shadrach,
 Great job so far!!



Ron

09/13/08

 

Awesome dude

Great story!!!!  I love the plot....sort of half undead!

awesome

Man - great job. The water he tossed in and his building resentment had me worried
Thought he might jonestown on us. Keep it up!

more!!!!

09/28/08

 .

Nice Work!

Bad Ass Man

10 straight of smashing zombies with a baseball bat?That's is indeed hardcore.

Great story, you've got me hooked. Keep it coming please.

Shadrach Dude if you could make this into a movie just as you have it written I would pay to see it.
Use the Diary as flash backs. As the soldier reads.

This is the best. Congrats.

Keep it up.

10/06/08

 

Good job.  Thanks for the update.



Ron

Nice cliff hanger there
Awesome story.

nice..

sweet addition!

Originally Posted By atrum_tutela: nice..

+1

10/06/08 continued

 

Quite good.

Good chapters, keep it up.

More please!

shadrach, Excellent storyline! You have managed to come up with a new angle on the subject. Hats off to you and please, keep up the good work!  

My only complaint is that there is not more to read.

Thanks for keeping it going.

Great read.

I appreciate the replies and support. Sorry it takes so long to get more out.

Originally Posted By shadrach: I appreciate the replies and support. Sorry it takes so long to get more out.

this is my favorite thread on all of arfcom, take all the time you need... well... not too much

10/14/08 morning

 I've spent over a week now working out from the plant clearing the area of undead. I have gone West as far as Clarksville and East to Pottsville. The river is to the South so there is not much danger of them coming from that direction, other than a few that might wash up on this side. The current is strong and the river is several hundred yards wide in most places so that is a good natural barrier. North, I have gone as far as Hector and Dover.
 
 Have put together a short list of things that Sam Wilson's scroungers might be interested in. Some of them are real no brainers like the all the stuff up at the Wal-Mart regional distrubution center south of Clarksville others, not so much. There is a SeaHawk tanker truck full of fuel parked in a driveway just out of sight of HWY 64 just before you get to Pottsville. Keys still in it and no sign of what happened to the driver or why it's there other than a bloody hand print on the seat.

10/14/08 Evening

 Stopped at the Nuclear Plant before heading back to Fort Smith. When I got to within sight of the fences I stopped and called Sam Wilson on the walkie talkie. I was very suprised to hear Amy's voice come back almost immediately. She said she had been worried about me and told me she was glad that I had finally came back to stay. I got the distinct impression that she did not take my leaving well. I asked her how she had gotten the radio. She said that Sam had given it to her after she told him that someone needed to listen for me incase I was hurt and called for help. She asked me again if I was back to stay and I told her NO I couldn't stay with her. She started crying. Figured I might as well tell her the truth. So I did, a short and simple version. It seemed to calm her down and console her somewhat. That's when I heard Janet in the background asking who Amy was talking to. I asked Amy to let me speak to Janet for a minute. When she got on the radio I told her about the areas cleared of undead and the supplies that I had managed to find. Then I told her about my house and directions on how to get there. Then I asked her to make it known to what ever authorities that I wanted Amy to have it..

 I told Amy about my wife and boys and asked her to plant flowers on thier grave when it was safe to. She promised she would. I told her that I loved them and that I would pray for them. Then I turned the radio off and headed West.

10/23/08

 Fort Smith is clear I'm headed west on I-40 toward O.K. City.

10/30/08

 Got within sight of O.K. City last night just before dark. There was a lot of black smoke coming from the direction of town so I decided to wait for daylight. I'm glad I did. When the sun came up I could tell there were vehicles moving around the streets but, the distance was to great to makeout any details even with binoculars. I backtracked four or five miles to a Cabela's truck that I had passed yesterday and looked around until I found a good spotting scope. Using it and a slightly better vantage point I was able to get a good view of what was happening in town. There were several groups of three, eight-wheeled armored vehicles driving around shooting all the undead in the streets. As they got the streets cleared hummers with five or six soldiers each would move up and start searching the houses. Two of them would circle the house and sometimes shoot into windows. The others would break open the front door and shoot whatever came out. They would then search the house and drag the bodies out to the street. On the front doors they would spraypaint the same kind of symble that I remember seeing used down in New Orleans after Katrina to show that the houses had been searched. As soon as a street was clear a big articulated front-loader and dumptrucks would load the bodies then drive back toward the west where the black smoke was coming from.

 I guess our government is finally starting to get it's head out of it's collective ass.
Going to backtrack and head south toward the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

11/16/08

 I’ve just made it to the “Welcome to Sherman Texas” sign. Over two weeks to get from the junction of I-40 to here. The undead and their old cars are so thick along the Interstate that I have been considering leaving the Hummer behind. I think someone got the bright idea to evacuate South Texas but, it was too little to late. Most car batteries are dead so I’ve been using an air horn refilling it with a portable 12V air compressor to draw them to me. It’s a lot easier than walking to them. Still have to take care of the ones trapped in the vehicles on an individual basis. The saddest of all are the ones that hid in their cars and eventually starvation or thirst drove them out. Find their bones most of the time right next to the car or truck, picked clean.

11/17/08

 Sherman is pretty well taken care of. The road headed south is completely blocked, North and south bound. The vehicles are so thick along the shoulders of the road that there is no way I could hope to get around them. I’m going to leave the Hummers and proceed on foot. Taking my rifle and ammo, binoculars and of course my baseball bat. Kind of feel silly taking the rifle but, I hate to leave it behind.

11/24/08

 Getting closer to Dallas, but it’s been slow going. The shear numbers of undead are just staggering. I think a hurricane or tropical storm must have come in from the Gulf of Mexico about the same time as the infection hit. The further south I get the more buildings have wind damage almost all of the trees are at least missing limbs if not completely uprooted. Several street signs are no longer standing. Looks like it happened about the time everyone was trying got get out of town. Trees that fell in the road were cut up enough to move them out of the way.

11/26/08

 As I’ve moved further south the damage has become worse. I no longer think a hurricane is to blame. That is unless the hurricane happened about the same time an earthquake did. Noticed late yesterday that the asphalt had series of small cracks in it in places. Almost like ripples. The cracks run south-east to north-west. This morning I’m about five miles closer to Dallas and the cracks are a lot worse. Starting to see a lot of naturally decayed uninfected dead in the cars I’m passing. I’m thinking something killed them as they were trying to flee the outbreak and it wasn’t the undead.

11/27/08 morning

 The uninfected natural dead now out number the undead. Thousands of bodies in the advanced stages of decomposition are everywhere. Damage to buildings is a lot worse. The ground has a definite rippled, almost up heaved look to it. Basically no glass left in anything. Some of the undead have skin burns and seem to be blind. I’m thinking our government tried to stop the infection from spreading by dropping a nuke on Dallas. Damn.

11/27/08 Evening

 I’ve gotten closer to what’s left of Dallas and I’m sure now. They nuked Dallas off the face of the earth! Must have been a big one to, I’m still over fifteen miles from what you could call the center of the Dallas/Fort Worth area. The devastation is so vast I cannot think of anything else that could cause it. Almost all buildings are collapsed in this area. A few stronger than average ones are still standing but, that’s about it. The paint is scorched on anything still standing facing what used to be Dallas. Massive fires have burned through the area in front of me. No reason to go in that direction. The radiation doesn’t seem to have affected the undead. Millions no doubt were incinerated by the intense heat and fires that followed. Thousands of undead were burned or even blinded by the blast but, left still functioning and able to infect others. While uninfected people were killed by the radiation without even a chance to fight back. Poor bastards.

11/28/08

 Decided to head back to Sherman and take Hwy 82 west toward Wichita Falls. After I get through Wichita Falls I'll pick up 183 and head north back toward I-40. To clear I-40 was my initial plan so I will stick to that, until something else changes my mind.

 Just realized that Thanksgiving has come and gone. That used to be my favorite holiday. Carolyn would cook all day and I would go deer hunting just to get out of her hair. Come back and the house would smell so good. Damn, I miss that woman!

11/29/08

 Cleared Whitesboro and am on my way to Gainesville. Just past a sign that said "Now entering Cooke County". Not that unusual to pass a county limit sign, except this one had the head of an undead man stuck on top of it. If that wasn't strange enough the head was still animated. They had cut it off the body without damaging the brain. It was still trying to bite and looked at me until I got close enough for it to recognize me as undead also. Then it lost interest. I looked around for the body but, it's not here. I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Strange

12/02/08

 Went through northern Gainesville two days ago. Spotted no undead. When I got through town and came out on the west side I realized why. There were thousands of them surrounding the airport. So many that the eight foot chainlink fence was visibly bowing in places from the force of them pushing on it. I kind of figure these survivors are responsible for the head on the sign I found. I couldn't see anyone moving around inside but, I couldn't blame them for laying low. Found a good place to put my rifle and other stuff down inside a stalled truck, so that I could find them again easily and started into the crowd with my baseball bat.

 For the last two days and a night I have been crushing skulls. All of the undead outside the fence are now really dead. Yesterday the survivors inside noticed what I was doing and started yelling encouragement. A group of men started to come out and help but, I told them to stay inside. They did but promised a warm bed and a safe place to stay for my help. The sun set before I got all the undead taken care of. After I finished I went back to the truck and gathered my gear. Not really wanting to explain my unique situation to this group of survivors, so I am back on my way. Hope to make it to Wichita Falls in a few days.

12/06/08

 Just made it to Wichita Falls. Its a little after 10:30PM and pitch dark. I have begun to do a house by house and street by street search with a flashlight. Judging from the size of the town I should finish clearing the area in a few days. Nothing of interest so far, just a normal town full of undead. HA HA!! Normal town full of undead! Damn, what's this world come to?

12/08/08

 Wichita is clear. Over half of the town burned to the ground a month or more back. Lightning strike I guess. I'm going to head on to Hwy 183. Looking at the map it will take me two or slightly more days to reach the junction of Hwy 183 and Hwy 287. Might try and find a vehicle if I can. Walking is nice, just boring if there are no undead to take care of. You see, smell, and hear a lot more on foot than you ever would from a car window. I like that.

 Tried something yesterday that I hadn't thought of. I was walking down Burkburnett Road on the edge of Shepard Air Force Base trying to see if there were any survivors.  That's when I spotted an undead girl standing in the front yard of a house beside the road. She was no differant than thousands of other undead that I had seen but, the thought hit me. I had never really taken a close look at them before. She spotted me and headed my direction the same as they always do before figuring out that I am also undead and not good to eat. As she got to within ten or twelve feet of me she slowed and then stopped, as usual. I approached the last few feet her and looked her over good. There were dozens of small bite marks on her arms and hands. Small enough that I feel certain that small children, no older than toddlers had owned the teeth that made them. Her eyes held the same lost, blank expression. It's almost like the house is still there but, the lights are not on and never will be again. I waved my hand in front of her face to see if she would react, she didn't. Snapped my fingers and she just kind of looked at my hand. Reached out and shoved her shoulder hard, she went off balance and just fell over. She didn't stir or even try to get up, just kind of layed there. I decided to see how she would react if I backed off and came at her from a different direction. So I did, I backed up fifty or sixty yards until she lost sight of me and then circled her 90 degrees and approached her again this time whistling softly. She jumped up and ran at me again until she was ten or twelve feet away and could tell I was also undead, that's when she slowed and stopped again. I reached out and pulled her hair. Other than making her stagger a little, there was no reaction at all. I struck her right leg with my bat and same thing no reaction. Thats when I decided I had seen enough and hit her hard with the bat on the left ear. She went down without a twitch, finally at peace.

12/09/08 morning

I've made it to the junction of 287 and 183.

12/09/08 Evening

 Reached the Red River. Somebody blew the bridge. There is approx. a twenty foot gap were a section of the bridge was dropped on this side of the river bank. Litterly a carpet of undead at the bottom that tried to cross and fell off the bridge landing on the ground below. Most of them are pretty badly mangled from the impact. There are a number of vehicles and what looks like a barricade setup on the far side, saddly a lot of undead also. Someone tried to make a stand here. There are several hundred undead on this side. When I have them taken care of them I think I can just wade across. There has been a drought lately so the water level is pretty low.

12/10/08 morning

 Waited to cross the river until this morning so I could do it in daylight. Almost got stuck in the mud. Eventhough the water was not that deep the mud more than made up for it. I'm a mess. Everything is caked in mud, even my rifle. I'm going to stop in a little town called Davidson just up the road and see if I can get everything cleaned up and find some more cloths.

12/10/08 evening

 Managed to get cleaned up and find some new cloths. Not many shopping malls in Davidson. As I went house to house looking for undead I managed to find several large jugs of water to cleanup with as well as some new cloths. Cleaning the rifle was a real chore. There was mud in every little nook and cranny. It was so bad I ended up using water and a brush then WD-40 to displace the water before finally oiling it. Got lucky the magazines didn't fair to bad at all. I was afraid I would have to unload them all and break the mags down.

 Got the undead cleaned out of town. I'm going to head on up to Frederick.

12/14/08

 Been four days since I last wrote. On the morning of the 11th on my way to the town of Frederick I noticed the sun reflecting off of glass in the distance. When I looked through my binoculars I could make out a convoy of vehicles. A mix of military and non-military and all moving my way down Hwy 183. If it wasn't for the flat and open ground here they might have been on me before I had a chance to do anything. As it was I managed to get well off of the road and down in an irrigation ditch before they even got close.

 In the convoy were two vehicles marked Lawton O.K. public works. On the map Lawton is right next to Fort Sill. I'm thinking that Fort Sill is still alive and open for business. Also figure this was part of the same group that I spotted in O.K. City. I'm glad they are spreading their area of control and taking back the country side but, it really complicates my efforts. Eventhough I'm dead I still have a job to do. I figure they would put a bullet in me just as soon as they figured out what I am. So I decided to cut cross country west and use secondary roads to make my way north.

 After three days of walking I'm within sight of Hwy 283 now. Plan to just keep working my way to I-40.

12/15/08

 I've reached Altus. Plenty of undead and no sign of any troops.

12/18/08 morning

 Altus is clear of undead and I'm fixing to be on my way.

 It's snowing! It's been looking like rain for the last few days but, nothing fell. Last night the temp dropped and hovered around 32-33 degrees. The snow started about midnight. Don't think it will amount to much but, it's still pretty.

12/18/08 late

 The kid finally fell asleep. I've never seen anyone ask so many questions. And that was after he read this diary. Reading it just gave him more questions! Guess I need to go back and start at the beginning maybe this will make a little more since.

 Walking north on 283, seven or eight miles from Altus. I was approaching a small cluster of ten or twelve house. When I spotted some undead bodies on the road ahead. Not that unusual. I've seen hundreds or maybe even thousands of them that were killed by other people, during or just after the outbreak. Snow was just starting to settle on the grass but, the asphalt was still too warm. As I got closer I noticed two of the bodies had a little snow gathered on them and the other four didn't. That got my interest. I looked around and didn't see any activity out of the ordinary. There was a small group of undead moving my way across a field to my left but, that was it. I decided to just wait for them. Six of them were coming straight as an arrow for me, obviously thinking I was thier next meal. I sat my rifle and ammo down and just stood there twirling my baseball bat and whistling, until they got to the edge of the road. That's when they finally got a good look at me and decided I was dead to.

  As I started toward them to finalize our introduction, a gunshot rang out and the head of the undead man that I was about to hit with the baseball bat exploded. I over balanced from the swing and fell. Then I started crawling away from the group of undead as shot after shot after shot rang out. After the fifth shot there was a pause so I stood up and quickly knocked the last one in the head. Then I looked around at the bodies of the other undead. All of them had recieved a single high powered rifle bullet to the center of the skull. That's when the hair on the back of my neck stood up and I got scared. I raised my hands and looked around trying to locate the shooter. I spotted a small man with what I thought was broom coming from one of the houses over two hundred yards away. As he got closer I realized it was a boy maybe 15 or 16 years old and the "broom" was a very long and slender scoped rifle. At about fifty yards he hollared and asked me if I had been bitten. I told him I was fine. He approached cautiously keeping an eye on me and the bodies of the newly dead "undead". After he checked each of them he turned his full attention to me. And said "You look like shit. Are you sure you haven't been bitten?" I told him I wasn't a danger to him. Then I asked him if his parents were around? He just kind of shook his head with kind of a lost look on his face. We stood there just looking at each other for a few minutes, then he asked me if I was hungry. I told him I wasn't but, since he was starting to shiver I asked him "why don't we get out of this weather". He nodded and started walking back the way he had come from. That's when the questions started.

 On the way to the house I interupted him to introduce myself, he said his name was Micheal, but everybody calls me "Mike" Smith. As we approached the house I looked back at the road and the bodies laying on it. I said something about that being over a hundred and fifty yard shot. Mike responded that according to his laser range finder it's more like two hundred and twenty. Not bad shooting in my book. When we got in the house he made himself some oatmeal and mixed up some powdered milk to drink. He offered me some but, I of course refused. Even eating didn't seem to slow the questions.

 He doesn't seem like a bad kid but, he's been lonely. The last living person he spoke to was about three weeks ago. That's when a woman came riding a bicycle down the highway and had a flat within sight of the house. Mike was asleep at the time, first thing he heard were the gunshots. By the time he made it outside she had shot all the undead that had attacked her but, one of them had bitten a chunk out of her in the process. When Mike approached her, she had warned him that she was bitten and asked him if he knew or had seen Daniel Wiley and a small boy named Jeff that was traveling with him. When Mike told her NO, she placed the barrel of her pistol in her mouth and blew her brains out. No doubt there is more to that story. But, that's when he decided to start watching the road more closely and ended up spotting me.


 After he finished eating he got out a cleaning kit and began to clean his rifle. That's when I got my first good look at it. It was long with at least a twenty five inch barrel and a small scope mounted on it. Looked old but, in excellent shape and vaguely familiar. I finally asked him what kind of rifle he was using. He called it a Mosin Nagant and proceded to tell me about it and the best movie ever made called "Enemy at the gate". He says it's the true story of a famous Russian sniper during WWII. And apparantly the rifle he is using is the same model right down to the scope as this famous sniper used. I asked him where he got it and he said his grandmother bought it for him on his last birthday. After she bought him the rifle he had spent all the extra money he had gotten to by large cans of surplus ammunition. His grandmother thought it was a great deal and a good interest for him to have.

 That led me to ask where his grandmother was. He kind of clammed up on me and didn't say anything for a while. So I asked him if she had gotten bitten. He shook his head and still didn't say anything so, I told him to just start at the beginning. After a few minutes, he said that they had just stayed in doors like the news said to during the first few weeks of the infection. Said they heard screaming one day and looked out and saw Miss Henderson from across the street being attacked and eaten by a small crowd of people, whats worse is some of them were kids. After that they had really laid low not even looking out the windows if they heard something. His grandmother said they would be OK if they could just wait long enough for the National Guard or the police to get everything back under control. After the power went off they had started using the old hand dug well that was left over from when his Grandfather had built the house back in fourty-nine before city water was available. Two months after the no travel order his grandmother told him that she was going to die soon. She that she had ran out of her heart pills and it was just a matter of time until she had a spell. And when she did he would be alone. It sounded to me like she had tried to get him as ready  as she could mentally to take care of himself. Gave him instructions on what to do with her body and told him to shoot anyone who didn't act right. Just shoot them in the head, just like the radio had said to. Two days later he found her dead. She had passed in her sleep holding a picture of his grandfather. Since then he had been alone and fending for himself.

 After that he asked me how I had managed to stay alive all the way from Arkansas? That is when I started to tell him about what had happened and finally decided to just let him read this. Good Lord that just led to more questions. He finally fell asleep just after 1:30 AM. I'm going to try and get a little rest to. I haven't tried to sleep in over a week so I guess I should. It definately helps me keep things straight and focused kind of like drinking the first cup of coffee in the morning kind of helps straighten things out.

12/19/08 Late

 Today I offered to take the kid to the relative safety of the nuclear plant over in Arkansas or to Fort Sill. He flat refused. I tried and tried to convince him. Told him that would be the only way he could be reasonably safe. He informed me he would either stay here by himself or go travel around with me killing undead. Personally I think he is just looking for a father figure. Both his parents died almost ten years ago and his grandfather died six years ago. Since then no father figure in his life. Even I can see the attraction for the kid of a father figure, litterly on a mission from God. I cannot believe he realizes the danger though. Tomorrow, he says he will convince me by walking me out to where he has dumped all the undead he has killed. Personally I would rather leave him here than to drag him out there and possibly get him killed.

12/20/08 Late

 Against my better judgment the little shit got me to agree to him coming with me when I leave. After his grandmother passed away at her request he took her body to a dry wash maybe a half mile from here down a side road using her pickup. That same day he shot fourty-seven undead. Thier in the ditch along with at least two hundred more. The only reason I found those in the road the other day is he ran out of fuel in the truck. That in and of itself is pretty damn impressive. But, what impressed me more was the fact that he knew almost everyone that he put there. He moved into this small community when his parents died and he came to live with his grandparents. Since then these were all his neighbors and friends. It was enough to convince me that he does know what he is asking and what the stakes are.

12/24/08 Christmas Eve late

 Got a little catching up to do. I left the morning of the 21st to get a truck and supplies so that Mike will be able to travel with me. He made me swear on the graves of my family that I'd come back for him. The fact that he wanted me to do that pissed me off but, I went ahead and did it when I realized how afraid he was I would just leave him here.

 It took me two days and a night of walking to reach Magnum OK. When I got there I started looking for everthing I had in mind. Found a nice nearly new Dodge 3500 Diesel Quad Cab 4X4 pickup with a heavy aftermarket brushguard and winch. The batteries were dead but, it started easy enough after I changed them out for new ones. Lugging the damn things from the autoparts store to the truck was a bitch and very time consuming. Fuel wasn't a problem. The Co-Op in town had an above ground gravity flow tank full of off-road diesel.

 Cloths and camping gear as well as a variety of food were my other concerns. Mike has been living off of what he has been able to scavenge out of other peoples house for the last several months so different and new kinds of food I figure would be appreciated. Found a John's Outdoor and Sports store that I was able to get almost everything I wanted. A stop at Wal-Marts and yet another at Costco finished out the shopping. Then I just drove around looking the town over. I figure this will be our initial stop when we start traveling, so it will be the kids first taste of taking the fight to the undead. I wanted an idea of the lay of the land and just to know if there were any nasty suprises.

 On my way back to the kids house I stopped several times and destroyed the undead that were trying to follow the truck. Really didn't want to show up on his front step with several hundred undead in tow. When I drove up he came out and looked very suprised. I got the impression he was afraid I wouldn't be able to make it back inspite of my promises.

 In the morning I am going to give him the new cloths and camping gear I got for him. I couldn't hold back on giving him the food after he told me he had nothing to eat but oatmeal for the last three days. He cooked and ate canned ham, fried with marachino cherries along with scalloped potatoes and green bean on the side. He ate so much I thought he was going to be sick. After that monster meal he passed out on the couch. I wonder if my boys would have grown up to be like him? Damn, I wish things had turned out different!! It's 12:01, Merry Christmas...

12/25/08

 Mike is asleep again. I had forgotten how much sleep normal people require. We are going to leave first thing in the morning after we finish packing the truck and head on in to Magnum Ok. I am still debating on how best to work with him in killing the undead we encounter. Want to keep him safe and uninfected while still take care business.

 I gave him my AR-15 and the cloths and other equipment this morning for Christmas. He was excited and really seemed to enjoy checking out all the equipment I had picked out for him. He gave a lot of attention to my old rifle. We spent most of the day going over the manual of arms for it as well as getting it re-zeroed and re-sighted in for him. I only carried twelve magazines for it when I left the Hummer in Sherman Tx. so we are going to have to find more ammo and mags if he is going to use it much. Luckily he has his Mosin Nagant sniper rifle and six large cans of ammo that hold 440rds each of ammo for it along with a partial can that he opened a few weeks ago. He claims he can make head shots reliably out to three hundred yards with that gun and after seeing his performance the other day I believe his claim.

12/26/08

 This morning we managed to finish packing and get on the road by 9:00AM. Managed to pick-up several stations on the radio in the truck. They were giving reports on what areas have been cleared and where troops are currently moving as well as how to signal for aid and rescue. They also included reports about the Islamic terrorists that had detonated a "small" nuclear device in the Dallas Tx. area and the on going investigation and how it was being hampered by the undead. That caught my attention. Small nuclear device, what the hell??? I'm no expert but, that city was destroyed by one hell of a big blast. The ground was rippled miles from where the bomb must have gone off. Maybe I'm just paranoid but that was no briefcase size bomb. Talk about a coverup. Use a big ass nuke on your own people trying to stop the undead then blame the terrorists. Strange coincidence the timing and all to. Mike thinks that the area destroyed must not be as big as I think it was. I would be skeptical to if I had not seen it with my own eyes.  

  Otherwise it went good today all things considered. We drove around most of the day shooting the undead that were roaming the streets here in Magnum OK. I drove and Mike did the shooting. He started out using his Mosin Nagant. After a dozen shots we mutually decided that the Nagant was just to loud for shooting from inside the vehicle, so he switched to my old AR-15 with the silencer. Tomorrow we are going to find some better ear protection so he can use the Nagant. The disposable foam ear plugs we were using just aren't up to the noise of a full powered rifle going off inside the cab of a truck. Earmuffs to use in addition to the ear plugs might be just the ticket.

 The ammo for the AR-15 wasn't going to last very long so we began to look around for stores that might have carried ammunition for it. Greg's Guns Galore was the first place we stopped in our search. A couple hundred undead bodies were spread around the building in all directions, along with over a hundred still active undead prowling around the immediate area. I parked the truck and used my baseball bat to clear them away while Mike waited. When we broke into the store we found the owner. He had expended all but one round of the ammunition on hand before finally using the last shot on himself.

 The second place was no better. It had been ransacked and nothing of any value left behind. We were on our way to look over the Wal-Mart when we passed the local Co-Op and decided to give it a look. That's when we hit pay dirt. They had on thier shelves almost two thousand rounds of Federal 45gr Varmit loads. Mike was as excited as a kid in a candy store. We loaded up and drove around until late afternoon then we started looking for a place to hole-up for the night.

 We selected a small warehouse located behind a large autobody shop. There were no windows, two strong steel doors and one roll-up door were the only entrances so it was very easy to secure for the night. Inside we found a small partitioned off office area with a couch, desk and a few chairs. After we got the building searched and all the camping gear set-up Mike ate dinner and passed out on the couch. I don't feel like sleeping I just cannot stop thinking about Dallas. It makes me wonder about the initial outbreak of the undead. Did they coverup what really caused it? Worse yet, was it intentional?

12/27/08

 Magnum OK. is clear as of this afternoon. This morning we liberated some ear muffs and a bright orange vest from the local Wal-Mart. About 8:30 AM with a pair of ear muffs Mike climbed the towns water tower and used a rope pulled up his Nagant rifle and three tins of ammo. I stayed on the ground with the orange "don't shoot me" vest and a pair of the ear muffs. Sounding the horn of our truck I drew in a handfull of undead. Mike safe in his vantage point shot them as they appeared. The sound of the gunshots ringing out over the town brought even more of them in to us. After four hours of shooting droves of undead they finally slowed to a trickle. An hour after that they stopped coming altogether, we drove around town until around three in the afternoon and didn't see any more undead. Today that worked really well and I think we will do it in the future.

 Decided to spend the night here in the warehouse again instead of trying to find another place. While Mike was fixing dinner for himself I breached the idea of going to Conway Ar. and checking out what actually caused the outbreak. It suprised me a little when he simply said "what the hell, why not". I'm going to go look at the maps and try to figure out the best route to take and hopefully avoid the soldiers from Fort Sill.

12/28/08 early

 We left Mangum Ok this morning and we are on our way to Altus. I figure we will be there in less than a hour. Mike's driving, not doing a bad job either. I was a little unsure at first but, he's doing quite well. Altus should be clear, if it is we will just be passing through on our way to Wichita Falls. We should be spending tonight in Wichita. By tomorrow night we should be in Sherman Tx. if everything goes OK that is.

 Before we left Mangum this morning we looked around and found three clean fifty-five gallon drums with lids. After we got them in the back of the truck we visited the Co-Op and filled them with diesel fuel. Inside the store we found a small hand pump that was originally designed for transfering kerosene. With a longer hose on the output end it works really well for pumping fuel from the drums into the truck's fuel tank. While we were strapping the fuel drums down in the truck I noticed the condition of my hands. I have managed to wear through the skin on the palms and most of the finger tips. The muscle beneath is visible. It kind of freaked me out! You could see the muscle fibers flexing, there were even tendons visible on my right hand. With no blood and no pain I never realized I was tearing my hands up everytime I touched something. I found some work gloves and wore them until we started to leave town and passed by the Honda dealership. I managed to find some nice snug fitting leather riding gloves there.

12/28/08 late

 Made it to Wichita Falls right before dark. Spotted a few undead, one or two at a time. That's good considering the trend we have noticed on this road trip so far. The undead seem to be grouping together if there are very many in a given area. Before this road trip I have seen several small groups of undead. Today we have seen larger groups of undead, one of them numbered over sixty.  Several of them contained twenty to thirty. We spent several hours stopping and destroying these groups on the way here.

 I believe one undead will see another undead from a distance and approach to see if it's a living/good to eat person. When they get close enough to recognize each other as undead they remain "idol" until something else draws thier attention. If that something else is another undead in the distance they will approach it until they identify it until they decide to eat the new curiosity or not. This happens over and over again until the group of undead is a large mob capable of overwhelming all but the best defences. I'm not sure how large the groups could become, thousands maybe?

 We are going to take some extra precautions. Things like backtracking our route before we stop for the night. As well as being sure where we hole up for the night has roof access or at least a good way for me to get outside and deal with a crowd of hungry visitors. Also need to find some more ammo for the AR-15. Mike could expend most of the ammo that we have for that rifle just in one encounter. Scarey thought that thousands could show up litterly in minutes.

 Tonight we decided to stay at a rental storage place called Davidson's U-Store-It. Chose it because of a good eight foot chainlink fence that goes all the way around the perimeter of the storage facility. Inside we found a large late model camper stored under one of the rental awnings. After checking the area out to make sure it was clear of undead we set up and Mike fixed himself some canned Ravioli for dinner. He's asleep now, I think I will try to sleep to. It's been almost a week so I figure I need to get some rest.  

12/29/08 morning

 Mike is sick. He started throwing up around three this morning and several times since then. He's also flushed and appears to be running a fever. I'm afraid I might have infected him somehow. He's worried to. Keeps trying to joke about it but, I can tell he is afraid he is going to turn. I'm trying to stay positive for his sake. He kept asking me what I would do with his body if he turned and I had to put him down. He made me promise to burn him on a funeral pyre and scatter his ashes afterwards.

 He's shivering pretty bad and has the chills. Not really suprising as I can see his breath due to the cold in here. I'm going to go and try to find a kerosene or propane space heater.

12/29/08 late afternoon

 Found a free standing propane heater down the road at an Atwoods. Also got a Carbon Monoxide detector. Good thing to, fifteen minutes after I lit the heater the alarm went off. Opened the door for a while and it went back off. Now we have a window and one of the roof vents both cracked to let some air flow. So far so good and no more alarms.

 I'm still worried about Mike. He's weak from dry heaving all day and has developed explosive diarea as well. Gave him some water and it came right back up. Gatorade did the same thing. After that he fell asleep exhausted.

12/30/08 morning

 Good news, Mike is feeling a little better this morning. He even drank some Sprite and managed to keep it down. The fever seems to be gone as well. At least the flushed look is gone from his face. I'm beginning to think he got some bad food. Maybe those canned ravioli's. I alway's did think those things were nasty.

12/30/08 evening

 He's definately feeling better. Still weak and gray enough he could be mistaken for an undead but, definately doing better. I feel sure now that he got some bad food or some kind of stomach bug. The good Lord knows he eats enough that it was just a matter of time until he found something that didn't agree with him. He's sleeping a lot but, I'm starting to go stir crazy. Tomorrow I'm going out on foot and do a little scouting of the area. We need to know what's out there. I'm still worried about the large groups of undead. A large enough group of undead could make for a very sticky situation. I figure the longer we stay here blind and stupid to what is going on the more likely a large group is to just wander up.

12/31/08

 Busy day, this morning after letting Mike know what I was up to I left on foot. Almost took the AR-15 with me but, decided against it in case something happened while I was gone Mike would need it. In retrospect I should have taken it. I did take my binoculars, map and of course my baseball bat. I started a spiral search pattern outward away from the fence. By noon I was roughly six miles south-east of here on the edge of a large open field near a grain silo. I decided to climb to the top of the silo and get one last good look around before heading back to check on Mike. Before I reached the top I heard gunshot in the distance. Hooked my arm in the hung of the ladder and turned around to see what was going on but couldn't see anything. So I decided to climb on up the last six or seven feet and get a look at the situation. Six or seven hundred yards across the field near the tree line over toward the highway I spotted a eight or maybe ten people running from a handfull of undead. That struck me as odd since they appeared to be armed and were managing to put down the leading undead when they got to near. However, the survivors appeared to be in a state of panic as they ran toward a lone house that had been built on that side of the field. Just as I started to lower my binoculars I spotted what they were really running from. Hundreds of undead began to pour out of the tree line. I had initially spotted only the fastest of the hungry tidal wave that was following them.

 I climbed back down the silo and began to sprint toward the house the survivors had been headed for. When I reached the back of the mob surrounding the house I could still hear gunfire from inside. By the time I had clubbed my way to the front door that had collapsed under the weight of the undead, the shooting had stopped. The undead were litterly five and six deep inside the house. They had climbed on and over one another to get at a chance to feed. I had to club them and then drag the bodies outside to make room to move.

 Inside they had ripped the survivors apart. It was revolting. Several of them had consumed so much flesh that thier abdomens had burst and rancid flesh out out on the floor.

 Clearing the house was slow and nasty but, I managed to get it done. When I was finished I began to pray out loud for the poor people that had just been eaten as well as the poor bastards who had done the eating. That's when I heard someone callout "Help Me! Help! Can you hear me?" I hollared back where are you? Having just cleared the house, even the closet's. I was at a loss for where they could be hiding. The reply came "In here!". I followed the sound into the garage that I had cleared just minutes ago. I called out again and the response was "Up here". Up on the ceiling was a attic crawl space door with a latch on the outside and a short piece of string dangling down. I pulled on it and a short ladder unfolded from the attic and left a large black hole in the white ceiling. Within seconds a pale face framed with short red hair emerged from the blackness and looked around. I asked her if she was alright? She nodded and asked me if it was clear? I told her I thought I had gotten them all. Once she climbed down I managed to get a good look at her. She was short, no more than five foot two inches and slim built. The features of her face were almost elfin they were so delicate. Her eyes were a watery blue and her hair an interesting shade of dark red.

A startled, trapped, almost animal look of fear decended over her face when I looked at her. As I introduced myself the look of fear changed to confusion. She blurted out "but, your one of them!" and backed away until the wall of the garage stopped her. It took several minutes of me talking to her and reassuring her that she was safe for her to get the idea that I'm not your average undead guy. Once she got that through her head she wanted to know if anyone else made it? She started crying when I shook my head. When I moved to put my hand on her shoulder she flinched. That gave me pause. I don't generally think of myself as being revolting or as a threat to the living. Her reaction made me take a step back and look at the situation from her point of view. I could easily see why she would be uncomfortable, so I just backed off and gave her some space. After several minutes she stopped sobbing and said out loud "what do I do now?" more to herself than to me. But, I spoke up anyway and said we should start by getting you to a safe place. She looked at me and asked "is anywhere safe?" I just shrugged, after all no one is ever really safe anywhere they go.

 That's when I told her that I think we need to get moving since it will be dark soon. And that eventhough I am not on the menu I have no desire to be out here stumbling around after dark. A look of abject terror came over her and I instantly felt like an ass for scaring the girl. As we started to leave the house I told her I had a warm, fairly safe place close by. She said she wanted to go back to her vehicle but, I told her that unless it was a matter of life or death we should wait until tomorrow morning. That's when it started raining. While I didn't really mind the rain or the fourty degree temperatures for that matter. I could tell the girl was miserable. The light jacket she had on wasn't doing much to keep her warm or dry. The rain got harder and managed to kill any further attempts at chit chat while we hurried on. Good thing to, as it was I had to unlock the gate at the storage center more by feel than sight it was so dark. I called out to let Mike know I was back. When he opened the door to the camper the look on his face was priceless. He clearly hadn't expected visitors as he was dressed only in a pair of boxers. I thought his bottom jaw was going to drag the ground the way it was hanging open.

 Once we got inside I tried to introduce the newcomer and realized I didn't know her name. Or for that matter anything about her. While Mike put on a pair of pants, I managed to get us all properly introduced. Her name is Alexis Brown, 17 years old, formally of Shreveport Louisiana. She had been traveling with what was left of her family and some  twenty one other survivors trying to get to the Fort Sill/Oklahoma city area to link up with the survivors there. They had heard on the radio about that area being cleared of undead. Two days ago one of the four vehicles they were traveling in had broken down and had to be left behind. They distributed everyone from the broken down vehicle into the remaining vehicles and continued on thier way. Today they stopped for a break about noon just outside of town. As soon as they were ready to leave they did a head count and came up two people short. They didn't return in a few minutes so one of the vehicles honked a few times. That's when all hell broke loose. Hundreds of undead surged out of the trees and engulfed thier vehicles. The SUV she was riding in with her father and younger brother as well as a four other people managed to get moving and break away from the crowd. In the process the vehicle was damaged badly enough that they only made it a little ways down the road before it quit running and they were on foot. That was about the time I spotted them.

 As she told her story I noticed Mike had the weirdest look on his face. That and he just kept staring at her. I was afraid something was wrong so I asked her to excuse us for a moment so we could step outside and make sure that none of the undead had followed us back. Once Mike got his coat on and we made it outside I asked him what was the matter? I nearly hurt myself laughing when he said she looks like an elf and started rambling dreamily on about how beautiful she is. It took a while for me to get my chuckles under control but, once I did I warned him to take it easy and not stare so much. Don't want to scare her after all. When we got back inside she had decided she wanted her questions answered. After doing so for over two hours I excused myself by saying I need some rest and left them at the kitchen table, they are still in there talking.

01/01/09 early

 Happy New Year! Meditated or at least zoned out, what ever you want to call it. The sun streaming in the window brought me back around. Just realized I lost my watch somewhere yesterday maybe, clearing the house. It's got to be after eight. Sun is up completely off the horizon.

 Just checked in on the kids. I'm not a very good chaperone, last night they slept curled up together on the queen size bed up front. Thier both still dressed so I'm not going to say anything. I can see the attraction of having someone to hold and to be held by. Lord, how I miss Carolyn.

 I hope we can get back on the road today, maybe even make it to Texarkana. The more I think about it the more I want to hurry up and get to Conway and see what caused all this. Feels like time is slipping away and if I don't hurry I will never know what happened.

01/01/09 late

Didn't make it to Texarkana today, still in Wichita Falls.

 After everbody got wokeup this morning Alexis came and sat with me at the table while Mike fixed them some breakfast and coffee. Alexis suprised the hell out of me by starting the conversation off apologizing for her reaction to me yesterday in the house when we first met. I admit I look like shit. Have to wear gloves all the time just to keep my hands from falling apart or wearing away. My left ear got ripped partially off, scarey thing is I have no idea how or when. Same with the missing skin and meat on my left shin. Looking in the mirror or at the condition of my body makes me sick at my stomach. Told her I didn't blame her at all for her initial reaction.

 Once breakfast was over conversation turned to what we were going to do next. I suggested we go ahead and try to make it to Texarkana today. That led to a long discussion about where we were going and why. Before the end Alexis insisted that she needed to go back to the vehicle she was riding in.  I argued until Mike reminded me of the large numbers of undead that were possibly still in the area of the other vehicles in the convoy. I caved in.

 Long before noon we had made it to what was left of the SUV Alexis and her family had been riding in. I scouted the area while they waited in the truck. With no undead in the area it didn't take me long to give the all clear. Good thing to as I'm not sure Alexis would have waited much longer. She immediately began searching the SUV they had abandoned. After just a few minutes she emerged with two large thick binders. One of them a plain but expensive looking, black leather and the other pink with dangling ribbons and the name Jamie emblazoned on the front. She immediately started flipping through the pink one, almost like she was doing an inventory. Without thinking I casually asked "who's Jamie?". Mike gave me a quick hard eyed look shaking his head. I got the message and shut up. About that time Alexis seemed to finish the inventory and abruptly said "OK we can leave now." Mike walked her over and got her seated back in the truck. As he walked back around I asked him what in the hell was that all about. He said, Jamie WAS her daughter. That caught my attention and I had to ask "did it happen yesterday?" He shook his head and said that the baby had been born at home almost two months early, just after the plague hit. With no doctor and no hospital the baby had lived almost a week before passing away. The pink scrap book was her memorial.

 We discussed checking out the other vehicles that were out of sight up the road. Decided to leave Alexis and Mike where they were, safe in the truck. While I went ahead on foot to check out the rest of the doomed convoy. Told Mike to honk if they got into any trouble, if it got too bad, honk a few times and leave. Come back and get me after I've had a chance to clear out the area.

 When I got within sight of the other three vehicles from the convoy I was shocked at the number of undead. There were at least seventy five still trying to get inside one of the vehicles. It looked like a white van but, it was hard to tell because there were so many undead on and around it. Dozens more were loitering in the area. Using the baseball bat I began to take care of the closest ones first. I had only destroyed twenty or so, when I heard Mike sound the truck horn. I figured a few undead stragglers had found the truck. Sure enough once I had jogged back to where I could see the truck, three undead were pounding and clawing trying to get at Mike and a very scared looking Alexis. I started running toward the truck to take care of the undead but, stopped when Mike started honking and gesturing. Once I stopped I heard the moaning and footsteps behind me.

 That's when I turned around and realized what a stupid mistake I had made. The honking and then my departure had led the undead crowd right back to Mike and Alexis. When I looked back at the truck my heart sank. Mike had gotten it stuck in the drainage ditch along side of the road trying to get turned around. Heard the engine scream and mud flew fifty feet into the air but, the truck didn't move.

 When I turned back around and faced the crowd the feeling of sick dispair was replaced by anger and rage. That's when I decided to do whatever it took to make today have a happy ending. I wasn't going lose everyone again and go back to being alone!

 The undead came at me not in as a wall but, more strung out. Two or three at a time. Never more than four. Some undead run faster than others. Some of them have damage to thier legs or feet that slows them down and others just weren't that fast in life. I moved faster than I could think. Instinct and several months of using a baseball bat to bash the brains of countless undead made me faster than I could or would have believed possible. A couple of times, I would find myself smashing the skull of one walking corpse and then following through the swing to strike and destroy the knee of another as it tried to pass me. The crowd pushed me back until I was just a few yards from the truck but, none of them made it beyond me. Over a dozen of them were just down crippled but, not destroyed. I finished them off quickly and then dispatched the three that were still clawing and scratching at the truck.

 Once everything got settled down Mike realized that he didn't have the truck shifted into four wheel drive. Once he did that, it came out of the ditch just fine. Lesson learned on that is have the truck facing the right way BEFORE you need it to be.

 Decided to stay within sight of each other after that incident so I jumped in the back of the truck and we drove on to finish checking out the other vehicles. The van "that was covered by undead before" still had one very persistant undead fat guy trying to get inside. There is always one in every group! After taking care of fat man I hollered to whoever was in the truck that it was OK and they could come out. Looking inside the van's windshield I could see a heavy mesh partition behind the drivers seat. Moved around to the other side of the van trying to see inside the back. That's when I noticed the driverside window smashed out and a lot of drying blood and bits of clothing down the door and on the ground. That's when Mike rolled down his window and Alexis hollered across that a man and woman had been riding in that van, and that camping gear and food was in the back. Had Mike toss me a flashlight and I opened the drivers door while trying to avoid most of the blood. That's when I heard a thump from the back of the van. Decided after that to take it slow and easy. Didn't want to get shot. Started talking to them trying to let them know I was a friend. Still didn't get any responce so I turned the light on and took a peek inside. Amid all the stuff in the back was a blond woman maybe in her mid forty's and who looked totally scared to death.

 It took us over an hour to get her out of the van. Tried for thirty minutes to get her to open the door for us before finally giving up. She wouldn't even look at us. When we finally did manage to get the door open she huddled in the far corner. Not even Alexis talking to her softly and stroking her hair could get her to relax. Ended up physically picking her up and placing her in the back seat of the truck. She wimpers anytime I touch her so I'm trying to keep my distance. Looked around for other survivors but, didn't find any. Alexis is in the living room now trying to get her to relax and eat. All the woman wants to do is huddle in the fetal position. She won't talk or eat or even aknowledge your presence except the odd wimper when I come to close. Alexis doesn't remember her name, thinks it was something like Cindy or Cynthia. I'm not sure what to do for her.

01/02/09 morning

 Still kind of in shock. The woman we pulled out of the van yesterday is dead. She fell asleep last night huddled up at the base of the couch. Alexis covered her up with a blanket right before we all settled in for the night. I got up just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. When I walked into the kitchen I stipped and fell in the puddle of her blood that had spread across the floor. She had slit both her wrists with a knife from the kitchen. Died huddled in the fetal position right there on the kitchen floor. I think we are all feeling a little guilty we didn't watch her more closely. Just didn't realize she would do something like that.

 I'm not sure we could have stopped her even if we had been standing right there. Once the damage was done I don't think we could have stopped her from bleeding out she did such a through job of it. Cut herself from the bottom of her palm up the arm almost all the way to her elbow on the left arm. Not as deep or as long on the right side but, still pretty nasty. Think maybe her left arm was the first cut and the left hand wasn't working so well afterwards which would explain the difference.

 Moved the body outside and cleaned up most of the blood. Weve mutually decided that it's time to move on. As soon as we get everything packed up were headed for Texarkana.


 

 
 

 

 



 

 
 



 

WHOA, I TAGED YOUR THREAD A WHILE AGO AND FINALLY GOT AROUND TO READING IT. I LIKE HOW YOUR STORY IS PROGRESSING AND CANT WAIT FOR YOU TO ADD MORE.

Keep up the good work!  Great read!

Nice. Me like...

Great job.



Ron

bump

Awesome work, and you updated on my birthday. This is a very good present, thank you!

Awesome...I'm loving it bro,keep it up!

bump for the update.  good work shadrach

bump

By far one of my favorite stories on here,keep up the good work!

Great job need more soon !!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted By bclinehand: Great job need more soon !!!!!!!!!!!

+1

Incredible story..thank you.

still awesome

Update?

Updated enjoy....

Keep it going, Pardner!!

Originally Posted By garanditis: Keep it going, Pardner!!

+1

Originally Posted By KOW: Originally Posted By garanditis: Keep it going, Pardner!! +1

+2