Second meeting.

After a couple of days of unbearable anxiety I suited up and started on my way to meet Jan. As I rounded a corner I ran into a horde of zombies! There must have been twenty of them grouped together devouring the remains of something - or someone. I tried to make it back to cover but one of them spotted me and let out that terrible moaning shriek that they make. The others looked up and spotted me as well. I had to think fast as they approached. Luckily they were all draggers (the name I gave to the slower ones) and there were no Thorpe's (fast ones) in the group. I scrambled for a nearby van that had a ladder leading to the roof. I climbed up and took up a firing position on the roof. I started to pick them off one by one but they were soon shaking the van which made it very difficult to get a shot off. There were only four left so I decided to use an alternative means of dispatching them. I had started carrying along a small hatchet/pick as a back up weapon to my firearms and had not yet used it for such purposes. I pulled it from my belt and started hacking away at them from the roof. It was not as effective as I had hoped. I was just severing pieces off them. Fingers, ears, eyes. Very gruesome. I managed to get a square hit and sunk the hatchet deep into the skull of one of them but as it fell it pulled me off the roof! I struggled to my feet as fast as I could. The others were closing in. I had to step on the things face so I could pull the hatchet from it's skull. I spun as I pulled the weapon into action and just swung wildly. The pick end connected with the temple of the nearest one and went in deep, re-killing it instantly. Surprisingly the pick pulled free with ease. Bingo! I dropped the other three rapidly with this newly gained weapons knowledge. I don't know why I didn't think to use the pick initially. More focused force and less drag upon retrieval. I hoofed it out of there. All the commotion was drawing more zombies.

I made it to the meet with Jan. I was about thirty minutes behind. I caught her just as she was coming out of the camping shop. She screamed and swung her shotgun up to the ready!
"Don't shoot me! NO! Please!"
Her eyes widened. She lowered the gun slowly. "What happened?"
I looked down at myself. I was covered in gore. To here I must have looked dead. I explained what had held me up. We went back inside the store and barricaded the front door so we could relax somewhat. She sat me down. I didn't realize how shaken up I had been by the encounter. I was trembling. She got out some disinfecting wipes and cleaned me up while I told her everything I knew. I told her about the soldiers and Mitch. I told her about the draggers and Thorpe's. I told her about the announcements to not harbor the sick just before the soldiers pulled out of the neighborhood. She told me about a team she had seen collecting the zombies and transporting small groups of them in trucks. She said she had a young girl at her apartment. She had found her in a neighboring house bloody and frightened. She had been hiding in an air duct with a bloody kitchen knife and it took Jan several hours to coax her out. The girl has been at Jan's apartment for two weeks but still has not said a word. Then she told me about raiders. Groups of men who she had seen break in to other places where survivors were staying. That's why she was so cautious at our first meeting. She wasn't sure if I was a scout for them. She finished cleaning me up as best she could and she said she needed to get back to the girl. We grabbed some supplies and headed out with the plan to meet in two days time at a coffee shop a block from the camping store. Apparently the espresso machine still works.