by Rob Fox
All day they have been walking by us, totally unaware of our presence. Just about an hour ago, they stopped walking by. Every now and then, we will see a straggler or two, but the mass migration has passed for now. We have decided to leave in the morning as long as everything is clear tomorrow.
Day 75
We have guests.
The migration had ended, so we packed up everything and started to leave. As we were about to walk out the door/hole in the wall, in walked two soldiers carrying a third injured one. We scared them as much as they scared us; the only difference was they had machine guns already in the ready position. That now makes two times in the past three days that I have had a gun pointed at my head!
The soldiers began screaming at us to get on the ground with our hands up. We had no choice but to comply. This new breed of military is "shoot first, ask questions later, if ever." They were all wearing gas masks and suits that resembled shark dive suits. The one who appeared to be in charge walked up to us and asked if any of us had been bitten or scratched by one of them. The soldier asked if anyone was sick or feeling ill at all. Once we said no, the soldier ordered us to stand up and remove all our clothes. We just stood there for a moment. We were not about to just strip down naked in front of anyone! The soldiers prepping and turning their guns’ safeties off made us change our minds.
The "chief" of the group laughed a little and said, "Trust me, boys, you have nothing to worry about. You’re not my type." As the words passed over the chief’s lips, the soldier removed the gas mask to reveal a woman with almost white hair pulled back into a pony tail. She walked in front of all of us, looking very closely at our bodies, inspecting for any bite marks. As she passed by each of us, she made snide remarks and giggled a little, then told us to get dressed. When she got in front of Tonya, she said to her, "Now you are definitely my type." Without warning, Tonya slapped the chief very hard across the face. The soldier took a couple of steps back, holding her face and looking shocked. She began to laugh and told Tonya to get dressed. The soldiers lowered their weapons.
Once we were all dressed, the chief introduced herself and her soldiers. She said her name is Alisha, and she was a reservist that got a call to be at the base right before the zombies started appearing. The other soldier, the uninjured one, introduced himself as Jeremiah. He said he had been stationed at the base in South America where everything first started. He told a long story about the first few days that I will relay later. Alisha introduced the injured soldier as Ed. He was also a reservist that got the call to report at the same time as Alisha. Ed was injured but not severely. His foot had been crushed when the helicopter crashed. Alisha said she recognized us from the crash site and said she was sorry for our loss. She didn't have to say who she was talking about. We knew she was talking about Dustin.
We have spent the majority of the day talking about the state the world is in. It does not look good for humanity. We are losing the battle. I will write more about this later.
Tonya doesn't trust them at all. She wants us to leave them as fast as possible, but I think they may be able to help me get closer to home. Only time will tell.
Day 76
Last night, Jeremiah told us his account of the first few days of the virus in South America. I know I am going to forget a few details, but this is how I remember it being relayed to me.
Jeremiah told us he had been stationed in South America for the past few years. He said he was the first one to arrive at the scene when they found that little kid (Damon Jenkins). His picture was splashed all over magazines, such as Time and U.S. Weekly. The picture was him carrying Damon in his arms into the military hospital. Jeremiah stood guard over the little boy until he died. He was sad to see the little kid pass away, but in his line of work, he had seen quite a few people taken before their time. He said he stood next to the doctors when they held the press conference. He was the first to respond to the "scream that shocked a nation," as it was later called. He told how he ran into the hospital to see the doctor performing the autopsy laying dead in a pool of blood, his throat ripped out. He said he saw Damon licking the blood off the ground, his eyes now a cold white color, his skin pale to match. When Damon saw Jeremiah standing in the door, he immediately began walking towards him. By that time, the room was full of doctors and other military personnel.
Two people were checking on the autopsy doctor when the doctor suddenly "woke up." The doctor bit into the arms of both the people assisting. Jeremiah turned and began shooting the autopsy doctor, to no avail. The doctor continued to bite people in the room, taking a chunk out of anyone standing in his path. Finally, a stray bullet ripped through the doctor’s head, killing him instantly. During all the commotion, Damon managed to slip out the door, and he in turn also began biting unsuspecting bystanders. By the time Damon was taken out completely, a total of thirty-seven people had been bitten. Jeremiah said they tried to contain the situation, but with that many people, a few who had been bitten had managed to escape the quarantine of the hospital.
Soon after, the whole city had to be quarantined, and then the state, and then the whole country. Only military flights were allowed in or out of South America. Jeremiah was one of the last ones out. (First in, Last out; that was their motto.) When he finally left the country, he said they had left under duress, because the base had been over run with the infected. When he arrived in the U.S., he was greeted with the same strip down procedure that we were given.
It appeared that the government had contained the virus, and it wasn’t until mass murders and a large amount of "rabies" cases began springing up all over the country that the government realized the virus was unstoppable. The virus spread so fast in the States that the military was forced to abandon all posts and convene into two or three strongholds. One of those bases just happened to be the one down the road from my house!
Jeremiah told us their orders were to shoot and kill anything or anyone that approached the base. They maintained those orders until they realized they were going to lose the base unless they began fighting back. He said the other bases had stopped transmitting a few weeks ago, so it is assumed our base is the only one left. That is when the base decided to go on a seek-and-destroy mission. Anything that moved was a target. People could not be trusted anymore, so anyone not on the base was to be shot on sight, no exceptions. He was on the helicopter that began firing on us while we were on the building. He said he had asked to rescue us but was given an order to fire and take us out. He said he missed us on purpose but was instructed to fly back out to the city and take out anything left alive (or undead). That’s when their copter began having technical problems and went down. He said they fought off dozens of zombies that managed to survive the massive attack but eventually got overrun, so they fled, looking for any kind of shelter.
Finally, Jeremiah told us about the military strikes around the base. He said they bombed every square inch of land in a twenty-five square mile radius of the base. My house is within that radius! I asked him about that area. He shook his head and whispered, “All gone, it's all been leveled."
I am crushed. Any chance Darcy may have had is now gone. I am completely crushed.
Day 77
Ed is beginning to feel a little better now; his wounded leg and ribs are healing very quickly. I spent a good bit of time talking to him today. He told me a little about his family. He said they flew to the base with him, and they are safe in one of the bunkers/fall-out shelters that are located on the base. Ed told me how they allowed some locals on the base right before everything went to shit. That gave me a glimmer of hope. I had thought about the shelters once before; now this just confirms what I had thought. Maybe Darcy got lucky and was in one of the bunkers, safely locked underground with plenty of food and water that can last years.
Alisha walked around the perimeter of the building most of the night and attempted to contact the military base. All that came across the airwaves was static. At this point, we don't know if the radio
s are busted or if the base has been overrun or if the base has cut off all contact now that the squad has been "contaminated." We don't know if we now have to watch our backs or if we should look for the military for help. I am not sure which is worse: if the military is after us, or if there is no military left. If a mass migration hit the base, there are not enough fences and bullets to stop them all. There were around four million people living in the city at the time of the uprising. If even half of those were zombies, that is a lot of people attacking one little fortified base.
Cole and Tonya sat in a corner talking about our options with Jeremiah most of the morning. I can see the mistrust written all over Tonya's face. Every suggestion Jeremiah comes up with, Tonya finds some reason why the plan wouldn't work. I see her getting very frustrated at times, because she knows a plan is good but does not want to admit it. I just hope she can drop her attitude by the time a real decision needs to be made.
I have been sitting back watching everyone. I can't help but laugh at our little family. That is what we have become, a family: Tonya, Cole, and myself. We watch each other at all times. No one goes anywhere without one of us going with them. We all have grown closer to one another over the past few weeks or months. I would do anything for them, and I believe they would do anything for me. I know that no matter what happens, we will all watch out for each other. I wish I could relay this to Tonya right now, to let her know I’ve got her back and I am here for her, that she has nothing to worry about.
Alisha just came in; it looks like another mass migration is heading our way. She said it is the largest mass of undead she has ever seen. Tonight should be interesting.
Day 78
To say the migration was large is a HUGE understatement. There were (and still are) massive amounts of the undead walking past us. All night last night, we saw wave after wave of them. They are moving at a slow pace, but every now and then, they will show a quick burst of speed.
We have all been lying low, not moving at all, just staying in one spot. We were smart enough to cover ourselves in the blood from a few zombies we killed that were behind the building we are in. I am worried, though, because the blood is drying up and starting to flake up and peel off. If the migration doesn't slack off soon, we will be in for one hell of a fight.
The moans are the worst part of all this. They really take their toll on our sanity. I remember the first Gulf War and how we (the U.S. Army) would play loud rock music over and over at high levels, trying to force the Iraqi people out of their compounds. I really feel like this is somewhat of a strategy of theirs. If it is, it is working. Cole is lying next to me. I can barely hear him as he groans every few minutes. He has his hands over his ears. I have tried to convince him to ignore it, reminding him of the other times we have had to survive and live with the moans happening all around us. It is hard to convince someone it is going to be okay and that it will be over soon when I myself don't believe it. I am not sure how the moans are affecting anyone else, because we are all spread out. Cole is directly beside me, while Tonya and the others are scattered around the room.
Shit, Ed just coughed! It looks like a couple zombies heard the cough. They are headed this way!
Day 79
It was a close call, too close of a call. As the zombies began making their way towards the shelter we were hiding in, we heard a scream from across the street. We could see a woman standing on the side of the road screaming at the undead migration as it passed. Three people came running out after her, trying to drag her back inside their shelter. Within seconds, the three of them were completely surrounded by thousands of zombies. Another couple of seconds later and they were nothing more than shreds of flesh, bone, and blood. It looked like they were put into a wood chipper. Once the majority of the bodies were devoured, a few of the zombies were licking the blood off the road like a dog. The whole process took less than three minutes! The only good that came from the slaughter was that we were spared from that same fate; every zombie in the city was trying to get a piece of them, ignoring a maybe for a sure thing.
The rest of the day and evening and even into this morning, the migration continued. It finished just a few hours ago, ending the parade of the dead with a few corpses dragging their mutilated bodies along the ground with their hands. We waited for about an hour for any additional stragglers to come along before we came out of hiding. We all emerged feeling like the luckiest people in the world. Jeremiah walked over and punched Ed in the shoulder as hard as he could. We all stood around in complete shock over what we had witnessed the past few days. We just could not believe the ferocity and the speed at which the zombies mutilated the three people.
As we were standing around talking, we saw someone walking out of the building the other three people had come out of. It was Shaughn. He walked up to the bloodstain on the ground and looked at his surroundings. While he was looking around, he didn't notice the zombie coming up behind him from around the corner of the building. Jeremiah and I both jumped up and ran towards the opening of our shelter. Alisha, who was standing by the opening, ran out the door ahead of us, screaming for Shaughn to get out of the way. As he turned around, Shaughn was knocked over by the creature hungry for his blood. Shaughn grabbed the zombie by the throat, keeping its mouth as far away from any part of his body as possible. As Shaughn raised the zombie’s head up in the air, Alisha made it across the street and struck the zombie across the nose with the butt of her rifle. The zombie’s neck snapped back, breaking every bone holding his head up. His body rolled backwards a few times before coming to a stop against the building Shaughn had just come out of. The zombie was lying with his stomach against the building, upside down, with his head looking directly back at us. The sight was very unnatural and a little strange.
Without saying a word to Shaughn, Alisha walked directly up to the zombie, who was now attempting to stand up, and stepped on his neck, pinning his head to the ground. With the rifle still in her hand, she began beating the zombie in the face repeatedly until all that was left was a pool of red Jell-O. We all sat back in amazement at her brutality, more impressed than horrified.
Shaughn was too exhausted to tell us what had happened since we had last seen him, so we didn't push the subject. We let him sleep, which is where he is now. I am anxious to hear his story tomorrow.
Day 80
Our excitement for Shaughn's story quickly faded into nothing more than a distant memory this morning when there was a sudden, unexpected attack.
Jeremiah was on guard while the rest of us slept. I had just fallen asleep when the sound of a loud crash jolted me awake. Everything happened too fast. Since it was so dark, it was nearly impossible to see anything going on. A small sliver of moonlight crept through one of the cracks in the wall. The light was just enough for me to see Alisha, Cole, and Ed run out the back. Jeremiah was lying on his back with two zombies on top of him. Shaughn was standing behind one of the zombies with a knife, slicing deep into the ghoul’s neck. I jumped to my feet as quickly as I could, only to be knocked back down by a zombie two times my size. I could see three more zombies desperately trying to get into the shelter. I had no time to think, only to react. I rolled over onto my side and kicked the shit out of the approaching zombie; he didn't budge. I scrambled to my feet in just enough time to dodge an oncoming attack from an infected mouth. I had no idea what to do! I was way overpowered, and the speed at which he was moving took me aback. He had me pinned in a corner with nowhere to run. As he began to pounce, a loud shotgun blast removed the left side of the zombie’s face. Two more shots and all the zombies in the room were lying dead on the ground. Everything in the room stopped for a brief second, long enough for me to run out the back, along with Jeremiah, Shaughn, and this new person with the ski mask and a deadly accurate shotgun aim.
As we ran out the back, a group of about twenty more zombies followed us. We caught a quick glimpse of Alisha and the others, so we went to their location. Once we arrived, our rest was very short lived
because of the pursuing group of undead heading our way. The shotgun person waved the gun in the air and yelled for us to follow. Because we had nowhere else to go, we had no choice.
The shotgun person led us to the entrance of the old maximum-security prison facility. Once there, the large metal gates slid open slowly and just enough to allow us entry. Once inside, the gate quickly slid closed, trapping us in some sort of "holding" area. The person with the shotgun turned to face us and removed the mask to reveal it was a woman. She wore a prison guard uniform with a broken nametag that read “Mego.” She had one shotgun in her hand and one strapped to her back. Around her waist, she wore a gun belt with three pistols strapped to it. She stood in front of us, sweating and breathing heavily from the run. She whistled to someone inside, who opened the next set of doors to allow us access. As we stepped inside, we were all shocked to see a group of about twenty people. They looked thin and scared but happy to be alive. Mego told us to all take a break and relax for a while. She showed us to a couple of cells that she said we could use for shelter for as long as we liked.
We all crashed for a while. I could not sleep, so I decided to write about what had happened today. I just heard Mego tell someone we were going to have a "prison meeting" in the morning. I am not sure what that means, and frankly, I am too tired to care. I will wait till tomorrow to be concerned. As of right now, I am just going to enjoy the slight safety.
