HOLD
Page 3
Sid and I ended up riding the truck down perimeter streets around the city that weren’t full of cars. I had to slowly plow a few more cars out of the way, but everything went smooth.
Not tearing up the transmission on the truck is still a priority. It was about 12:30pm and rather overcast when the fuel light started blinking on the truck. The best I could do was to drive us into a high school football field. Except for the small portion of a gate that I ran over, the rest of the field was completely fenced in. I let Sid out to relieve himself and run around a bit while I took my hose and gas can up on top of the tanker to siphon some more diesel. I got a mouthful of it again and was choking when I heard Sid yelping out loud. I looked up and saw a sea of those fuckers coming towards us. I admit that I about pissed on myself. It was the most of them I’ve seen at one time so far. I made haste securing the tanker lid, refilling the cab’s tank with what I had and getting Sid back in the truck. The ghouls seemed to come faster as they got closer. I cranked the engine and drove all the way to the other end of the football field where I turned around and paused a moment. The ghouls started coming through the gate I had run over, so I gunned the truck and got a speed of 70 by the time I covered the hundred-yard field. I swear that some of them tore completely apart as I ran over them. One of their heads actually came off and split the uprights of the end zone - 3 points as I remember. I was shocked they didn’t attempt to climb or follow the truck - not that they would have caught me, but they seemed to be acting more like a herd that was stampeded in the direction I had been. I didn’t stop the truck until I reached the huge parking lot of the city’s theme park. The lot is massive, wide open and gives me better vision.
I spent the rest of the afternoon refueling the truck completely.
I tossed those fuel soaked clothes and changed into new ones.
I’m going to leave my shoes on top of the cab tonight so they can air out. I’m thinking about the theme park - it’s quite secure and there’s a loading gate.
DAY - 15
Sid slept just fine - the little shit. I tossed and turned all night. As soon as daybreak came I put on my much better smelling shoes, grabbed the sword and started to walk about the perimeter of the theme park. I left Sid in the truck. I knew he’d yelp loud if I had to come back. It wasn’t long before I found an undead park worker. He was just on the other side of its wrought iron gate. It reached through at me as soon as it saw me. A ring of keys on its belt loop pinged against the gate. I stabbed the fucker right in its head and held it still - with one hand controlling the sword - while I reached and grabbed its ring of keys with my other hand. When I got the keys I just kicked the gate and snagged my sword back out of its head. It fell to the ground and acted like a turtle on its back.
Sid lazily greeted me as I got back to the truck. I drove us to the loading dock, which was just a bigger gate in the wrought iron fencing. Minutes later and I finally found the right key to unlock the gate. I made haste and drove the truck inside and locked the gate back. I figured that with the luck I had in the last fenced in area I had entered, it would be best to drive around the area before walking it. Sid and I drove the entire park, around the rides or nearest their pavilions. Except for a few messes of folks and a few stumbling undead ones, we had the place to ourselves. I decided to park the truck next to the food court area with the big bathrooms. I remembered those bathrooms as being the sturdy brick type with deadbolt locks on the inside - of course I also have the keys.
It was late afternoon before one of the few ghouls in the park had started to come towards Sid and I. We were both full on popcorn that I had made us and a snow cone each I made for us too. The ghoul started stumbling and moaning towards us as we sat at a round picnic table with one of those sun umbrellas that extends from the middle of the table. I probably looked like a slob - full and lazy as I stood and readied my sword. I actually took my time walking toward the ghoul. I was thinking that I needed to focus or I'd mess up like how I did on the bridge. The ghoul then decided to try and climb the back ladder on the tanker. I had to cut its hands off so it fell to the ground. From there I took a golf swing at its head - my first, thirty-degree angled beheading. I couldn’t help but laugh my ass off. I think it speaks volumes about sanity. I’m adapting - surviving as only a human can. I'm still nothing like them. I must be in my right mind.
DAY - 16
Last night’s sleep was a bit interrupted. Sid was actually barking aloud at about five ghouls that were walking around in the food court area. Had they not been trashing everything they touched I would have left them alone and told Sid to shut-up. As my luck goes, though, they were being destructive - they dumped the popcorn machine. That was basically the nail in the coffin. I grabbed the sword jumped out of the truck, and then the others I didn’t see came after me.
They had actually set a trap to which I had to cut my way out of. I was lucky that most of them were slowed with having poor legs. As they came at me with outstretched arms, I cut them off. Next I just circled the picnic tables to split them up - easy pickings. I jumped atop the tables, as they are very sturdy. I then jumped from table to table until I had cut off each of their heads. Final count revealed twelve of them. I’m proud that I still have my quick wit and reaction instead of panicking. Mom would be proud again. I didn’t want to sleep in the cab of the truck after that, so I got out Sid, and we locked ourselves inside the huge bathrooms. I, of course, locked the truck.
Neither Sid nor myself really got up and moving around until around 1pm as it said in the truck. Opening that bathroom door to the unexpected took a bit, but I went directly to the truck as soon as I knew everything was clear. We ate some lunchmeat and had water.
I decided to drag away the bodies from the picnic area. I liked the way the food court looked when clean. The funny part is that I put all of the bodies in the women’s side of the bathroom.
As a trade, I removed all of the toilet paper and paper towels and put them in the men’s side. I still locked the door, just in case those bodies find a way to come back. I still worry about that.
The rest of the day, Sid and I walked the entire theme park. I didn’t see a single other ghoul. As fortune would have it, I found the main breakers to the park and turned them on.
Some of the rides started up per timed operation. Maybe if I get more comfortable with the place we can try some. Also inside the park though, is a water park with a huge wave pool.
It has its own gate and is locked. The Water Park wasn’t open when everything went to hell. There's no one inside. The water looks very clean. Had it not been near dark, I would have checked it out. I'm going to drive the truck up beside it in the morning. We'll see what’s in store, then.
DAY - 17
I grabbed Sid’s lazy ass as soon as I awoke this morning. I definitely wanted him at my side. If there were anything wrong with the Water Park he would sense it for me. About fifteen ke
ys later, I had unlocked the gate to the Water Park.
Sid seemed like a dog on a mission, sniffing out everything and pissing on everything too. I yelled at him for pissing in the kiddy pools. I wasn’t about go in them, but the idea still didn’t sit right with me. We checked the entire area and found nothing - until we checked the bathrooms. We have actually found someone else who is healthy, alive and unaffected. She was almost catatonic and had locked herself in a womensroom. Without the key ring, we may have never found her.
I probably spent an hour talking to her and beaming with hope, yet she wouldn’t say a word. I can imagine why. It wasn’t until Sid approached her and licked her face that she even reacted to us. She immediately began petting Sid and then leaped into my arms. I could only hug her back and listen to her sobbing.
Sid and I managed to spend the rest of the day walking her through the entire theme park and showing her how I had secured it for the time being. She seemed apprehensive in almost every step but still stayed at our sides. I noticed that she was dressed in khaki, Capri pants and the usual red, collared, theme park shirt. Then I saw her nametag. Her name is Beth. After that I began to address her by name.
Beth took to the truck quite well. She hurried inside the cab like it was her sanctuary. I loaded Sid in the cab, locked the water park gate and then got behind the wheel of the truck. I drove us back to the food court. Once back to the food court area, I started to fix her some stuff to eat. Beth pushed me aside and started to get her own food. She knew exactly where everything was, too. I couldn’t believe a petite girl could eat so much. She looks like any number of chicks I would date, but I’d hate to pay for her appetite. She still won’t speak either. All she’s done is offer me a thankful look occasionally or take to scratching Sid behind his ears. She didn’t react well to me talking about sleeping in the truck, though. I'm guessing she has faith in locked bathrooms. It's going to be hard explaining why she can't go to the womensroom.
DAY - 18
A storm ripped through the city before dawn. The thunder awoke us. It worsened our situation in that it knocked out the power. Sid whined, and Beth found me with her hands and then clung to my left arm. After I finally managed to get Sid and Beth into the truck, I drove us to the loading gate, unlocked it once more and left the theme park behind us.
I spent the entire day going down storm-ravaged streets. I mostly stuck to the perimeter of the city. It was getting to be late afternoon when Beth pointed out of the windshield to the same thing I had just noticed - the city’s huge, municipal airport still had power and was all lit-up. I instantly drove us there. Once at the main entrance, we could see that there were hundreds of the ghouls stumbling about in the area. Most of them were near the hubs and terminals; some in the parking areas and the others were lagging about on the runways. I made a quick decision for us to attempt entering the best place in the entire air grounds - the flight tower. It was still lit-up as well, and the ghouls were nowhere near it. I drove us right to the tower’s entrance. Beth grabbed Sid and both got out, I grabbed the sword and made sure the truck was locked up and we all entered the tower lobby without a problem. In the lobby I had only to remove the ID cards from one of a few chewed up workers in the tower. The cards got us into the elevator and up to the main deck. I cut the hell out of the only three undead workers that were in the main deck. We got lucky that they didn’t rush us as soon as the elevator doors opened. I made a mess of those three pretty quick. Beth looked a bit impressed, but she seemed to want to stay more attached to Sid the rest of the evening. I made another trip in the elevator for our lunchmeats and the last of our sodas. No ghouls were even near the truck - an easy task for once.
I tried to communicate a few things to Beth again. I am starting to wonder if she ever did talk in the first place.
Maybe she’s a mute. Still, though, she trusts me and laid her head upon my shoulder as we all three sat in the floor eating. I later laid her sleeping head atop Sid’s sleeping body. Neither of them even budged from their slumber. I have turned my attention to the computers here in the tower. I won’t be sleeping until I find some answers.
DAY - 19
I lasted a few hours on the Internet last night. I still awoke before Sid or Beth and was back on the Internet again. I have found nothing that explains what’s happened. My only hope is that I can find a functional chat room. That would be the only thing that would make sense if people were online now.
The problem is that I never signed up for any of those high priced services with all of the chat room features, and I highly doubt they are registering new users anymore.
When Beth and Sid awoke, we all took a trip down in the elevator. I held the sword ready standing in front of them as the doors opened at the base of the tower. I was expecting a very rude reception. I was thankfully let down. There were only a few ghouls slapping at the tanker. I told Beth to stay back with Sid as I advanced into what I do best. The ghouls turned on me as soon as I got near them. I actually cut two of them across their faces at once. It only stalled them, though. I raced to the back of the tanker to make sure there weren’t anymore coming that I hadn’t seen yet. I saw a mass of them all pounding on the glass entrance doors to the main terminals of the airport. The rest were still very scattered about. Then Beth screamed. One of the ghouls was pacing after her. I quickly downed the other ghouls around me and made haste to reach Beth. Beth was trying to get the elevator doors to open again. I got right up behind the ghoul just as the elevator doors opened. Beth dragged Sid away from the doors, off to the side, and I buried the sword down into the ghoul’s shoulder and torso. The ghoul fell forward into the open elevator on its knees. The elevator doors then shut on my sword and didn’t open up. I snatched the sword from its stuck position. Beth tugged at my shoulder to get back in the truck. I hated to leave behind some of our food, but I obliged her. We loaded up, and I drove us out to the back of the terminal towards the boarding gates. I found an isolated repair shed for tugs and baggage carts. It’s big enough I could park the tanker inside.
It has a roll down door that has us secured quite well. There were no threats inside this repair shed for me to have to deal with - a welcome thing, as I’m noticing how I get easily tired from fighting when eating less. Searching the shed for anything useful, I found a computer still logged on to AOL. I checked for users online and found them all in one main chat room titled, “survivors.” I’m hoping to find answers.
DAY - 20
There’s been one constant guy logged on to the chat room all night. His screen name is GENERALSTAR3. He’s been posting just one thing all night long to everyone who’s logged on wanting to know the truth. This is it… …Nanotechnology was to be the microbiological wave of the future. It was being perfected everyday for the past fifteen years based on microscopic computerbots the size of the smallest c
ells in any animal organism. They had reached animal biostasis and regenerative status as of three weeks ago. Orders were to release them into a controlled, airtight greenhouse of sorts with a slew of fresh kills (in various ways) of cattle. The same experiment has been failing for over a decade leaving only the mass conspiracies of cattle mutilations when the cows are dumped on various farmlands.
This last experiment, though, did not fail. Each mutilated cow was regenerated except for the ones that had severed neuro systems. The brain is still the catalyst for every other function to operate in the rest of the body. The experiment went wrong in terms of simple programming. The nanotechnology are computers but unfortunately stored only with minimalistic information according to actions and routine functions of animals. The nanotechnology simply performed their designed task in repairing brain tissue first and then further throughout the bodies. The fault though, is in the programming memories that defaulted to animalistic instinct - nothing more. The cattle went crazy, turned on each other and eventually broke out of the greenhouse. Every person encountered and killed from the carnivorous cattle was regenerated via further nanotechnology - the transfer is through blood or saliva. The nanotechnology self-reproduce also, thus not allowing an abrupt end to this situation. One’s best defense is to hold up anywhere secure with food and water. We will soon be mounting a military offensive from our base in Groom Lake. God bless….