Gratias Deus for you are still alive, nice on the update soon, thanks.


Page 11 meus est

Glad to know your still with us!  Great story and looking forward to more.

Thanks!

......Mounger

bumpity bump

Great story, I love the zombie terminator angle....... looking forward to maor!

...

bumpy trail.

Love this story!  Looking forward to moar.

love it

Please?

MOAR, PLEASE!

bumpy

And a gentle nudge to the top.



Read what was on the first page early this year and enjoyed it. Got to thinking about this story yesterday and wondering what had happened to it. Glad to see its still around.

03/16/09

I managed to work all day and not get a damn thing accomplished. I took the truck and left this morning to go see about a 07’ model Ford F-350 ton truck I spotted over toward the Tilley store a few days ago. It took me over an hour to get through all the bodies and get out on the highway. Once I got to the new truck I checked the oil and got the batteries out of our old truck and into the new one. Then I spent quite a while getting the steering column dissembled so I could crank it without a key which had disappeared with the previous owner. Finally I was able to crank it up and let it idle for several minutes while I gathered all the tools and got everything out of the old truck.

By the time I got everything loaded in the new truck and started back the temperature gauge was at 240’ F. That struck me as being a little too warm for the short time but, different truck and that is still close to normal. Before I had even gotten out of sight of our old truck the gauge had already climbed over 270’ F. I decided to turn around and go back to our truck so I did a U-turn and almost made it before the thing completely locked up, smoke billowing from under the hood.

I got mad when I realized I had forgotten to check the coolant. Sure enough after I got the batteries changed back into our old truck. I looked and there wasn’t a drop of coolant left in the radiator or reservoir. I can only guess it got cold enough to pop at least one of the freeze plugs and let it all drain out. Live and learn I guess. I siphoned all tha diesel I could get out of it before heading back to the farm house to check on the kids.

03/18/09

Victory at last! After looking most of the day yesterday I managed to find another truck and I got it going today. It’s as perfect as I can imagine. Another Dodge, this time a four door 3500 with single rear wheels and a camper shell. Get this, it has a Garmin GPS and a CB radio already installed. It’s also full of anti-freeze and the oil looks new. Sometimes, I wonder about God’s hand in our daily lives especially in the world we live in. But, days like today make me think he is looking out for us even in the smallest detail. He really does provide for our needs. Everything went right; I even managed to find the keys to the truck on a hook by the back door of the house it was parked at. Just a few miles down the road was a farm with an off road diesel fuel tank. The Tilley store had ten; five gallon gas cans so we have plenty of fuel for the road. Tomorrow we leave and I plan on spending the night at my old house.

03/19/09

It took all day but, we made it. It took a while to get going this morning. Alexis’s arm is healing clean but, very slowly. She’s been reading books about pregnancy and she say’s they say it’s normal for pregnant women to heal slow. She has finally gotten the glow back that she had before the shootout.

Mike and I packed everything with her supervising. By ten O’clock we had everything packed and finally got on the road. The new truck pulls and drives really well. There were a few places we had to stop and move stalled cars but, all things considered the trip went really well.

As soon as we drove up it was obvious there had been other visitors. It brought me to tears when I seen someone had replaced the grave marker I had placed on Carolyn and the boys grave. The new one is very nice. It’s a wooden cross with their names engraved deeply on it then painted white. Whoever did the work obviously took a lot of time, the whole thing looks hand carved with great attention to detail. Once I got out of the truck I broke down. I’m not sure how long I stayed there crying. I was surprised when Mike shook me and asked me to come into the house and I realized it was almost dark. I never really expected or intended to see home again. Seeing the graves and house again really brought a lot of emotions out that I had bottled up for a long time.

As we were walking to the house I noticed someone had not only cared for the graves but, the yard and house as well. The yard had been picked up. They had also repainted the front door where I had used spray paint so long ago to indicate one undead inside the house as a warning to anyone who might come along and find my undead body inside, then changed it to the house being clear when I left.
I’m sure if I went and looked they used the left over paint that I had stored in the garage. That’s when my curiosity was really perked, I just had to know who had been here and did the grave marker. On the door was clipped a short note. Here’s what it said.

This house belongs to Amy Johnson. Please be respectful. If you need shelter or food and water please help yourself. Close the door but, leave it unlocked when you are done.

Thank You
Amy Johnson

I started laughing and couldn’t stop for a while. I think Mike and Alexis thought I had finally snapped. After the reminder of everyone I had lost outside in the yard, seeing the note and knowing that Amy was O.K. and doing well enough to worry about painting doors was such a good feeling I had a hard time stopping.
While I had been outside Alexis and Mike had gotten settled in. They had been fixin dinner when Mike came out and got me. The feeling of déjà vu was overwhelming when I walked in the door and smelled the food and saw Alexis in the kitchen. In the mellow glow of the candles flickering on the table she looked so much like Carolyn the laughter died in my throat. Other than having her arm in a sling I would have sworn that it was Carolyn standing there. I’ve avoided even being around at meal time since my last attempt at eating. I never missed food so much as I have since I realized I can’t eat. I’m not sure it was just the smell or the surroundings or both but, the house smelled unbelievable. I had to know what she was cooking. There were two small pots simmering on the gas stove. One full of what looked like beef filets simmering in onion soup and another of wild rice. Alexis offered me some but, I refused. Instead I went and looked around the house.

The place had obviously been cleaned and straightened up. As I looked around I realized just how home sick I am. I made the mistake of going up stairs and opening the door to the boy’s room. I’ve been in here ever since just sitting on Aaron’s bed praying and trying to get myself together. I didn’t realize coming home would be this hard. It really helps to write everything down.

God, I miss Carolyn and my boys.

03/20/09

We’ve decided to stay here for a few days and give Alexis a chance to heal some more. I’m going to take the truck and drive down toward the Nuclear Plant just to scope the route out and make sure everything that direction is O.K. It’s spitting snow again and the temp is hovering around thirty degrees. According to the weather man we are only going to get a few inches so that shouldn’t affect my trip much.

03/21/09

Got back late last night. Or maybe, I should say early this morning. It was only a few hours before sunrise. The weather man was wrong! We’ve received almost fourteen inches of wet snow already and it’s still coming down. There was over a foot on the ground when I finally managed to get back.

I checked out the route to the Plant and their circumstances. They seem to be doing really well. I didn’t make contact; in fact I avoided two patrols. All the people I managed to get a good look at appeared to be healthy and fairly well fed. They also appeared to be well armed and have their shit together. They were obviously hunting undead and not very interested in anything else. I liked their methods. They had several large speakers mounted in the bed of a Toyota pickup blaring a steady stream of music. Couldn’t say much for their taste in music. Most of it was rap or hip hop. Two Jeeps traveled with the Toyota. Looked like they had three people in each Jeep. One driving, one shooting and the one in the back seat just keeping an eye on everything, rifle at the ready.

The other patrol was more of a work crew. They had two dump trucks, a large enclosed cab tractor with a front loader and two SUV’s full of people. I watched them work for quite a while. They would start on a section of houses or other buildings. Four of them would setup a perimeter while the rest moved in to clear one building at a time. They would drag the bodies out and pile them for the tractor to load into the dump trucks.

Once they were done last man out would spray paint a large “C” on the door with the date and what looked like initials inside the “C”. I’m not sure where they were taking the bodies but, judging from the time the dump trucks were gone they weren’t going far.

I stopped by Tractor Supply and got two one hundred gallon fuel tanks to mount in the bed of the new truck. Also got a tool box for some extra storage space. Later today I’m going to pull the truck into the garage and try to get them mounted up. I’ve got to fix a heater up in there before I get too serious.

03/22/09

This has got to be the weirdest weather I’ve ever seen. It was cold last night until about midnight then it started warming up. There is a warm breeze blowing out of the south. The sun’s been up for almost an hour and the temp is already up in the mid forties. Time to get to work.

03/22/09 late

The odd weather continues. The warm breeze that blew all day has finally died down. A fog so thick it looks like something out of the movies has settled in. My eyes keep playing tricks on me. More than once I have thought someone was lurking out in the fog. It’s not just the way the fog moves it’s also the sounds; they seem distorted, different. Almost like someone is out there whispering just on the edge of you being able to tell what they are saying. It freaked me out so bad I decided to quit looking out the windows while I’m keeping watch. Damn sure not keeping watch from out on the porch. It’s sad, I know. Several times I have hunted undead all night with nothing more than a flashlight but, a little fog freaks me out.

Instead of looking out I have positioned myself in the middle of the first floor at the edge of the living room. I can see all the windows and doors on the first floor from here without moving. Not to mention I have triple checked to make sure everything is locked. You could call it getting spooked but, I have a bad feeling. A tension in the air more than anything.

03/23/09

The fog lasted until mid-morning until a stiff breeze picked up and cleared the air. I spent the rest of today working on the truck.  When I finished mounting the fuel tanks I drove over to Bob’s house to fill up. I decided to act on a hunch and give his house a once over to see if there was anything we could use left laying around. It was obvious someone else had searched his house since the last time I had been there. All the food was gone along with all of his firearms. I had left several hunting rifles and odd ball caliber rifles that didn’t have much ammunition with them. Everything even remotely of use was gone then the house was closed up tight. Almost respectfully.

It lives!!

Crap now I have to go back and re-read the whole thing  

fucking sweet, i thought this story was undead... thank you much, oh and MOAR!!!

K.

SWEETNESS!

tag to read again

YEAH!!!!!! It's ALIVE!

Sweet! nothing like reading a story that takes place just a few miles from home

shadrach,

This is awesome!  I want to see the movie.  Until then, I'll wait for the next installment.  

Thank you.

ITS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!! Great update Shadrach

AKASL

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Sorry it took so long. New job and new living arraingments in the last six months. Just now getting resettled and in the groove. BRUSHBUSTER where are you from? I'm from the Hector area just north of I-40 myself. Just a heads up, the end is coming soon....

Between london and rsvl. Actually work at the plant.

Sweeeet! Thanks shadrach! this has been a great read

I wish I could buy you a beer but Uncle Sam thinks not.

I guess everyone has taken off for the Holidays.  Can't say as I blame y'all, but I too am out of reading material!

And I don't even like Zombie stories!

.......Mounger

.

x

somehow i missed this until now.....



tagscribe

awesome thread, love the story/

nice

Showing up late to the party was nice because I got to read a whole bunch all at once.  I like your unique aproach to the zombie story, and will keep checking back for the upcoming installments.  

I hope that the new job is going well, and thanks for putting this up for us to read.

Thanks for the addition, looking forward to how the story comes out.

WE CAN HAS MOAR???

03/24/09

We spent most of today going over our plans. Alexis and Mike have convinced me they would be better received by the folks at the Nuclear plant if they come prepared to provide for themselves. Or even better yet, bring more than what is needed to simply care for themselves. Tomorrow we are going to start gathering a large cache of supplies and food for them to take with them when the time comes. There is still snow lingering in the shade and grassy areas but, the roads are clear again. Planning on heading out early and hitting gas stations and convenience stores as well as the small grocery stores in Dover and Hector areas. I figure the larger stores near Russellville are already picked clean so we are going to focus on the smaller more rural stores. I’m not sure how far out the patrols are clearing the undead but, I figure that any area they have patrolled will be picked clean of resources.

03/25/09

We just got back. The kids are in the kitchen fixin dinner. It’s not been a good day. The surrounding area has been picked clean. There is not a can of food or box of crackers to be had in any of the stores within twenty miles. We sent all day driving and looking around just to turn up pretty much empty handed. Other than the stuff we found while searching a dozen or so houses we came up without much to show for our trouble. Just kind of lucked into that stuff. I decided to clear a few houses of undead to break up the monotony during all the driving around.

The kids watched the outside of the house’s while I went in and cleared them. Kind of a public service thing. I dragged the bodies out into the front yards and spray painted the big “C” and my initials when we were finished, just like the clearing parties I watched the other day. The kids then gathered what supplies that was salvageable from the house. Well mostly Mike, Alexis is still a bit squeamish eating from a dead family’s pantry.

The area around here is almost clear of undead except for those trapped. Or course there are those trapped in various buildings. Seems that those able to move around on their own have either left the area or been taken care of by the search parties from the Nuke Plant. I’m out of ideas.

03/26/09

I found me an idea! Last night after the kids went to bed I stayed up listening to the radio. They have been broadcasting updates about the weather and then came on with a bulletin on heavily infested areas. The area north of us near just above the Missouri border is still reported to be heavily infested and impassible even by convoys. It struck me that if there are no people there then all the supplies should be basically untouched. We’ve discussed it and tomorrow all three of us are going to head up Hwy 7 toward Missouri. When the numbers of undead get to bad I’ll head out on my own on foot and let the kids return to the relative safety here. After they drop me off I’ll gather supplies and find some transportation home. It will take longer with just me doing the gathering but, be much safer for the kids.

03/27/09

 We are on Highway 7 getting close to Harrison. The numbers of undead are definitely increasing. The last rest stop was very interesting to say the least. I laid to rest seventy two undead in the six or seven minutes it took for the kids to relieve themselves. We haven’t seen any other living people or moving vehicles. Passed several large burned areas, in most of them large numbers of partially burned corpses or just simply piles of bones were visible from the road. I think the Fly Boys have been very busy locally. We have been monitoring the military radio just encase they are active in the area. So far nothing going on in this area. Just as well, I don’t feel up to being incinerated today. I figure once we come across another blockage in the road requiring a prolonged stop I will have to turn the kids around and continue on alone. I want to keep the risk to them as low as possible. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

03/27/09 night
 
 Parted ways with the kids this afternoon late. We made it to the outskirts of Harrison before we had to split up at a makeshift blockade in the road. A couple hundred undead in the area made the goodbye’s fairly short. I was relieved to see them headed back south. The numbers of undead are a little surprising. I honestly didn’t think this many people lived in this area. I took the military radio with me. I figure I can call in some airstrikes or at least avoid getting hit myself. Also grabbed my M4 and my baseball bat. Forgot to grab a flashlight and so far I have only been able to find a small LED keychain light that still works. It’s enough to write by but, not enough to wander around killing undead with. Tomorrow I want to find a good truck and get it running. It looks like there has been very little looting in this area. Other than a few broken windows all the stores I’ve seen are intact.

03/29/09

 Been busy. I got the bright idea of doing a little research before I headed out on foot just to save me some time. I made a list of all the stores out of the yellow pages that I thought would have a small generator in stock. Plotted them out on a city map then made a list of all the auto parts stores and plotted their locations. Idea being I would use the generator to power a battery charger and charge new batteries from the auto parts store. All without having to carry anything very far with the exception of maybe some fuel. On the map I discovered a hardware store on the other side of town with an auto parts store within two blocks of each other.

 Spotted a few possible vehicles on the way over but, nothing that really struck me as ideal. I did lay to rest several undead. Once I got to the hardware store I found a small 3000 watt rope start generator, two five gallon gas cans and a big green wheelbarrow. Also got some hand tools including a master key aka. a large crowbar as well as a 24oz brass hammer, large punch and a large plastic engine oil catch pan. I used the hammer and punch to make a hole in the fuel tanks of first four cars I came to and then used the oil catch pan to catch the gas as it ran out. I kind of felt bad, the fourth car must have had a full tank and I only needed about six gallons at that point to finish filling my cans and the generator.

 At the auto parts store I recovered two new batteries with both top and side posts and filled them with acid. Once I got the generator setup and battery charger hooked up I passed the time using my baseball bat on several hundred undead attracted to the noise of the generator running. I can’t say I love my job but, it does give me some satisfaction. After I let the generator run for a few hours I loaded everything back up including a new set of wrenches in the wheelbarrow and set out to find a truck.

 After wandering around for close to an hour without finding an appropriate vehicle I decided to break into a small clothing consignment shop in order to find another phone book. I should have taken the one I had used earlier with me but, I didn’t. I found a listing for U-Carry moving trucks just over five blocks away.

 Picked out the largest moving truck and got it going. It’s the large 26000lbs.GVW truck with a ramp on the rear. Handy! I also hooked up to their largest enclosed trailer. Hopefully I’ll have enough room for everything. Spent the next five hours loading up everything from Walgreen’s and Wal-Mart that would help the kids get by after I leave. I leaned heavy on the pharmaceuticals, everything that hasn’t gone bad from lack of refrigeration from both stores got loaded into the truck. Food was next on my agenda. I packed in an assortment of everything from Ramen noodles to canned Beef stew. I went ahead and loaded up on the seasonings and salt. The baby section got more than a little of my attention. Diapers, cloths, infant Tylenol, formula and all the other little doodads and widgets baby’s need. Found a display on the edge of the lawn and garden section of vegetable garden seeds. Every single package is now in the truck.

 The sporting goods section was thoroughly picked over and most of the glass cases smashed. All the firearms and ammunition out front were gone but, they overlooked a pallet of assorted ammunition in the back of the store. Looks like most of it is 22lr but, that’s fine with me. I got a feeling the new world currency is more based on bullets than gold or silver bullion let alone printed paper.

finally!  Thanks for the update!!

Thanks for the new installment!

Really cool story.  Well done.

Tagged.

Great Chapter!
Please stick with it Shadrach.
I added this to my list so long ago that I needed to re-read the whole thing. Not because I had forgotten it all, but because I enjoyed it and didn't want to miss any context of things I had forgotten in the new chapters as you write them.

More

Cool, glad to see another installment.

This is one great story.

great writing!

great great writing!!!

MOAR, please, sir....

dammit scrap5000, i saw this bumped in my subcriptions and thought we had an update.

WOW, great story but what happened to Shadrac? It's been 4 months since the last chapter. More please! And THANK YOU!

+1...

Yes yes yes more please.  

When I get a new iMac I'll reread the whole thing over again. I'm using the wife's Droid for now. Its OK for casual use but I want  something more substantial to read the best zombie story I have ever seen on ar15.com. Hopefully you will have up a new section by then.        



Anyone else besides me have a fear about what they will find when they get back to the power plant, if they all do.

is he AWOL?

Just read all of this for the first time and I have to say it is outstanding!  Haven't had anything really engrossing to read in some time, but now I need MOAR!!!!  I need this all together in one place, not spread over 12 pages though so I can read it away from the computer- get it published damn it and be quick about it!