Fight 4 Us (Book 1): The Beginning

by Grenda, Brian

  Phil and I are making good time. Portions of the highway are open without cars while other sections are blocked down to one lane now. The highway seems to be having more cars going North, which is good as we are going south to Tampa.

  I haven’t seen Phil in over 3 years and can’t remember the last time we had really hung out and caught up on life. Part of him will always be the same good ole boy that I knew since the 4th grade. I do see a new changed Phil that is somewhat cold and distant at times. It could be in part of the divorce and his life experiences of being a police officer. Phil has been a police officer since he graduated from college and has seen a lot of crazy things in North Carolina. I know that Phil loved his ex-wife Amber and his divorce had to be tough on him. Divorce can change your outlook on life and relationships.

  I see Phil is looking out the window with a glaring stare. I turn towards Phil and ask, "So, what's up with the ladies Phil, talking to anyone back home?"

  Phil replies, "Nah man, ladies ain't nothing but trouble. I use to like this chick back before I met my wife, ex-wife Amber, but it didn't work out."

  I’m definitely intrigued of that news and ask, "Who was it? Before Amber? Do I know her? What happened?"

  "She moved away and I haven't seen her for a long time now. I hope she is happy and definitely safe right now," says Phil.

  Phil hasn't had the best luck with the ladies. I have known Phil since elementary school and he is a great guy but has had some terrible luck with woman and relationships. His recent divorce from Amber seems to be tough on him.

  I give Phil a playful shove to his l shoulder and say, "Ain't that the truth. Ladies ain't nothing but trouble."

  For as long as I can remember, Phil wanted to be a cop, have a wife, two kids, and a dog. Life has a way of working out for people and then for almost no reason at all, life decides to kick you right in the nuts. Phil is getting kicked in the nuts right now, but I really hope that he will be happy and can turn it around. Even in this crazy new world, I do believe everything happens for a reason. We just need to find out what that reason is.

  I try to provide encouragement and say, "Everything happens for a reason Phil."

  Phil replies, "I believe that also. I hope my bitch of an ex-wife is finding that out. No, I hope that she finds out Karma is a bitch. Just like her."

  We share a good laugh as I drive down the highway. We pass a sign that says:

  Tampa 25 miles

  I see the sign and become super motivated to get home as quickly as possible. I push down on the gas pedal and whisper to myself, "Almost home Lauren, stay strong."

  Knock, Knock, Knock.

  Someone is frantically knocking at the front door of my house. Followed by several doorbell rings. Lauren is in the master bathroom when she hears the knocks at the door. She freezes for a second as she doesn’t want to run into danger.

  Ring, Ring, Ring.

  That same person is now ringing the doorbell.

  "Help me, Help me. Is anyone home?" cries a woman out on the front porch by the front door.

  The woman continues to scream to get Lauren to open the door.

  "Please help me, I'm injured," the woman cries out.

  Lauren runs to look out the front door glass window, but doesn't open it. She sees the woman at the front door. Lauren sees that the woman has blood on her pants and hands. She is screaming for help as she is lying on the front step now. Lauren hesitates to open the door but decides to open the door and help her. She doesn't want to sit still again if someone needs her help. Lauren opens the front door and attends to the woman lying on the front porch.

  "Are you ok? What happened. Can you walk?" asks Lauren.

  "I can walk, I just got..." says the woman.

  Just as the woman is saying got, two huge men come around the side of the front porch. They grab Lauren and pull her back into the house. The woman gets up from lying on the front porch and follows the men inside my house.

  "What a nice house. All to yourself?" says one of the men.

  "Go check the house. See if anyone else is here, and start loading up some bags," shouts the woman.

  "Please, I don't want any trouble, take what you want," says Lauren.

  “Oh, we are going to take whatever we want. Maybe we'll even take you,” replies the woman.

  The men go through every room of the house and put what they want into bags and pillow cases. They rand sack every room that they can get into but one door is locked. The man tries to breakdown the locked door, but hurts his shoulder in the process. The other man watches him run into the door with his shoulder and laughs. Both men try to knock the door down but are unsuccessful. After a couple tries, the two men give up and grab things in the other bedrooms and kitchen.

  "You know it's the end of the world, right? We are going to party until we die. Take what we want, when we want, and who we want," says the woman.

  The one man keeps staring at the locked bedroom door and is intrigued to why the door is locked. He decides to try one more time to knock the door down. He starts down the end of the hallway and sprints towards the door. He runs right into the door with his right shoulder. The door doesn’t open and the man falls onto the ground.

  The other man runs over to him and says, “Why are you still messing with that door?”

  “I wanna know what’s in there,” says the man as he lies on the ground.

  The man stands up from the floor and rubs his right shoulder. They give up on the door and decide to take some more things from the kitchen. The men are taking a lot of food and alcohol. One of the men finishes packing several bags of supplies. He takes the bags from the house and goes out the front door to put the belongings in their truck. He walks out the front door and turns the corner of the front porch by the garage.

  A large bang is heard as the man vanishes from sight after he turns the corner of the front porch. The other man goes out the front door to check it out.

  Another loud noise is heard. Followed by a scream and then silence.

  The woman inside immediately grabs Lauren. "Kevin. Billy. What the hell was that?" screams the woman as she holds Lauren by her left arm.

  The woman goes outside to see what the noise was all about. As the women exits the front door, she sees Phil and myself walking towards the front door. Phil points his shotgun at the woman. The woman runs back into the house with Lauren. The woman is terrified now and decides to put a knife to Lauren’s neck. As I enter the house through the front door, I find Lauren and the woman standing by the sofa in the living room.

  The woman screams, "Don't try anything else, or she dies."

  "Please don't hurt her," I plead to the woman.

  "We are walking out of this house and to my truck. Little miss blondie here is coming with me. Don't try nothing and she will be fine," demands the woman.

  The woman starts to take Lauren to the front door. She is worried that Phil, or I might make a move towards her, so she puts the knife closer to Lauren's neck. I back away to show that I'm not trying to interfere with the woman.

  I tell Phil, “Lower your shotgun.”

  The woman and Lauren get out the front door and make it to the side of the truck. Phil and I follow them as they run to the passenger side door of the truck.

  The woman is trying to escape in her truck and take Lauren with her. Phil sees that the woman is trying to take Lauren. Phil pumps the shotgun to load a bullet into the chamber and shouts at the woman, “Leave little miss blondie here.”

  Phil has his shotgun pointed at the woman but doesn't fire. The woman and Lauren both freeze at the passenger side of the truck. The woman turns and sees that Phil has his shotgun pointed at her. She immediately grabs Lauren and turns Lauren into a human shield.

  "We are getting out of here in my truck," the woman says as she glares at Phil.

  Phil takes a step towards the woman and Lauren. The woman hesitates for a second. Lauren feels the woman loosen her grip and decides to break free. Lauren stomps on the wom
an’s right foot to free herself from the woman’s hold. The woman lets go of Lauren. As Lauren runs out of the way, the woman drops the knife and tries to pick it up.

  Phil shouts, "Freeze or I’ll blow your freaking head off."

  The woman freezes but has the knife in her hand now. She slowly stands up with the knife in her right hand.

  "I told you to freeze lady," yells Phil.

  "You ain't gonna shoot me boy," shouts the woman.

  Phil replies, "How do you know what I will do?"

  "Because you are a scared little boy who is too chicken shit to do anything," replies the woman.

  That immediately pisses Phil off and makes him pull the shotgun trigger.

  Boom!

  Phil takes the woman down with a single shotgun blast to the head.

  "I've been dealing with people like you my whole life lady," says Phil as he looks at the woman.

  Lauren and I hug and kiss. Phil examines the woman’s body.

  I hug Lauren and ask her, "Are you ok?"

  "I am now!" says Lauren.

  "What do we do with her body?" asks Lauren as Lauren and I are standing over the woman’s body.

  I run in the house and get an old spare bed sheet from the closet. Before we put the woman in a sheet. I check the woman’s pockets and find the truck keys.

  I look at the truck keys in my hand and say, "This truck might come in handy."

  Phil and I wrap her in a sheet and carry her into the backyard. As we come back around from putting the woman’s body in my backyard, I see the two men who were with the woman. The men are currently lying on my driveway unconscious.

  I look at one of the men and say, “What do we do with these two idiots?"

  Phil says, “I have an idea.”

  He runs into the house and into my garage. He comes back out with some silver duct tape and says, "Lets duct tape their wrists and ankles and leave them outside."

  Lauren gets a hose and hoses down the blood marks and mess that the altercation made in the driveway. Phil and I start duct taping the two men’s ankles and wrists together. As we are duct taping the two men and cleaning up the mess in the driveway, we hear a scream come from a neighbor’s house.

  "The scream came from Ray's house," says Lauren as she points across the street at Rays house.

  Phil runs across the street to check it out. Phil stops as he comes across Ray’s police vehicle parked in the driveway.

  I catch up to Phil and say, "Wait, Phil. We can't be just rushing into places. I know you are a cop but the world is a crazy place right now, and we can't afford to just jump in and start helping people."

  Phil is already scanning the house for any people, or where the scream could have come from. I check both of my sides and realize that I don't have a gun on me.

  I tell Phil, "Hold on, let me get my gun from the car. Don't go in, until I get back."

  I go back across the street to my car. Phil sees that the garage door is open, as well as the door inside the garage that goes into the house. Phil doesn't want to wait, so he makes the quick decision and goes into the garage. He goes to the door that leads from the garage into the house but waits to go inside the house. He hears a woman scream from inside the house and decides to make a move inside the house now. I get the shotgun from my trunk and load it with 3 shotgun shells. As I'm loading the shotgun, I see Phil run into the garage.

  I immediately become pissed off at Phil’s decision to enter the house alone.

  I say, "What is he doing? Everyone wants to be a hero!"

  I finish loading the gun and run across the street to go after Phil. I run into the garage and yell, "Phil! Is everything ok?"

  No one answers, but I hear a struggle happening inside the house. I rush into the house to find my neighbor Ray on top of Phil. Ray is choking Phil on the tile floor.

  I run over to them and shout, "Let him go Ray!"

  I pump the shotgun and yell at Ray, "Let him go, or I'll shoot you."

  Ray isn't listening, but I hesitate to shoot him. Phil yells in a muffled voice, "Shoot this asshole Ryan!"

  I run up to Ray and knock him out with the end of the shotgun. Ray falls to the ground releasing his hands around Phil’s neck.

  "I could have died bro," says Phil while gasping for air.

  I go over to Phil and say, "I could not shoot him, he's my friend and someone who can help us. He is a sheriff here in Tampa. He might be able to get us some supplies from the police department. He is worth more to us alive than dead."

  CHAPTER 3

  SUPPLY RUN

  "What is going on over here?" asks Lauren as she runs into Ray's house. Ray’s house is a mess. During the fight between Ray and Phil, the living room table was broken and a lamp got knocked off its end table.

  As Lauren runs into the room, I turn to her and say, "We heard a woman scream, so we checked it out. Phil and Ray got into an altercation but it’s over now. Everyone is safe I think."

  Phil gets up from the ground and looks at Ray. Phil exams Ray and sees that we have problem.

  "Umm Ryan, we have a problem. This guy was bit on his arm." says Phil.

  "The old lady next store bit him. I saw it. Remember I told you over the phone Ryan," says Lauren.

  I reply, “Yeah, didn’t you say it was old lady Martha?”

  Lauren and I search the house as Phil keeps watch on Ray. The house is a nice typical Florida style ranch home. The house is kind of a mess though. Clothes are all over the place. Pictures are knocked down from the wall. Lauren and I walk into Ray and Stephanie’s bedroom. We see the bathroom door is closed. We can hear a woman crying in the bathroom.

  Lauren says, "Stephanie is that you? Are you ok in there?"

  Stephanie stops crying and asks, "Who is it?"

  Lauren replies, "It's Ryan and Lauren from across the street."

  Stephanie comes out and hugs Lauren. Stephanie is obviously shaken and scared. She doesn’t have any marks, wounds, or scratches on her but she is upset about Ray.

  "Are you ok? Was that you screaming before?" asks Lauren.

  Stephanie replies, “It was me. Ray was in the kitchen, he was bleeding on his arm. I asked if he was ok. He started yelling and freaking out. He went to get his gun from his holster. I got scared, screamed and hid in the bathroom."

  "My head is killing me, thanks a lot man," says Ray as he wakes up after being knocked out.

  Phil runs over to Ray and points the shotgun in his face. "Don't move or I’ll blow your freaking head off," shouts Phil.

  I hear Phil yell in the living room and leave Lauren and Stephanie in the master bedroom. I walk over to Phil and Ray in the living room. I feel that Ray is worth more alive than dead, so I go over to Phil and tell him to lower the gun. Phil doesn’t know if Ray is a good guy or not, but I have known Ray for a couple years now and know that he is a good person and might be able to provide some information.

  I say, "Ray, show me you aren't a zombie!"

  Ray laughs and says, “I have been called a lot of things, but never a zombie."

  I help Ray to sit up from the floor and ask, "What is going on out there? Do you know any information? Is there any way to get supplies or anything from the police station?"

  Ray tries to stand but starts to fall back down on the tile floor.

  I catch Ray from falling. Ray is staggering around and needs to sit down.

  “Help me up to the couch and give me a second to have my head stop ringing. I'll tell you everything I know,” says Ray.

  I help Ray to the couch.

  Ray gathers himself and says, "It's pretty messed up all over the place. Really the entire East Coast from Miami to Maine is all fucked up. More and more reports of incidences are popping up everywhere. People die and come back to life as these freaking zombies. Some people are just dying out of the blue, but also, if they bite you, you seem to turn into one of those zombie things in about a day or so. More bites and deeper bites, also seem to speed up the process. You see my arm? Old l
ady Martha bit me about a day or two ago. I'm still fighting, but I can feel that I don't have much longer now."

  I examine Ray’s bite wound. It's a semi deep bite that goes about half way down into some of his forearm muscles.

  I ask Ray, "The world is this messed up in only a couple days? People looting, rioting, turning to zombies in only a couple days?"

  Ray looks at me with a grin and says, “This has been going on for at least a week or two now, but we had to keep it quiet to avoid wide spread panic. We got a weird call to the station about 2 weeks ago, about a guy eating another man's face. We checked it out, and that’s exactly what we found, but the guy was eating the whole body, not just the face. We believe that was the first case we saw about this so-called zombie apocalypse in Tampa Bay.”

  "I don't have much time, but I want you to take Stephanie and myself to the police station. You can get whatever you want, but I want to make sure Stephanie has a weapon to defend herself, and that she has a safe place to stay," says Ray.

  I say, "No problem, let's get going then."

  I gather the group up - Phil, Stephanie, Ray, and Lauren. I decide to load us all up in Ray's police sport utility vehicle (SUV) and head out to the police station. Ray is struggling to hold it together, but he is still with us as I drive to the police station.

  I pull up to the Tampa police station. It looks to be in good shape and protected. The fences around the station are still standing, which is preventing any zombies and people from getting into the station.

  "Drive behind the station to the back, the keycard reader should still be working for employees," says Ray.

  I drive the SUV around the back of the police station and park in an empty parking space. The station is empty except for 3 cars and a couple of covered vehicles that have tarps over them. We get out of the SUV and head into the back door of the police station.