Last kid on earth, and he gets stuck with a hottie and a zombie bodyguard.....

What luck




I'd end up with 2 gay zombies and a lesbian.

Great story so far.  Keep on goin!

Shadrach

By far this is THE best story on this forum. You keep the chapters coming regularly and have developed this into what I think will become a classic.

Keep up the good work!!

AKASL

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Sub'd for future reading.

So how has the OP not completely changed over? I'm beginning to think he is like the Alice in resident evil. Infected but still with human functions.

Outstanding story line. Thanks for your efforts, it is greatly appreciated.

thank for the updates..great story

01/05/09

 We have made it into Texarkana. Mike and Alexis are sleeping now, the last three days have been rough on them. They have been sleeping in the truck and we've been taking turns driving since leaving Wichita Falls. Several times along the way we've had to turn around and backtrack because of bad traffic jams or the road being washed out. Made fairly good time until we hit Sherman. Stopped there and retrieved the 5.56 ammo I left behind in my old Hummer. After that stop everything went to shit.

 We've set up in the main building of a machine shop just across the highway from the Red River Army Depot. Building is very solid with a nice fence around the lot and bars and grates on all the windows and doors on the first floor. The front of the building is two story with offices on bottom and a large break/rec. room on the upper floor. Nice setup with vending machines, two couches and even a pool table. The kids cooked and ate their first hot meal since Wichita and then crashed. Can't blame them, even I feel tired.

 They made me feel good earlier, after they pushed the two couches together facing each other and started getting ready for bed, I offered to go out "scouting" and give them some privacy. They both refused saying that they wouldn't be able to sleep if I wasn't here keeping watch over them.

 Weather has been good for the last few days. I think that is about to change though. It's clouding up and gotten colder all day. Not a good sign this time of year.


01/06/09


 Just got done telling Mike and Alexis about today. They wanted me to be sure and write it all down while they keep watch.

 It was after nine this morning when the kids got up. Wind blew steady out of the north last night and it got pretty cold so I figured I would just let them sleep. Warmer that way. After they got up and around we discussed what to do. Decided to move on and cover some more ground. But, by the time they got breakfast and started to pack it had started to snow, so we decide to just stay put and see what the weather would do before moving on.

 By noon I decided to go out and look the area over. The kids were busy playing pool  and staying warm so they didn't mind. I took my baseball bat and let myself out. After wandering around for an hour I found myself on the Red River Depot. I was just moving from one group of undead to another leaving them lying in the snow.

 That's when I spotted a large group of undead beyond some buildings on the edge of some trees. Once I got closer I could see that they were all spread out in a semi- circle facing in. That perked my curiosity but, not as much as what they did next. I heard someone call out and they all got down on their knees and began to bow and grovel. That made the hair on the back of my neck standup! The only thing I could think is, what would a bunch of undead corpses be down on their knees worshiping in the middle of a snow storm? I hid behind a truck and peeked between the cab and the bed to see what was goin on. I will never forget what I saw. A creature eerily similar to the angel that had appeared to me was the center of the attention. Around his feet danced shifting forms of small men but, they appeared to be no more substantial than shadows. The shadow men were screaming "WORSHIP HIM, BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP HIM"! All the while the angel like being appeared to be gloating and thoroughly enjoying the attention that the crowd of undead were giving him. After several minutes the angel like creature lifted his arms and the shadow men fell silent. Then looking up at the cloudy sky he spoke, "See even I can give life and be worshiped. I have more followers than you now. I am my own master and master of your creation."

 That's when I realized who I was watching. Then they were gone. Just like that they were gone. Nothing left but falling snow and hundreds of undead still bowing and worshiping now empty  snow covered ground. I moved out from behind the truck as I started to get angry. I knew now why this had happened. Maybe not the mechanics of the disease but, I now knew the identity of the spirit behind the undead plague and all the loss and suffering that had happened. I felt the need to lash out. So I did! It seemed as if my baseball bat took on a life of it's own. The hundreds of undead who had gathered to worship the fallen angel fell. They would not worship him anymore.

 When it was done, I made my way back to check on the kids.  The entire time I prayed to God for their safety. I was releaved to find them still playing pool and eating candy. Once I told them what I had seen, we prayed together asking God that Satan not triumph. In my heart I know he will not.

01/07/09 noon

 Still snowing out. There's already five or six inches on the ground and it shows no sign of stopping. I miss having regular local weather forecasts. The radio hasn't said much about the weather on the two channels we can pick up here. They've talked about below average temperatures and bad weather across the country but no specifics.

 We've played pool and chess all morning. Taking turns, two of us playing while the other keeps watch. Not much else to do. I'm going to make a supply run later, looking mostly for food. I was looking around in the machine shop earlier and spotted a propane powered forklift.  Figured they had to have more than one bottle so I looked outside and found a cage with over a dozen full bottles of propane, so fuel for heating and cooking isn't going to be a problem anytime soon.
 
01/07/09 evening

 Went out earlier and managed to find plenty of food. Getting it back here wasn't much fun with all the snow on the ground. Some of the undead outside are very sluggish and seem to be having a hard time moving. Truth be told my hands and arms were starting to get very stiff and clumsy by the time I made it back into the warm. I think the undead are freezing up. I feel fine now but, it makes me leery about staying out in the cold for to long.

01/08/09 late afternoon

 We turned the radio on this morning after breakfast. It seems my suspicion was correct. The undead are freezing up. The government is warning people that it takes temperatures below 32' F for at least twenty four hours in order for them to be completely immobile. They are advising people to use the unusually cold weather that is gripping most of the country to destroy the undead in your area as well as search for supplies and fortify your position maybe even try to link-up with other survivors in your area.

 According to the weather broadcast we should have some colder weather moving in soon. The temp has been hovering right around 33' F during the day and a little colder at night since this snow moved in. They are saying that this snow system will be pushed off of us tomorrow morning by a new cold front and then the temp is going to drop like a rock. Saying we can expect single digits for lows, teens for highs and that those temps could last as long as a week before they begin to climb. Slight chance of snow every day for the next ten days but no major accumulation.

 We got out and cleaned the snow off the Dodge and moved it into the machine shop. Also setup a propane space heater near it so we should be able to start the thing when we want to. My old Ford truck used to be hard to start if it got much below 20' F.

 Discussed our plans for a long time today. I still want to go see what actually happened in Conway. Alexis and Mike are undecided about weather or not we should go. Yes, it involves some risk but, to know exactly how this got started is worth it to me. In the end we decided on a compromise. We will continue on to Conway after we clear Texarkana and the surrounding area of undead during this cold snap. The kids are going to be doing the leg work on this one as I'm more than a little afraid I will simply freeze up. In the morning we are going to start. I'll drive the truck and just keep watch on them and give them a place to keep warm. They've found a couple fire axes that they plan on using to destroy the now frosty undead. Were figuring one good axe blow to the back of even a frozen head should be enough to destroy the brain. It scares the hell out of me that they are wanting to go do this but, what can I say? NO, you can't go kill the undead that have taken everything away from us. Not likely. I might as well tell the wind it cannot blow.

01/14/09

 Tomorrow we move on but, now everyone is resting. I don't think I could be more proud of Alexis and Mike. They have destroyed thousands of undead in the last six days all around this area. Started out the morning of the ninth with them using axes to destroy the eerily still and frozen undead. The temp was hovering right around 8'F.They both started out with a vengeance however, it wasn't long until Alexis just couldn't physically do it anymore. Not to mention she was scaring the hell out of me wildly swinging that axe around. She just didn't have the upper body strength to handle repeatedly swinging it at a target head high. I could tell she was really frustrated when they came back to the truck for their first break. So I suggested we go and find her a pair of .357 magnum revolvers and all the ammo in town. After a little looking we managed to locate two used matching Smith&Wesson Model 66 four inch barreled revolvers used but in nice shape as well as several thousand rounds of both .38 Special and .357 Magnum ammunition in a shop down town. With the addition of some ear muffs and two holsters she was set.

 Tried the weaker .38 Special ammo out to make sure it would go through the  frozen skull and into the brain inside. Fired point blank into the back of a frozen solid head the slug went over two inches deep, more than good enough to destroy the brain. Once she was set up Alexis almost seemed to enjoy herself. More than once though, I spotted a stray tear trying to freeze on her face when the undead in front of her reminded her of someone she had known or when it was the body of a small child. She didn't flinch from it though.

 It was obvious that Mike had already had a lot of practice with an axe. Using a steady pace it didn't take him long to move through a large number of undead. The damage he's able to consistently and quickly do with one blow is a little awe inspiring. I honestly didn't realize he was that strong or had that kind of stamina. More than once I had to make him take a break and warm-up.

1/16/09  

 We have managed to destroy all the undead we can find here in town as well as the outlying suburbs. Tomorrow we are going to pack up and start heading north toward Fort Smith. So far the weather is holding, colder longer than I have ever seen around here. According to the radio we can expect warmer temps and rain/snow in a few days but, until then more cooold

01/17/09 late

 We've been on the road since about 9:30 this morning. It's been really slow going. Problems with the truck have taken up most of the day. As soon as we got on the road this morning it was running but, with no power. Figured the fuel was gelling in the cold but, even after using fuel additives it continued. Finally noticed that the exhaust pipe had ice built up inside it, almost completely blocking the pipe. Idling around town the last several days just wasn't getting the exhaust pipe hot enough to keep the ice from forming I guess? After we got it thawed it out with a propane torch we were good to go, except for the eight to ten inches of snow everywhere that really made working a path around stalled traffic fun. Good thing the ground is frozen otherwise we would have been stuck several times.

The kids are cuddled up asleep in the front seat. Just to dangerous and difficult to keep going after dark, better to just wait until sunup.

01/18/09

 Made it into Ashdown about noon. Since then Mike and Alexis have been busy destroying all the undead in the streets. Literally thousands of them are around the Police Dept. on Commerce Street. In several places the frozen undead were literally piled ten feet thick trying to get in the building. Mike broke in to the roof of the building and I searched it. Several of the bodies inside were emaciated to the point they were little more than sacks of bones and appeared to have  simply frozen to death. Several others appeared to have been the victims of cannibalism. All of the cannibalized corpses appeared to have been dead for at least several weeks. Not the undead sort of cannibalism I have become used to seeing. This was different and in a way more unsettling. The thighs, butt some of the internal organs appeared to have been carefully carved away then the bodies covered with plastic. No telling how long these poor people were trapped here.

 It's still damn cold, even with gloves, goggles and a coat I started to seize up after only ten minutes or so of searching the police station.

 We haven't figured a good way to take care of all the piled up undead. The kids are taking a break and grabbing a bite to eat. After they get done I figure we will drive around and see what we can figure out to deal with them.

01/19/09 mid morning

 Stayed the night in a warehouse just off of Front Street. We've scouted around and we've decided to try to burn the piled up undead around the police station. Mike has been working all morning with a backhoe we liberated from the Ashdown City Works Dept. trying to pile the frozen undead closer to the building. Once he is satisfied with that we are going to ring them with several hundred tires from Razorback Tire down the street.

 Along with the ten or fifteen gallons of gasoline we are going to carry inside the police station. Were also going to hose down the tires and bodies with what appears to be close to ten thousand gallons of gas from the tanks of the Texaco station whose parking lot a joins the Police station. Alexis and I have rigged a generator to power the pumps at the station and adapted the fuel line on the pump to two, one hundred foot sections heavy duty hose. That should allow us to reach almost to the far side of the Police Station. Then it will hopefully be a matter of just watching it all burn.

01/19/09 late

 The fire has been burning for several hours now. It's been an eerie experience watching them first thaw out and then burn. They are obviously blinded by the heat long before the they are able to move. Once they are able to actually get up and move around much they are  burning up so they don't manage to get far. We've only had to shoot a few that made it outside the ring of burning tires. Still hard to believe that the human body burns that well.

01/20/09

 Left Ashdown this morning. I'm sure there are still undead left around the area but, we discussed it and decided to try to get to Fort Smith before the weather changed for the worse. The weather man on the radio has firmed up his forecast and is now saying we have about two clear days before another winter storm with unusually large amounts of precipitation followed by extreme cold is going to hit. Today was foretasted to be beautiful, so we decided to make the most of it. I must say the weather man was right it is nice out, almost balmy. The snow is starting to melt off in the sun but, I don't think it is going to do much more than clear the roads before the next storm comes through.

 The kids are talking about taking a road-break soon and as I've decided to try to write more detail about how to keep others alive, just in case anyone ever reads this. Here goes a description of how a road-break works. First thing is you don't just stop anywhere. Pick a spot with a good view, at least fifty yards in all directions. Just stop in the road, don't pull over to the side as you might get stuck in the soft shoulder if you do. Once you get stopped just leave the truck running, don't even think about pulling the keys. Then get out and just look around and listen. If you are sure you can see at least fifty yards in all directions go ahead and stay, if not pick another spot on down the road. Once we decide to stay I make sure the kids have their guns slung or holstered before they start taking care of food or bathroom needs. Guns are not left in the truck! That's when I take a walkie-talkie and my baseball bat and begin to scout the area. Usually a spiral search pattern working away from the truck. That seems to work best. I destroyed over a hundred undead during our stop earlier today. Once the kids are done with whatever they need to do, they call me on the walkie-talkie and I head back. Seems to work well for us so far.
   

01/20/09 Late

 Close call today! We stopped for a road-break just south of Locksburg. Everything looked good, wooded on both sides of the road. A wide shoulder on both sides of the road and the leaves being off the trees still allowed for a good view. There was still a lot of snow off the pavement but, the sun and warmer temps have just about completely cleared the roadway. I got my stuff and headed out into the trees to start my search of the area. I moved out maybe one hundred yards into the trees, out of sight of the highway and started an arc that would take me back across the road seventy to a hundred yards behind the truck. Several times I have found undead trailing along behind the truck. As I got close to the road I heard what sounded like several trucks on the highway back toward where we parked. Stopped and listened and it sounded like they stopped and were idling. Then several shouts, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I waited for several minutes hoping to hear something on the radio from the kids but, when I didn't, I decided  to retrace my steps back toward the truck and see what was going on.

 I almost reached the spot where I had started my arc when my Razorbacks hat was slapped off my head by what sounded like a large bumble bee. It startled me so bad I hit the ground before I realized what had happened. As I layed there for what seemed like an eternity I realized that someone had shot my hat. After what seemed like hours I heard several diesel vehicles move off down the road toward Texarkana. Before I could get stood back up Mike started calling on the radio. When I answered  he said "they were gone and it was safe". I told him I was on my way back then started looking for my hat. Found it a couple yards away, the bullet had entered the front of the cap above the embroidered Razorback and exited where the button on top used to be. The hat was destroyed, what surprised me was how much it bothered me to lose it. It had been a gift from Carolyn but, until then I hadn't realized how much I still missed her and hated everything that had happened since. It took awhile for my eyes to dry enough to see my way back to the truck. One thing is for sure someone owes me a hat.


 When I made it back to the truck the kids were overjoyed to see me. Alexis even hugged me! When I asked them what had happened both of them started talking so fast that I couldn't understand either one. Once I finally interrupted and got them to take turns telling me what had happened the story finally came out. Mike and Alexis had been cooking some lunch on the tailgate of the truck using the camp stove when a convoy of military vehicles came around the curve up ahead. The convoy consisted of two hard top Hummers, four of the eight-wheeled Striker vehicles as well as a large all-wheel drive truck and trailer full of supplies. Once they got even with our truck they stopped and out of the lead and rear Striker troops deployed to setup a perimeter. A Captain McMinn got out of the lead Hummer and introduced himself and told them "don't worry your safe now". Seemed he had the idea that civilians couldn't take care of themselves especially two kids, so they could now consider themselves rescued.

 It took fifteen minutes of arguing and some quick thinking on the kids part to convince the good Captain that they were capable of taking care of themselves. The kids told him about the cleared areas behind us as well as a little white lie about them being headed to the nuclear plant near Russellville to meet up with relatives. He bought it. By unspoken agreement they didn't mention me, which was no doubt smart. About the time they managed to convince the Captain one of his men spotted me and shot my hat off. After that Captain McMinn decided to wrap the conversation up and get back on the road. He gave the kids an M4 rifle and five ammo cans full of loaded thirty round mags and more importantly a hand held military band radio. He briefed them on the use of the radio. Seems that since most communications infrastructure is down at this point, military units are using line of sight handheld radios and aircraft orbiting overhead to relay the signal to other radio users out of line of sight. The aircraft handling the relay stay in the air from 0700-1700 every day so that you have a ten hour window for communications. Also while some frequencies are free for use by anyone with a radio, others are locked so that only certain units can broadcast on them. One of these open freq. allows you to talk to a combat air controller and request airstrikes against large numbers of undead. I have a sneaking suspicion that is the cause for some of the large burned over areas we have been seeing. He left them with the admonishment that they should find some shelter soon as the weather is going to get bad within the next twenty-four hours. He said that it is currently 24' in Oklahoma City and snowing hard enough that they were diverting inbound aircraft to other airfields. I figure he's right every weather system that moves through Oklahoma City eventually ends up here in the winter. Were back on the road again headed for Hot Springs to find a place to settle in and watch it snow.

01/21/09

Weve made it in to Hot Springs not to soon I figure. The sky looks like lead and the temp is hovering around 30'F. A few flurries but, no major snow yet. Found a good place to hole up just off of Higdon Ferry Road, place called Jerry's Towing and Salvage. It was the first location we came across that fit our needs. Solid chainlink fence around the perimeter as well as a four bay garage attached to a solid office building with bars on all the windows. Alexis and Mike are out gathering food, propane and other supplies. I've searched the building and grounds to make sure there are no undead lurking around. Found and took care of three frozen outside that must have scaled the fence while they were still alive. Building was locked up tight but, I searched it twice anyway. Glad I didn't find anything inside. Alexis made Mike and me promise that we would find another place if there were any undead trapped in the building. Said she wouldn't be able to sleep someplace that someone had died and then been trapped as a zombie. She seemed to really be bothered by it.

I've got two propane heaters setup to take the chill off for the kids when they get back. Not to mention the fact I don't want to turn into a undead popsicle. I'm going to move some furnature around before the kids get back. There's a couch in the waiting area in front and another one in the breakroom in back. I think I am going to move the one up front back to the breakroom. That should give the kids a good place to build a "nest" as they term it. They push the couches together then line them with sleeping bags and pillows. They have to climb into it over the arms of the couchs on the ends but, I have to admit it looks comfortable as hell.

01/22/09

1:15 AM It's early or late however you want to look at it. The kids made it back before dark last night. Good thing to as the weather has really went to shit. The wind picked up and it started sleeting about 7:30PM it's mixed with snow now but, still coming down hard. They did a really good job with the supplies. might say there is a world of plenty out there if you can get out and scrounge for it. We should have enough propane for at least two weeks and food for longer than that should we want to stay put that long. They also managed to find a portable 9000 watt diesel generator and refill the three fifty-five gallon drums on the truck. We have electricity when we want it! As long as the temperatures stay cold and the undead frozen I think it will be alright to run it as the noise won't matter. If it warms up we are going to have to be damn careful about the noise attracting all the undead in the area. Speaking of which the kids went over and took a look at the Hot Springs Mall. They said it looked like the set from that zombie movie that came out a few years ago were all the zombies were attracted to the Mall were the survivors were hiding. They said there were thousands of frozen undead in the parking lot and litterly packing the stores were they could get in. Wierd... Going to have to plan something. Another big gasoline fire or maybe try to call in an airstrike?Maybe it's just the kid in me talking but, I've always wanted to call in an airstrike "from a safe distance". I wonder what the fly boy's are using? Some kind of fuel air bomb or maybe something like Napalm?

01/23/09 morning

 Well I think it's almost done snowing. Still a few snow flurries falling but, the clouds are starting to thin in the west. Got almost an inch of sleet and freezing rain last night then it changed over to snow. If we don't get anymore it looks like it'll be just under seven inches of snow. Put a thermometer outside the window last night before dark, at midnight it was showing 30'F. The sun's been up for almost two hours and the temp is down to 26'F and I think still falling.

 The kids are still asleep. As soon as they get up and around were going to try and call in an airstrike on the Mall. It's almost two miles from here, so unless it's a nuke they drop we should be O.K. I've been monitoring the radio on the Air Traffic frequency since they started broadcasting this morning. I'll give them one thing they sure are busy. In the two hours I've been listening they've dropped bombs on at least fifty targets. The locations of the drops are all within about two hundred miles of here so there is no telling how many there are going on across the country this morning. Thier  not just doing bombing missions, they are also directing what I think is at least one artillery battery. In addition there are at least a few search and rescue helicopters working our general area of the country. Those seem to be primarily picking up small groups of civilians that the Army units are stumbling across. One med-evac was flown early this morning for a soldier whom they thought was having problems with his kidneys.

 It all makes for interesting listening but, I'm ready to do something.

01/23/09 evening

 Close call today but, I guess all's well that ends well. This morning after the kids got up and ate breakfast we discussed it and decided to go ahead and call for an airstrike on the Mall. Mike didn't feel comfortable talking on the radio and Alexis didn't either so I got to do the honor. After listening to them all morning I had the basic idea of how. You wait until noone is talking then key up and tell them who you are. Civilian or military, if military then you give the unit your with. Then location either verbal discription like city and street address or GPS coordinates. "Got to get us a GPS unit" Some of the military units will call out a map number and then a grid coordinate. That's when a "Fire Coordinator" then will either ask you for more info or tell you to switch to a different frequency. I keyed up and gave my info then waited. A Coordinator designated "Shepard 21" came back and told me to change frequencies. After I got that done he started asking me about the target. How many undead? Land marks around the target. Our position in relation to the target. etc. Then he told me to stand by, after a few minutes he came back and told me that he had a flight of A-10's that could take a look at my target ETA 5-7 minutes. I told him that sounded wonderful he told me to continue to monitor that freq. In anticipation we all stepped over to the plate glass window to watch the show. Sure enough about five minutes later we heard aircraft but, couldn't see them due to the low cloud cover. They seemed to circle then one of them dropped out of the clouds and flew low and slow over the Mall. He made several passes over that area without firing a shot or dropping a single bomb!We could hear more of them in the clouds but, never spotted them. The single plane we did see pulled up and disappeared back into the clouds. We waited but nothing ever happened. I got back on the radio and asked Shepard "21" what the deal was? He explained that every civilian called target had to be accessed before a drop could be made and that our target was good and would be dropped on soon. I asked him why the A-10's couldn't just go ahead and take care of it. He explained further that they were out of bullets and bombs and were on thier way back to base to reload. They just happened to be close by and available to access our target. He told me that he would put in a tasking for a drop on the Mall and that it would take at least thirty to fourty minutes but that he would give us a heads-up before the drop is made.

 Almost an hour later Shepard "21" told us that our strike was inbound and wanted to confirm our location in relation to the target. I confirmed our location and then he asked are you sure you're over 1 1/2 miles from the target. I confirmed once again we were almost two miles from the target. His insistance should have made me more cautious and gotten me to ask more questions but, I didn't. I was expecting to see the A-10's again but before we could even see the airplane I could tell it was diffrent. This was a big turbo-prop. Once he got below the clouds I realized it was a C-130 transport. That struck me as odd but, what the hell they must be using whatever plane they got right? He flew just under the cloud cover over the Mall and someone threw from the open ramp in back what appeared to be a smoke bomb attached to a small parachute. They then flew a wide circle around the area until the smoke bomb had settled to the ground. Kind of anti-climatic. Once that was over the C-130 pulled up and dissapeared back into the clouds. I was about to ask Shepard "21" what was wrong this time when we spotted an object about the size of a car attached to a large parachute floating kind of fast down threw the clouds. As it touched the ground we were far enough away that we could see the shockwave rushing out. With one hand I shoved Mike forward at the same time I swept his feet out from under him making him fall below the level of the plate glass window we were all standing in front of. In the same motion I hugged Alexis to me and turned my back to the window. That took a lot longer to write than to do. Then the shockwave hit. I managed to stay on my feet, barely. Mike and Alexis were alright but, we spent over an hour pulling pieces of glass "some of which were as big as my hand" out of my back and butt. It took lot longer getting what appeared to be the front forks of a kids tri-cycle out of my abdomen. The red enameled piece of metal entered my back just below the ribs and was poking out the skin on my stomach two or three inches. I've now got most of a roll of duct tape and some plastic keeping my insides on the inside. Needless to say I gave Shepard "21" a piece of my mind. Come to findout the safe distance of 1 1/2 miles that he was given was for dug in fighting positions or armor units. Not for people standing in front of a plate glass windows.

 There for a few seconds I thought I was going to see the kids die. Not sure I could handle seeing that. Thier asleep now, exhausted from the excitement and the cleanup that followed. I feel tired, maybe I'll sleep tonight too.

Update in progress....

01/24/09

  Haven't done much today. Didn't get much sleep last night. I thought I heard a "moan" last night after I had gotten comfortable and settled in. My first thought was that I had missed a zombie when I searched the building and the warmth from the heater had thawed it out! I grabbed my baseball bat and flashlight and headed out of the office I've been sleeping in to check on the kids. I had just started to turn the door knob on the breakroom door where the kids were sleeping when I heard another moan along with a very feminine giggle. That brought me up short. I stood there a few more minutes listening too surprised to move. It wasn't an undead that I had heard, the opposite, what I had heard was very much alive. Wonder how long it's been going on? Not that there is much I can do about it or should be doing about it. As much as I think about them as kids they really aren't. They are both adults and God knows more mature than they should have to be. Still it caught me by suprise.

 Got up to a high of 26'F with just a few glimpses of the sun today. The radio is saying we have some more snow/sleet coming. It's supposed to start within the next twenty four to thirty six hours. Put up another layer of plastic over all the windows that had the glass knocked out of them yesterday. Put up one layer yesterday but, after hearing the forecast decided that we are going to be here at least a few more days and one layer of plastic doesn't keep the cold out very well. After that was done we played cards until Mike and Alexis decided they wanted to go out and try to get some more supplies. I went just to drive the truck. They managed to find a TV and a XBOX 360 along with an assortment of games and movies. I must admit that it passes the time. They are still playing a racing game.

01/25/09

 Snowing again and still cold. I'm getting a little restless but, Mike and Alexis seem to be enjoying themselves.
 
 

 

AMEN Shadrach!!

AKASL

LIVE FREE OR DIE

Outstanding.

WHOA

Interesting twist...

Nice job.  Good twist.



Ron

creepy

that was a great twist, keep it coming.

Awesome story.  Just came across it tonight and was thoroughly hooked.

One thing you might want to check though is your use of the word to and too,  if you are going to try and get this published or whatever.  Unless of course the main character is not good at grammar and his diary reflects that.

Great story though and love your unique vision of it.

killer twist

I showed this to my dad, he works for a TV Station. Said "That needs to be made into a movie the whole thing and all. All of it, a HBO SHOWTIME miniseries Kinda like Band of brothers, where it shows the soldier reading it and then flash to the event happening. It would be great. "

I asked him if he knew someone.

HE said no but if he did he wouldn't tell them about it he would get the money some how and then get with Shadrack and set up to shoot the whole thing.

When I left a he was on the phone with a producer at a station where he used to work telling him about it.

great story, keep goin1!!`

Short update added. I appreciate the comments and support. Keep in mind that this is a ROUGH draft. Also I've been very busy lately so please be patient.

to hell with patience... more!!

Originally Posted By atrum_tutela: to hell with patience... more!!

Exactly!!

Originally Posted By garanditis: Originally Posted By atrum_tutela: to hell with patience... more!! Exactly!!

+87

More...or BAN!

Seriously.. it's been too long..

I agree way too long. A combination of writers block and a very busy schedule lately have conspired against me. enjoy

Nice, keep it up.

OK

I'm ready for more.

...more!

Finally an update, I thought you got bitten or somthing.

+1

airstrike? sweeeeet...

Cool.
Please let it be an A-10 with some NAP or maybe tac nuke.

Razor Tow Zero inbound with canned sunshine.  

UH UH
Daisy Cutter= Zombie Cutter!!! FTW

+1 great story

I keep vowing not to start any new stories until they are finished. This one and the New Zombie Novel Tryout got me hooked... I hate waiting

But thank you for what yo have so far!!

Great stuff, I'm Hooked.

very nice work, but it's time for another entry...

This is one of my favorite stories.  Look every day to see if there is an update.  Please post a new chapter.

great story!

01/25/09

Snowing again and still cold. I'm getting a little restless but, Mike and Alexis seem to be enjoying themselves. Their either cuddling or playing games.

01/28/09
 
It’s been three days since we called in the airstrike. The weather has been horrible and we’ve been trapped pretty much inside since. It’s been spitting snow off and on and cold. The temp has been dropping to the single digits at night and not getting over the mid-twenties during the day. The real bad part has been the wind. It has howled like nothing I have ever seen. The military has been shutting down flights due to the severe weather so the military radio’s reception has been spotty at best. The AM/FM radio in the old break room and the one out in the truck are both still working so we are getting news and weather forecasts. They are saying that the wind speed is gusting from forty to seventy miles an hour. I believe them; I’ve never seen weather like this before. The talking head on the radio also spent over an hour interviewing a military meteorologist about how the forty five or so nuclear weapons used in and by various countries around the world in the last year has caused a global wide mini-ice age. They claim that is the cause for the wild and very cold weather that we are experiencing. Seems we should have been going through a small ice age prior to all this but, global warming has been keeping it at bay. Not anymore.
They’ve also started giving daily updates on the status of the rest of the world. Seems they are now calling the good ole United States the last great hope for mankind. Mexico along with the rest of South and Central America has been completely overrun. The U.S. military is currently spearheading the construction of a large fence roughly along the border to keep the hordes of undead south of the border. What’s funny is that most of the labor for the project is coming from Latinos that have been chased across the border by the undead further south. Europe and Asia except for some high mountain and island enclaves have also been pretty much wiped out. Iceland was almost untouched as well as New Zealand however, both countries are not very self sufficient in either raw materials or food production.
 
I got into a fight with Mike yesterday. Were all suffering from more than a slight case of cabin fever. Being coupéd up inside is hard on everyone’s nerves. Especially mine… I’m not even sure what we were yelling at each other about. Hopefully this weather is going to break soon!

01/29/09

I think it has stopped snowing but, it’s hard to tell with the wind whipping what has already fallen on the ground into an icy fog. I think we’ve only gotten about twelve inches. Might be a little bit more, hard to tell with the drifts. Some areas are swept clean and others it piled up over head high. The forecast is for the wind to die down sometime tonight and then clear and cold for the next week or so. Military flights have resumed so I have been listening to the chatter trying to get an idea of what’s going on out there so I can plan our route to Conway. The folks at the Nuclear Plant with some help from the fly boy’s have managed to clear the undead all the way East to Blackwell Ark. but not south of the river. The area from there to the edge of Little Rock they are calling heavily infested. There’s a small enclave working out of the Little Rock Air Force base that’s been working to clear the city and surrounding areas but, they haven’t made it very far West at all. Looks like when the weather clears we should be able to make a straight run to Conway in one day’s drive. Might be safer to plan for two days that way we take plenty of time and no one is to tired once we stop for the night. Kills me to be this close and have to keep waiting to see what caused all this.

01/30/09

We managed to get out and drive around for a while today. The drifts are a problem if you get in a hurry. There are surprisingly few undead scattered around. The kids think the majority of them were attracted to the Mall. I’m inclined to believe them. I’m sure there are several hundred trapped in whatever buildings they took shelter in before they died. I’m also sure more than a few could be hidden by the snow.
We’ve packed most of our stuff. The plan is that we get on the road tomorrow and take advantage of the clear weather. Still have to pack the sleeping bags and a few odds and ends but, we should be ready to go by eight in the morning. I’m a little concerned about taking Alexis and Mike very close to the origin of this plague. What if the original source is airborne? Would the cold weather slow it down? I guess while I’m sitting here fretting over it, what if the source is a Hollywood monster? Sounds ridiculous but, hell a year ago so did “walking dead”. I wish I knew what I’m taking those kids into. Although if I did there wouldn’t be any since in going to see would there?

02/01/09

It’s just after midnight. We had some serious problems today. Got a good start and made excellent time for about an hour. The snow was deep but, manageable. We had gone twenty to twenty-five miles when we encountered the first snow drift blocking the road. The drift was only about four feet deep, about three feet deeper than the truck can handle. After checking out the map we decided on a detour. Once we backtracked and found the right turnoff we had already lost almost an hour. Within five miles we were faced with another drift closing the road. This one was much deeper, maybe seven feet deep. That’s when we decided to head back to Hot Springs and try to figure something else out.

On the way back we discussed our options and came up with the idea of getting an enclosed cab Backhoe or large tractor with a front loader to dig our way through the snow drifts. As this will of course slow us down to a crawl we also decided to get a camper trailer to pull behind the truck. It was almost three o’clock by the time we got back to Hot Springs and found the equipment t we were looking for. Managed to find a nice twenty six foot bumper pull camper as well as an enclosed cab Case backhoe. It got dark by the time we managed to get everything ready so we decide to go back and stay the night at Jerry’s Towing one more time.
I thought I was going to have to go find some ear plugs. I was beginning to think those kids weren’t going to stop going at it in there. I guess I’ve forgotten what it was like to be a teenager.

02/02/09

We’ve made it almost thirty miles today. The first twenty five miles went slow but, smoothly. The other five or so miles after we started encountering drifts took hours. It’s really slow going having to stop every little bit and clear drifts. Mike and I have been taking turns running the backhoe. I admit I enjoy it. Maybe it’s the little kid in me but, running a piece of heavy equipment is fun! Mike seems to enjoy it also. Alexis just shakes her head and makes the occasional joke about boys and their toys. I am worried about the rate at which we are using fuel. Running both the truck and the backhoe all day is going to eat through a lot of diesel. Our fuel mileage is now gallons per mile instead of miles per gallon. We’re all on the lookout for an off-road fuel tank or an over the road big rig to pump out of. So far no luck.

The place we decided to stop for the night is just a junction with another two lane black top road. There is no road sign at this junction so I’m not absolutely sure where we are. Not that it really matters.

We didn’t bother unhooking the camper from the truck, we just left it attached and simply worried about getting settled in for the night. I’m impressed this camper is fairly comfortable and homey. I attribute the homey aspect to Alexis. She’s put a lot of effort into making it look and feel like a home. I personally think she has a knack for decorating. It doesn’t look cluttered but, even though this is our first night staying in here it looks like we have lived in here for weeks. Kind of comforting.

02/03/09

I’m honestly not sure how far we have made it today. It didn’t get over twenty degrees today. Clear and cold. We got moving just after eight this morning and except for a few breaks we didn’t stop until we started losing daylight. The kids are exhausted and mentally so am I. We’ve started to encounter a lot more vehicles on the road. Looks like we should be in Conway tomorrow if we don’t run into any traffic jams or other problems.

We’ve been trying to figure out how to pinpoint exactly what caused the outbreak. Just to say it started in a specific city is all well and good but, where in that city and what were the events that led up to the outbreak? I want details. I need details! What destroyed my family and my life? I understand now that Satan himself is to blame but, what I want to know is the mechanism that caused everything. I’ve tried to talk the kids into staying out of town until I’ve had a chance to check everything and make reasonably sure it’s safe. Alexis agrees with me but, Mike is determined to go wherever I go.

02/04/09

We’ve made it to the edge of Conway. This town is a mess. There are thousands of undead frozen out in the open. So far we have seen hundreds of National Guard and regular Army troops mixed in with the undead. There are also more than a few Arkansas State Police and local Police mixed in. What is even sadder to me is the large number of Fire Fighters. The World Trade Center collapse on 9/11 was nothing compared to the number of Fire Fighters involved in this massacre. Not just in this city but, in many others just like it and worse. It makes me sick to think of all the innocent people whose lives and families were lost in this calamity. Tomorrow we are going to try to look around and find out what happened.

02/05/09

We’ve looked around all day. There is death and destruction all over. Along with latterly thousands of frozen undead. However we could find no indication of where this started. Not surprising considering how big this town is and how much area we are trying to cover. During dinner we were brain storming and came up with the idea of checking out the 911 dispatch office in the hope we can find a clue to what and where everything happened. I’m sure they kept some sort of call record or log. We’ve looked around and found the address for the Conway 911 office in the phone book. First thing in the morning were going to drive over and check it out.
There seems to be trouble brewing between the love birds. Alexis has been giving Mike the cold shoulder all day. It’s almost like she’s been lost in thought or worried about something, very distracted. At least twice Mike’s asked her what’s wrong and she keeps denying anything is. If she hasn’t snapped out of it by tomorrow I’m going to try talk to her. She has to keep her mind on where she is and what is going on if she wants to stay in one piece. I don’t want to see her hurt.

02/06/09

Well today was very interesting to say the least. While Mike and Alexis were getting up and around this morning I could tell something was still bothering Alexis. She bit Mike’s head off every time he said anything. I decided to talk to her ASAP, so when we got ready to head out I had Mike drive the backhoe in case we needed to clear any snow or push cars while I rode in the truck with Alexis. She likes to drive so I figured it would put her at ease. Once we got moving I just came out and asked her if everything was OK? Just like opening a valve the tears started and she said it was going to happen again. The depth and strength of emotion in her voice and body language caught me by surprise. I asked her WHAT was going to happen again? She said this baby was going to die too! That really caught me off guard; I had no idea what she was talking about. What baby? Then it dawned on me and I asked her if she was pregnant? She just nodded yes. I asked her if Mike was the father? That’s when we stopped to allow Mike a chance to clear the first set of snow encrusted stalled cars from our path. While he was doing that Alexis cried on my shoulder and told me that Mike was the daddy and she found out yesterday morning when she took a home pregnancy test. She said that her period was a little over two weeks late and the test had confirmed it. She was worried that this baby would come early and die just like Jamie had. That’s when I remembered the pink scrap book with the name Jamie on front. Her first baby had died just after the outbreak. She had had him at home after the hospitals all closed after filling full of undead and he had died just a few weeks later. I asked her if she had told Mike yet? She confirmed that she had not told him. By the time we arrived at the dispatch office she had calmed down and I had agreed to help her tell Mike the good news once we got back to the trailer this afternoon.
The dispatch office wasn’t exactly what I had pictured. It looked to have been built with at least two feet of dirt on top of it. I can only figure that it was expected to be able to withstand tornadoes and other natural disasters. The building entrance had obviously been the source of a lot of interest to the undead. There were at least three hundred frozen undead in the parking lot and all around the heavily reinforced door leading into the building. Once we looked everything over we decided to take care of the ones in the parking lot first. None of us could stand the thought of that many undead behind us while we went in the building. The kids began to work the crowd while I went back to the truck. The cold had already started to make me stiff. Once they were done I went to help Mike breach the door while Alexis went to the truck to warm up. The door proved to be very hard to get through. It looked like a vault door so after several minutes of trying to pry it open with crowbars we gave up. Ended up with the idea of using the backhoe’s trenching bucket to rip the door out of the wall. I ran the backhoe while Mike spotted for me as I really couldn’t see exactly where the teeth of the bucket were. As the door started to tear away from the building I spotted a hand reaching out into the light. I tried to stop the door from falling but, it was too late. By the time I got out of the backhoe a very not frozen undead middle aged woman had managed to get through the partially blocked door way and was wrestling with Mike. I started to help him when I spotted three others trying to get out of the opening so instead I snatched up one of the discarded crow bars from the snowy ground and destroyed the three in the doorway. Once I was finished I turned to find Mike holding Alexis. The undead woman was lying very still in the snow at their feet. I interrupted their embrace to check Mike over for bite marks. I had him strip right there in the snow. His heavy winter cloths had protected him from the woman’s attempts to eat him. His coat sleeve had several bite marks on it along with some drool so we discarded it right there. Nothing touched his skin luckily. I was about to make Alexis strip as I had Mike when they started telling me what had happened. Alexis had spotted the trouble and ran from the truck with my baseball bat. She had clubbed the woman from behind while the undead creature had uselessly chewed on Mike’s coat sleeve.

After all that excitement I searched the dispatch office while the kids waited outside. They didn’t seem to mind me having the honor of going in first. I found no undead, however I did find what appeared to have been a Sheriff Deputy from his uniform. He was hidden in a closet, dead from what appeared to be a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The corpse was naturally decomposed so I figure he got chased into the closet and eventually grew tired of waiting for a rescue that would never come in time. His Glock sidearm was still clutched in what remained of his right hand. The moldy brown stain streaking down the wall behind his body told me the rest of the story.

The temperature inside the sealed underground building surprised me. It was at least forty degrees inside compared to less than twenty degrees outside. The undead inside the building were never exposed to the severe temperatures outside. Good thing to keep in mind, sewers, large storm drains, tunnels and bunkers could all still contain viable undead even in the most severe cold weather.

Not surprising the power to the dispatch center was off and the emergency backup lighting had run out of battery power long ago. I was about to lose hope when Alexis found an 8Gig USB Flashdrive stuck into one of the dispatch computers. The USB port was marked simply “audio”. We took the flashdrive back to the truck and used Mike’s laptop to access the info on the drive. The file on the Flashdrive opened without any problems. It started out with a dispatcher doing a radio check with one of the field units then it was what sounded like normal radio traffic. A domestic disturbance call with two units dispatched and one arrest made followed by State Trooper J-8 making a DUI arrest on I-40 and requesting the dispatcher call a tow truck for the drunk’s vehicle. Nothing unusual on the start of the recording. We agreed to go back to the trailer and listen to the rest of it. I said I would drive the backhoe so they could ride together. As Mike got in the truck I silently mouthed to Alexis “TELL HIM”!
When we arrived back at the trailer I could tell Alexis and Mike weren’t done talking just yet, so I went on in the trailer and waited for them. It didn’t take long for a very happy pair of kids to burst through the door. The grin on Mike’s face stretched from ear to ear. I could tell Alexis had been crying again but, the tears were dry now. I congratulated them and told Mike we would have to find some cigars later to celebrate.

Mike set up his computer and we listened to the rest of the recording. The recording was several days long so we started skipping ahead then listening for several minutes and if everything sounded normal we would skip ahead some more. It didn’t take long until we heard Deputy C-18 screaming for backup after a crowd had chased him into his car. He’d been bitten several times and his cries for help soon faded into silence. We rewound the recording from that point. Roughly five minutes earlier he had been dispatched to a motor vehicle accident on Dave Ward Road near the East bound Interstate off ramp. Once he arrived at the scene he called for EMS before he even left his car. He said there were at least a dozen injured people. I felt sick listening to the recording knowing what he was walking into. From the looks on both Alexis and Mike’s faces they did to. After the second EMS crew went off the air after arriving at the accident scene, Mike turned off the recording. After a few moments silence Alexis said “Well we know where to go look.”

I made the kids eat lunch before setting off for the accident scene. They both said they weren’t hungry but, ate extremely well. Mike kept giving Alexis sidelong looks while they cooked lunch. Every time I looked up he was grinning like a cat that had just eaten the family canary. It made me think of my kids and how I had felt when I found out I was going to be a father. I didn’t notice the tears streaming down my cheeks until I felt Alexis’s hand on my shoulder. Weird how the pain can just sneak up on you out of the blue, with no warning.

Once the kids were done eating we set out for Dave Ward Road. I drove the backhoe while the kids got a little together time in the truck. I felt like being alone so I didn’t mind. It took almost an hour to reach the off ramp on Dave Ward Road. There were several snow drifts and more than a few stalled cars that had to be moved along the way. It took a little over an hour, not bad all things considered. We made it to the accident scene a little after two PM. I asked the kids to stay in the truck while I investigated the accident scene. I just wanted them to keep their distance from whatever caused this. They made me take one of the small walkie-talkies so I could call for help if I needed to.

There were seven squad cars and three ambulances along with a few dozen civilian vehicles all gathered around the wreck. At the intersection a blue van with government tags had been hit in the side by a green Ford pickup. Bingo…There weren’t a lot of undead in the area of the wreck; the few that were still there were trapped in the vehicles. The side door on the blue van was slid open. Inside was the badly decomposed body of a man in the back seat as well as an undead man sitting in the driver’s seat still strapped in by the seat belt. That struck me as odd so I looked around in the van and found a briefcase and several magazines. There were also some wrappers from McDonald’s. I took the briefcase and went to look the green truck over. The driver of the truck was also an undead. He was trapped by the dash of his truck smashing his legs against the front of the seat. His right arm, throat and lower face were very well chewed. Poor guy was trapped in the truck when the undead came for him, unable to move or fight back. Sad but, fairly normal. The decomposed guy in the van just didn’t seem right. He shouldn’t have received bad injuries in the wreck, at least not life threatening. No doubt he was cut by glass and knocked around a bit but, nothing very severe. I went back and looked in the van again. Another odd thing I noticed was the fact that there were three McDonalds drink cups in the cup holders. One for the driver in front and another for the decomposed guy as well as one in front of the seat closest to the rear side door. So where did the third passenger go? I checked the glove box for registration and found that the van was registered to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. That gave me pause. Suddenly the briefcase I’d found in the van seemed more dangerous than death itself. I was suddenly very glad the kids hadn’t come any closer.

I found a screwdriver in a toolbox behind the cab of the green truck and pried the briefcase open. It contained two file folders and nothing else. Not exactly what I expected. No false bottom containing a bottle with the skull and cross bones stenciled on it, nothing. Both of the files had the same name on the cover, Martin Randolph. I flipped threw them quickly while I was standing there starting to freeze up. One was a personnel file from B.Y.University. The other appeared to be his medical record. It was by far the thicker of the two folders. My fingers were so stiff by this time that I couldn’t turn the pages so I headed back to the truck. The kids were relieved and more than a little disappointed that I hadn’t found something more spectacular. We headed back to the trailer to give the files a closer look. Alexis and Mike took the files while I drove the backhoe. We made better time getting back to the camper but, it was still a thirty minute drive.

As soon as the kids got out of the truck I could tell they were excited. Once we got inside were it was warm I found out why. Martin Randolph was an archeology professor who had been working for the Brigham Young University in Utah. In March of last year he had been a part of a research group working in the Anasazi Ruins near the Four Corners area. One of the group that Martin was working with got bitten by a small desert rat while in the ruins. Within hours he was gravely ill and appeared to die while on the way to the hospital. Within moments of death the dead man attacked another member of the team, in the struggle Martin Randolph was bitten. The undead man was thrown from the vehicle during the fight and was severely crushed by another vehicle. The local hospital quarantined Martin Randolph as well as the smashed remains of the undead man and called in the CDC.

Martin Randolph didn’t get sick from the bite. Lab work conducted by the hospital and the CDC revealed that he was infected by the same virus that had killed and reanimated his colleague however he showed absolutely no symptoms. The medical records file also contained the release paperwork from the hospital to the CDC so that Martin could be transported to Atlanta Georgia for further study and treatment.

They must have been traveling along I-40 headed for Atlanta when they stopped for food here in Conway. That’s when they got hit by the green Ford truck in the intersection. During the wreck Martin’s blood must have accidently infected the third passenger of the van who then attacked and killed Martin and started to infect everyone who was near the accident scene. Law Enforcement and EMS were the worst hit early on. That in and of itself slowed the response to the infection. Once it reached a critical point there just weren’t enough resources to control the undead quickly enough. Not to mention at first people just didn’t realize how to deal with the undead.

02/07/09

After yesterday no one felt like getting an early start today. It was about ten this morning when we finally got up and around. After the kids got something to eat we started to debate on what to do next. Alexis wants to try to find other survivors soon and settle in someplace safe. I don’t blame her at all. She is worried about the baby and where it will be born. I am committed to continuing to travel and destroy the undead. Mike wants to travel with me. And as he puts it “Make a difference”. I’m of the notion that he can make a bigger difference just doing whatever he can to give Alexis and that baby a safe and happy home. I wish I could stay with them but, what community would ever accept a thinking, talking, reasoning undead among them? It’s not like I can hide what I am, I look rough.

In the short term we have decided to start destroying the undead here in Conway. That should take several days at least, maybe more than a week. It should give Alexis and I a chance to convince Mike that it is time to settle down and take care of his family. I was alone before I found them and I can be alone again. Even though I don’t want to be.

02/11/09

The clearing of the town is going well so far. We’ve had several days in which the high temps were just right at or slightly below freezing. That allows me to stay outside much longer without starting to stiffen up but, still keeps the undead immobile as they don’t have a chance to thaw enough to reanimate. Unfortunately it looks like we have some warmer weather coming. The radio is predicting a warm front will come through in the next few days and the temps are supposed to be in the fifty’s and sixty’s for highs. Warm enough the undead are going to start moving around again. Not to mention all this snow is going to melt. In places there are drifts over eight feet high. That’s going to be a lot of water so flooding might be a problem.

We spent this afternoon setting up a good defendable place to call home while the snow and undead melt. We chose to use the National Guard Armory. It’s got a good fence around several buildings with bars on all the windows and strong locks on the doors. It’s also centrally located in town so I will be able to make forays out on foot without having to worry about having to use a vehicle and it drawing the undead back here. Tomorrow morning we are going to finish gathering furnishings and supplies, in the event that we have to stay here for another week or two until the next cold front comes through.

I think we have Mike convinced that the best thing would be for him and Alexis to join the people at the Nuclear Plant. I feel pretty sure that size group will have already attracted some sort of health care professional. Maybe just a RN but, it would still be a lot better care than Mike of I could provide for Alexis and the baby.


02/12/09
The temp got up to around fifty five degrees today. There are undead moving allover that we missed or simply haven’t gotten too yet. I’m sure more are still buried in the snow drifts that haven’t melted yet. I started working on a spiral search pattern around noon today. Started here at our fence and just kept moving out. Now I remember that it isn’t snow I hate, it’s the slush and mud that comes later. I came back about sunset. The temp started dropping when the sun went down and I didn’t want to freeze up.

We backed the camper and truck into the largest garage.

Great update i am loving the story!

cool story I'm completing hooked on this

Just got caught back up on the story, thanks.

thanks for the update..keep up the good job

You are awesome! What an imagination!
Keep up the good work!

more please!..

please post more????I love this story.

We’ve backed the camper and truck into the largest garage. I decide it best to leave them hooked up. That way we would be ready to pull out and leave quickly if we need to. All in all not a bad setup. The kids and even I will be able to move the camper around without attracting the attention of undead outside the fence. I am sure that I could take care of any reasonable number of undead that we might attract but, that is just asking for problems. All it takes is one undead getting inside the fence and then a little bad luck. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

02/14/09

I’ve spent the day doing another spiral search pattern. Got started this morning just after seven thirty and I quit about forty five minutes before sunset. I figure I’ve searched out about four miles today. I can walk four miles an hour without any problem and I walked straight back and I arrived about ten minutes after sunset, travel time of about an hour. Not as good as fixed reference points but, a fairly close way of determining distance traveled. I’m searching every house and vehicle. I don’t want to leave any undead in this town.

The kids seem fairly happy to be able to take it easy. A little bored but, happy. They want to hook the generator up but, I think the noise is too great a risk. Maybe in a few days when I have the undead cleared further away.

02/15/09

I worked my way further out today using the same spiral search pattern. I did find a few stragglers that I missed yesterday. In the garage of one of the houses I searched today I found a Honda On/Off road motorcycle. It started and ran O.K. so I drove it back. Stopped about a half mile from the Armory to see if any undead followed the sound of the motorcycle. I waited for almost thirty minutes without seeing any undead so I walked the motorcycle the rest of the way to the gate.

I surprised the kids and had to wait for them to get dressed before I could come in. I shouldn’t be surprised, I knew they were bored. I seriously doubt that I will catch them going at it again anytime soon judging from how red Alexis’s face got.

Once I discussed my day with Alexis and Mike we setup the generator. I think the fact that none of the undead followed me back is a good sign. The weather forecast is calling for colder weather in the next few days. Another cold front is supposed to be making its way through. They don’t think there will be much snow with this one. I hope the weather man’s right.

02/16/09

Another fairly productive day. I rode the motorcycle out to where I stopped yesterday. Leaving the bike there I resumed my search from that point out. Luckily the weather held all day and I managed to get all of Conway cleared. I finished up and made it back to the motorcycle about four o’clock. There was a little daylight left so I just rode the motorcycle around looking the town over. Spotted a few dogs and some other wildlife along with a handful of undead that I had missed. Once I had taken care of the stragglers and satisfied myself that the town was actually clear it had gotten dark. The kids were a little upset that I had stayed out so late.

Alexis and Mike have been discussing using the radio to tell the military about what we found here. I am opposed to it. Call me paranoid but, I don’t figure the government will want the world to know that they allowed the outbreak to happen on their watch. Hell, the CDC was even involved and should have stopped it from happening. I figure the government will try to suppress that kind of information. Why would they want to step up and take the blame for allowing the end of civilization as we know it to happen? I’m afraid of what the authorities might be willing to do to keep this quiet.

02/17/09 morning

The weather is still holding so we are going to try and move west on Highway 64 toward Morrilton with the eventual destination being Russellville’s Nuclear Plant. We’re going to leave just as soon as the kids get done eating and get everything put away. I’ve got Conway clear so there is really nothing left to do here. We’ve found what we came to look for and the town is now clear of undead so I don’t see any reason to stay here any longer.

When we get to Morrilton I figure on finding somewhere to hole up and then clearing the town of undead. Highway 64 runs parallel to I-40 just to the south. I figure the traffic will be better on Hwy 64 than on I-40 so the trip should be easier and quicker.

There’s a lot of hardware and equipment just setting from the National Guard and Law Enforcement responding to the initial outbreak. I’ve been looking through the squad cars and HUMMVEE’s looking for anything we might have a use for. I’ve found a lot of ammunition as well as several rifles and even hand grenades and explosives. There are also a couple cases of MRE’s if the kids are willing to eat them. Before we leave I plan on driving around town and gathering everything up.

02/18/09

Looks like our departure is going to be delayed at least a day maybe two. It’s turned off cold and it’s snowing again. Guess the weather man was right for a change. The kids have been coupé up for the last several days so they are out playing in the snow. I’m glad to see them out enjoying themselves. Wish I could join them.

I’ve gone back through the brief case we found with Martin Randolph. We over looked a three page memo written by Martin himself. It makes for some interesting reading to say the least. Martin believed that the rise and fall of all the ancient South American cultures i.e., Aztecs, Incas, Toltec’s and Maya as well as several other cultures were all caused by the same undead plague that we are dealing with. He makes a very convincing argument pointing out the changes in architecture and of course wide spread human sacrifice. He claimed that the widespread human sacrifice was actually local village people and priests destroying the undead. He points out the discovery of several mass graves that contain thousands of decapitated bodies that have been discovered in South America and Mexico in recent years. He figured that the changes in architecture that some cultures experienced before their fall was an attempt at fortifications or simply bigger better temples to appease their God’s and make the undead go away. He used the Anasazi dwellings in the Four Corners Area near the place his colleague infected as an example of the fortifications. They made their homes high up in bluffs and rock formations where the undead would have a very hard time climbing up in large numbers. He hypothesized that the level of population in the infected areas would drop to just a few hardy survivor groups that have learned to cope until enough time passed and the undead eventually rotted away. Makes me wonder if he wasn’t on to something. Makes me want to go visit the Four Corners Area.

02/19/09

The snow stopped last night some time. Looks like we got about four inches with a little sleet mixed with freezing rain on top. The temp is hovering right around six or seven degrees right now. Wind is blowing fifteen to maybe twenty miles an hour but, at least the crust of ice on top is keeping the snow from blowing around and drifting.

So far today we are just staying hunkered down trying to keep warm. We’ve been playing poker for the last three hours it was Monopoly before that. Anything to stay entertained and keep us from going stir crazy. I can’t even go outside the warehouse for a few minutes in this kind of weather without my eyes crusting up with ice and everything else starting to get stiff. I’m glad we have the camper parked in a warehouse so it doesn’t have to take the brunt of the cold and wind. The weather man on the radio says that we should be seeing better weather within a few days. I hope so.

02/20/09

Alexis and Mike have been fighting all morning. Being cooped up is really taking a toll on them. I had to physically separate them earlier. Alexis was intent on strangling Mike over him eating all the Fruit Loops. Mike’s gone out to get some fresh air and let her calm down. Looks like I’m going to spend the rest of the day playing referee. Oh Goodie! Hopefully the weather will start to warm up tomorrow like the weather man is predicting.

02/21/09

It’s nine o’ clock and already over freezing. The suns out and it’s starting to clear the snow off of the blacktop. Were packing up and getting ready to head toward Morrilton. As we leave town were going to gather the supplies that I have set aside for us around town. There’s more than enough fuel to refill our 55 gal. drums in trucks scattered around along with a few cases of MRE’s and three M4 rifles. Not to mention several thousand rounds of 5.56 ammo already loaded in magazines.

02/21/09 late

We didn’t get around quick enough to get on the road today. By the time we had everything ready to roll it was after one o’clock. We talked about it and decided to get an early start, first thing tomorrow rather than go off half cocked and have to set up camp after only a few hours of travel. Setting up camp isn’t something you should rush on. If you get unlucky and several hundred undead show up midnight thirty while you are asleep everyone in camp is going to be well and thoroughly screwed. So take your time and don’t rush setting up your overnight security.

Something odd happened today, As I was going into a sporting goods store I spotted an undead that I had missed during my sweep of the town. He was looking out one of the plate glass windows in the front of the store. He was standing just as still as a mannequin. Except for the fact part of the flesh on his neck and chest had been stripped away I might have mistaken him for a very life like window decoration. The strange thing was that he didn’t try to attack the kids through the glass. He just stood there giving all of us the stink eye. The look of hatred on his face was unmistakable. It creeped Mike out so bad he insisted on shooting the guy through the window before I went in. I’ve never seen that kind of look on any of their faces before. A simple snarl sure but, most of the time it’s just that odd empty and lost look.

02/22/09

It’s been a hell of a day. More than a little traumatic for Alexis and Mike, both of them have had their eyes opened about what kinds of monsters the world really holds.

We were headed West on Highway 64 toward Morrilton about eleven thirty this morning when we stopped for lunch. While the kids started getting lunch together I headed out to make sure we weren’t being followed by any undead and do a search of the surrounding area. After about thirty five minutes I was headed back to our truck when I heard another truck on the highway. I slowed down not wanting to get shot at again, that was a close call I didn’t want to repeat. You know the scripture says “don’t tempt the Lord your God!” So I took my time and kept a lot of cover between me and the truck. When I had made it to within a hundred yards of our truck I heard a woman scream. That got my attention and I decided to hurry regardless of my own safety. There was a burgundy 4X4 Suburban that I’d never seen pulled up behind our truck with its driver’s side door open  

When I got to where I could see what was going on, it made my blood boil. A fairly large man wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt was holding a semi-automatic pistol to Mike’s head. If that wasn’t bad enough I heard more screams that I was now sure had came from Alexis. I made my way quietly up behind the guy holding the gun to Mike’s head. After I said a quiet prayer I took the last step and swung my bat hard at the base of Mike’s captor’s head. I knew I needed to kill him instantly with the first swing or he would be able to kill Mike. As the bat hit I knew the swing was good. It caught the guy right behind the ear. As he started falling I rushed around him.

The sight that confronted me as I went around guy gave me pause for just one weird frozen second in time. A second asshole wearing a green shirt had his knee on Alexis’s neck holding her to the ground while holding both her wrists in his hands. A third asshole wearing a red and black flannel shirt was kneeling between Alexis’s legs with his pants down around his ankles. He had his cock in his hand, no doubt preparing to rape her. I turned and swung up with my bat and caught the second asshole with the green shirt on the chin. He fell backward letting go of Alexis’s wrists with his knee coming off her neck. The asshole in the red and black shirt holding his cock in his hand got a little more personal treatment. I kicked him in the chest knocking him backward, and then broke both his arms with my bat as he tried to stop me from kicking him unconscious. He failed miserably…

Once I had checked on my kids I told them to go on into the camper and get each other cleaned up.  Mike told me that there were no more unwanted visitors around. After that I directed my attention back to the two who were still alive. They didn’t stay alive long but, they did live long enough to answer my questions before they went to see their maker.  

Our attackers were rogues. Deserters from the U.S. Army. Unable or un-willing to take orders once things got freaky. Originally they just wanted to get back to their own families and protect them. After they realized they didn’t have anyone to go back to, they ended up just kind of wandering around. They lost several of their group to the undead over time and eventually ended up with just the three that came here today. Said they didn’t mean for things to get so carried away. I’m not sure if I believe that shit or not, but one thing’s for sure it won’t happen again.

Once I got back to the camper Alexis and Mike both wanted to know what had happened to their attackers. I declined to give them details but, did tell them they wouldn’t ever have to worry about seeing those men again. Mike is pretty busted up. His nose is broken along with at least four or five ribs. Alexis is a little better off but, not much. Her throat and wrists are badly bruised, along with her spirit. I wish a counselor was available to help her but; all the counselors’ are gone. Along with almost everyone else. I wish it was different but, it’s not.

The kids wanted some time to get themselves together after the attack. I could certainly understand so I took my time searching the Suburban for anything we could use. What I found was very interesting. In addition to things you would expect like clothes, food, and bottled water. I also found what I believe are sick, twisted trophies. There were seven pairs of dirty and or bloody panties stuffed into one compartment of the console between the front seats. The fact they were all different sizes and styles leads me to believe these bastards were making a habit of raping any women they could get their hands on. I have a bad feeling none of the women involved survived the encounter. I’m still debating whether or not I should tell the kids about the trophies.

Once we got moving I started looking for a place to camp for the night. I drove while Alexis and Mike took it easy. We had to stop twice to re-wrap Mike’s ribs. We kept getting the wrap either too tight or too loose. By the time we had found a place suitable to spend the night it was almost three o’clock. I set up everything while the kids took it easy. We didn’t make it too Morrilton but, I think we have had enough for the day. I’m afraid Mike’s going to start coughing up blood any minute. I know he’s in a lot of pain but, he keeps trying to play it down. Were all settled in now and hopefully it’s going to be a quiet night. The temp is dropping fast so I figure we won’t have much undead activity in a few hours once they start freezing up.

Wish I knew for sure our unfriendly visitors earlier were really operating alone. But, of course I can’t be SURE so I’m going to be standing guard all night. As far as I’m concerned NO ONE else is going to have a chance to fuck with my family. I’ve already lost one family and I’m not going to do it again. I put my baseball bat in the truck and got out one of the M4’s that’s equipped with an Aimpoint sight and silencer. I fired a few rounds at the stop sign down the street to check the zero and function. Had to adjust the Aimpoint a little bit but, it wasn’t very far off. Different kinds of tools for different kinds of monsters.

02/23/09

We aren’t going to be going anywhere today. Mike is so sore he can’t get out of bed. He’s pissing blood and is having a very hard time breathing. Alexis isn’t doing much better. Her throat and upper chest is a solid mass of black and blue bruises. Her chest is so bruised it almost looks like she's got a denim shirt on. That’s not counting the smaller injuries they both share like split lips and black eyes. I tears my heart out to look at them in there cuddled up together, beat to hell.

I’ve spent most of the morning looking the area around here over. We’ve got the camper setup in the fenced in back lot of a buy-here pay-here car lot. It was the best I could find yesterday but, now I wish I had looked a little harder. I didn’t intend for us to stay here longer than overnight. The impound lot that were in looks like it was used for repo cars. It’s small you would have a hard time putting thirty cars in here. The fence itself is better than nothing but not by much. It’s just light weight six foot chain link with three strands of barbwire on top. Our activity has already attracted a few undead this morning. I just opened the gate about sixteen inches and clubbed them as they came in one at a time. I’m going to have to really stay on top of the situation until the kids get to feeling better. This fence isn’t going to take a lot of abuse. I’m still keeping the M4 close just encase but, it’s hard to improve upon the baseball bat for taking out undead within arm’s reach quietly.