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We can talk a little easier on those. To Amy and Ray, too. We have to be careful, until we know if anyone is going to get this under control.” Both Matt, and Mary thought about what he was saying. They all knew that this was the end of the world the way they knew it. Mary said, “ Jess. We have to pack our supplies and get to Ray and Amy's.”He replied, “As soon as it is safe, we are out of here. Okay?” She argued, “ It's safe, now! If we wait. It will be to dangerous.” Jessie said, “Not if the government has moved into our area. If they are moving around here. We have to figure out a way to wait them out, or get around them. I need to inventory, load up the trailer, and scout the neighborhood first. When I know where those things are, and map out where government is not, then we leave.”
Mat cut in, “ I might know a way ...” Jessie and Mary ignored him. Mary said, “ Jess, we can't stall on this. We need to get to my sisters' house. Ray is more set up for this.” Jessie replied,” Okay. So what if we get ambushed on the way, because we go down the wrong road, at the wrong time?”
Matt said a little louder, “I might know a way.” They both turned to him. Jessie asked, “ How?” Matt asked, “Where do you want to go?” Mary and Jessie turned to look at each other, then back at Matt.
Mary said, “ East, past the Mall. What do you know, Matt?” He answered, “Well. My friends and I, we go out behind some of the old factories on out dirt bikes. Just, sometimes. Anyway, some of the old roads are still used. Mostly, by some of the people who want to meet up on the weekends. We cut through when we want to go out to the lake, too.” Jessie said, “ We should stay away from the lake. If the water is turned off, people..... good and bad, will flock there.” Matt said, “ We could take Jack-knife Road. It will take us either way.” Jessie asked, “Will you take me there?” He hesitated, then said,
“ Sure. If I don't have to get out of the car. And, you have to promise, if we see those things, we turn around.” Jessie asked, “ Deal... Do you know how to shoot?” Matt said, “ Not really. Will you teach me?” Jessie said, “ Yes. I will.” They finished up on their dinner. Mary and Jessie took Matt into his new bedroom. Mary brought him in clean sheets and pillow cases. She said, “These are yours.” Jessie said, “ I'll go get your stuff.” He walked out of the room and a few minutes later came back carrying the two plastic bags that held Matts' things. Jessie said, “ I know that this is not all of your things. But, I grabbed what I could. I hope I didn't leave anything that you wanted.” He placed the bags onto the floor. Matt said, “ Thanks.” He looked sad. He picked up the bags, and started to take his things out. When he saw the pajama bottoms, he smiled. “Can I take a shower?” Mary said, “You don't have to ask. If you want to take a shower, just go on ahead.” He said, “ Thanks, Mary.”
She watched him take his clothes and go out of the room. She made his bed up and sat down on the end of the bed. She looked at the half open garbage bag laying on the floor. She could see the corner of a frame sticking out from inside. She picked it up and looked at it. It was a picture of Matt, his Mother, his Sister, and his Dad. They were outside at some kind of celebration. They looked like a close family. Her heart ached for Matt. A sixteen year old, who had just lost his whole family. She remembered how lost herself and Amy were when their parents died. They had each other. She suddenly started to worry about Amy. She had been bitten. She prayed that Amy would not end up like Matts' family. She placed the picture back into the bag. She sat there, contemplating what she could do to help Amy, and Matt. She didn't want to think about everything that she had seen earlier that day. She kept feeling a terrible sense of dread. Still in deep thought, she didn't realize that Matt had come into the room with pajamas on. Mary stood up. She said, “I am sorry. I made your bed. This is your room. If you want to watch T.V., or get online. Do whatever you like.”
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He said, “ Thank you, Mary.” She said, “You are welcome, Matt.” she continued, “Good night.” Then, she left the room, closing the door. She whispered, “He looks so sad.” As soon as she sat down in front of Jessie, she blurted out, “ What happened at Matt's house?” He took in a deep breath. “He is right. They are dead. It's like a real life zombie movie. Only, it's real. We have to get out of here, but we have to be careful how we do it. I need to load up the trailer. But, it might be better to use Dad's old RV. I need a few days to make sure it's up to a trip. He told me that one day I might want to use it. I didn't realize just how right that he was.” He looked down at the floor. Then, a look of distress and fear came over him. Mary sat there, just staring at him with a blank expression on her face. She didn't know what to say. She thought about Amy. She was worried about her sister. “Jessie, we can't stay here past tomorrow. I have to get to Amy.” He continued, “ Okay. Tomorrow, Matt and I are going to his spot. Hopefully, we can figure a way to sneak out of here. Once we get to Rays, we can get a better plan going. We have to think about the collapse that Ray talks about. It's here. Just, not the way anyone could imagine. Even if government get's control of this, and fixes it...things are not the same.” Her face changed from that blank look.“ Do you really think that the government will try to fix this? After what they did down the street?” He said, “ Well, with their version of fixing things, by the way that government handles everything, they will only make things worse. That is, if they didn't cause this. We have to be prepared for the worst. When we start on the way to Ray and Amy's, we cannot freeze up. No matter what we see.” Mary looked like she wanted to cry. She just looked around. Her mind was lost. He grabbed her, pulled over to him and held her tight. “We are going to get through this. Okay?” She still had her face buried in his chest. She said, “ Yes.” Later on, in the middle of the night, Jessie woke up. He was nervous about he and Matt planned venture in the morning. He tossed and turned for a while. He got out of bed, and walked through the house. He looked through a window. He saw someone standing in the middle of the street. It was one of the dead. He peeked through the blinds. He watched as the living dead man stood motionless, until he saw a cat run across the street. He then, mindlessly, staggered after it. Chills ran up and down Jessie's spine. He was so spooked and entranced by what he saw that, he didn't hear Matt come out of his room. His voice softly carried through the room. “ Is he still there? I have been watching him for a while. He keeps walking around in circles. Then, every time he see's something move, he follows it. Then, wanders back into the street.” Jessie turned around and slapped his hand over his chest. He blurted out “Man! I didn't know that you were there. You should be sleeping. We need to leave early in the morning.”
Matt said, “ I could not sleep. Then, when I saw him ….”
Okay. I feel ya.” said Jessie. They both stood there, peeking through the blind. The living dead man turned towards the corner. Then, he wandered in the direction he had focused on. After a minute, he was out of sight. They both, let out a sigh of relief. Without looking at him, Jessie said, “Matt. I am sorry about your family. They were great people.” Matt said, “I know, Jess. Thanks for helping me. I didn't know where else to go.” Jessie said, “ Anytime, Bro. I'm glad you came here.” Matt continued, “I should show you something. Come on.” He turned around, and walked to his room. Jessie followed him. As they entered the room, Jessie could see the computer. More importantly, he could see what was frozen on the screen. It looked like a blurry picture of a group of crazy people. The group was attacking and eating someone. As Matt sat down onto the bed, he moved the arrow on the screen.
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He clicked on play. He and Jessie watched, as a mob of living dead ate a person that they had attacked. The video had been uploaded on a social media site. In the video, which was shot in Pakistan, police attempted to stop the attack. They were attacked, as well. When they could not subdue them, they ran away. Some started shooting. They shot the attackers in the head, that is what stopped them. Neither, Jessie, nor Matt said anything while the video was playing. Then, Matt said, “ Watch.” He moved
the arrow to another link. He clicked on the link, and another video popped up. He clicked on play. This one showed what one woman did to her infant after turning. It was posted by an off duty EMT. He stated, “ My name is Robert Ramirez. I am one of the emergency personnel that responded to the call on this attack. My partner, Margie, was bitten by one of these things. She turned into one of them! She died, man!” His eyes teared up, and his voice cracked. He paused for a moment to compose himself. “We were all ordered to keep this on the low down. Well, the hell with them! They die and then come back! I swear! It's true. They will bite you and then you die, too. Then, you wake up as one of them! Don't listen to mainstream media. They are lying to the public. Get out to the country, before the military closes off your area. I thought about sneaking away, and not telling anyone. Can't do that. They threatened all of us with arrest if we talked to anyone. I say that, I have to show you all what is going on. Hell! There are hardly no cops left to arrest me, even if it was legal. They all got bit! I just want people to know. If you want to see more on this, a free lance journalist named, Rose Fox, has picked some info up on this. She has a channel on here, too. I don't know if I'll make it out of the city. My Mom is sick. I'll post every few days to update you all out there on how this thing progresses. Be safe. And remember, don't let them bite you. If they do, you'll have anywhere between a day, and a week to live. Peace out....” the video ended. Jessie asked, “ Who is Rose Fox? Do you know anything about her channel?” Matt said, “I have heard of her. Let's see what she has posted.” Matt moved the arrow to the search bar. He typed in Rose Fox. Several pages of video links came up. The two sat there in silence, and watched her speak. Finally, Jessie whispered, “Hey. Stop the video.” Matt did. Jessie turned around and watched the door. A minute later, Mary knocked. Her voice carried through the door. “Jess. Are you in there with Matt?” He answered, “ Yeah. Matt is talking to me about something.” Matt minimized the page. She opened the door a few inches and poked her head part of the way in. “It's the middle of the night. Is everything okay?” Matt cut in, “ I just wanted to talk to Jess about everything. You know? That is going on.” A look of compassion came over her face. She said, “ I am sorry, Matt. Didn't mean to barge in. Go ahead and talk. I am going back to bed. Just, promise me that, you two will not go outside.” Jessie said, “ No, Babe. We are just talking.” Matt said, “ Uh...not!” Mary said, “Okay. Good night.” Matt said, “ Good night, Mary.” After she closed the door, Jessie whispered, “ Wait. Give her a few minutes to get back to bed.” Matt said, “We have to show her. Do you want her to walk outside, and get mauled? Jess, I saw it happen. After I ran away from my Dad. I walked to the police station. The doors were locked, so I started to walk back this way. They were everywhere. Mostly, they came out of alleys and from behind some buildings. Then I saw some of them go after a lady and her kid. They got both of them. I tried to warn her from where I was. But, she didn't understand me. I was too far away from her. When I knew they were coming close, I started to run towards her to help, but more of them came. They just surrounded her. before I could get close, I could hear her and the little boy screaming. There were so many of those things on top them I could not see them anymore.” Jessie watched Matt's face turn white. He saw goosebumps, and the hair raise up on his forearms.
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Matt continued, “Then, a couple of them saw me. When I saw them come my way, I ran away. I ran, til I could not run anymore. When I stopped, I barfed all over the grass. I walked around for the whole day. I don't even know how long I walked around. Then, I came to the corner, and saw your truck in the driveway. That is when I came to your door. I didn't know what else to do.” Jessie said, “ You are safe, now. You are coming with us to Mary's sisters' house. Okay? We will figure this out. These video's may teach us how to deal with the dead.” He turned his eyes back to the computer. Matt was shell shocked when he heard them called “the dead”. He knew that they were dead, but to actually hear it being said, sent chills up and down his spine. Jessie said, “ Let's see what else is listed on this page.” They watched video's for another an hour. Matt said, “They move slow.” Jessie said, “ If we wear protective covering, it won't stop any pain from being bitten, but it will give us some protection from the skin being broken and the infection that ensues. I need to find a way to cover our bodies. Just in case.” Matt said, “ We can wear leather when we have to go outside for anything. Maybe, we could sneak into one of the hardware stores, and take what we need?” Jessie said, “ I don't know if looting is the answer, Matt.” Matt said, “ Jessie, I saw the owner of the hardware store, he turned. I don't think the clerks are going to show up for work, anymore.” Jessie thought about what he was saying. If this was truly the end, they would have no choice, but to use any means necessary to get what they needed. He knew that they had to do anything necessary to survive. He said, “Okay. We have to get to sleep. We have about two hours to get some rest. We can talk about it tomorrow, if it looks safe, we go in. If not, we'll find another way to get what we need.” Matt felt more at ease, now. He knew that Jessie believed him, and that, he was seeing how serious this all was. Jessie stood up. He said, “ Good night, Kid. I'll see you in the morning.” Matt said, “Night, Jess.” Jessie left the room. Matt lay down, but could not sleep. He dreamed of his Mom telling him that, he would be safe an the orchard. He woke up to the smell of coffee, and bacon frying. He sat up, looked at the clock. It was seven o'clock. He lay back down. Immediately, he felt nervous. He knew that he and Jessie had a hard day ahead. He rolled out of bed, stood up, and put his clothes on. When he walked into the kitchen, he saw Mary standing at the stove. She turned around, and said, “ Hey. Good morning, Matt. Sit down, and eat some bacon and eggs.” He sat down. He replied, “Morning, Mary. Where's Jess?” She replied, “He is out in the garage. He is trying to get his Dad's RV running before you two go out.” She piled some bacon, eggs, and toast on a plate, and sat it down in front of him. She poured him a glass of orange juice, and placed it in front of his plate. He gobbled the food down. She watched him eat. The poor kid; she thought. Jessie came into the kitchen. He and Mary kissed. “ Did you get it going?” she asked. Jessie said, “ Well, I changed out a couple of hoses, and the fluids. Today, will be the test.” He grabbed a plate of food, sat down, and started to eat. He asked, “Are you ready to go, Matt? Want some more food, before we leave?”
Matt said, “No, thanks. I just ate enough for two people. It was good, Mary. Thanks” Mary said, “ You are welcome!” Matt addressed Jessie, “ I am just waiting for you.?” They headed out, after Jessie finished his breakfast. As they started the RV, Jessie told Matt, “ Now, if we run into trouble, we are coming right back. If the RV conks out, we have a couple of bikes in the back. We grab them and get as far as we can on the bikes.” Matt asked, “ What if we can't get back on the bikes? What if a mob of the dead come at us?” Jessie said, “ We run, and find a car.” Matt repeated, “A car?” Jessie said, “ Yes. I have been thinking about what you suggested last night.
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If it's as bad as I think it may be out here today, we'll have no choice but to take what we need, as long as it's abandoned.” Matt shook his head, in approval. They started their drive. As Jessie drove the RV through the neighborhood, they both looked for people. They saw one family packing up their car. It looked like, they were in a panic. Matt said, “ I hope they make it.” Jessie said, “ Me too, Matt. Point the way, Kid.” Matt said, “Keep going. Until, you get to the old field near the Mall. We are going to take the old frontage road that leads behind it. Where we will turn in, it's kind of over run with weeds and trees, but it can still be driven on.” Jessie kept driving. They turned down a street that ran along side a frontage road. The frontage road veered off to the right. Matt pointed in the direction of the turn off. He said, “There. You have to turn there, into the field. Where the road curves.” Jessie turned onto the curve. Then, into the field. Now, he saw the old roadway. He followed the old road. It looke
d like it had not been used in a long time. The blacktop had cracks in it. Grass had grown through the cracks. The once wide shoulders, had such high grass growing along both sides that it curved over six feet towards the middle of the old road. It was missing in patches. Where the tall grass was missing, they both could see a large field and then the old Mall. Jessie followed the old road way around to the side of the mall. He slowed down and looked around. He said, “ I have a bad feeling. Is anyone else out here?” Matt answered, “Some of my friends hang out here. But, you have to go around to the other side to get on the highway that leads out of town.” Jessie carefully scanned the old mall and the parking lot. He started to drive. He made it around the big building. On the other side of the mall was another parking lot. He came to an abrupt stop, when he saw several zombies staggering in their direction.
Matt yelled, “ Drive around them! They move slow. Don't stop! They will walk right into us. Don't stop! I saw them do this by the park. ” He turned to look at Jessie, who was staring at the zombies. It looked like, he was in shock. Some of them looked half eaten. They were bloody. Some of them had bite marks visible on their faces and arms. His eyes were fixated on one of them. It was a child. A little girl. She could not have been more than six, or seven years old. She was wearing a pink, princess-themed night gown. Her feet were bare. Bite marks covered her arms and legs. Her long brown hair was knotted and tangled. She followed the others with her dead eyes. Jessie, thought about he and Mary's baby. Just then, Matt hit Jessie on his arm. Jessie, suddenly jolted out of his trance. He heard Matt yelling, “Come on! Let's go! They are getting closer! Drive around them!” Jessie turned to look at Matt. He turned his attention back to the coming mob. He stepped on the gas pedal. The RV jerked forward. As they started to pass the mob of zombies, he swerved around them. They all turned and walked towards the vehicle as it sped by them, reaching towards Matt and Jessie as they snarled and growled. Jessie sped along the old service road that led away from the mall. Soon, they came to a highway. Matt said, “ Do you know where you are, now?” Jessie said, “ Yes. We can get out okay. That is, if the highway is clear down by the camp grounds.” They headed down the highway. When they came past the camping area, they saw a large mob of zombies wandering around. They were scattered. Some, were walking around the camping area. Some, were staggering around the highway. Some of them, were on their knees eating the dead bodies of their victims that, could not escape them. Jessie stopped the truck. Both he, and Matt watched in horror, as the zombies still eating were oblivious to them. The other Living Dead, all turned their attentions towards the RV. The horde of dead started to stagger towards them. There were at least a hundred of them.
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