A Dark Day: Part XIV

I've been walking this desolate city for three sunsets and have only run into a handful of zombies. Yesterday I started noticing scriptures written on some of the walls so I know I have to be headed in the right direction. The latest one read "And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence - Jeremiah 21:6". It almost seems like this weirdo is leaving me a trail of bead crumbs to follow. Like he wants to be found. Lately the only way I've been able to get through my days is imagining what I'm going to to do The Pastor once I get a hold of him. Imagining really bad things. Things that would probably make the manliest of men cry like a 10 year old with a skinned knee. After walking this long I finally reached a neighborhood.....what's left of it at least. Cars are sitting in the middle of the road, some with doors open. As I get closer to take a look i notice that some of these cars still have bodies in them. Decomposed and partially dismembered. Poor people. Poor weak people. I continue to walk down the streets and for some reason it's starting to look very familiar to me. Like maybe I've been here before. I continue to walk down the street that's littered with debris and I spot a bush of pink roses. I remember how much she liked pink roses. The sadness starts filling my body and my eyes well up with tears just a little bit. I look up at the house the bush belongs to and that's when I realize.......this is my home. I walk up to the porch as the tears roll down my face. This is, was, my life. The door is unlocked as always. She used to tell me that I was way too trusting. I walk in and see the house in the same condition it was when I left it, like a war zone. All the memories are coming back to me like a tidal wave. I grab a picture off the wall and the tears fall on it like rain on a window. It's a picture of my wife and daughter. The night the horde attacked they didn't stand a chance. They came in the middle of the night. I tried to save them but before I knew it they both had been overwhelmed by them. I don't know if my heart can take being in this place anymore. I'm squeezing the picture frame so hard that it snapped and the glass completely busted. I grab the picture and slowly fold it up as the tears continue to fall. I stick it in my pocket and turn head straight towards the door. The blood covered hand prints stained on the walls stopped me in my tracks. That's when I spot a note on the floor. I pick it up and it reads "Aiden, I'm sorry about last night. I know we shouldn't fight over petty things. I think I may have scared Betty with my yelling. I just hope that as soon as you read this note in the morning you'll get your ass off the couch and come to the room and accept my apology. -Amy" I swear, if I hadn't slept on the couch that night I would have been able to protect them. The last day that my wife was alive I spent it on the couch pissed off at her and I didn't even get to tell my little Betty goodnight or give her my usual four kisses. One on her forehead, one on her nose and one over each closed eye. I miss them. so much. The sadness turns into anger as grab my bat and start swinging at everything in sight. I can't be here a second more and continue to remember this house this way. I slam the bat into cabinets and tables that shatter like it was made from glass. I know exactly how to make this all go away. I make my way to the garage and grab my gas can. I do exactly what needs to be done to help me move past this. I pour gasoline over anything and everything that I can. I go to the kitchen and grab the only box of matches in the counter and walk towards the front door. At this point the sound of the match scrapping against the box is like music to my ears. Goodbye Amy. Goodbye Betty. I love you both so very much. I drop the match and walk away from my past.

A Dark Day: Part XIII

I go on in a full on sprint for as long as I can handle it. I look back and I estimate that I must have sprinted at least four hundred yards. I've always been good at running, its just been my thing. I knew keeping up with it would come in handy one day. I take a look around and quickly notice that I've walked into a makeshift morgue. It looks like the CDC set up shop here and ran out of room to put the bodies because as I walk down the street the sidewalks are lined up with body bags. Side by side and stacked up on top of one another. I continue to tread carefully because you never know where these things are. The rain has now slowed down to a slight drizzle and the howl of the wind continues to pound my ears like a drum. The smell on this street doesn't even phase me at all. There has to be hundreds of bags here. I eye a bar called "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" on the right side of the street. Not really the time for a drink but that would be the only place at the moment I can find some sort of weapon. I make my way across the body bags on the sidewalk and check the door to the bar. Its open of course. Surprisingly enough when I enter the bar it looks like nothing has been touched at all. No chairs or tables knocked over. No broken windows or mirrors. Weird. I move behind the bar and take a look to make sure there's nothing or no one around. Nothing. Now to look for a gun or something. I start digging through drawers and cabinets. Come on, the bartender had to have had some sort of protection in case of unruly drunks. Jackpot! A sawed off double barrel shotgun! This is so perfect that I think I may cry. Even better, there's a pretty good amount of ammo here too. I spot a small courier bag in one of the cabinets and start filling it with shells. I think I'm ready to go. I look around the bar and see a bat in a glass case above all the bottles of liquor. I could use a nice Louisville Slugger. I smack the glass case with the shotgun and take the bat. It feels kinda old and has writing on it. Who the hell is Ty Cobb? Reminds me of corn. Oh well. As I keep wandering around I see the first sign of an attack here. I see a group of five people on the floor grouped together around instruments. Must be the house band. They are so decomposed that I can't even tell if each person is male or female. There's a table set up close to them with CD's on it. Looks like they were selling their music the night of the outbreak. The Tipsy Whiskey Gypsies? Sounds interesting. I miss listening to music. I can't even recall the last time I heard a good song or even hummed any kind of melody. Maybe if I come across a CD player or something I can pop this in. I grab a CD and throw it in my bag. I walk over and take a seat at the bar. "Bartender, I want a whiskey!" I say to no one. "You make sure its 20 year Pappy! What?! You think I've had enough?! No! YOU'VE had enough!". No one answers back. "Fuck me?! Fuck you buddy! Just give me my whiskey and I'll be on my way. I said. Give. Me. My. Fucking. Drink!" I start screaming like a madman as I take my bat and start bashing everything in sight. From mirrors to bottles to light fixtures. Nothing is safe from my rage. The corn guy that signed the bat would be proud. I take a moment and realize what I just did. Am I losing my damn mind? Maybe. Do I care? At this point it might be the most useful tool I have. What I do know is that there's one person I need to find and ask a few questions........The Pastor.

A Dark Day: Part XII

I make my way to the sunroof and bust it out with my feet. The rain seems to start coming down as I make the opening. With my spear in hand I climb out on top of the vehicle and within what it seems like to be minutes the group doubled in size. I need to make my move now if I plan to get away. I take two steps back, run and completely slip off the top of the SUV. Its as if its all happening in slow motion. As I'm falling the only words I can think of to sum up this situation is "Oh shit". I look and I can see the section of zombies I'm about to fall on slowly start looking up towards me. Without even a moment more to react I fall straight down onto a group of at least five of them smashing their heads in the process. You would think I fell on a pit of hot coals as fast as I got up off the floor and ran. As I run I realize that of course I dropped and left my spear when I fell. It was nothing but a stupid stick anyway. I look back and of course the group of zombies are heading my way......at an alarmingly slow speed. I start to slow my running down to a brisk walk and look around for something to use against these things. If I hide then they're just going to find me eventually and then I'll be backed into a corner. I can see a sign for an italian restaurant in the distance. They have to have something there. I get to the restaurant and enter carefully. Its dark as hell in here so it takes a little while for my eyes to adjust. This place looks just like the city itself, run down and destroyed. There's tables flipped, chairs broken and menus scattered across the floor along with dirt and silverware. I head back to the kitchen and I quickly spot a big propane tank. On second thought if I use this I might blow myself up too. Maybe if they have a smaller one around here then I could use that. I start looking through all the counters and cabinets. Jackpot! Got one! I head back outside with the tank in hand and I turn it on. The group has now gotten a lot closer. I would say roughly about twenty yards away. I throw the tank at the group of zombies and realize that I may have jumped ahead of myself seeing as I have nothing to ignite the tank with. I see a telephone company truck that crashed into a building across the street. I head over there and start busting open the storage compartments on the outside. I finally find a road side bag with flares. I light the flare a bask in its glow for a quick moment then send it soaring towards the open propane tank. The tank explodes right as soon as the flame gets close to the escaping fumes and sends the zombies soaring in the air and in pieces. I didn't really compensate the distance between me and the tank because even at a rough 20 yards away I still felt like I just got sucker punched when the tank went "kaboom". Pretty much knocked me on my ass. Well it did the job, they are all gone. I get up and walk over to the big black spot on the floor where the pack of undead used to be. All that's left is partially flaming and completely charred flesh on the floor. Almost smells like a barbecue only not. I better get going before the explosion attracts more of these things.

A Dark Day: Part XI

After careful and thorough inspection I found an abandoned SUV to stay in till the morning. This thing has a big enough backseat so that I can lie down and not be noticed for awhile. I get in ever so carefully and shut the back door very softly. I lie on my back and look up at the ceiling of the vehicle. Oh man, this feels so good to just rest for a moment. I don't think I can sleep but rest is exactly what I need. The more I lay here the more I think of things that could have been if the infection never happened. What would I be doing at this same exact moment if all of the scenario was changed? Would I be out having dinner? Would I be having drinks with the guys? What would be on T.V. at the moment? Probably some infomercial or something. Even that I miss. Does me no good to think of such things though since there's no turning back time. All that's on my mind and will continue to be on my mind is survival. That's my goal. I can hear the winds outside starting to pick up and howl. I guess there's a storm rolling in. I'm glad I found shelter when I did. The SUV starts to sway a little as the winds pass through. I need to find some food soon too, I think my body is starting to crash from the lack of nourishment. I can't even remember the last time I ate anything. I just know it was SPAM. I may have to tighten my belt another notch the way this is going. My stomach starts growling like its talking to me.
Man! That stupid place fucked up my sense of time! I had that to keep me sane at least, now I'm just lost. Oh well I guess, hopefully once the storm passes I can set up camp somewhere again. At least for the time being, for now I'm have to try to rest.
A while later........
Every time I try to close my eyes all I see is death. Is this what my life has become? Just nothing but death and killing and all this destruction around me? Of course it has, I have no choice but to live in this world. I would just end it all myself but that would be the cowards way out. I don't do "coward". I just can't sleep. I toss and turn but my mind keeps racing like its running the fifty yard dash. I finally just stop trying and lift my head to see out the window. I get a huge surprise when I see the vehicle that I'm in surrounded by the walking dead. They saw me! They fucking saw me get in this piece of shit! They knew! For some reason they are just standing there, in the middle of this storm they are just there looking at me. Seems like they're just waiting for me to get out. They know I'm going to have to get out eventually. I look around and notice a sunroof. That's my way out, I just need to figure out a game plan.

A Dark Day: Part X

I let them slowly walk away as I slowly follow behind. I figure if they're smart enough to get away they may be heading for an exit out of this place. I don't even know how long I've been here. Has it been a few hours? A day? A few days? Being here really screwed up my tally. Now I have absolutely no idea what day it is. Speaking of my tally, I wonder how camp is. I don't even think its smart enough to go back at this point. Its probably overrun with those things. Looks like I'm going to have to start all over collecting supplies again. Well I have a stick and a......damn it! I lost the scalpel! Ok, I have a stick. Well, I think I'm going to call it a spear. Spear just sounds more dangerous. I have a spear. Its a start I guess. Damn, these zombies walk slow. After following these dumbasses for what seems like forever they get to a door and push it open. Where the hell am I? I look around and it seems like some sort of alley. It looks like its dusk and really extremely quiet. I know I should be used to the silence but its just kind of eerie. The two zombies continue to shuffle away side by side. I have to use this chance to kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I run up behind them and with one swift swing of my spear aimed precisely at their necks I decapitate both zombies. Their heads fall to the ground and the bodies take another four steps each before falling to the ground as well. Now that that's taken care of I can figure out exactly where I am. I take a walk down the alley a bit more and into a street. I look around and I realize I'm back in the city. Oh my god, this place is destroyed. Its just so sad to see all these buildings and skyscrapers empty and deserted. Almost all the windows in every building are busted out and the streets are littered with "Do Not Cross" tape and barricades. The smell in the air is no longer that of pizza, hot dogs or even car emissions. All I smell now is almost a sterile smell, similar to what a hospital would smell like. I'm almost in tears. The city I once lived and worked in is now a shadow of its former self. I hadn't been back here since the initial infection and never intended to come back. All these memories and flashbacks hit me as I walk down the city streets that I can't even recognize anymore. Memories that I'd rather keep buried. I need to snap out of it and find a place to post up for the night. I don't trust any of these buildings at all. I may have to just find an abandoned car or something. The last thing I want to do is stay on these streets too long and be a sitting duck out here. I probably could've gone back to where I was before but I would be just as vulnerable as anywhere else and plus, I wanted out of that fucking place.

A Dark Day: Part IX

I don't know how long I've been standing here just staring at these things eat but its long enough for me to realize that these things can't stay alive.....or um, unalive for much longer. Not one zombie will be left standing. I look around the room for some sort of weapon but there's no luck. The closest thing to a weapon I found was a bucket. What the hell am I going to do with a bucket? I walk to the room across the hallway. Nothing in here but a pile of these bastards in the middle of the floor. The stench of death is a lot worse in this room than the others. Probably because these sons of bitches are just lying here rotting on top of one another. I scan the room quickly and I notice a mop leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. I walk over and grab it then break off the bottom, creating a spear-like weapon. That's about as good as its going to get right now. I start walking out of the room when I hear a noise coming from the pile of zombies. I turn back quickly and prepared to attack. I breathe a sigh of relief when I notice that it was just a body that slid down from the top of the pile. Fuck man, that scared the shit out of me. I turn back to walk out again and I run right into one of the zombies that was chained up. I quickly push him back before he grabs a hold of me. How the hell did this happen? Behind the zombie coming towards me I notice the other two shuffling their feet in my direction too. I take a few steps back to get my distance and this undead sack of flesh raises its hands to grab me and that's when I notice that these fuckers chewed their own thumbs off. That's how they were able to get out of the chains. She was right, they are getting smarter. I stab the zombie right in the head and it falls to the ground like a ton of bricks. The other two come following behind and the block me into the room. I pull my wooden spear out from the zombie's head and start walking back towards the corner of the room. The two zombies stop and look down at their fallen "comrade" and start turning around and shuffling away. They're scared. They're scared to die.....again.

A Dark Day: Part VIII

She attacks me and pushes me back against the wall. All I can do is hold her back while she tries to claw at me. This woman went from zero to crazy in a snap. I guess deep down she knows that no one is coming back for her. She's a sad, pathetic woman with too much hope. I quickly grab one of her arms, slide under it and push her face first into the wall. She tries to turn her body around to get to me but I continue to keep her still and away from me. "Calm down! What the hell are you doing?!" I exclaim. She squirms loose from my grip and jumps onto me knocking us both over a desk in the room. She starts trying to bite at me but I stop her every time. She's acting like a damn rabid dog. I'm holding her head back and I can see the rage in her eyes. I grab a handful of her hair and ram her bloody stump of an ear right into the side of the desk. She screams of agony continue to get louder and louder as I keep ramming her head into the desk. She grabs her head in pain as if she's about to rip it off of her shoulders. Blood starts to gush out of the wrapped up wound and as she screams and we tussle on the floor the chained up zombies begin to moan and yank on the chains. I get up to my feet and grab her from the back of her lab coat and yank. Maybe a little too hard. She flies back and I lose grip of her coat and she falls at the feet of the chained up zombies. She barely makes it to one knee when one of the zombies grabs her and sinks its teeth into her shoulder. She let's out a painful scream and the next zombie grabs her arm and takes bite. "No! No! No!" Is all she screams, as if the zombies understand or if they would even want to if they could. I just stand there and watch as they tear her body apart and rip flesh from her piece by piece. Each of the four zombies now have a piece of this woman and each have flesh hanging from their decomposed mouths. Now she's nothing more than a memory.....almost like she never existed. All that's left is a half of her torso and a whole lot of blood. I realized just now that I never knew her name. I think I'll call her Mrs. Cunningham.......I really liked Happy Days too.