New information.

We are gearing up to move. Since the incident with Tobias zombies have been congregating to close to our location. We are also having to go further and further for food, water and fuel. Prior to our relocation I wanted to make one more trip to the government facility. I had to see if their was anything else I could learn.

I prepped my gear for a quick and dirty run. I didn't want to be weighted down with much because I knew I would have to move quick the whole way to avoid the zombies that have amassed around the apartment. I just took my rifle, ammo, a flashlight and my SPAX axe. Exiting through the back of the apartment I made my way through the back yards of the neighboring structures. Draggers were mostly what I was encountering along the way. I did have a run in with one thorpe but the SPAX took care of that situation with ease.

I made good time to the facility. The extra cardio I had been doing in the apartment was paying off. That and the lack of burgers since the fall of the city. I approached the facility with the usual caution. The back alley with the basement window I had used to observe the testing earlier seemed like a good place to start. I crept into position and peered through the tiny opening in the paint. The tables and equipment were covered in blood and the walls were pocked with bullet holes! There didn't appear to be any movement but it was fairly dark inside. I scanned the room several times from my limited vantage point but could see no personnel.

Rising I went around to the far side of the building. I stopped at the door and listened. No sound. I grabbed the handle. It was open. I cautiously stepped inside with my rifle at the ready. More blood and bullet holes greeted me in the corridor. There had been a major fire fight in this place. As the door swung shut the hall became dark. Not so dark I couldn't make out shapes so I decided to go it without the flashlight so as not to alert any military personnel still in the building. I started down the hallway when suddenly my feet flew from under my body. I went down hard but kept my senses enough to swing my rifle and head around looking for my attacker. There was no one there. Looking down I realized that I had slipped on the empty shell casing that littered the floor. Scrambling to my feet I stood waiting. The noise of my fall would certainly have alerted someone to my presence. But no one came. No noise. Nothing. Pulling my flashlight from my pocket I continued on through the passages. Everywhere I went there were tell tale signs of gunfire and blood. The battle ranged through the whole facility. I was continually shining the flashlight to my feet to avoid another fall when it occurred to me: there are no bodies. Blood and bullet holes but no bodies. Surely at least one of them had been a head shot. This building had been full of soldiers who knew how to put these things down.

CRASH! What was that?! It came from down the corridor to my right. Taking a deep breath I turned and started down the hall. As I approached I saw a shaft of light growing and shrinking. A door swung back and forth on it's hinges, the lock work broken out of it. I stepped into the room and found that the window had been smashed and the wind was blowing the door. Moving to the window I looked down the street. Suddenly there was a hand clamped onto my shirt pulling me out the window! I pulled the SPAX from it's sheath and swung it into action. The first swing severed the hand that was pulling me out the window causing me to fall to the pavement. The dragger bent down to take a bite and I sunk the pick end square between it's eyes. It fell next to me still twitching. I climbed back in the window and resumed my search of the facility with a bit more urgency than I had before.

I made it down to the labs in the basement. In an office at the center of the labs I found a three ring binder. On the cover it said "CASE REPORT: PATIENT ZERO THROUGH SUBJECT 20". It was overflowing with information, all marked CONFIDENTIAL and TOP SECRET. I had to fight the urge to read the report. I didn't have time and this was not a safe place for some leisurely reading. I scooped it up and with it under one arm I continued my sweep of the basement.

I came to the last room in the farthest corner of basement. I stepped in and scanned the room with the flashlight. There were no signs of movement. Looking down I saw a military style pack. I grabbed it and hastily shoved the binder in and slung it over my back. In doing so I realized that it wasn't just a pack on the floor. There were clothes and other articles strewn about the room. There was also a smeared dried blood trail leading through the doorway to the incinerator against the wall. That's where all the bodies had gone. It also meant one or more people made it out of the facility alive.

I hoofed it back to the apartment as fast as I could. I now sit writing this as we prepare to spend our last day in this apartment. I have not yet made it all the way through the information in the binder. As soon as I do I will give you a full report of everything I learn. Stay safe.

Tobias

It's a beautiful sunny day. I am walking in a park. Children are playing and laughing. Parents chatter leisurely on benches surrounding the large swing set. It is serene. I sit down on a bench near a small pond with ducks criss-crossing it's surface. The sun warms my face. The children's laughter lulls my eyes shut. A dog barks in the distance. I slip my sandals off and feel the grass between my toes. I feel the moist caress of a tongue and I look down to see a cute blond retriever licking my toes. I scrunch my face with laughter. When my eyes open again and I focus it's not a dog I see.

I leap up from my bed. The dog has become a blond dragger and it's right at the foot of my bed. It has been licking my feet as they stuck out the bottom of the blanket. It would have bitten them but it doesn't have a lower jaw or a left arm and it's right one stops at mid forearm where other zombies have gnawed the flesh away. My hand flail's for my pistol as the dragger struggles onto my bed. My fingers clamp down on the cold and reassuring form of the Beretta. I swing it in line with the dragger and fire one round. I struggle past the lifeless mutilated corpse and grab the rifle leaning in the corner.

As I round the corner to the main room I see Jan reloading her shotgun with several dispatched draggers at her feet. I turn toward the kitchen just in time to draw a bead on a thorpe as it runs through the door way. I drop it in it's tracks and rush to the door as I shout to Jan, "Where's Bianca!"

"She opened the door and ran out before I could stop her!"

"She ran out! She's out there?!" I say as I instinctively slam the door closed.

"It was like she was possessed. She bolted from her room to the door mumbling something about a dog." Jan says as she racks a round into the chamber of her Mossberg.

"I'm going out after her." I say as I grasp the door handle.

"James,"

"Don't try to stop me. I-"

"Put on some shoes before we go."

I look to my bare feet and remember with sickening clarity the creatures tongue on my skin. I grab a bottle of bleach we keep near the door and collapse to the floor frantically searching my feet for any scratches or signs of a bite. They look clean. I drench my hands and feet with the bleach and pull on the nearest pair of boots.

Jan hoists me to my feet and grabs the door handle.

"Ready?"

I nod and she flings open the door. We step out and immediately open fire on the living dead. There are more zombies out here than I have seen any time before! What's brought them all? We fight our way to the street. We are both already running dangerously low on ammunition. We turn to start up the block as something whips around the corner. Jan and I raise our weapons -

"Don't shoot me!"

Bianca! She runs toward us holding the collar of a blond retriever. Jan wraps her arms around Bianca as she says, "What were you thinking?!"

"It's a dog! The monsters were after him! I had to help him, I had to. He needed me. He -"

"We need to move," I say as I grab onto Jan and start pulling them up the street. The dawn is just starting to come over the rooftops. The swarm of living dead moving up the street towards us looks like it is pouring from the sun itself. "Move. Move! NOW!"

I push them further down the block away from the apartment.

"Were are we going?" Jan asks with a worry that I have never heard in her voice before.

"We'll circle around the block ahead of the swarm and cut through the back yards to the apartment. Hopefully it will confuse most of them and lead them away." We run around the corner keeping ahead of the thorpes that are leading the zombies. We get to a chain link fence on the opposite side of the block from the apartment and I pull the bottom up for Jan and Bianca to crawl under. Just as I crouch to go myself a thorpe rounds the corner and spots me. My rifle swings into action almost as if it has the will to do so itself. I fire twice hitting my target on the second shot. I scramble under then fence.

"Keep him quiet." Jan whispers to Bianca. The young girl gently closes her hand around the dogs snout as we make our way slowly and quietly to the apartment.

All this happened last night. As I write this there are still a large number of zombies in the vicinity of the apartment. I am afraid we may have to relocate soon as the ones that hear us in the apartment will certainly summon more. The dog, who Bianca has affectionately named Tobias, is still recovering from his ordeal. He looks well fed so he couldn't have been out there long. He was spent physically from running but I don't think he could have kept up the pace for more than a couple of miles which means that there is or was other people alive and close by. Jan and I will begin a sweep of surrounding buildings tomorrow. If your alive and reading this we're coming to help you.

Back out in it.

I ventured back out. It has been a while but after what happened I don't really feel safe anywhere so I might as well get out and try to be useful.

It was a sunny day here in So Cal. I left Jan's feeling nervous but optimistic about my day. We have had to go further for supplies lately. I remembered seeing a small strip mall with a military surplus store and a liquor store not more than two miles from where we were. My objective was to find a fuel burning lamp, find some fuel, replace my hatchet/pick if possible, and hopefully find some scotch and a cigar (a reminder of normalcy to hopefully keep me grounded). I rounded the block at the end of the street and found two draggers, male and female, in full "biker" regalia standing over a knocked over motorcycle staring intently at it. I ducked behind a nearby mail box and watched. After a few moments the male dragger bent and tried to lift the motorcycle. He made a little progress until the shoulder of the arm he was using completely dislocated with a sickening pop. The motorcycle fell with a crash and his female companion looked at him blankly then gave him a shove. I couldn't stifle my laugh fast enough. It was a little zombie lovers quarrel!

They turned to me and let out the horrible moan. As they staggered toward the mail box I was behind I lined up my .22 on the first dragger and dropped him. The second dragger took two rounds but she went down without much trouble. I stood up and stepped around the mail box just as a dragger's hand struck it in an attempt to grab me! I started to back away as it grabbed for me again. We both went down. My rifle was pinned between our two bodies as we struggled on the ground. I managed to keep my trigger hand on the gun while I pushed at the neck of the dragger to try and keep his biting mouth away. I turned my head and shoved the dragger back with my offhand while simultaneously thrusting my rifle towards our heads. The muzzle lined up right under it's chin and I fired. My eyes and mouth were closed but I could still see a flash. All I heard was a ringing in my right ear. I could feel the side of my face tingling.

I pushed the corpse off and stood up. It's blood was so congealed that I hardly had any on me. I still took no chances. I scanned the area for other draggers or, God forbid, thorpes. It was clear. There was an empty Suburban across the street and it was unlocked. I climbed in quietly closing the door behind me and pulled the sanitizer from my bag. I wetted my hands and a towel and rubbed my face and head.

"AAAHHH!" It burned! Much more than it ever had before. Then I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror. The right side of my face was burned and had black residue all over it. The muzzle blast from my rifle. I didn't even think about it. If my eyes had been open I might have been blinded! I added safety glasses to my list for the surplus store.

I finished scrubbing and scanned the area again before I got out of the Suburban. I continued on to the strip mall with extreme caution. When I arrived I went for the surplus store first (essentials before comforts). It was pretty ravaged. The gate had been broken through and the shelves had been picked over. I did find a couple of cans of lantern fuel and several different kinds of safety glasses and goggles. As I squatted to load them into my pack I noticed a small crack on the wall at floor level behind a big American flag. Walking over I lifted the flag and there was a door. Sliding a clear set of goggles on I opened the door cautiously with my rifle at the ready. It was dark so I pulled out my flashlight. A sweep of the room revealed it was piled high full of boxes! I stepped in and scanned it once again. Confident that it was empty I closed the door behind me and began searching the boxes. I found a brand new lamp and something called a SPAX Axe. It looked like just what the doctor ordered to replace the hatchet/pick. A little more svelte and it had a much better handle. I packed up my goods and replaced the flag over the closed door. I headed out.

When I entered the liquor store I couldn't believe my eyes. It had been cleaned out completely. Nothing was left. Nothing. I guess people have different priorities than I thought.

I made my way back to Jan's. The street I had the altercation on earlier was gathering draggers so I dog-legged around it.

My ear is still ringing but my face is starting to heal. There is burnt powder working it's way up through my skin. I can't believe how careless I had gotten. You have to stay on your toes if you want to survive. Never let your guard down.

A Visitor

Bianca and I were at home when it happened. Since I was feeling a little under the weather mentally Jan had decided she would go out in search of fuel for our generator. We had a lot of food still left from the daycare. It was amazing what the woman there had been able to collect. I wish I could have spoken to her before...

Jan was out looking for fuel and Bianca and I were exploring the mysteries of the looking glass with Alice. Everything was just fine. We were reading by candle light even though the sun was up (with the windows boarded up not much light gets in). Around page 47 there was a pounding on the door. It was hurried, frantic. I jumped up and grabbed for my pistol.

"What's going on?!" Bianca stammered with fear.

"I think it's a person. I have to check. Stay here." I could hear a mans voice outside the door. He was panicked, screaming for us to open up. I rushed to the door and looked through the peep hole. He was so close and flailing so much I couldn't see anything. I grabbed hold of the kick bar we have against the door but I couldn't dislodge it because of the pressure coming from the other side.

"Stop pushing!" I shouted but he just kept screaming and pounding. I set down my pistol on the table in the entry way. With my shoulder against the door I was able to dislodge the kick bar. I put my shoulder into it again and turned the knob. The door burst open sending me sprawling to the floor. The man; thin, dirty, and wild eyed, stepped into the entry with a revolver pointed at my head. He slammed the door shut and quickly scanned what he could see of the house but the barrel of the revolver never wavered. It was not a big gun but from my vantage point it looked like I could crawl down the barrel.

Looking around he asked quietly, "Is there anyone else here?"

"No it's -"

"What happened?" Bianca said as she rounded the corner to the entry way.

"On the floor girl!" he shouted at her. She dropped to the floor next to me and I took her hand. "No more lies. Is anybody else here?"

"No. She's the only other one. What -"

"Get up. Show me where the food is. And anything else you got."

We slowly got to our feet. I made Bianca walk in front of me in hopes that if he shot my body would stop the bullet and she would have a chance to run. I led the man into the kitchen. He handed me a dirty cotton bag with no straps.

"Fill it." he said.

I started pulling canned goods out of the cabinets and placing them in the bag being careful not to make sudden moves. All the while my eyes were fixed on that revolver.

"Got any batteries?" he asked when the bag was full.

"Yes. In the back room." We made our way down the hallway into the back bedroom we were using for storage and the generator.

"Double A's and and D cells. All of those you got." I bent down and started sorting through the box of batteries still trying not to make any sudden moves. He became impatient and dumped the box all over the floor. "You get down there and help!" he shouted at Bianca. As we were down on our hands and knees searching for batteries I could see the gun shifting from me to Bianca and back. His eyes were darting about and he didn't seem to sure about what he was doing.

When we had sorted out the batteries he wanted he didn't let us get up off the floor. Instead he nervously told us to turn around. I knew what was coming. I had to do something. I had to at least try to save Bianca even if I died in the process. If I could just buy her enough time to get away. I saw a wrench in front of me on the ground. I could grab it and turn and swing with all my might at the hand with the gun. I can do this. I tensed my legs for the spring into action and -

"Drop it or I will kill you where you stand."

Jan! I spun around just as the man dropped his revolver to the floor. Jan stood behind him with the barrel of her shotgun pressed against his head. I picked up the revolver and grabbed Bianca and hugged her.

"Are you two alright?" Jan asked without looking away from the man she now held at gunpoint.

"Yeah. We're fine; we're okay." I said in reply. I could feel Bianca shaking against my body. Jan had the man drop the bag where he stood and she marched him to the front door.

"Open it James." She said when she got him there.

"Hang on Jan." I went back into the storage room and grabbed a spare backpack from a pile. I unloaded the revolver, only three rounds in it, and placed the ammo in the bottom of the pack and stuffed the mans bag in on top of them. I then placed the gun in the outer pocket. When I got back to the entry way I grabbed my pistol from the table. I approached the man cautiously.

Jan tensely asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trust me Jan." I said to her without looking away from the man. "Here's some food. Your gun's in the bag. It's unloaded. I am going to open the door and you are going to leave. If you try anything we will kill you. If you come back we will kill you. Just leave and don't tell anyone about us. That's all we ask."

I opened the door and he left. He left in a hurry.

Later over a can of tomato soup Jan questioned me about what I did.

JAN: "He didn't deserve the food. He tried to steal it."

JAMES: "I know Jan but we have plenty of food. Besides sending him out there without some food and especially without a weapon -"

JAN: "You said it was unloaded."

JAMES: "It was - but the bullets were in the bottom of the bag."

JAN: "What?!"

JAMES: "Relax. I didn't let him look through the bag while he was still here did I. But what I was saying was sending him out that way would be murder."

JAN: "He would have killed you if I hadn't shown up."

JAMES: "We don't know that for sure. But even if he had it doesn't mean we should. I don't want to be like him."

BIANCA: "Neither do I."

The way it was.

I've been holed up for a week or so now. We scored a lot of food at the daycare and I just didn't see a need to go back out -not after what I saw at the facility. How could people be doing such horrible things? How could they be so cruel to each other? I've been thinking about the way it was. The way it was before this started.

I was just a regular guy. There was nothing special about me. I would go to work at the studios doing my thing. I was a "Best Boy" most of the time. Sometimes "Key Grip". Sometimes just a cord roller. But it was work and me and the other crew had a great time. We used to go out after work to a Mexican restaurant for happy hour. It was blast. Around Halloween we'd talk the effects guys into making us the most amazing costumes. You would think that after working on movies all week I would be tired of them but my favorite thing to do on a Saturday was go catch the early bird special at the movie theater and then eat some chicken wings.

I remember one day I was down by the theater and a homeless guy; real heavy and dirty who I saw talking to himself all the time; he just pulled down his pants and started to let fly with his urine! Peeing all over the plants and the walkway! The cops showed up and took him into custody with some force. He was shouting incoherently. One of them even hit him a couple of times with a baton.

We were always telling jokes on our down time on set. And it always seemed like someone had a phone or a laptop and we would all gather around for the newest funny video of the day. Sometimes on set we'd have to wait forever for an actor. They were always these prissy "stars". What a joke. They would show up and yell at everybody (their assistants most of all) saying the most terrible things about whoever got in their path. Then they would turn on the charm as soon as they saw the red light on the camera. Interviewers always portrayed them as the sweetest people; "So human." A little too human.

And TV. Man television had really gone down hill before this. I remember in the 80's and 90's when I was a kid there were shows with heart. You laughed but you also thought a little too. But the last ten years it's just been "reality" TV and new show after new show. But they never really gave any of them a chance to build a fan base. If it wasn't a hit in the first three episodes they would just axe it. So many people worked hard on that. It was somebody vision and hundreds of peoples lively hood and they just shut it down like it was a malfunctioning fan. And the news! Always another bombing or hijacking or murderer or child molester. They would sensational everything for ratings. All of it had a slant or agenda. Forget the stories that convey hope or a sense of pride in your country. Forget reporting the news and keeping the opinion for the editorial at the end. People want blood and guts. If we make them afraid they will have to watch us to find out who to be scared of today!

You know looking back from where I am now I am starting to see that people have always been horrible to each other. I was just too busy with my societies distractions and niceties to notice.

Return to the Facility

I had to go back to the government facility again to see if I could learn anything more about what's happening. I prepped my gear and headed out with the sunrise. I wanted all the time I could get. It was an easy trek through the city. I ran into three draggers but was able to dispatch them handily with the .22 semi-auto from the daycare. It works surprisingly well for the head shots on slow ones and I can carry ten times the ammo without adding weight. As I neared the facility I drew my pick-hatchet so I could remain quiet should I run into another zombie.

I rounded the last corner before the facility and took up a concealed position behind a burned out car. I could hear a vehicle approaching. As I crouched behind the wreckage I saw a prison bus pull into view. It was full of inmates! They were still in orange county uniforms and chained. A soldier sat behind the wheel and another couple stood guard at the front gate of the bus. They were followed by a military Humvee. The two vehicles entered the parking structure under the facility.

I crept through the alley along the facility trying to find a place where I could observe without having to get in again and where I would not be seen. As I looked it dawned on me that it made perfect sense for inmates to be alive. They were in a modern day fortress under armed guard and most of the prisons had ways to maintain electricity and services of their own so that the inmates would not escape or riot if a disaster hit. If you could find an emptied prison and had a crew of survivors together you could probably live there quite comfortably.

Then I spotted something that pulled me out of my daydreaming. There was a row of basement windows along the back of the building. I wasn't sure but I thought from my time inside that it was probably where the lab coats had taken us for the "demonstration". I began to cautiously approach the first window. As I got closer it became apparent that I wasn't going to see in. It had been spray painted from the inside. I worked my way along to the next one. It was the same. As was the next and the next. As I turned to walk away from the fourth window a glimmer of something caught my eye. I turned back to the window and studied it carefully. There was a tiny oblong spot that the painter had missed. It wasn't much but it was enough that I could get my face close and see what was happening. I crawled down into the window well and peered through the opening.

They had some of the inmates in the lab already. They were being restrained one at a time by several soldiers while the others where chained and held at gunpoint. In spite of the guns the inmates where still protesting very adamantly. The soldiers tied them down to stainless steel tables with restraints like the ones you see in movie hospitals or psychiatric wards. Once tied down one of the lab coats would inject them with something and they would be unconscious within minutes. During this process one of the inmates tried to break free. He took a swing at one of the soldiers and the armed guard shot him dead. This seemed to quiet all the other inmates quite well. The inmates body was quickly taken to another part of the lab out of my view. The soldiers and lab coats resumed their work without so much as a blink.

Once they had all the inmates restrained and sedated the lab coats began wheeling in zombies on restraint tables. The zombies were gagged in addition to being tied down. They placed one next to each of the inmates. A lab coat was stationed with each patient (or more appropriately victim). One by one I watched as a lab coat would un-gag a zombie and offer it a part of the sedated inmates body to bite. One did a foot, one a hand, upper arm, lower leg, head, neck. Each inmate was bitten only once in one major part of the body then the lab coat would grab his clip board and a stop watch and wait. The inmates one by one started to come too. The one that had been bitten in the neck started to convulse. I don't know how long it took for him to die but it wasn't long. He was bleeding profusely. The bite must have gotten into his jugular. He lay still but only for a matter of minutes. His eyes opened and he began wildly trying to bite the lab coat. The lab coat just calmly wrote down some notes on his clip board and made a note of the time.

The other inmates that had awakened began to scream in fear. They all began to realize what was being done to them. They tried to break free but it was useless. They were so afraid. The terror in their eyes was unimaginable. No matter what their crime they didn't deserve this.

The soldiers came around and gagged them all to quiet the room somewhat. I stayed at my perch the rest of the day watching in horror. A few more of the inmates died and came back as I watched. It seemed if they were injured closer to a major artery the infection would spread much more quickly. As I watched they brought in more inmates. They injected some with blood drawn from freshly reanimated zombies. This didn't seem to have much effect in the time I was there. But when they injected them with saliva the inmates began to show signs of the infection as rapidly as the men bitten.

One inmate they took to a table right in front of my window perch. He was sedated. They had him bitten on the hand by a zombie. They then proceeded to amputate his arm at the elbow! I turned from the window and vomited. I couldn't watch any longer. These were people. They were just using them like laboratory machines. They wronged society but what they did was nothing compared to what these lab coats and soldiers were doing to them. It was wrong -

Something moved in the alley. I pulled myself out of the window well. I didn't realize how long I had been down there. My whole body ached. It was starting to get dark. I was still looking down the alley where I had seen the movement. My eyes were not adjusting to the light right because I had been peering through that hole so long. I began to back toward the nearest cross street. I stepped back onto a bottle. It flung out from under my foot and I went down. As I raised my head I saw what had been moving in the alley. A thorpe stepped out from behind a dumpster with the remnants of an animal hanging from it's mouth. It charged. Without thinking I raised my rifle and fired. I shoot four rounds before one connected with it's head. It dropped at my feet. Then I heard a thundering of boots inside the facility. I had to move fast. I got to my feet and ran. I could hear a team of soldiers burst from the building just as I jumped a fence into a yard a block away. I ran as fast and as long as I could. I finally slowed about a block from Jan's. I thought my heart and lungs were going to burst but I didn't hear any soldiers following. As I approached Jan's door I realized I had dropped my pick-hatchet when the thorpe attacked me.

I stepped inside Jan's and was greeted with concern and hot soup. As I write this I have compiled a small list of things to ponder.
1. I need more cardio.
2. Tethering your weapons to yourself is probably a good idea.
3. If you can find others that are friendly stay with them.
4. Those bastards at the facility will have to answer for what they're doing.

Daycare.

This plague - it's not only killing people and raising the dead - it's driving the living insane.

I went out to scout for food and any more information on what the government is doing at the facility. My searches are taking me further and further from Jan's place as supplies run lower. A couple of nights ago my search took me into a small neighborhood of conservative little houses. It was eerily quite on the street I was walking. There were almost no zombies to be found. All the houses seemed empty. Many of them had been cleaned out of food and supplies but not ransacked like I had seen in other places around the city. I continued on down this quiet street until I came to a brightly colored house at the dead end of the street near a park. With it's yellows and vibrant blues it seemed out of place in the muted earth tones of the other homes in the neighborhood. Then I saw why. It had a sign out front that read, "Rita's Daycare: Preparing Your Little Ones For the Adventures Ahead!" I stood staring at the sign stifling a chuckle when I heard movement coming from the back yard.

I readied my rifle and my mind for action. I walked around the side of the house with extreme caution. There was no way to prepare a mind for what awaited me. As I turned the corner a fence came into view. It was topped with razor ribbon. Inside the fence - inside - contained within there was playground equipment and - children. What used to be children. There must have been fifteen of them. They were all, every one of them, dead - zombies. I was in shock. I lowered my gun in disbelief. Everything started to get fuzzy. I realized tears were streaming from my eyes. I couldn't let this stand. I had to put them down. I had to.

I stepped right up to the edge of the fence in a stupor and raised my rifle. I heard the pop of a round go off. Then another. But they weren't my rounds. I turned toward the house as I heard her scream, "Get away from my children!" She fired again and this time I felt the tug and burn as a bullet tore the skin and clothing of my right leg. I rolled to the left and got to a knee as this woman ran towards me. I took careful aim as I shouted, "Stop lady! I don't want to hurt you! Stop!" She raised her rifle. My bullet struck and she fell.

The children - zombies - had gathered at the edge of the fence closest to me. They were moaning and scraping trying to get at me. It was an awful high pitched moan unlike any I had heard previously. I stood. My right leg was beginning to hurt but it was not what I was thinking about. I went to the fence once again, raised my rifle, and...

When it was done I went to the woman and retrieved her rifle. It was just a small semi-automatic .22LR. I was running severely low on ammunition myself so I thought it best to keep it. Walking into the house I figured out what had happened to the rest of the neighborhood. The kitchen was filled with all the food stuffs from the surrounding homes. There was far more than I could carry so I loaded my pack with what it could handle. I then went into the living room where I made another horrifying discovery.

There was a fireplace on the wall. It was filled with bones. Next to the hearth was a large chest freezer. I didn't want to open it because I was fairly certain of what I would find. I had to be sure though. As I raised the lid I had to fight back the vomit and tears induced by the smell. It was full of more bodies to be burned. I am sure they were the residents of the neighborhood and any other zombie - or person - who had threatened the "children" here at Rita's Daycare.

I completed the search of the house finding a couple thousand .22LR rounds and some much needed medical supplies to treat the wound on my leg. It wasn't bad but with the condition of my clothes I would have to keep a close eye on it to prevent infection. I limped wearily back to Jan's. I haven't slept the two nights since. I keep seeing the faces of those kids in my mind. It will pass - I hope.