In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak

by Michael Elliott

  He drove to their home and grabbed the things he deemed necessary but when he returned to the hospital he found the place in a state of chaos. There were soldiers and doctors running in all directions. Nurses and patients were running for the doors and there were Zeds almost everywhere. He fought his way to his daughter’s room only to find that it was too late. There were Zeds already in the room and by the condition of his wife and daughter’s bodies they had been there for a while. He pulled the Zed still wearing a hospital gown off of his daughter and smashed it’s head in. Then he killed the one that had its face buried in his wife’s midsection. He said he just wanted to curl up on the floor and cry but he was never given the time for that.

  A Zed wearing a HAZMAT suit appeared in the doorway so Derrick stood up and fought his way past him. He fought his way through the halls and out of the hospital leaving a trail of dead infected behind him.

  From that point on he had moved through the city, staying hidden as best he could, trying to get back to his house. He talked about never getting a moment to rest, never having time to grieve, he was always on alert.

  That was until he came across a young couple trapped in a car that was surrounded by a small pack of zombies. He used the small camping hatchet that he had found in his travels and dispatched every one of them with violent blows to the head. It was from that point on that they decided to stick together. Apparently they had been driving around for hours trying to find a road that wasn’t blocked until they came dangerously close to running out of gas. That was when they stopped at the store’s gas station, it was the first one they came across, and well you know the rest.

  After hearing those stories I was almost afraid to ask if they had any information about what was happening in the city. But I asked anyway. They didn’t know much, but what they did know was more discouraging then anything. They knew that the military had pulled out a few days before and that the city was in ruins. Fires had burnt out hundreds of buildings throughout the city and most of the streets were filled with abandoned vehicles and rubble from collapsed buildings. They said they had still heard gunshots out there in their travels and believed they had seen signs of other survivors, but we were the first people that had reached out to them.

  The other key piece of information that they shared with us would ignite a debate and divide us all. Jacob and Amy had heard from one of the soldiers in their convoy that the Navy was setting up along the Atlantic Coastline. We had heard the same but we didn’t know what they were planning. However, the soldier had shared with Jacob exactly what the plan was and actually told them if they could get there, it was their best bet.

  The Army was protecting a few select ports and the Navy was using small boats and helicopters to transport refugees from the mainland to large ships both military and commercial that were housing survivors. That was where they planned on going. They knew it was a shorter trip then it was to the camps out west and there was something comforting about being out in the ocean far beyond the reach of the Zed virus.

  It sounded promising and that was probably why some of the others like Anne and Adam were so quick to suggest that we join them and all make the trip out east. They saw it as a way out, a way to escape and find some place that would be safe. However, Paul was against it and he had a few very good reasons. He knew it was too risky, there was so much that could go wrong trying to get there and I agreed with him. It was still a long drive to get to the coast and we had no idea what we would encounter along the way. But before the debate became too heated, Paul suggested that we put all discussions on hold until after we showed the new comers around and gave them a chance to relax.

  So we showed them the store and offered them something to eat. My first impression of them, well they seemed trustworthy enough and they didn’t appear like they would cause us any problems or steal from us. They were happy to be safe and I didn’t think that any one of them would do something to jeopardize that. They had been hiding and fighting for days and I think Jacob said it best when he told me that he had done some terrible things along the way to survive. I think at that point they were just happy to put it all behind them for a little while.

  We spent that evening sharing stories of where we came from and how we got here. Ray updated them on almost a weeks worth of news while others explained who we had lost and how it happened. It was the first time in a few days that our entire group sat down together. There was a part of me that actually began to wonder if their arrival would be the thing that would bring us all together again and lift our spirits. We could see how much they appreciated the safety we had and I think it made me fully understand just how lucky we were.

  While on my way up to the roof to take my turn on watch I overheard Anne and Paul arguing. He was trying to explain to her that it was too dangerous to try and drive to the coast and that we were already safe where we were. Anne was angry and I heard her questioning his leadership and referring to him as a coward. I didn’t stop or intervene. I couldn’t be bothered to get in the middle of that. I agreed with Paul and unless someone had some kind of amazing plan that they weren’t sharing with everybody, it was all wasted energy.

  Truth is we had no idea if the Navy was still taking in refugees. We didn’t know which ports they were at, or if they had moved. There was nothing about it on the news so we didn’t even know if what Jacob and Amy had heard was true. Besides, it would be incredibly dangerous just trying to get to the cars and that was if we could find two cars that were spacious enough to transport all of us with all the necessary supplies.

  So I sat up on the roof and took a look around. The news that most of the city was just as bad as what I could see was discouraging. My world had shrunk and had been limited to inside the store and what little of the city I could see from the roof. I guess a small part of me always imagined that it wasn’t all that bad out there. That just beyond what I could see there was a place that had been untouched by the outbreak.

  Discouraged I remember searching for Hal and I found him in his usual place just in front of that store. I was well prepared to spend the rest of the night watching him, but that was interrupted when Derrick came and found me on the roof.

  Cody had told him that I was up there, but more importantly he told him that I had beer and cigarettes. So over a couple of beers we discussed the horrors that he had seen at the hospital, the terrible scene that was the city and how this could have all happened. I felt bad for Derrick. He had been through a lot. He had lost his wife and his daughter and then was forced to fight for his own life for over a week. Yet he seemed to be holding up better then most of us. The way he appreciated that first beer brought a smile to my face. Hell, he had earned it.

  Once he left, I finished my cigarette and said good night to Hal. Trevor came up and replaced me on watch and I went downstairs to find Jacob and Amy had already fallen asleep. The three of them would sleep through the night, which I found incredible. But I am sure they must have been absolutely exhausted.

  That night I would actually manage to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. But all of the excitement and good feelings that came with our newest arrivals wouldn’t last forever. People had found a new hope of sanctuary out east and it would be the subject of much debate. We had new people and new personalities and we were all trapped in an impossible situation. It would all catch up with us again, it was only a matter of time.

  DAY EIGHT

  It had been a full week since I had found myself trapped inside the store. In that time I had grown closer to those who shared this prison with me but after the loss of Bruce and Scott I had realized that it was dangerous to get too close to anyone. I could see the divisions starting to take shape and the tension that seemed to be in the air was growing. Different people had different opinions on what to do next and the lack of sleep and the stress of it all had emotions running at an all time high.

  The three new comers were happy to have joined us, but I had the impression that they were struggling with whet
her or not they could fully trust us. Most of us were irritable and sometimes quick to anger so it only made sense that we came across as being a little off.

  Trust me, I was no different. My mind had been going to strange places, dark places and more and more I seemed to struggle with facing people and forcing conversations. I knew that the alcohol wasn’t helping matters. Trying to numb my mind wasn’t exactly working and only adding to the depression and grief. My head felt cloudy, my body was heavy and my energy was all but gone. I did enough to fit in, to make sure that others felt comfortable around me but that was pretty much it.

  That morning I barely found the energy to get up and start moving. I had a terrible headache and I could tell that I wasn’t in the mood to be around the others. So I told Paul that I would take his turn on watch, just so I could get away from everyone and clear my head.

  Thankfully that was what I chose to do because I would later learn that while I was up there the fighting and arguments of whether we should stay or go were in full swing. Some wanted to try and get to the coast while others felt we were safe where we were. Even those who wanted to leave were fighting over which direction we should go. A select few felt that heading west was a far better idea because there were areas that hadn’t been fully hit by the outbreak yet. Heading east was heading into the heart of it and chances were that it would be extremely dangerous.

  Me, I was against leaving all together. I agreed with Paul and why not because him and I seemed to see the situation pretty much the same way. In a way we had almost become friends. But that wasn’t why I thought staying was our best option. We had food and water. We had safety and if we were smart about it I knew we could hold out in the store for a really long time. But that morning I didn’t share my opinion with anybody. I just sat up on the roof enjoying some air and watching Hal.

  He hadn’t moved very far but that morning it looked like he had found something that had drawn his attention. He had started banging his fists on the wooden boards that barricaded the front door of that same corner store he had been roaming around the front of. Funny thing was that he was the only one doing it. I found that surprising because usually when I saw a Zed go after a door or start chasing something others followed. But Hal was alone at the door like he knew something that the others didn’t.

  I couldn’t see any signs that the building was occupied. The door and all of the windows were boarded up. But the way he was acting had me thinking maybe someone was in there, I mean there had to be a reason why Hal was working so furiously at getting through that door. But what I couldn’t understand is why he was the only one or why none of the other Zeds had followed his lead.

  That was when I became conflicted about the whole situation. If someone was possibly in there I started asking myself if I should do something about it. The hunting rifle was still up there, all I would have to do is pick it up and take the shot. If someone was in there I could at least stop Hal from drawing attention to the doorway or even breaking down the wooden boards. Thing is, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Maybe it was because I doubted that I could even make the shot if I tried, but I could have easily told Paul about it and he would have taken care of him. What it really came down to was that I didn’t want to stop Hal. There was just something about him and I was curious to see where it was going.

  By the time my turn on watch came to an end I was at least feeling a little bit better about the idea of having to be around the others. I chose to go and visit Ray first because I never felt like I needed to force small talk with Ray. We always had plenty to discuss, besides I had started to worry about him. He had watched the news far too much in my opinion and from the looks of things it was starting to take its toll on him. The footage was usually brutal, the news was seldom good and it seemed like it was progressively getting worse. Spending as much time as he did following the constant flow of information must have made the situation feel utterly hopeless.

  So I sat with him and tried to get a conversation going. I tried to pull him away a little because I knew that we needed him. I knew that I needed him. Ray had been a voice of reason through all of this and I knew what was coming as we made our decision to leave or stay. I knew we would need his mind, his voice of reason. If Ray didn’t snap out of the funk that he was in, I was worried we would loose that voice.

  My attempts to get him to focus on anything but what was on television had failed. He was busy watching what had happened in Texas that morning and it didn’t take me long to get sucked in with him. The entire state appeared to be one giant battleground. The virus had struck in several of the major cities and in the southern part of the state a new threat was emerging along the border with Mexico.

  Waves of Mexican citizens were fleeing the country and seeking refuge in America. The Mexican military had been unable to contain the outbreak just like most countries in the world. So thousands of people raced to the U.S. in hopes that things were better here. They weren’t. But that didn’t stop them from arriving at the borders in Texas, Arizona and California in huge numbers. Those states just didn’t have the resources to handle it.

  Finding them shelter and food weren’t the only issues that they needed to deal with however. In every group that arrived at the border their were infected hidden in the crowd. In some instances they even tied up family member that had turned and brought them with them. Maybe they thought we had a cure here. But what they didn’t bring with them followed them. Large groups of Zeds sometimes dozens deep would follow the refugees to the border and what followed was usually a massacre.

  The National Guard, Army and armed volunteers had tried to help as many as they could early on, but now they were trying to turn them all away. They didn’t have the manpower or the supplies to help them. They were having a hard time weeding out the infected from the large crowds and it was just easier to not let anybody in. Sometimes a refugee would try and shoot his way past the guards along the border. They were just trying to save their families because they thought it was safe on our side of the border. It didn’t matter because the end result was always the same.

  That was what was happening in the south that morning, but in the north it seemed to be the exact opposite. Canada and the United States had mutually blocked all border crossing thinking that they could prevent the spread of the outbreak. But reports were coming out that American’s were rushing into Canada after hearing rumors that the country had only seem limited outbreaks of the virus. People seemed to buy into the thought that with such a large landmass and a smaller population that Canada could offer plenty of places to hide from the virus. Truth is Canada had been hit just as hard as us and it was no safer then anywhere here.

  Even with the borders blocked and barricaded, the largest undefended border in the world was wide open to refugees and the Zeds that followed them. It wasn’t just Americans running to Canada in search of safety. Their citizens were sneaking into our country and putting their faith in a stronger American military to protect them. People ran to their neighbors searching for safety and they were bringing the outbreak with them.

  Ray and I just watched it all happen on the news and I couldn’t help but wonder how I ended up where I did. I had no idea why I waited as long as I did to try and get out of town or find some place safe. If only I had left a few days earlier I would have made it to my parents cottage in Northern Michigan far away from all of this. For all I knew that part of the country could have been untouched by this catastrophe.

  Unlike Ray, I needed a break from watching the news. It was difficult to process everything that was going on and how the world was on the verge of falling apart. Once they started showing the cruise missile and air strikes that were taking place in several areas I got up and left. I needed a break from the carnage and instead chose to go back up to the roof and check on Hal.

  When I got up there I found Derrick, Jacob and Amy along with Cody. He was showing them all the work we had done and was going over the plan we had come up if something were to
go terribly wrong. I joined them and pointed out the obstacles that stood in our way of leaving and the challenges that we would face if we tried. I told them about those first days and that woman and child. To my surprise they didn’t seemed shocked by it or surprised. I guess nothing was shocking anymore and everyone had a story to tell.

  I did ask them about my condo and if they had seen my neighborhood in their travels. They hadn’t. I took notice of the world around me and how it had changed. That was the first time I had noticed how quiet it had become. The sound of gunshots and cars had given way to the sound of the horde below. The air had a faint smell of death too it and black smoke still filled the air. With that I realized that staying was our only choice. I didn’t tell Cody or the others about the conclusion I had drawn, I just hoped that they would eventually realize that leaving was impossible just like I had.

  While we were standing up there Cody came up with the idea to do something special to celebrate the arrival of the newest members of our group. He wanted to have a barbeque on the roof and even though I thought it was a stupid idea at the time, it really did seem to bring everyone together. I mean as he went around and told everyone about his plan, people seemed to get generally excited about the whole thing. So we gathered a wide variety of frozen meats from the storage freezer and assorted canned vegetables and snack foods and decided to throw a party. We grabbed beer and wine from the caged area in the back. Hell, it even pulled Ray away from the news for a while. He picked out a nice bottle of bourbon and told me that I needed to have a drink with him.