by Rob Fox
We ran as fast as we could back to the hotel. The gunshot was loud enough to attract a lot of attention. By the time we reached the hotel, we could see dozens of the undead making their way towards us. We immediately jumped into the fire truck and sped down the road, leaving this town long behind us.
We have decided to sleep in the truck tonight. We are parked directly on the interstate with a group of other cars. I think we will be safe for the night. We fit in pretty well here, so we shouldn't attract any attention. No one wants to talk about what happened to our friend. We just sat in silence, each remembering him in our own way.
Day 50
We awoke with the sun today, though I don't think anyone slept very well last night. I know I woke up quite a few times in the night, hearing the sounds of the living dead right outside the truck. I would hear a moan or a bang on the side of the truck, then silence. If anyone else was awake, they never said anything.
When we got up this morning, I decided to take over the driving duties. Normally, driving for long distances is pretty easy, but when you have to swerve around cars and avoid large groups of zombies standing in the road, driving becomes hard work. I believe today we should be back at my work exit. If we get there in enough time, maybe we can stop there for the night.
While driving, I was surprised to see a car quickly coming up behind us. The car flew around cars as if they weren't there. It was moving so fast that within seconds of me noticing it, it was already on our bumper. The driver began honking the horn and flashing his lights at us. I decided to pull over and let him pass. As I slowed down and pulled over, the driver passed us. While he passed, he held out his left hand and flipped us off! I was prepared to let it go, but Cole yelled out the window, “Go fuck yourself!" to the driver. When the car pulled in front of us, the driver slammed on the brakes, causing us to have to lock down the brakes in order to keep from hitting him.
After waiting for about a minute, both the driver’s side and the passenger’s side doors opened. Two men stepped out of the car. The driver was about my size, wearing a Gators football hat and a shirt that read, "Shiki is the new Black" (whatever that means). A big guy wearing a t-shirt that said, “I Wanna Party With You” stepped out of the passenger’s side, carrying a shotgun over his shoulder.
The driver began screaming at us for being bad drivers and said something about watching our mouths. Tonya, Cole, and I all got out of the truck, each of us carrying a gun. Both of the men came over to where I was standing and just stared at me for a minute. The big guy with the "I Wanna Party With You" shirt looked around, but his eyes landed on Tonya. He walked over to her slowly, like a drunk guy in a bar walking up to a really hot girl that he has no chance with.
I asked the driver what his problem was and why he was in such a hurry. The driver just continued to yell at me for going too slow. As he screamed louder and louder, I glanced over in Tonya's direction to see what was happening on her end. The passenger was leaning over her, trying to press his body against hers. Before I could say anything, Tonya pulled her gun out and pressed the barrel into the big guy’s nose. At that exact moment, the driver pulled a pistol out and pointed it directly at me. Cole, who was standing back at the truck, grabbed his own gun and pointed it at both of the men, moving between the two back and forth, unsure who he should aim at.
There we stood, guns pointed at each other, ready to shoot without hesitation, when out of the woods beside us came a group of zombies. Without thinking, we all turned our guns on them. They quickly moved in our direction. As the first one's foot hit the pavement, the driver began shooting. We continued to shoot until they were all gone. As the last one hit the ground, all guns went back to their original location, pointed at each other. The driver began to laugh, and pretty soon, we were all laughing. We had just played out a scene that could be in a movie. The driver lowered his gun and held out his hand to shake mine. He introduced himself as Dustin and then introduced his passenger as Roger. They were heading to the city to "take advantage of the luxuries it had to offer." They had been driving for hours and wanted to be downtown by nightfall.
Roger told us he was from Mexico and had met Dustin in Florida just before the uprising had begun. They were both on vacation and at the same hotel when everything happened. Dustin said he and his wife were visiting some friends when it all went down. He woke up one night to find his wife missing; all her things were where she had left them, but she was gone. Roger located her body in another hotel room. From then on, they decided to stay close and help each other.
We told them we were making our way into the city and asked if they wanted to join us. After a few minutes of them talking and debating, they agreed to follow us, just to the city.
Tonya didn't trust either of them, especially Roger. She said he gave her a very strange feeling. To tell the truth, he gave me the same feeling. If it wasn't for my desire to keep as many people around me as possible, I would have wished them luck and waved them goodbye.
I hope I haven't made a bad decision.
Day 51
Back where I started.
Fifty-one days ago, I was sitting in the same room I am now. So much has happened in fifty-one days. This place looks and smells strange.
When we got here late last night, there were no zombies to be seen. We made our way inside and blocked the front door with two desks. With no one (or nothing) getting in or out, we searched the entire building for any of the undead. As I walked toward the break room, I passed the room where I put a fishbowl through my manager’s head; her body was still laying in the same place I left it. After fifty-one days, the smells coming from that office were overwhelming. I closed the door and moved on. In the break room, I gathered a little bit of food that was still good and a few cans of Coke. We all met back in the "secure" area where I first began this journal. The room was trashed beyond belief. My desk was flipped over, and the computer lay on the floor with the monitor smashed in. All the files I spent weeks filing were spread across the floor. There was a fair amount of dried blood on the walls and floor. It looks like someone has been in here since I left. If they were, though, they are gone now.
Feeling safe, we all took a seat to rest and formulate a plan. I made my way to my nice pleather chair that I had at one time complained about because the wheels squeaked too much. It's kind of funny how minuscule that problem seems now compared to everything else going on. I remember being so angry that Amanda refused to do anything about it. Now, though, it feels like the most comfortable thing I have ever sat in. Tonya and Cole flipped my desk back over and sat on it, while Roger and Dustin both found chairs of their own to sit on.
I handed everyone a Coke and a small snack-sized bag of chips. I told my story of how it began and how I ended up here with Tonya and Cole. Dustin smiled and shook his head at the "adventures" (as he liked to call them) I’d had. After I had told my story, Tonya and Cole both told theirs. Again, Dustin seemed very interested and even sad at times about the whole ordeal. Roger seemed bored and uninterested in anything any of us had to say. Once all the stories had been told, we were all very sleepy and decided to try and get some rest before we headed out. Our original plan was to have one person stay up as a watch for the rest of us, but we all ended up falling asleep around the same time.
Sometime around four or five a.m., I awoke to see Roger standing over Tonya. He was staring at her, watching her sleep. I could hear him whispering something to himself as he looked at her. His whispering got louder, and it sounded as if he were angry with her. I quickly sat up and asked him what the hell he was doing. Startled, he spun around and looked directly at me. His eyes were opened wide, and he was sweating profusely. He yelled at me to mind my own fucking business and then stomped off to the far corner of the room. His yelling woke up the entire room. Tonya looked freaked out, Cole looked confused, and Dustin looked pissed off. Roger refused to talk to anyone and has not moved from the corner all morning. Needless to say, no one slept after that.
We are going to approach Roger in a few minutes, just to see what was going on. Dustin thinks it was just a misunderstanding, Tonya, Cole, and I do not. Misunderstanding or not, I will not allow anyone to make the ones I care about feel uncomfortable. I have a very bad feeling about this guy and do not look forward to what lies ahead for us today.
Day 52
We approached Roger yesterday evening about his actions the night before. He denied doing anything wrong and even said he had a problem with sleepwalking. What could we say to that? The subject was dropped after a few threats were issued, and he said he completely understood our concerns. I still don't trust him, though. I am going to watch him very closely.
So we packed up everything we had and left my old job location. Once we were loaded up, we headed down the path towards my home.
Nothing exciting has been going on today, other than driving very, very slowly. Every couple of miles, we have to pull over on the side of the road to get around the abandoned cars or to siphon gas out of them. The closer we get to the city, the harder it is to drive. I am sure it is only a matter of a few hours before we will have to walk. I am dreading this more than anything else right now. At least we are somewhat safe in our little tank of a vehicle, for now. When we get out to walk, I am not going to be much help if things get bad because of the stitches in my hand and arm. Then there is the whole Roger issue. I have to watch out for the zombies and now this crazy guy. I just hope I can protect everyone.
We are stopping for more gas and to discuss our route. It is very eerie how quiet it has gotten: no sounds of cars or airplanes, no sounds of children playing, no sounds of equipment at construction sites; even the birds are silent. The sky has been a light gray color the past few days, though it hasn't rained in weeks. I am not sure what is going on with the world around us, but whatever it is, it can't be good.
Day 53
Yesterday, we decided to stop at a hotel right before we went on into the city. We had abandoned the vehicles about two hours after I had posted the last journal, so we were exhausted by the time we got to the hotel. We decided to stay in the same room again, though I wasn't very happy with that decision because of the Roger situation. In the end, we decided it was safer to stay together. Safer for whom, I am still trying to figure that out.
Once we were settled in the room, we decided to have a look around the hotel, just to make sure there were no zombies running around. We made our way into the lobby, where there was the nicely rotting corpse of a little old lady behind the counter. She looked to be in her seventies, though because of the rotting of her flesh, it was hard to tell for sure. She sat on a tall wooden chair, her head pointing down to the ground, as if she were looking at her feet. Tonya went in for a closer look. As she approached, she yelled out to us, "Hey, her name is Melba. Isn't that so sweet?" Just as the word sweet passed over her lips, Melba sat straight up in the chair, looked directly at Tonya, then lunged for her. When she was just inches from making contact with Tonya's neck, Cole slammed a chair over Melba's head. Once she was on the ground, he took a piece of the now broken chair and drove it through her eye socket. We all could do nothing but laugh. We laughed! What the hell is wrong with us?
After the lobby area, we all wanted nothing more than to check out the bar. Once we got there, there were hundreds of bottles of alcohol. Anything and everything we could imagine was behind that bar. We proceeded to try everything. I don't have many details about what happened after that, because I don't remember. All I remember is shots of Jagermeister and Dustin getting naked...
When we woke up this morning, Roger and Tonya were gone.
We are leaving right now to go find her. I swear to God, if he has hurt one hair on her body, I will chop him into tiny pieces. We are all just hoping they got drunk and passed out somewhere.
Either way, I am never drinking again.
Day 54
Tonya and Roger are nowhere to be found. We have gone room to room, searching the entire area, but have found nothing. Dustin thinks they have been eaten or turned, but the rest of us think otherwise. We are going to continue to look everywhere in this town that we can. I am determined to find them both, dead, alive, or living dead. I have to know what happened to them. There have not been many zombies in this area that we have seen, so we feel pretty safe.
Earlier this morning, we stumbled across two zombies that had long dreadlocks and wore tie-dyed shirts. They were covered in dried blood from head to toe. One was a girl with a blue bandanna on; she was chewing on a severed hand. The other was a man with a rasta hat on his head; he was eating a severed foot. When they saw us coming, they both jumped to their feet and headed straight towards us. Now I wouldn't call it a run, but I know for a fact that they were moving quite fast. With all of us ready for them, they went down quickly. The girl hit the ground, and as she started to get up, I smashed her head in with a large rock I had found. Dustin and Cole took care of the guy. Other than those two, we haven't seen any others.
We are headed off to go look some more. I will let everyone know if we find anyone...or anything.
Day 55
I wish I had more to write about today, but it has been a very uneventful day. We spent all day looking for Tonya and Roger. All we found all day was a pair of Tonya's shoes. They were lying on the ground by an old office complex.
We didn't see any zombies today.
I wish I could say that today was a good day, but without Tonya, it is just another day. We need her here with us. We are determined to not give up on her. I will not give up on her. We are going to search some of the local areas some more tonight. I will post as soon as I get more information.
Day 56
We have searched for Tonya pretty much nonstop for the past few days and have no leads to follow. I have no idea what to do or where to go from here. Cole has said he is not going anywhere until she is found, dead or alive, so it looks like we will continue looking. I have been in every building within about a three-mile radius and have only ran into less than five zombies. I am hoping the zombies have begun starving to death or rotting away; that would make things so much easier. After running into the rasta zombies, we decided it would be easier to stay hidden and not fight.
As we wandered through the town, we came across store after store that had been looted, trashed, and even burned. It looked like the people had panicked and begun destroying the town, like so many people have done in the past. Looking at this town, though, I can only imagine what the big city will look like when we get there. From where we are right now, I can see the cityscape in the distance; it looks like it always has, almost as if nothing had happened. Sadly, we know better.
We have one more place to look tomorrow, and then we will have covered the entire city. It is likely he got a car and headed away. I am going to bring up to the others tomorrow that maybe we should go ahead and head toward the city. More than likely, he would have headed straight into the city. It is very large with lots of places to hide. Once the town has been gone over with a fine-toothed comb, we have nowhere else to look. My biggest fear is that he took her in the opposite direction (if Roger even took her). We just don't know what happened to them.
Things have been quiet for a few days now. I hope they stay that way.
Day 57
It is so late right now, and I am so very tired. We decided to leave the town this morning. We haven't (nor will we) give up on Tonya, but there is nothing for us left here. We have searched everywhere we can imagine to no avail. We drove for as long as we possibly could until the roads became too heavily blocked with parked and abandoned cars. We were still a good fifteen miles away from the big city, but there was no way for us to get around the other vehicles. We walked for almost five miles total this afternoon and this evening. We only encountered one or two zombies along the way. I'm not sure what's going on. I don't know where they have all gone or are going. I am hoping they have all died for good this time.
I really have nothing to write about again today
; all we did was walk. It is now two a.m., and I need some sleep if we are going to be walking again tomorrow.
Day 58
We decided to stop again this evening after traveling all day. Today, we stopped at a hotel right on the outside of an amusement park. From the room, you can see the rides that months ago would fling people into the air or have them spin around in circles until they got sick; today, those same rides are skeletons, old reminders of what life was like. The hotel we stopped at is a very swanky hotel that, fifty-eight days ago, I would not have been able to afford; now I am in the biggest, nicest suite they have. This room has around 1800 square feet of living space and a balcony that stretches the length of the room and faces the amusement park. On the inside, the room has hardwood floors throughout, except for imported Spanish tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. There are four rooms: two master suites with a king-sized bed and hot tub. The other two rooms both have two queen size beds and Xbox 360's hooked up to thirty-five-inchinch HDTV's.
The room is located on the seventh floor of the resort. We stopped the elevators and blocked the stairwell, so no unwanted intruders can get to us. Earlier, we stood on the balcony and watched one or two zombies make their way towards the amusement park. They would wander around, never focusing on anything, just kind of there with no place to go. Every now and then, one of them would get a whiff of us, then turn and look directly at us. I am not sure how many there may be, but I do know that at least four have made their way into the hotel after us.
