Great read!  Can't wait for next chapter. thanks.

+1

Someone needs to get "fast45" a team membership as a token of our appreciation for this story.

I'd do it but I'm broke.

Great read, and I look forward to hte new chapter.  This story really helps pass the down times at work and I look forward to new chapters every day.

Great story.  
I can help you fix a few errors in your use of the AH-1W.
USMC 7565 (Cobra pilot).
Hackl out

Fire away Hackl.  I only got to appreciate the Cobra from ground level. (0311/0369  1976-1984)

One of the best reads on the forum!  I can only say keep it up.
Thanks a million!

Chapter 16
Homecoming

The area around Chattanooga was bound to be a mess and I wanted to steer south of Knoxville, yet I still lacked good maps.  I knew where the major roads were and I guessed that those would be well patrolled by troops.  I chose to cut right through the middle between both cities and expected that would take longer but be much safer.  I would do what I had been doing, navigating as due east as I could and zigzag the back roads, picking my way towards the North Carolina border.  Once into North Carolina I would stay eastbound until coming north of Charlotte.

The area around Charlotte would be my last major obstacle, but I hoped by now things had relaxed or come under control so a lone man in a moving truck wouldn’t be something to get excited about.  I figured I had approximately 200 miles to go and planned on getting half of it today before I stopped.  If conditions allowed, I would even push on after dark.  My mission was set now and I was in a hurry to see it through.

The miles rolled by and I began to see familiar features and signs, only making me press on a little harder.  Pushing the old truck was probably not the best idea but I found myself growing more anxious and impatient, as I grew closer.  I wasn’t sure what I was feeling; I was on edge, nervous that I had to get there as quickly as I could.  I couldn’t tell if something was wrong or if I was just missing home and Annie so much I was overwhelmed to be there.

Wandering corpses began to become more frequent as I neared the western outskirts of Charlotte.  I would have thought the problem would be under control by now but, I admitted to myself that I didn’t know the situation here or if things had started here later than out west.  Slowing down for safety, I had to negotiate around more and more of them, even groups, so I decided to steer farther north, hoping to get out of their way.  If I made it the rest of the way home without another shootout, it would be fine with me.  There would be time, after a reunion, to get busy clearing more of these deadly creatures out of society.

Seventy-five miles from home, I ran into a roadblock.  The people setting it weren’t well versed in the craft, having erected it on flat terrain and visible from over half a mile, giving me plenty of time to stop.  Grabbing a pair of binoculars, I scoped out the scene ahead and as not impressed.  While the good old boys manning the barricade, a pair of dump trucks, knew I was out here, they gave no indication they cared.  They certainly didn’t venture out to interdict me, and no one raised a rifle in my direction.

Even if they weren’t military or law enforcement trained, the worst of shots could be lucky, or good enough with a rifle, so I didn’t want to approach any closer until the sun was lower in the sky.  I would wait for the setting sun to be strongly in their eyes to move up and find a place to talk to them, a place that offered some ballistic protection.

Waiting only left me open to encounters with more of the dead as daylight waned and the sky turned a bright yellow-orange.  Some dared close enough that I had to club them down, not wanting to let the men on the barricade know I was armed for as long as possible.  Others seemed uninterested, so long as I remained quiet and motionless, passing by on their way to somewhere else.  It made me wonder what was happening in Charlotte that so many of the dead would walk away from there.

Later in the afternoon, I watched as the blockade was dismantled and the vehicles moved off to the east.  I determined I could follow them, at a safe distance, as long as I could or as long as they were headed my same direction.  They still had larger numbers and bigger vehicles but had lost the benefit of a static position.  If need be, I could outrun them or out-maneuver them now if they tried to stop me.

The small procession turned south after a few miles, leaving me alone on the road.  They didn’t try to circle back or intercept me and I was happy to be left by myself.  The only others now on the road were increasing numbers of wasted, rotting ghouls, wandering in all directions, making any kind of speed hazardous.  It was as if they’d lost their way without the sun and drifted aimlessly about.  I was slowed, to avoid causing serious damage to the radiator or drive train as I gently nudged and sometimes plowed my way through.  This lasted for over an hour until their numbers finally petered out, allowing me to increase speed and get in more miles.

Driving throughout the night, I broke into familiar territory, and knew I was close to home.  I’d not seen a Z for the last twenty miles and was comforted by the thought that they hadn’t been much of a problem here, or so it seemed.  There were fewer remains, the blackened splotches on the ground where the twice dead dissolved into sticky puddles.  Even less were the piles of filthy clothes and heaped bones and black flesh of the fresher deaths.

Encouraging signs to be sure, as I made my way, almost racing, recklessly through my hometown.  Here and there, houses had burned down, but for the most part things looked good, considering.  Not like New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, where the signs of de-evolution were everywhere.  Not like Memphis or the countless towns and cities I had been through and around, littered with the dead, undead, the dying and desperate.  I could tell though that not all was as it was when I left.  No cars, or people moved about, no barking dogs or kids riding their bikes or joggers on their early morning runs.  Now, it seemed, the birds were even afraid to chirp.  Just silence, the quiet of fear and loneliness remained.

Turning on to my street, there was no fan fare or welcome awaiting me.  No one could have known when or if I would make it home, and I was sure they had stopped waiting by the window.  The odds had certainly been against me, against any living person now.  Just a few more blocks, each one showing me nothing more alive than what I’d been seeing.  Pulling up in front of the house, I nearly broke down, so relieved to have this ordeal behind me and finally be back home.

I burst open the truck door and raced across the lawn to the house, seeing right off that the front door was standing open.  “Annie” I called out, receiving no reply, and charging up onto the porch.  “Annie, it’s me, Verne.” I yelled, standing to the side of the door.  I didn’t want to take the chance of barging in and surprising someone and catching a bullet for my impatience.  Over and over I called into the house for Annie or anyone, then went in the front room.  There was no one there, and I ran from room to room, looking for anyone, fear setting in.  I was panicked, anger growing each second.  Then I remembered the basement, our reinforced strong room, where we rode out storms and tornados, they must be there.

I flung open the basement door and was assaulted by that all too familiar stench of death, freezing me in place.  I couldn’t get my feet to move, much as I wanted to know, I mind wouldn’t let me go.  I had to force myself, my heart pounding in my chest, causing a constant ringing in my ears, and my breathing too fast.  I steadied myself and took a deep breath and made the first tentative step down, holding myself on the handrail.

There was no electricity so I needed the carbine light.  Reluctantly I went down, step by step.  I could see it on the floor at the base of the stairs, a black, dried pool of ooze, and my heart sank.  No, this can’t be right, this can’t happen, not after everything in this horrible journey.  I flipped the red lens out of the way, using the bright white light to open the darkness.  If any creatures were waiting in ambush, I wanted to see their ugly faces clearly before I destroyed them.  For invading my home, interrupting my family calm and safety, they would all die.

I was mad now, forcing away any trepidation, I bounded down the last few stairs and swept the light around the room.  Relieved for the first second, it was empty.  My relief quickly replaced by the grief that I was alone, that my family wasn’t here.  The hidden room, normally disguised behind a paneled wall, stood ajar.  I called out again and still there was no response.

The smell was nearly overpowering and would have made me sick if not for my frequent exposures to it over the past few months.  There had to be more bodies in the strong room.  Hooking my booted toe on the door, I swung it open and illuminated the room.  Again I was relieved no flesh eaters were standing there, in the dark, ready to spring an attack on me.  Five or six bodies were in a jumbled heap in the otherwise empty room, none that I recognized.  The room had been stripped bare of all the provisions Annie and I had diligently stockpiled there for emergencies.

I knew there had been a struggle here and that the Zs had lost.  What damage they had inflicted on the defenders was unknown.  I was deflated, slumping against the cinderblock wall and sliding slowly to the floor. I wept. The frustration, the uncertainty, the exhaustive struggle to survive and get here, to be completely disappointed was just overwhelming.

Later, I managed to go back upstairs and more thoroughly check the rest of the house.  I held out hope to find a clue as to where my family had gone or what had happened to them.  The house was a shambles and I hadn’t even noticed it earlier, when I first entered.  There had been a battle here for sure, but no signs of fresh blood from living humans.  Even dried blood turned dark, but I could tell the difference between that and zombie slime, even days old.

Near the windows and doors I found plenty of empty brass casings, telling me a siege had occurred.  The kitchen cupboards were emptied like the basement, confirming that living people had planned to leave here and the lack of bodies told me the family had left together.  My brother Bernie lived closest, but still hundreds of miles away.  Could they go that far?  Did they have a vehicle, a way to carry all the supplies?  They must, or….. I didn’t want to think they had been hauled out and interned somewhere.

Dad lived south, nine hours at freeway speeds, on a good day.  Bernie, half that distance, but about the same travel time, up in the hills on lesser- improved roads.  Bernie’s place was remote and defensible.  It also was well stocked and I knew if they all survived, that’s where they would go.

I checked upstairs and found it was as empty as the rest of the house, no notes or clues to tell me where to go.  Sitting on the end of the bed to collect my thought, I was unable to clear my mind and decide what to do next.  I was exhausted, hungry and………….


When I awoke, it was dark outside and darker inside.  I sat upright, thinking I was hearing voices, and for an instant, forgot I already checked the house.  But I did hear voices, outside, by the street.  I pulled the side of the curtain open an inch and peeked out.  Beams of light from three flashlights danced around the truck!

I smashed the butt of the carbine against the window, shattering the glass, then raked the shards out of the way.  Leaning out I shouted for the three opportunistic thieves to get away from my stuff.  A few unpleasant expletives were their response until I popped a few rounds at the street next to them.  They took off in startled run into the darkness and I had no doubt they had liberated some of my belongings.

Jogging down the hallway and down the stairs, I nearly fell head long, forgetting about the condition of the furnishings and junk piled on the steps.  I kept the light off as I advanced to the truck.  They were gone, but had pulled nearly half the boxes out of the bed and stacked neatly nearby, ready to carry away.  Amateurs.  Any decent thief would have just hot-wired the truck and stolen the whole lot.

I pulled the truck up into the driveway after reloading the supplies.  I hadn’t even thought to check the garage; now thinking I could hide the truck from view in there.  I planned to put the loaded truck inside, providing I could get the overhead door up without power.  There was a generator wired into the house electrical system, but I hadn’t checked on it either.

The walk in door was unlocked, but I couldn’t push it open, something heavy was blocking it from inside.  Going through the house, I opened the inner door and again was assaulted with the noxious stench of dead, re-dead bodies.  I tried to force my way in, this door too was blocked from inside.  I knew from the smell there were several bodies in there, and I dreaded the idea that one or more might be family members.  Had they been forced in here as a last defensive position?  Could they have been backed in here, retreating from the house, and then succumbed inside?  I needed to know and yet I feared I would not be able to handle it if they were here, rotting in a dark heap.

The door gave some as I pushed and shouldered on it, sliding the blockage aside.  Pulling my T-shirt up over my nose so I could breathe, I went in and used the G3, without the red filter, to illuminate the garage.  There were bodies stacked atop more bodies, rotting and melting into a black lump in the center of the floor.  More of them had dropped or crawled over to the walls near the windows and door.

I wouldn’t let my mind set with belief that any one of these was a person I ever knew or cared for.  The state of decomposition was so advanced there was no way to recognize any features anyway.  No, these were all strangers; killers that came here to spread their deadly disease and my loved ones killed them for it.  It had to be that way; no other explanation was possible to me.

After closing and locking the garage and truck, I went back to my bedroom.  Stripping out of my rags, I looked for some clean clothes and spares.  Using some baby wipes, I cleaned up and dressed before going down to the kitchen.  This had been the central meeting place in the house; the social area and I knew if a message had been left for me it would be in here.  I checked every cupboard and drawer, but found nothing.  It had to be here, somewhere.  I checked the corner in the broom closet where we used to keep spare keys, nothing.  I checked every place in the rest of the house I could imagine, and found not a single clue.  I had no way to know what happened here, or who survived, or where they went.  I couldn’t blame them for having given up hope on my getting back.

It was left to me to find them now.  They had waited for me as long as they could and I had failed to get here on time.  They would have gone to Bernie’s, I just knew it.  That was the only place that would be safe and ready.  It was my new goal.  I had to get there, at all cost.


I reversed out of the driveway at dawn, took one last look at the house and put the truck in gear.



The End, for now.


Hope everyone enjoyed the story.  Please let me know what you liked or didnt like and where improvement is needed.  Some input I've already set into to redo a couple of now glaring flaws.  (Thanks Hackl for the heads up)  The sequel is coming soon.
Thanks all.

Ummm...nope. That just won't do. I will not wait to find out what happens next. You must post more now!!!



J/K  great story. I can't wait to read the next part. Please don't leave us loyal fans hanging too long...

I really enjoyed the story, and hope you continue on with it at some point.   Thank you again for all of your effort.

Dennis

That's not fair!!!!!

Great story and I can't wait to find out what happens!

Mr. Fast45, you have inspired me to write my own zombie novel.

Except I'm thinking of making it to where the zombies die of bullets just like regular people & they get smarter. Like opening doors smart but not driving smart.

it was a really good read, and i cant wait for more! :)

I have noticed a few grammatical errors but nothing serious enough to write down and report back.

Keep up the great work and post the sequal as soon as possible.

Thanks for the outstanding reading material

AKASL

LIVE ZOMBIE FREE OR DIE

+1

That is not an ending. Really, come on man.
I enjoyed the story thus far but in no way do I fell it was completed. Course I ain't writing it.

Good stuff. I have to say this was the most interesting bit of writing that I have read in this forum. I thought that the beginning was excellent. I honestly think that the beginning would be a fantastic premise for a movie or book. I loved the whole plastic/waste tie in. I have never read anything like it and it was amazingly original. Oddly, I was more interested in what was going on in China and the bigger picture than the main character. I get why you did what you did. And I am not trying to be critical; hell you did a much better job than I could have ever done. I guess though to be honest I really didn't care all that much about the main character. I liked him, and got that he needed to get home, but I had no idea what his family was like or what he was like. I knew more about his equipment than I did him. Maybe that is my problem though. Please don't take any of this as a put down. Honestly I thought you did one hell of a job. Best internet work I have come across to be honest. I just found myself liking the outbreak story much more than the journey home. Great job.

I liked everything but the ending! I don't like good stories to end. Can't wait for the sequel, and hope it is soon!!

Toad

Great story. Thank you for the good read. I can not wait for part two..

No please that can not be the end. We need the rest!

Fast45, Remember the movie "Misery"?

Great story and I am definately looking forward to the sequel.  Please do not make us wait too long.  

Come on man.... 1 or 2 more chapters to end it

Loving it

Wow  glad to see I wasnt read and tossed aside.  1-2 chapter?   I have 14 more written for volume 2.  Just fleshing it out (pun) and bringing it all together.  Negotiations with printer going slower than hoped for.  Lots of hidden costs involved.  Maybe a teaser coming soon.

Thanks for the continued support.

So hurry up already. Its been like forever!!!!!  

Don't hold out on us.

Great read.  Have you thought about self publishing?

Thanks.   And yes I have but finding a printer/publisher that doesnt have a dozen hidden costs has been difficult.  Any ideas?  Anybody?

Nice work Fast45. very nice.
I am pleased to have stumbled upon your tale  here, and hope you are able to publish a paper version. I am quite sure it will be a money maker.

Bump to read along w/ Part II.

Dear god I spent so much time this week reading both parts of your stories. Keep up the good work

Great story.

Best by far.

ummm...still waiting.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=20&t=620529

sorry...have been away for a while and didn't see the new thread. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

That was simply awesome!!! Thank you so much. Gonna start on part 2 right now.

Fast45, this was a great short story thus far. I cant wait to read part 2. Your political tie in was brilliant. Just dont forget that the human body is organic and will break down after time( I always believed if you wait them out you can win lol). Brilliant job.

Great Writing, very realistic...................

Bump to bring out of the Archives

Tag for later

just finished, great story!

PLEASE, post part 3.

We're all going crazy with anticipation & the last thing we need now is a bunch of guys with damaged minds & EBR's.

Just found this thanks to another member so I'm going to bump it so it's easier to find and read.

tagging

After a long and arduous delay, Book one of this series is FINALLY available on Kindle.

Many thanks to all that waited patiently and were supportive.   A lot (mostly bad stuff) has taken place since I posted Volume 2.
DPOD2 is being proofed and then will get to Kindle soon.  DPOD3 is in progress.

Thanks again, loyal fans.   Semper Fi,  FAST

Congrats! Any chance for a nook release?

Unfortunately not for at least 90 days.  Putting it on Kindle, they require no other outlets for initial post.
But i will let you know if i can work it out.

Even though I have already read this here, I just purchased it for my Kindle. Will throw up a review when I get home!