to use in different people’s weapons was the 5.56mm. They had a total of about 2,000 rounds that could be used in three different rifles. Finding more 5.56mm or .223 ammo wouldn’t be that hard of a task, as the military and law enforcement both used it. Most gun shops carried a good amount of .223 ammo as well.
Scott’s AK will be a little harder to find ammo for, but they will just need to keep their eyes peeled. The M1 Carbine will be even harder to get more ammo for. Maybe they will get lucky though.
Dale, Rob, and Mike had all landed in different corners in regards to what pistol round they preferred. Mike liked the capacity of a nine, and Rob liked the size of the forty-five. “It’ll never get any smaller!” Rob had quipped. Dale was in between the two with the forty caliber.
They all now realized that the 9mm was probably the best pistol round in terms of zombies, as it offered high capacity, and was the most common pistol ammunition in the world.  The 9mm also had ample power to take down the walking dead as only head shots counted, so the .40 and .45 were just “over kill” in this situation.
Dale saw a silver lining though. They would be able to utilize most of the pistol ammunition they came across. The military stockpiled millions of rounds of 9mm, most law enforcement agencies carried .40S&W pistols, and the .45ACP was still very popular in the civilian shooting community. They should have little problem finding pistol ammo when they need to.
The others finished up their inventories soon after. Rob found that they had enough water to last several weeks, and they could always get more. They could boil some from a stream if they had to.
Food was a bigger problem. They were not going to starve, not for a while anyway. If they wanted to survive though they would need to keep their strength up. If they were to eat as much as they normally did, they would run out soon. There was only enough food to last about a week and a half at most with all six people.
Scott and Jack reported that they were OK in the non-foodstuff department. They could always use more batteries, propane, gasoline, and diesel but they were all right for the time being.
Everyone finished up and sat down for a quick lunch. After they had finished eating, Jack suggested they go out and look for supplies.
“It would be nice if we could find somebody to talk to as well.” Jack said. “Maybe somebody has heard some news.”
“I don’t know how many people are out there yet, but we can give it a try.” Dale said.
Rob was content with just staying back and keeping an eye on things. Amber would not be going along either. Mike, Dale, Scott, and Jack all geared up for the expedition. They would be taking Mike’s big F-350 truck. It had a brush guard on the front and had enough ground clearance to make it through a small group of zombies.
Dale and Mike carried their pistols and 5.56 rifles, Scott had his AK, and Jack carried the shotgun. They took along Mike’s suppressed 10/22 and Jack’s scoped .30-30 as well, just in case. They packed enough food, water, and ammo in the truck for a few days, even though they only planned on being gone for a few hours. They thought it was a good precaution to take in case things went wrong.
They planned to head about 2 miles north to an area where there was a small gas station and convenience store. Rob recalled that there was an apartment complex nearby as well. The group hoped to find some useful items in the c-store and maybe they could come in contact with some people in the area as well.
Mike said good bye to his daughter, and she replied, staying positive, with “See you soon.”
Mike, Dale, Scott, and Jack waved goodbye as they drove out of the driveway and turned north.
Chapter 8 (added 11/26/08)

The Ford Power Stroke diesel engine’s RPMs dropped as Mike slowed
the truck on approach to the convenience store. Jack was in the backseat of the
extended cab with an FRS radio. He was still trying to hail Rob back at “base”
after losing contact about a quarter mile back. The terrain was blocking the
signal. Dale was in the front seat with his Mini-14 between his knees, and
Scott was next to Jack in the backseat with his AK, gazing intently out the
window.

“Here we are.” Mike said, coming to a stop on the road. He
didn’t want to pull into the parking lot without first checking to see if the
coast was clear.

“Some of the front windows are busted out.” Dale said. He
saw that there were several cars parked in the spaces by the building. There
was a van at one of the gas pumps as well.

“I don’t see any of them though.” Mike said. He took his
foot off the brake and slowly pulled into the driveway. Mike turned the truck
around, to facilitate a faster escape. He parked the truck about 20 yards from
the building, at the far corner of the lot. He turned the engine off to cut
back on noise, but left the keys in the ignition.

Dale and Mike climbed out of the front seats. Scott and Jack
piled out of the back seat. Mike slowly headed towards the convenience store’s
front doors, Bushmaster in hand. Everyone else followed, weapons at the ready,
scanning their surroundings. They were all very tense. There was no wind, there
were no animals around; there was complete silence. The only noise heard was
the muffled click of a rifle sling’s hardware onto a handguard.

Even though there were 3 people with him, Dale felt very
alone all of a sudden. In that moment he realized that human life on earth may
be coming to an end. “Not if I can help it.” Dale thought.

When they had circled around the building enough to get a
view of the front entrance, it was apparent something very gruesome had gone
down there. There were two half devoured bodies laying in front of the doors.
Mike raised his left arm to signal a halt, and then dropped to one knee.

“There’s a few of them shuffling around inside the store.”
Mike whispered. “Wait over there.” Mike motioned to the corner of the parking
lot. There was a small depression between the parking lot and the roadway.
Dale, Scott, and Jack moved to the shallow ditch as swiftly and as silently as
they could. They crouched down in the shallow snow. The ground beneath was
soft, the snow was melting and the ground was thawing.

Mike fell back and jogged to his truck. A short while later he returned to the
group with the Bushmaster slung on his back and the suppressed 10/22. He
dropped down to the prone position on the edge of the parking lot, and deployed
the bipod mounted on the 10/22.

“What, you don’t want to get all wet in the snow over here
with us?” Jack whispered sarcastically.

Mike chuckled. He adjusted the magnification on the scope.
“I can see movement inside”.

Dale squinted and could make out a few slow moving life
forms inside the store, about 30 yards away. Dale heard the safety on the .22
snap off and then 3 clacks as Mike chewed into the head of one of the zombies.
The three brass cases blew out of the ejection port and tinked onto the
pavement. The rifles action was the loudest thing heard. The silhouette in the
store dropped out of sight, taken down by the 40 grain slugs.

“One down.” Mike whispered.

The 10/22 clacked again, and another of the shadowy forms
dropped inside of the store. Mike shifted the rifle to the left, and another
quick double tap from the Ruger brought down a third zombie.

Dale, Scott, and Jack didn’t see any more movement inside
the convenience store. Mike snapped his scope covers closed, unloaded the
rifle, and re-stowed the bipod. He jogged over to his truck and set his .22
inside while the rest of the group advanced toward the building once again,
guns at the ready. Mike fell in with his AR at the ready, turning around to
check the rear of the group. All clear.

Dale was at point. He had the Mini-14 up, and now had a
small flashlight in his support hand, holding it along the side of rifles
fore-end. “You ready?” he quietly asked the group.

“Let’s go.” Jack said.

Dale stepped around a dead body and entered through the
automatic sliding front doors, which were now stuck open. He pointed his
rifle ahead, and illuminated the dark corners of the store. With no power and
no interior lights, the back of the store farthest away from the front windows
was in shadow.

Jack, Scott, and Mike fanned out and checked down each of
the aisles in the small store. All seemed clear. The broken glass at the front
of the store and the recently re-killed zombies Mike had put down were the only
evidence that anything was wrong in the store. Everything else was as it should
be.

Mike went to look behind the counter, with Jack following
him. Dale looked up and saw Mike motion to Jack to stop. Jack was pointing the
870 at something behind the counter. Mike let his Bushmaster fall across his
chest on its sling and grabbed an aluminum baseball bat that was sitting behind
the counter. Dale saw Mike raise the bat and bring it down hard on something
hidden from view behind the counter. Dale heard a muffled crunch. He made his
way over to the counter.

Mike looked up, “It was still kneeling here gnawing at what
was left of the attendant. Figured I’d try and take it out quietly.”

”Good work.” Dale said as he surveyed the scene. There was a zombie lying over
a half-eaten corpse. “What’s that over there?”

Mike stepped around the bloody mess and leaned down near the
hand of the now devoured employee. He picked up a stainless steel revolver. Mike
brought it up so Dale, who was on the other side of the counter, could take a
closer look. Jack’s interest was piqued and he leaned over to see as well.
Scott was still watching the doors that led to the yet un-cleared back room.

Mike popped the cylinder out. He hit the ejector, tilted the
revolver back, and five empty .38 Special cases rattled onto the counter.

“Looks like a Ruger SP-101.” Mike said. He opened up some
drawers and cabinet doors, but could not find any extra ammo. “We’ll take it
along. Maybe we’ll find some .38 ammo someplace else.”

Dale headed over to Scott, and the two headed for the door leading into
the back room. Dale brought his rifle and flashlight up, and Scott opened the
door. Dale shined the light into the room, and advanced inside. Scott followed.

“All clear.” Dale said a few seconds later, as he emerged
back out into the main area of the store.

“Bathroom is clear too.” Jack said from the other side of the store, as he headed over to
Dale and Scott.

“I’ll pull the truck around front.” Mike said. “Look around
and gather up some essentials.”

The group started to grab the most useful items off the
shelf. The store carried a small selection of canned goods, and those were the
first to be piled in the back of the truck. Flats of bottled water were thrown
in as well. Some perishable dry goods like loaves of bread were carefully
placed in the back seat.

“Hey, I don’t like my bread to be squished.” Jack said.

Scott dumped all the batteries he could find into a box and
loaded it into the truck. Mike searched behind the counter, grabbed a set of
keys, and walked out front. There, he unlocked the propane tank exchange cage,
and pulled out four full 20 pound propane tanks.

“Wish they had more, but we’ll take what we can get.” Mike said
to Dale as he helped load them into the bed of the Ford.

Jack stopped and turned to face a section in one of the
aisles. His eyes brightened as he surveyed all the beef jerky before him. He
found a large box and emptied the display of everything.

“I claim the peppered jerky!” Jack yelled to Scott as he
rushed the precious cargo out to the truck.

“Well, looks like we’ve got a decent load of supplies. How
about we head back and unload? We might make it in time for lunch.” Mike said.

“Sounds good to me!” Jack replied.

“We can always come back; it’s not too far of a drive.” Dale responded.

“Alright, pile in.” Mike said.

The group climbed into the extended cab as the diesel engine
roared to life. The doors slammed shut, and Mike put the truck into gear and pulled
out onto the road.

 

 

Okay, now where's my fix???????????????

GO GO GO!

Pretty good, now keep going.

You might want to try to add some details to the environment and people.  Sometimes a quick good anectdotal description or background helps to trap the readers (aka your victims) into the story.

If you want an example of some good anectdotes check out this thread on the high road.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=207390

Good so far. Looking forward to more.

Originally Posted By mort: GO GO GO! Pretty good, now keep going. You might want to try to add some details to the environment and people.  Sometimes a quick good anectdotal description or background helps to trap the readers (aka your victims) into the story. If you want an example of some good anectdotes check out this thread on the high road. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=207390

Yeah, I kind of rushed this out, maybe not the best idea, but that's how I do things I guess. I had a report due for school on Monday, so Sunday night I was busily typing away, and figured that since I had the fingers warmed up I'd try my hand at fiction. I got 3/4 of the way thorugh this chapter, and kind of gave up with a "This is stupid" type attitude. I got some ideas over the last 2 days and wrote those in today. I kind of threw in some guns at the end to appease the arfcom masses. No AR till later though. You have to start simple.

I don't know what I should do with bringing people into the story. I kind of painted myself into a corner by only putting 3 people in the character list. But I need some zombie food..errr more characters. I don't know if I should bring more people in and keep them around or not. I'm not sure if I should let all three of these guys live out the story either. Can they all plausibly survive? I don't want to just kill off a main character "Lost" style just to get a ratings spike, but you need death in all good zombie stories.

I was browsing through Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide" and read how he thinks the best group size for escape and evade in a zombie world is about 3. Enough for security, but not a crowd that will attract unwanted attention from the moaning hoardes. That was the motive for me keeping the character list so small.

One thing I dislike as an internet fiction reader is rewrites, so I want to stay away from that. Trouble is then that you are looked in to what you type and post.

Expect some situation/area surveying at the begining of the next chapter, and some stuff that will solidify these three people into a group(I think I may have rushed it along too much so far. But people's personality and a crisis situation can bring them together I guess). Some background could be in order as well.

Thanks to you guys that have already shown interest. A lot of the fun in this is having people enjoy your story.

not bad not bad!

more characters is easy, just follow a couple of different groups and how they react... you could have a few examples of poor planning/performance and a few of good! maybe htey could even run across each other.

Keep it going!

Originally Posted By pevrs114: not bad not bad! more characters is easy, just follow a couple of different groups and how they react... you could have a few examples of poor planning/performance and a few of good! maybe htey could even run across each other. Keep it going!

HA  that reminds me of the two different groups running into each other in Shawn of the Dead.  The characters in each group were almost mirror images.  One more successfull than the other.

Sweet! A Wisconsin based Zombie story....maybe now you can show all the Elmer Fudds what our rifles are all about.

not bad, now where's the rest

Good.  Need More.  Thanks.

Originally Posted By --bullseye--: Originally Posted By mort: GO GO GO! Pretty good, now keep going. You might want to try to add some details to the environment and people.  Sometimes a quick good anectdotal description or background helps to trap the readers (aka your victims) into the story. If you want an example of some good anectdotes check out this thread on the high road. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=207390 Yeah, I kind of rushed this out, maybe not the best idea, but that's how I do things I guess. I had a report due for school on Monday, so Sunday night I was busily typing away, and figured that since I had the fingers warmed up I'd try my hand at fiction. I got 3/4 of the way thorugh this chapter, and kind of gave up with a "This is stupid" type attitude. I got some ideas over the last 2 days and wrote those in today. I kind of threw in some guns at the end to appease the arfcom masses. No AR till later though. You have to start simple. I don't know what I should do with bringing people into the story. I kind of painted myself into a corner by only putting 3 people in the character list. But I need some zombie food..errr more characters. I don't know if I should bring more people in and keep them around or not. I'm not sure if I should let all three of these guys live out the story either. Can they all plausibly survive? I don't want to just kill off a main character "Lost" style just to get a ratings spike, but you need death in all good zombie stories. I was browsing through Max Brooks' "Zombie Survival Guide" and read how he thinks the best group size for escape and evade in a zombie world is about 3. Enough for security, but not a crowd that will attract unwanted attention from the moaning hoardes. That was the motive for me keeping the character list so small. One thing I dislike as an internet fiction reader is rewrites, so I want to stay away from that. Trouble is then that you are looked in to what you type and post. Expect some situation/area surveying at the begining of the next chapter, and some stuff that will solidify these three people into a group(I think I may have rushed it along too much so far. But people's personality and a crisis situation can bring them together I guess). Some background could be in order as well. Thanks to you guys that have already shown interest. A lot of the fun in this is having people enjoy your story.

way cool...I  live in wisconsin and you can  add me in the story as zombie food
and then they can take my preps.


PLEASE KEEP THIS UP AND DON'T JUST GIVE UP ON IT LIKE ALL THE OTHER ZOMBIE STORIES HERE

Sweet.


All I ask you please don't stop without ending the story.

great start, keep it up!!

I love a good zombie story or movie!  Keep the chapters coming.

Braaaaaaainnsssssssss


So about that update.............?



Keep gooooooooing.

I'm hesitant to read this because just when the story gets good the author goes section 8. Please don't let us down bullseye

nothing like a good zombie story. post some more!

Originally Posted By pyro6988: Sweet. All I ask you please don't stop without ending the story.

+1

I like it so far.  I say run with it.  

Just don't keep us hanging

tag.

BUMP- new chapter

It's not as long or as action packed as I thought it was going to be, but I'm buliding up to it. I'll keep working on it. Next chapter should get mroe interesting.

Keep bumping this if you like it, so more people can find it.

Definately keep going.  Also, it might be nice to have a few loners in the story that are from arfcom.  

Also, no reason to worry, only 2 chapters, you can still introduce more characters and folks anytime you want.

Good luck, and keep at it, please.

TXL

more!!

Good work so far.  Keep up the good work.



Ron

Great! Keep it up! These fall to the wayside way to often. If you decide to stop the story write a final chapter and kill them off so we don't continue to wait for a update that won't come.

just know, that if you crap out on us i will send my ex wife to your house and she WILL eat your brain.  she does smell like she's been dead for a couple days, and she IS hard up for brains, i know that.  so i think she qualifies.

 you have been warned!

 mpi

Great new chapter.  Keep them coming please!

Great work so far. Keep it up, and right in my own back yard..........

Originally Posted By mooner: Great work so far. Keep it up, and right in my own back yard..........

You live around Wausau?

Great work!  Keep it coming please!

No,I live down Kenosha way, spend alot of time around central Wi.. We are kinda looking for a place up that way, either land, or small place.

Where's my fix?  Do we have to send team dunkin donuts after you for more story?

good start please don't let us down.... There are many Zombie junkies out here....

Sounds good so far. I like it.

this chapter is even beter than the first, please keep it coming!

I have to say I'm ready for more..........

Originally Posted By KOW: Originally Posted By pyro6988: Sweet. All I ask you please don't stop without ending the story. +1

+2

Great story with one minor flaw:

Too much gay sex.
Actually, any gay sex is too much gay sex.

Edit that out and you've got a winner.

Good story so far, keep it up!!!  

THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT UPDATES!

bump to keep it going we want MORE lol

I WANT MORE!!!!! GREAT stuff dude! Some of the best i've seen ever. I really enjoy reading it.

Bump for new chapter.

Sorry about the wait and the very short length of this chapter. I thought I'd post something to show I'm not abandoning this. I was just unusually busy these past weeks, and just got a chance to start typing again this afternoon.

Hey, but I am a team member now!

Is that how you get membership in this club, writing zombie fiction?   OOOOh I can do that!  I'll just start writing about some of my co-workers.

Originally Posted By --bullseye--: Bump for new chapter. Sorry about the wait and the very short length of this chapter. I thought I'd post something to show I'm not abandoning this. I was just unusually busy these past weeks, and just got a chance to start typing again this afternoon. Hey, but I am a team member now!

S'okay, man!  That chapter was where the reader says "The story is finally getting started!"  

Geat addition!  keep it up!

Geat addition!  keep it up!

Originally Posted By mustangracer: Geat addition!  keep it up!

+1