I think I just had an awesome idea. We did a 'class story' in creative writing last week. Everybody can add a bit or piece to a story. It can be about whatever you want!
So, go ahead and add a little bit, then someone else will add the next part, and so on and so on...
If it works it'll be an awesome story.

Note: are there nukes?
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Kuthiani: I figure I have nothing else to do, so why not start this off?
Here goes nothing...

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

Beep Beep Beep
Without picking up my head, I reached over to the alarm clock and tapped the snooze button again. I never was a morning person. What was the point? Nothing exciting happens that early anyway. I had no place important to go and nothing important to do...
My eyes shot open as I remembered I still had to cover my story. I quickly jumped up and started to pull on a pair of jeans from off the floor.
This cannot be happening. I thought to myself. I hastily pulled on my socks and slid into a T-shirt. I've got to get there and FAST.
I'm a photojournalist, and I was late for a meeting. I had planned to meet with a family for interviews regarding a human interest story. One of the older family members had passed away, but he contributed a lot to the community. If I didn't get back to the office without this, there was a chance I could be fired.
I had finished getting dressed, grabbed my camera and rushed out of my apartment door. I hopped into a car, then soon afterward hopped into the right one. Come on. Come on! Don't do this to me. Finally, the car started. It was time to head out about fifteen minutes ago. I gotta make it there before I get fired... Rushing down the highway, things seemed to be going alright. But then of course, the sound of a siren was soon on my tail.
Worst...day...ever... In a mix of frustration and despair, I pulled the car over from 80 to 0.
"Do you have any idea how fast you were going sir?"
"Which answer will get me on the road quicker?"
After acquiring my monthly ticket, I casually obeyed the law and went the max of 65. Soon I was off the highway and doing 80 again.
I am so late. Jeff's gonna kill me. Maybe I'll crash and die first... But I had no such luck. I reached my destination, a large ranch house, and saw a news van there. Great, the other station beat me here. But my luck was even worse. It was the station I worked for. And beside the truck stood my boss, Jeff. Taking a deep breath, I put on some shades and walked calmly over to the man. "Hiya Jeff"
He didn't respond. Not good. He just looked at me and twitched his puffy moustache. After what seemed like an eternity of this, he finally answered: "You're late."
No kidding. "Yeah, I had to pick up..."
"...Your little sister, and take her to daycare."
"Wow Jeff, you didn't tell me you could read minds."
"I can read lies." Gulp. "I called your mother, Keith. You don't have a sister."
I was really nervous now. "Well you can't expect her to remember everything. Do you know how old she-"
He cut me off. "-Keith. You always show up late. You're lucky I knew you wouldn't be here on time. I got Josh getting this story."
Sure enough, good-ol' arrogant snot-nosed Josh was speaking with the family on the porch.
Look what the cat dragged in. "Oh, how nice."
Jeff continued to sentence me to my demise: "I have to fire you Keith. I have no alternative. You're too unreliable. Look at you, your wearing a T-shirt to an interview, and two different shoes!"
I looked down at one dress shoe and one tennis shoe, then looked back up at Jeff. "The Nike got lonely."
"I'm sorry Keith. You need to go. I've got a friend who owns the department store near..."
It must have been obvious that there was no way I was working in a store. "Keith, I don't wanna pull you away from the thing you love. You can still be a photographer. Start freelancing."
"Yeah. Alright. Sound good." I started backing up to the car. "I guess I'll see you later, Jeff." I gave a weak farewell wave and walked back across the stupid dirt, opened the stupid door on my stupid car and began to take the stupid ride to whatever stupid place I was going. I had no idea where i was going.
Everything seemed pointless. Freelance? How am I supposed to do that in THIS town? There was no way I could get a story with my own resources when my competition consisted of two news stations, and good-ol' arrogant snot-nosed Josh. I pulled over on the side of the long and winding dirt road, then slammed my head down on the steering wheel while letting out a sigh.
VROOOOOM
What the-? I looked up and saw a haz-mat truck speeding down the highway. It would have been nothing, but it seemed like it was going nearly 100 miles per hour. More sirens now. What? Are they gonna arrest me for pessimism now? They sped passed me too. Could this be a high speed chase? Freelance eh? Looks like this is where I start on my own. I pulled back onto the road and followed the cars from a distance, as to protect myself from another ticket.
Ahead I could see the vibrant orange haz-mat symbols spin sharply then veer off of the road. Both cop cars followed in pursuit. There's got to be a good story behind this. My turn. All four wheels escaped the dirt road and into a grassy field. The grass suddenly got much taller, and as my front bumper mowed, my windshield became covered with grass. Grass was coming into the side windows as well. I coughed and sputtered as I clicked the window button.
Both windows raised up and I wiped my face off while keeping one hand on the wheel. I could still follow the tracks the other cars made and barely see them through the windshield wipers and the tall grass. Should have got a truck. Suddenly the grass was gone and ahead all three cars had stopped. I put the break on, and turned the wheel to avoid hitting one of the three cars in front of me.
Too sharp.
I rolled over and over. Luckily, I wore my seat belt. Finally, I came to a stop while upside down. As my eyes traveled over to the other cars, I saw that the haz-mat van was turned on it's side. I didn't see the cops. They must have been on the other side of the vehicle. I unbuckled carefully, broke the window and climbed out while grabbing my camera case. Several small cuts and bruises covered me, but nothing fatal. As I regained my balance, I looked back up at the vehicles. Then I noticed something very strange.
"Why are there blood marks on the top of the van?" I said quietly to myself.
My interest in what was going on far outweighed the thought of getting back to town with my car like it was. For all I knew, this could end up being the story of my life.
Of course, that might be an understatement.
I called out from next to my own vehicle. "Hello? Hello? Are you OK?"
No answer. "If your a cop and you have a gun, I'm coming around. Don't shoot." Who knows, they might have thought I was the person they were chasing?
Carefully and quietly I walked around the van from a distance with my camera ready. Now a creek was exposed downhill from this point. I looked in the windshield of the flipped van. It was covered in blood, and no cop was anywhere to be found. I snapped a picture and continued to go around the vehicle, until I was standing right behind it. I've got to open this thing. Something important might be in here. I grabbed the latch and pulled, but it seemed to be locked. Maybe there's a way to get in from the front?
Against my better judgement, I shattered the glass windshield. A horrible stench erupted from the front, and I couldn't stand it. I nearly ran from the overturned van as to escape the fumes. That's disgusting! What spawn-of-Satan creature is capable of that kind of stench?
At that time, I knew there was no way I was going to go inside of that van. As I bent over and gagged, I saw a trail of blood.
That's more like it.
As I followed the trail, I ended up going down the hill, across the creek, through the woods and into another field. Just as it seemed the trail was lost, a voice could be heard. Ahead of me I saw two cops walking behind a man in nothing but orange pants. There seemed to be a wound on his arm which must have produced all the blood. One of the cops was cuffed to him. I quickly took a couple of zoomed pictures, then headed over to ask what was happening. As I got closer, the man continued to yell at them.
"You have to kill me! Kill me now! You don't understand! You have to kill me! Kill me! Kill me!"
Annoyed, the cop that wasn't cuffed to him abruptly stopped him, then harshly replied, "As much as I would like to do that for you, we can't legally do that. Now you shut up or I'll give you a real reason to say that."
He then looked straight at me and said, "You didn't hear any of that."
"Aye aye, captain." I started walking alongside them. "By the way, whats the story about the haz-mat van?"
The cop that was cuffed to the madman replied to me, "It's exactly what it looks like. A suicidal man steals a car for a final thrill."
Looking at the man's arm, I said, "Aren't you going to do something about that wound?"
No reply.
I now walked backwards in front of the bleeding man. "Was there another passenger? I mean with all that blood in the front... And it smelled horrible after..."
I chose my words carefully in front of two men of the law.
"...after the windshield broke."
The madman instantly looked straight at me with a stare that was both hollow and piercing at the same time. I could see fear in his expression. He let out a groan and fell to the ground, limp.
The cuffed guard grunted and unlocked the bracer, rubbing his wrist. He then checked the man's pulse. "We need to get him to the morgue." He looked to his partner. "Call for an ambulance and a tow-truck. We'll get that haz-mat outta here too." He was now looking at me. "Are you with the news?"
"Well, no... not anymore."
"Then get outta here. We got enough to worry about without you getting in the way."
"Of course." I walked back in the direction of my overturned sports car after taking some pictures of the newly dead body. After a while of following the trail of blood back, I reached it. How in the world am I supposed to get back home? Suppose I'm just gonna wait for the tow-truck to get here and get someone to help me flip it back over. The stench seemed to be much less corrosive now. Time to try again. As I got closer, the smell was awful, but I could handle it long enough to find out what was in the van. I had a feeling there was more to this than the cops explained. As I crouched to look inside, the first thing I saw was a body.
What was more disturbing, was that the head of this body was beaten to a pulp. I would have almost thought it was decapitated, but I could see half of a face, and several teeth mashed above the neck.
That madman must have murdered this dude. I took some pictures. This was going to be quite the story. And I, being the self-motivated, freelancing expert photographer that I am, was going to get the story first.
POW POW POW
I jumped at the first one. Gunshots. It sounded like they came from down the hill... where the cops were. I ran that way but stopped before i left the woods. I didn't want to get shot. As I looked around, I saw nobody. Not even the dead man. I stepped onto the field and found only the puddle of blood where the man had died. I took a picture.
POWWWWW
This one was much louder than the first. Was that a shotgun? I ran through the field, following my ears. A hill was ahead of me. It must have come from the other side of that. Panting the entire way, I held my camera in one hand and uncoordinatedly swung the other as I ran. All the time I spent following that trail of blood back and forth was taking a toll on me. Must...get...in better...shape...
As soon as this thought was completed, My shoelace came untied and caused me to trip. I was beginning to pick myself back up, but I found that I was only a few feet away from the top of the hill, and a banging noise was coming from the other side. Slowly, I crawled up from my prone position and looked over the top of the hill.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see.
A small farmhouse was down the hill, and next to it was an even smaller shed. But in front of the shed, a man in orange pants was banging on the closed door and letting out a screeching yell. This time, he was missing an arm. Is that the guy who died? It can't be... No bloods coming out of where his arm should be...What is going on here?
Of course, after a few seconds of inspecting the scene, my photographer instinct kicked in. My camera makes a slight beep when a picture is taken, and somehow between his poundings on the shed, he heard it. I guess he didn't like pictures very much. He wasn't exactly photogenic either. The crazed man instantly looked at me and started to run after me. I don't think I had ever been more scared in my life before that.
"Hey! Hey! I'm just getting pictures! Stop! I'm freelancing!"
Perhaps that only made him more angry. I couldn't run. I was frozen at the top of the hill, and an insane man in orange pants was going to beat my head in with his only arm.
I tripped on the same shoelace, but this time I fell backwards. The creep lunged at me, which instantly caused me to kick him back down the hill. I watched as he screamed while rolling back down where he started from. But it was no ordinary scream. He sounded like something that waits in a child's closet to eat them while they're sleeping. It was like the experience of watching the very same man look at me as he died. Chilling.
When he reached the bottom, he began to repeat the cycle. Stare. Scream. Run at me.
POWWWWW
The sound forced me to shut my eyes. I quickly remembered the immediate danger and opened them once again. Below me, the man wasn't only missing an arm. He lost his head. In front of the shed stood a large man in overalls, holding a shotgun. I was still so frightened I couldn't move. Out of the shed came the cop who pulled me over earlier, being assisted by what seemed to be a teenage girl. His leg was held up behind him as if he was hurt. Behind them, an older woman slowly approached. I assumed this was the big guy's wife.
By this time, I regained come of my sanity and took a picture of the scene. I then headed down the hill and towards the spectators. When I reached them, I asked, "So, does anybody want to explain why this guy kinda... resurrected and tried to kill me?"
I was getting tired of people not replying. They all just stood there and stared at the haz-matty.
The older man then said, "Honey, get him inside and take care of his leg."
"Not before I check on my partner." Replied the cop.
"What's to check? You witnessed him being eaten alive!"
Looking straight at the older man, he replied, "I have to confirm his death."
At this point I was looking back and forth between each person speaking. "Eaten alive? And...Wait! ...You're just gonna leave him here?"
They had already begun to walk to the other side of the house. The cop was still being helped by the girl.
The woman touched my shoulder, causing me to jump. "Come inside dear, I've got coffee made."
I looked back down at the newly headless man, then picked up my camera to get a shot. "What is going on here?"
Beep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

"Mornin' Officer" Said the kid with a forced smile.
"Do you have any idea how fast you we're going sir?" I was pretty sure that I had given him a ticket a couple of months ago.
"Which answer will get me on the road quicker?"
After this was over with, I watched him pull back onto the road at a normal speed. He would probably start speeding again in a few moments after he was out of my sight. I got back into my car and watched the radar as more cars passed by.
It was my first day back from vacation. As an officer of the law, I don't generally get to take that kind of time off. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have done it in the first place. But I finally got to spend some much needed time with the girl back home.
I sat back with my eyes on the small screen. 62...55...63... People were obeying the speed limit.
I suppose altogether, the vacation I took was very much worth it. The time spent with Shelly was great. I could care less about the cruise or Mexico itself, but just being with her was amazing.
59...59...66...
I woke up nearly three hours before I had to report to work. What can I say? I love my job. Shelly says I love it too much. But at least we're passed that phase for now...
54...93...93...
I hardly noticed the radar until I heard the siren. Another officer was in pursuit of a haz-mat vehicle. If that van is carrying chemicals, this could end up bad. I decided to aid the other officer. I pulled out of the gas station lot where I was waiting, turned on both my siren and lights, then began to pursue the van.
I didn't realize that I was also about to pursue the story of my life.
My wheels began to spin faster and faster as to catch up. Like they are supposed to do, people pulled over to let me by. I still wasn't going fast enough. I couldn't see either of the vehicles yet. Over the radio I heard a familiar voice, "Still in pursuit of a speeding vehicle. He's turning down county road 318. Requesting backup."
I now knew who the other officer was. It was Andy. We we're partnered up on several occasions. "Hey Andy, I'm gonna help you out with this one. I'm catching up now."
After a few seconds his voice came back. "Frank? Back from vacation already?"
"We'll talk about it after we make the arrest."
After finishing my statement, I turned down county road 318. It was a dirt road, so a lot of dust was floating around. I really had to focus if I wanted to make it through there alive. As I continued, I found myself directly behind Andy's car. Several moments of this followed. Luckily for us, this road was hardly used. Not many people lived down here.
A grassy area was right off the road ahead. This is where the van pulled out and began to wobble as it continued to make its way through the tall growth. Then, he began to roll over. As I got to the point where the grass was short again, I slammed on my breaks and came to a halt right before I collided with the van or Andy.
As I exited the car and pulled my gun, a man in orange pants emerged from the passenger door (which was sticking straight up to the sky now) and made a run for it. "Hey! Freeze!" Said Andy.
Both Andy and I began to chase him on foot. A trail of blood could be seen. He must have been injured from the rollover. I noticed what seemed to be a gash near his shoulder.
"Stay away! It's dangerous to be near me!" The man hollered back at us as he ran.
Following both his voice and the blood, we ended up crossing a fallen tree over a creek, and into a moved field with a few hills. We must have chased him until he could no longer run. Nearing the center of the clearing, he fell to his knees and began to vomit. As Andy and I neared him, he wiped his mouth with his arm and began to say, "It's beginning. I shouldn't have run."
"Your absolutely right" said Andy as he cuffed the man to his own wrist.
I reported the arrest over my radio and the three of us began walking back to the cars.
"My blood was rushing... it... I helped it..."
This was nothing new. There were plenty of times when I would make arrests, and the suspect would act crazy in his own defense.
"You have to kill me!"
Great. One of these guys. I had a real problem with people who were suicidal. They decide to endanger the lives of others while attempting to kill themselves or get killed.
"You have to kill me! Kill me now! You don't understand! You have to kill me! Kill me! Kill me!"
Much annoyed, I got in front of him, grabbed his "good" shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.
"As much as I would like to do that for you, we can't legally do that. Now you shut up or I'll give you a real reason to say that."
As I turned back around, the kid I pulled over earlier that morning was looking at me. For some reason, he was wearing two different shoes.
Where did he come from? "You didn't hear any of that." I told him.
"Aye aye, captain." He replied.
The kid began to walk beside me holding a camera in one hand. "By the way, whats the story about the haz-mat van?"
Andy replied to the kid, "It's exactly what it looks like. A suicidal man steals a car for a final thrill."
The kid then instantly asked, "Aren't you going to do something about that wound?"
What is this kid's problem? I thought to myself. The wound wasn't bleeding all that bad anyway. Soon, the kid was talking directly to the man in custody.
"Was there another passenger? I mean with all that blood in the front... And it smelled horrible after... After the windshield broke."
I was to focused on the chase earlier to notice that the windshield broke.
Spontaneously, the man picked up his head and looked at the boy. It seemed like he was frightened or something along those lines. He then flopped onto the ground. He was dead. Andy let out a grunt then unhooked the handcuff from his wrist. Then, he checked the mans pulse to confirm that he had died.
"Call for an ambulance and a tow-truck. We'll get that haz-mat outta here too." He spoke in my direction. As if I had to be told. He then looked at the annoying kid. "Are you with the news?"
"Well... no, not anymore."
They continues to talk as I contacted the station and told about the things that happened. The kid went back the way he came after taking some pictures. From behind me I heard Andy say, "What the-"
I looked back. He was staring at the body. As my eyes traveled down I stopped speaking on the radio. "Hold on" I said.
I wasn't about to report anything I didn't believe myself.
"Didn't you say he was dead after checking his pulse?"
"Yeah..."
The body was twitching. And not just a normal small movement of the hand. It looked like he was having a seizure.
"Well if he is alive, let the seizure pass."
That's not exactly how things happened.
Almost as soon as I finished the statement, the suicidal man froze again. In a few seconds, he opened his eyes. They were completely white.
"Frank..."
Before Andy could tell me anything, the man let out a scream. It sounded almost like a panther. He then lunged at Andy and bit his right hand. His shooting hand.
"Augh!" The man latched onto him and wouldn't let go. As Andy ripped his hand away, the man began to chase him. Andy couldn't draw his weapon because of where he was bitten. "Shoot him! Shoot him!"
I came back to my senses and pulled my pistol. That scream was taking its effect on me. I controlled my nerves and shot the man three times in the back.
POW POW POW
It didn't even phase him. I couldn't believe my eyes. I began to chase after the two of them for a second time that day. What is that thing? Andy made his way to the top of one of the hills, and as he turned around while clutching his hand, that "thing" lunged at him again, tackling him down the hill.
"Andy!" My adrenaline was rushing and I began to run faster. I didn't stop before looking down the other side of the hill. That was a mistake. Andy was wrestling with the creature next to a small house. That was the first thing I saw. Because I didn't take the time to pause, I started to roll down the hill after them. On my way down, I felt my ankle twist. grunting, I couldn't stop.
I hit bottom with a thud. Two things could be heard: Andy's screams and someone saying, "Bill! Bill!" I forced myself up as to help Andy, but it was too late. The most horrible thing I had ever seen was taking place right before my eyes. The thing was biting down on my partner's head. Blood spewed from his cranium like a water from a shower-head. I grabbed for my gun, but I had dropped it while falling down the hill. I only had one choice left. "Hey! Hey you!" Now I was the target. The beast stopped chomping on Andy's head to come after me. As I began to run the other way, POWWWWW.
It fell backwards. A large man in overalls (Who I assumed was the owner of the house) had shot it with a shotgun. The thing was now missing an arm, but it still wasn't giving up. The shooter called out, "Get in the shed! Everyone!" Everyone? I looked around and saw who I guessed to be his wife and daughter holding onto each other behind him. On one foot, I darted for the shed which stood beside his house. Once we were all inside, Bill closed the door right before the thing could get in. It was pounding hard in an attempt to get inside, and making an angry groaning/hissing noise.
"Is your foot alright?" asked the older woman.
"Twisted my ankle, but I'm alright."
As Bill pulled a round from his pocket and reloaded his shotgun, he looked at his wife. "Now I told you that we were gonna be needin' more than a single shot in these parts."
The thing quit beating its hands on the door, and the next thing I knew we could hear someone yelling, "Hey! Hey! I'm just getting pictures! Stop! I'm freelancing!"
Don't tell me...
Bill busted out of the door as the creature came tumbling back down the hill. Someone must have pushed it back down in defense. It then let out that ungodly noise it makes.
POWWWWW.
Before it could get very far, Bill had blown it's head off. At the top of the hill, I saw that same kid. What is this guy's problem? The younger girl (who seemed to be a teenager) put shoulders under my arm to help me walk. The next thing I thought about was Andy.
We all walked over to where the beast died it's second death. What is this thing?
"So, does anybody want to explain why this guy kinda... resurrected and tried to kill me?" Said that kid while walking up to the scene.
Persistent little creep.
Ignoring the camera kid, Bill told his wife, "Honey, get him inside and take care of his leg."
"Not before I check on my partner." I replied.
"What's to check? You witnessed him being eaten alive!"
I looked straight at him. He was right, but I still had a job to do. "I have to confirm his death."
Bill let out a sigh and we began to walk to where the body was.
That kid with the camera was very confused by now.
"Eaten alive? And...Wait! ...You're just gonna leave him here?"
We both ignored him.
The young girl was still helping me get around. When we reached Andy, I kept my calm. Half of the top of his head was chewed off and blood splatter was everywhere. The girl was crying by now. "Let's go inside." Said Bill. "Looks like we're all gonna need a little time to ponder, reckon?"
I kept my eyes on my former partner.
"Yeah..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

"Ashley?"
"Mmmmm?" I mumbled with my face in the pillow.
"Don't you need to get to work?"
I picked up my head. "It's Saturday, mom."
No dear, it's Friday.
"Oh. Ungh... I don't want to go to work today."
I dropped my head back down.
Here comes the stomping footsteps followed by my full name.
STOMP STOMP STOMP
"Ashley Elizabeth Myers! You get out of bed and get ready for work!:
"I don't want to, mom."
"I didn't ask you if you wanted to." She called from the doorway. "I told you to get ready for work."
I was way to tired to deal with this.
"I don't want to! I'm not going! I quit!"
"You are never going to make it in life if you're this lazy, Ashley!"
"I'm lazy. I can't help it."
She slammed the door.
Finally some peace and...
"I'm getting your father!" She called from the kitchen.
"Grrrrrrraaaaa!"
I got up, grabbed some clothes and went to the bathroom. "I'm taking a shower!"
This happened pretty regularly. I never wanted to go to work. I definitely am lazy, and I regret it.
But I still don't do anything about it.
I mean, I can work hard when I want to.
I just really don't want to do much.
Turning on the shower-head, I let the warm water pour over me. Don't they have anything better to do than command me all the time? No, they have no idea what it's like to be me. The only person that understands me is Jerry.
Jerry is my boyfriend. Mom and dad don't know about him. They would never let me leave the house again if they found out. The last time I got caught sneaking out at night, I told them it was to hang out with my friends, although it was really to be with Jerry. He's the best thing that's ever happened to me.
Knock Knock Knock
"Are you goin' to work?" Asked my dad through the door.
"Yes, I'm going to work!" I said in an annoyed voice.
I hate my job. I wash dishes in the back of a barbecue place. All the people that come in there leave half the meal stuck to the plates. I hate barbecue itself for the very same reason. That's what I get for living in a rural little town like this. No excitement. Just a bunch of boring old people to clean up after.
And I hate working.
I was given a choice to either go get a job or stay at home and help dad with his land.
Anything to get away.
I got out of the tub and dried off, then put my clothes on. Again, just like yesterday, I wore jeans and my red work shirt. Before I put my makeup on, I took the time to look at the clock in the hall. I've still got an hour. I can't believe she woke me up this early.
"Are you going to eat before you go?" Asked mom.
"When I can get free barbecue for breakfast?" I said sarcastically while checking my voice-mail.
She let out a sigh, then went out of our front screen door.
What am I going to eat? Hmm... I guess it's gonna be cereal again.
I'm really getting tired of cereal.
Outside I heard mom again. "Bill! Bill!" It was hard to hear anything else through the dishwasher's rumbling.
"Ugh! What did I do now?" I walked angrily out the door and approached mom.
"What did...?"
Mom was covering her mouth with her hands and looking at a scene in front of her. I looked as well.
I gasped at the sight of one man chewing on another man's head. I was speechless. The man being eaten was pushed to the ground and wearing a blue police uniform. A few meters away from him, another cop was there as well. This one seemed to be in pain.
Dad came running from behind the house. It only took him a few seconds to process what was going on. He ran inside to grab a gun.
"Hey! Hey you!" The policeman (that wasn't being eaten) yelled.
It worked. The cannibal looked up at him then let out a terrible scream. Dad came running out of the house and took a quick shot at the crazed man, causing his arm to detach from the rest of him. He fell backward from the shot and looked straight at my father. I was holding onto mom and breathing hard. I'm sure she was doing the same.
Another scream. The sound pierced me to the core. This man is crazy. With no concern for losing an arm, he started to stand back up.
"Get in the shed! Everyone!" Yelled dad.
He didn't have to say it twice. I quickly retreated to the shed with mom. Somehow, even hoping on one foot, the policeman got in the shed before we did. Dad was the last one in, and he quickly shut the door before the madman could enter. He started to slam his hands on the door. I was too terrified to scream.
Mom asked the cop about the condition of his leg.
"Twisted my ankle, but I'm alright."
Dad turned around and said in his hickish accent, "Now I told you that we were gonna be needin' more than a single shot in these parts."
The racket stopped as the cannibal man stopped beating on the door.
Everyone was quiet. Outside we heard, "Hey! Hey! I'm just getting pictures! Stop! I'm freelancing!"
Before I knew it, dad pushed the shed door open and took another shot. I closed my eyes.
POWWWWW.
I opened them again. The crazy man was dead. The shot took his head off.
The policeman began to hop on his good foot, but I put his arms around my shoulders to help. I had to hold tears in as we approached the dead man. My dad killed someone...
Down from the hill walked a man (Who seemed to be in his twenties) wearing two different shoes.
Where did he come from? Is he crazy too?
"So, does anybody want to explain why this guy kinda... resurrected and tried to kill me?"
This must have been the guy that was yelling about taking pictures, because he was holding a camera in one hand.
I looked down at the dead man again. Nobody answered the photographer.
"Honey, get him inside and take care of his leg." Said dad.
"Not before I check on my partner." Replied the policeman.
Dad looked a bit upset now. "What's to check? You witnessed him being eaten alive!"
"I have to confirm his death."
The photographer seemed a bit confused. "Eaten alive? And...Wait! ...You're just gonna leave him here?"
With a sigh, dad lead the way. I continued to assist the cop.
When we got to the body, I lost it. I couldn't look at anymore blood. I couldn't handle anymore death.
"Let's go inside." Said dad. "Looks like we're all gonna need a little time to ponder, reckon?"
"Yeah..." Replied the policeman.
We went inside the house. I had left a cereal box on the counter which I put up after helping the policeman sit down. Mom, like she does, was handing out cups of coffee. Her hands were slightly shaky. She had propped the policeman's leg on a chair with a bag of ice.
"So is Bill going to be in trouble for what he did?" Asked mom, trying to sound as calm as possible. It really wasn't working.
The policeman shook his head. "You've got five witnesses, and one of them is a man of the law. You shouldn't have any problems." He looked at dad. "You did it in self-defense."
The photographer walked in the screen door with a pistol in his hand. "You dropped this."
The cop looked a bit uneasy, then took the gun. "Thanks."
"So what was that thing?" Asked the man with the camera.
Nobody answered.
He looked straight at the policeman. "We both saw him die. Something is definitely wrong here."
None of my family understood this. We just sat and listened.
"He was insane. That's all that happened."
I sat on the carpet with my back against the wall and hugged my knees. There wasn't enough seats. The cop's foot was occupying the last chair.
The photographer shook his head and walked back and forth. "I think it killed the passenger in that van. You know... the haz-mat van."
"Haz-mat?" I replied "Do you think that has anything to do with the way he was acting... like an animal?"
"I don't know why he was acting like he did." Said the cop. "And I really don't care. He's dead now." He really seemed ticked.
"Yeah, but he came back once before. He might do it again." Replied the photographer.
Mom's hands were shaking badly, and dad had to pat her knee to make her feel better.
I questioned the situation. "You said something about him being resurrected. What was that all about?
He looked back at me. "Both me and... this guy... what's your name?" He said to the cop.
"Frank."
"Right. I'm Keith." He reached out for a hand shake, but Frank didn't seem in the mood for that.
"Anyway, both Franky and I saw that thing die. Then it came back. I really hope removing it's head is gonna keep it that way."
Dad finally started talking. "So you're ' that thing could come back to life a second time 'cause of some chemicals it was transportin' in a van?"
"Chemicals don't raise the dead!" Yelled the cop. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't believe in... in... zombies. It's inane! That's not what happened. What happened is: A crazy suicidal cannibal was lose, and now he's dead!"
Nobody talked for a while. Mom was holding back a whimper.
"You're just saying that because of your partner. You don't want to believe he died this way." Said Keith.
The cop didn't seem very concerned with his hurt foot as he jumped up to grab the photographer's neck and push him against the wall.
"Don't you ever talk about Andy that way..." He said in an angry voice. "...Or I'll kill you."
There was definitely a trace of fear in the photographer's face.
Mom spilled her coffee on the floor at this point, as dad quickly got up and stood beside the two men. "Hey! There ain't gonna be no rumblin' in my house!"
The cop mumbled something to the photographer then let go of him. He turned to face mom and said, "Thanks for the coffee." He then walked out the door, only slightly showing an issue with his ankle.
The photographer stared at the door for a while, rubbing his neck. He then turned back to us with an odd grin on his face. "Well, what do you say we discuss this little issue?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

Well this is different.
I propped my feet up on the end of the couch. Since my car was no longer operable, Bill had offered to let me stay until morning came. I spent the previous hours writing down the event that had happened. I planned to turn the story in to the press (With a little help from Bill and his truck) first thing in the morning. I couldn't wait to throw this in Josh's face.
Jeff, you have no idea what kind of a story you're missing out on.
I smiled and stuck my hands behind my head to relax. I never knew a couch could be that comfortable. Eyes closed, I was daydreaming about the day to come.
This is great! Best... Day... Ever...
"Do you need any blankets, dear?" Said Marie, Bill's wife, as she stuck her head around the corner from the kitchen.
"Nah, I'll be alright. Thanks."
She nodded and almost seemed a bit disappointed before she retreated again.
Pretty soon, the minutes turned into an hour and everyone was asleep. I don't know what I dreamt about, or even if I had a dream that night. But I awoke the the sound of: Beep. Beep. Beep.
I was really getting tired of that noise. Nothing but trouble came with it.
Unable to tell where it was coming from, I silently got off of the couch and walked to the kitchen. In front of me, Ashley (Bill's daughter) was sitting at the small wooden table and looking at a camera. My camera.
I walked behind her and snatched my property back out of her hands. With a gasp, she quickly turned around to look at me with surprise. "Oh" She whispered. "I was just... looking at your pictures."
"Yeah, I can see that. And if you'll excuse me, I'm about to take her back to the couch and get some sleep." I whispered back.
"Her? You gave your camera a gender?"
I looked down at the girl. Like its weird or something? "As a matter of fact I did."
As I began to return to my place of comfort, she stopped me.
"Wait! I wanted to see the pictures... you know... of the guy."
I stared at her for a moment. "Alright. But only 'cause you asked nicely."
She rolled her eyes.
We both sat down on the couch and I scrolled through the images on my camera until I reached the photos of the day.
Beep. It made the sound every time I hit the scroll button.
"Here's the haz-mat van. There's blood all over the windows 'cause that thing killed the passenger. Smashed his head in."
She looked intently at the pictures of the overturned vehicle.
"Here's our buddies, Frank and... the other guy... with the thing."
"He looks normal." She said without taking her eyes off the screen.
"He was just a guy before he died and got his pants in a bundle. Kept yelling at the cops to kill him before that. I dunno why... yet."
"When are they gonna take the bodies away?"
That was a really good question. After Frank left, nothing happened. The bodies were still laying outside. I really wasn't sure why he didn't return with more cops to take care of the situation.
"I dunno. Franky probably just needs some time alone."
She shivered and replied, "I hope they get them out of here soon."
You said it.
We continued to scroll through the images. Ashley didn't speak very much after that.
"Well, are you satisfied? Are you stuffed to the rafters with all the gore you wanted to see?" I asked.
"Who was the girl in the pictures?"
Oh great... "Eh? What pictures?"
She grabbed the camera out of my hands and quickly began to scroll. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Hey! Hey! Gimme that!" I tried my best to grab it back, but she was too agile for me.
Ashley stopped scrolling and showed me the screen of the camera. "Here she is."
I saw my moment of opportunity and snatched the camera back. "It's just a portrait. I take all kinds of pictures." I said as I tucked the camera next to me, on the couch.
"But you're a journalist. You don't have any other photos on there that aren't related to a news scoop."
"Oh clever you." I said mockingly. "This was a human interest story, thank you very-"
"Then why so many pictures of her? And so many different places? It almost looks like you're stalk-"
Her sentence was cut short by a familiar shriek.
Oh, don't tell me...
I looked at the front screen door. Another wooden door was covering this one, but I didn't remember Bill locking it.
Ashley had grabbed hold of me, standing slightly behind me.
Well use me as a shield, why don't you? I thought to myself sarcastically.
The shriek came again. I could hear Bill holler something but I couldn't understand it. Soon, both he and Marie were thundering down the hall and into the living room, where Ashley and I were. Bill was holding his shotgun and aiming at the door.
Everyone jumped as the sound of breaking glass filled our ears, followed by a thud. It came from somewhere inside the house.
Ashley let go of me and grabbed her mother. They held onto each other for dear life.
"I think that was the bathroom window." Bill said quietly.
I pulled a pistol from under the couch cushion.
"Where did you get that?" Ashley managed to let out.
"Our dead cop friend didn't seem to need it."
Bill and I walked down the hall almost silently. When we got to the bathroom, the door was closed. Bill began to count down with only three fingers.
Three... Two...
I'm not sure in what order the following events happened, but I think this is how it played out:
The hideous scream I hate...
The bathroom door opened and something in a cop uniform attacked Bill...
I fell backwards and shot off my entire clip while closing my eyes.
My heart was beating in my skull. After a few moments, nothing seemed to happen. I opened one eye at a time and looked at what I had done.
Frank's cop friend was laying on top of Bill with bullet holes in several places, including his head.
Unfortunately, Bill also had some holes in his side, and bite-marks on his cheek.
Oh...no...
I stepped over the two bodies and tossed my crackers in the toilet.
What have I done?
About that time I heard a whisper.
"Keith..."
"Bill...?"
"Take... of my..."
I leaned down closer to him, and pushed the extra body off.
"What, Bill?"
"Take... care of..."
"I'm so sorry Bill..."
"My family..."
I can't believe this is happening. This can't be happening. This can't be happening. This isn't happening. It can't be...
"I'm so sorry..."
He gave his last words: "...care of them."
I had never been very good at fulfilling promises. His words scared me almost worse than the creature on the floor next to him did. But again, I looked at the wounds in his side.
I hate myself.
"Bill... I'm going to take care of your family. You don't need to worry, 'cause I'm gonna do everything I can to give them back what I took away."
No reply.
I had tears in my eyes and down my face. But somehow they weren't all tears of grief. I think some were tears of hope.
The first person to ever trust me with anything...
I decided right then and there to turn my life around, and be useful for something.
"I'll take care of them, Bill."
I took the shotgun from his hands and took a good long look at it before entering the living room again. Ashley and Marie were sitting on the ground, still holding each other. They looked up as I entered the room. I said the only thing that could come to mind.
"I'm sorry."
At this, Marie let out the most painful sob I had ever heard.
I'm sorry...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

Come on... Come on... Is there something wrong with the signal?
Nobody was answering at the station. I had been trying to contact someone with my radio for quite a while now. Night would be falling any moment, and I couldn't contact a tow truck for the van, or anyone else. I still needed to get the two bodies taken care of as well.
I decided I would try again in a few minutes. I pulled my cell-phone from out of my back pocket and dialed my home phone.
Riiiiing Riiiiing Riiiiing
A young females voice came on the answering machine.
"Hello, you've reached the Leatherman household. No ones here right now, so please leave a message." Beep.
"Hey honey, I'm probably gonna be working a little late tonight." I began to explain to the answering machine. "I know you're probably tired of me telling you that, but this time is different. Anyway, I'm waiting on the station to..." I stopped and thought for a moment. "Listen, I'm going to start taking some time off soon. I promise. I know that the last time I said that was... Well I-"
The answering machine replied, "To send a new message, press 2 now."
"I love you..."
I ended the call and put the phone back in my pocket.
I need to be there for her... Things need to change. I feel so stupid. If I can't choose between my job and Shelly, then I don't deserve to be called a man.
I had been standing beside my car for about half an hour. With tired legs, I opened the door and took a seat. Again, I tried to reach the station. No response came.
Riiiiing Riiiiing
My cell phone quietly let me know that someone was trying to reach me.
Please be Shelly...
"Hello?"
"Frank?"
"Who is this?"
"It's Craig. Anyway I was going to ask whats going on over there?"
"What do you mean?"
"Was there some kind of chemical spill or what?"
Confused, I responded. "What are you talking about?"
"The news said some kind of explosion happened in the county. I guess it's not affecting you though huh?"
"No Craig, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Well Okay then. When are you coming back to visit by the way? I haven't seen you in a couple of months."
"Craig, we're adults now." I let out a slight laugh. "We've got lives to live."
He gave a sarcastic reply, "Oh, so once we've moved along there's no reason for brothers to visit I suppose."
That hurt.
Craig continued to talk, "Why don't you come over for Thanksgiving this year? Bring Shelly too."
After a brief moment I replied, "I'll be there."
I think this surprised my brother a little. It took him a few seconds to respond.
"Alright! Awesome. You know where we live right?"
"Yeah. I'll be there."
Suddenly, I saw something in my side-mirror.
"Craig, I'm gonna have to go. I'm on duty."
"Alright bro, I'll see you at Thanksgiving. Bring some cranberry sauce!"
I pushed the 'end call' button and slowly opened my door. I stood and tried to focus my attention on the scene far ahead of me.
In my car was a pair of binoculars. I grabbed them and looked ahead.
Is that...?
There was a brown horse walking across the plain in front of me. That wasn't strange because plenty of people had horses in the community. The strange part was the rider.
I heard the story of the headless horseman but this was insane.
The person on the horse was missing a head and half a torso.
That was the third headless person I had seen that day. First the crazy cannibal, then the passenger in the overturned haz-mat van, (Which I had taped off when I returned from Bill's house.), and now this.
What is going on today?
This was not worth the hours I put into my job. Something told me to take the shotgun out of Andy's car. Reluctantly, I took it and got back into my own car. I slowly drove away from all that had happened that day.
My first stop would be the station. I needed to tell them about the overturned vehicle, dead cannibal, Andy, and the headless horseman.
They're gonna think I'm going crazy.
After that I would be headed home.
As I drove down the road, I began to notice a trend. Vehicles were passing by me, going the opposite way. For this road it was very strange to see cars unless they happened to be traveling in or out of town. The first few cars seemed to be hauling an unusual amount of people. After this, a minivan passed by with several things tied to the roof. An ATV carrying three people passed slowly behind it. Everyone was going slow due to the amount of people on the road.
The next vehicle gave me no choice but to put my flashers and siren on.
As my devices spun and whistled, The truck slowed down until I could talk to the driver through the window. I turned off my siren.
"Yes sir?" The man in the truck said. A woman was in the passenger seat.
"Are you aware that it's illegal to carry four passengers in the bed of your truck, all carrying firearms?" I said.
"Well under these circumstances, I didn't figure it made a whole lot of difference."
"Circumstances?"
He looked at me for a moment. "You know... those things..."
I looked blankly at him.
"The zombie things." He said.
The girl in the passenger side looked at me almost helplessly. The four people in the back all sat with their weapons at the ready.
"Sir...?" Said the man.
Someone was yelling from behind the truck. "Hey! Let's move!"
I turned off my flashers and started to drive again. The line of cars began to do the same.
Zombies? Is that what happened to that man?
The photographer was absolutely right. I didn't want to believe Andy died like this. I remembered the bite on the man's arm. It must be what turned him into that creature.
If Andy was bitten before he died...
I didn't want to think about it.
I drove until I exited the county road. People were taking all kinds of exits out of town. Not everyone left, though. Many lights were left on in houses, and people could be seen watching the cars out their windows. No cannibalistic people were in sight, but I still watched closely. I might have been the only person driving into the center of town.
Passing the gas station where I was waiting that morning, I heard my radio give out a small static message. I called in to tell that I was headed for the station.
"Chhhzzzzch...." My radio continued. "Chhhzch...dy?..."
I thought someone might have said Andy.
"This is Frank Leatherman, I'm close to the police station now."
I only had to drive a little further before I pulled into the station. Only a few civilian cars and one other law enforcement car was there. As I tried to open the entrance, I found out that it was locked. I knocked and yelled out, "Hey! It's Frank!"
Nobody came.
"It's me, Frank! Frank Leatherman!"
Nothing.
"I'm an officer! Let me in!"
Instantly, a woman (whom I didn't recognize) came running at the double doors. She looked scared and I soon found out why. From behind her, one of those things came running. It was an officer. As the girl came down the hall, she dropped something she was holding. Keys.
She didn't look back as she continued to run towards the doors. I yelled out to her, "Duck!" as I pulled my gun and shot through the glass three times. Luckily, the glass wasn't bulletproof, (Probably because the station is in the center of a rural area) and I could hit my target. The zombified officer fell on it's back.
The woman was leaning against the doors and crying, holding her hands above her head.
"Are there any more of those in there?"
She kept crying.
"Are there any more?" I said a little louder.
She shook her head, 'no'.
"I need you to open the door for me. I'm an officer."
She slowly stood and looked at me. She was frightened and still crying, but she retrieved the set of keys and after a while, used the right one to unlock the door.
I entered the building and she instantly clung to me for support.
I wasn't very good at comforting people, but I did my best. I held her with one arm and kept my pistol in my hand. "Is anyone else here?"
She quietly and sorrowfully let out a "No..."
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Carol."
"I'm Frank." I began to walk with her back to the lounge. I still had my gun ready, just in case. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"I came for my husband." She let out through some sobs. I helped her to sit down in a chair.
"Is he alright?" I asked as I pushed the power button on the television.
"You shot him..."
I didn't look at her. I closed my eyes and stood there, feeling horrible.
"I'm sorry."
"He was going to kill me. You had no choice." Her crying didn't seem all that bad anymore.
All was quiet except for the sound of the television. I flipped through the channels until I found the local news.
The newsroom was on camera and a woman reporter was reading from a sheet of paper.
"...Out of a horror film, but this time it's real. The cause is still unknown, but it is still assumed that the events taking place have something to do with a chemical spill in the northern part of the county. Many of the calls we have received are telling us that these 'zombies' really are undead. They suggest that they have seen the ghouls screaming and attacking after having been pronounced dead. It is suggested that residents of the county...
I pushed the power button again.
"Do you have any family in town?" I asked Carol.
"Why?"
"Because I'm leaving. I've got to pick someone up and get out of here. Someone needs to come get you."
She looked at the floor then responded. "Let me come with you."
I looked at her and tried to decide what to do.
"Alright."
As we exited the building, I grabbed water bottles from the small refrigerator in the back and her husband's gun. "Do you know how to fire a gun?"
"My husband showed me earlier." She said while again, looking at the ground.
I handed her the pistol before we got into my car.
"Do you know who those cars belong to?"
Carol looked around at the vehicles and replied, "That one is my husband's." She said as she pointed to the law enforcement car.
"One is mine, and the other two belong to a group of people who left earlier."
We pulled out of the station.
"Did you call out on the radio earlier?"
"No... my husband did though. He picked up a message but there was a lot of static. He thought it was someone named um..."
She was having a hard time coming up with the name.
"Andy?" I asked.
"That's it. Do you know him?"
"I did..." I didn't take my eyes off the road.
She seemed to understand what I meant. "I'm sorry..."
After a while of nobody speaking, she asked another question.
"Who are we picking up anyway?"
"Her name is Shelly."
"Oh. Is she your wife?"
"She's my daughter."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Dannykelso)
November 14, 2008

"Leon honey, breakfast!"
"OK Mom!" I replied, begrudgingly leaving my warm and comfortable bed. I picked up a pair of dirty jeans that were lying beside my bookcase and put them on. I then grabbed a t-shirt and pulled it on. As the t-shirt slid down my body and allowed me too see again I began to recognise an all too familiar scenario. Fuming, I raced down the stairs.
"Mom! Alice ripped my Dawn of the Dead poster!" I screamed.
"Well honey you would have those horrible posters on your walls." she retorted, taking my little sister's side, as always.
"They're not horrible, they're cool!"
"What? Leon, they're disgusting. How can you sleep with pictures of zombies everywhere?"
"Because!"
"Because why?"
"Because..." I paused, desperately fumbling for a witty comeback. "Because you suck, that's why!" eventually slipped out and I stormed back to my room slamming the door as I entered.
"Because you suck, that's why." I repeated in a whisper, chuckling to myself. I then walked over to my damaged poster, frowning. I gazed at the creatures it portrayed.
"Zombies are cool. It'd be so sweet if they did exist." I though to myself.
Suddenly, a realisation hit me. A simple little word that could spell disaster if not taken care of swiftly and effectively: Homework.
I had spent the majority of last night playing Dead Rising, which was unfortunate because I had homework for social studies I should have been cracking on with, but I was so determined to finish Overtime Mode, I lost track of time.
I immediately jumped on the computer in search of answers, and what I found shocked me. There was only one thing to do: Call Mike.
After our brief conversation we decided to meet at the water tower so we could have a better look at these "zombies". If they really were zombies, it would be OK. We'd been prepared for months.

[Hey guys, Danny here. Please, by all means integrate my character's story into your own character's, but please, don't change my contribution. I mean, Leon is my character, and I hope you respect my own creativity as much as I do all yours, I would never change any of your creations. So, like I said, by all means, put my character into your story briefly, or contact me so we can have a tie-in, but please, please don't change my contributions or use my character as the protagonist. Although, I do like the section below, it is quite well done. Thanks, Danny.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

Riiiiing Riiiiing
I could hear my dad pick up the phone from the other room. It kicked me off the Internet again. I really hate using dial-up. I put my forehead on the desk and waited for dad to get done talking, so I could re-establish the Internet connection.
"Mike, it's for you." I heard from the other room.
That's something I wasn't used to hearing. I walked away from the computer desk and he handed me the phone. "Hello?"
"Hey dude, listen to this..."
It was Leon.
"You know that current event thing we were doing in social studies?"
He always called me for stupid reasons.
"Yeah, what about it?" I asked.
"I looked at the local news website and this is what I found..."
Leon began to explain the news article he read and little by little I actually began to become happy that he called.
Finally, he concluded with a final sentence: "I think there may be zombies, Mike."
I knew it was really unlikely but it would be pretty awesome if that was true.
"So you wanna check it out?" I asked.
"Duh. Get your bike, I'll meet you at the water tower." He hung up before I could say anything. I had no choice now.
I emptied out by backpack and put a flashlight and my two walkie-talkies in it. I had a pocket knife in my pocket too. Soon, I added a spiral notebook, pencil, duct tape and some candy bars to the bag. I was pretty sure dad wouldn't approve of what I was doing, so I didn't ask permission to go.
Now it was time for my bike. After hoping on it, my next stop would be the water tower. Upon the way, I could hear someone yell, "Get outta here kid! Go home!" Turning to see who said that, I saw a man pass by in a truck. He had a lot of people in the bed of it. Behind him a lot of other cars were carrying people and things too.
Dude... This could really be happening.
I finally reached the water tower. Leon beat me too it by a few seconds. He had just gotten off his bike.
"Do you see whats going on?" He asked.
"Yeah... this could really mean zombies dude."
He looked up at the water tower. "Maybe we can get a better view from up there."
We both (after some difficulty) climbed the fence into the lot where the water tower stands. After that, we climbed the ladder on the tower.
It looked a lot lower from the ground.
I really never liked heights. In video games, they're nothing. I would cast my characters off buildings just for fun. But when you fall in a video game, you get to try again. I could have fallen at any moment.
We watched from the water tower at everything that was happening below. A whole lot more was going on than we previously thought. At first it seemed cool.
It didn't end that way.
People were boarding up houses. Some were driving away. All kinds of chaos was happening. The occasional gunshot was fired.
Suddenly I heard Leon say something.
"...Dude. We were right..."
I looked to find out what he was looking at. Below us, in somebodies backyard, we saw our first real proof that something was happening. A woman's corpse was laying in the grass, next to a barbecue pit. The proof came when we saw a man devouring her stomach.
I hurled over the edge railing on the tower.
"You OK, dude?" asked Leon.
I layed down on the steel platforming. "Yeah man, I'm good. Lemme get rid of my nausea."
Leon kept looking over the edge. The next thing I knew, everything was black.

"Hey!" I could hear Leon whisper.
"What happened?" I said as I opened my eyes. I looked around. It was darker now.
"You fainted man." He said. "Oh, and whisper. They might hear you."
"It only felt like two minutes...It's already dark?"
"Yep... shhh..."
I sat up, still on the water tower. There weren't very many cars on the road anymore. Leon pointed one of the houses. "Look."
My eyes scanned until I saw something. Someone was shuffling around, walking slowly.
"Is that one of them?" I whispered.
"Yeah, but it's weird... Some of them walk slow like that, But I also saw some running."
That wasn't comforting.
"There's not very many of them right now" I said as I looked around.
"Did you bring food?" He asked abruptly.
"Yeah... Some candy bars."
I could tell he brought some of his own too. He was eating from a bag of peanuts.
"How about water?"
I looked at my bag. "No. No water."
Leon let out a sigh. "We gotta find a better place. I don't have water either."
"Why don't we go to one of our houses?"
He looked around at the ground below. "That's way too dangerous right now. We would go to your house if anywhere though. I hate my family."
"You hate your family? My dads probably out drunk somewhere." I said back.
"Maybe there's a safe place near-"
POW POW POW
We both were startled. Both Leon and I slowly made our way to the other side of the water tower, where the noise came from. Below us, we could see the local police station. A man was pointing a gun inside the glass and a woman was on the other side, on the ground.
"Did he shoot her?" I asked.
Soon the woman stood up, then ran the other way.
"No... No... He's not shooting anymore..."
She returned and seemed to have unlocked the door for him. They both went inside.
"Maybe we should go there. He has a gun. We don't have anything. There could be food and water too."
"You're right." Leon replied.
The two of us crawled down the ladder until we reached the ground again. Finally...
Leon led the way (I guess since he was skinnier and could run faster) until we were behind one of the vehicles in the police station parking lot. We were just in time, because the people who were in the building we're coming out. I was about to stand and contact them, but Leon pulled me down.
"What?" I whispered.
Leon replied, "Did you see how fast they came out? I think they're looting the place...People like that want nothing but to survive. They'll kill us if they have to."
We could hear the people talking. The man was saying, "Do you know how to fire a gun?"
The woman then replied, "My husband showed me earlier."
I just assumed they were having an affair.
They pulled out of the parking lot in a police car. We waited for a few seconds, just to be on the safe side.
"Looting the place Leon? He was a cop. He works here."
It was too late now though. We ran into the building.
"Dude...look..." Said Leon.
Again, I looked where he wanted me too. A body was in the center of the hallway. We didn't want to continue without some sort of protection. I held my pocket knife out for Leon. I wasn't getting anywhere near it. He looked at me then at the knife. After taking it slowly and shakily, he walked to the body.
"It's dead." He told me. "There's two bullet holes in his head...and one in his neck. Come look at it's eyes..."
I did. The eyes were wide open and completely white.
"Let's get outta here." I said.
"We still need to get some food and stuff, Mike." He lead the way again. We found a refrigerator which had enough food for a short stay. There were also water fountains in the building. Leon turned on the T.V. and I used the remote (Which was under a chair for some reason) to turn down the volume a little.
They only told us what we already knew. Suddenly, we heard a pounding and cracking noise.
Nothing was said. We only looked at each other in shock.
Craaack
A window shattered. Quick footsteps were coming from the hallway where we entered, and a horrible scream. I was the first one running. I don't know which direction Leon took to get out of there, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. I found a locker room and quickly closed myself in. There was no lock on the door.
I really hope they don't turn doorknobs.
I ran to the back corner of the room, next to an open locker. I could see through the metal grate material. A pistol was on the locker shelf. I didn't even know the police had lockers.
I quickly took the gun and sat down in the corner, breathing hard.
The pounding noise now returned, but it wasn't on any walls or doors. It was above me.
Where is that coming from? I asked myself as I pointed the gun all around.
It stopped.
A whisper came. "Hey. I be alive mon' don't shoot.. I'm coming down."
"Leon?"
Above me, legs appeared. Someone was crawling out of the air unit. The person then dropped to the concrete floor below.
It wasn't Leon.
He let out a "whew" as he picked himself up and dusted himself off. He then looked at me and let out a big white smile. "We be gettin' into some big trouble eh mon?
He had brown skin and short course hair with a long, braided goatee. I didn't have any idea why he seemed so happy. Or why he was in the air vent. His Jamaican accent wasn't something I was used to.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Who am I?" He replied. "Da question is who be you?"
I stood up slowly. "I'm Mike. I'm hiding from the zombies..."
He looked at me for a moment then started laughing hysterically. It was almost scary.
"Hey! Shhh! They're gonna hear you! Hey! Shut up!" I pleaded.
This guy is crazy! What is he laughing about?
He replied to me through short bursts of laughter, "We be in a big pile o' dung joo' 'tink?"
"What?" I asked, confused.
"Joo' 'tink dis is where you gonna die?" He asked.
I was more scared of him than the zombies now.
This guy is nuts...
"Yeah... there's no way out now... and my friend is still inside... somewhere... We're stuck."
He smiled again. "Me 'tinks not."
From under his shirt on the small of his back, he pulled out two pistols.
I couldn't believe my eyes. "Where did you get those?"
"joo' no needin' be askin' questions now mon. We gotta take care o' some bi'dness." He let out another strange laugh, while walking towards the door.
"You've got to be kidding me! We can't go out there!"
Too late. He kicked down the door and walked calmly outside.
POW POW POW POW POW POW POW
Horrible screams and shrieks filled the building.
My eyes were wide open and my jaw was dropped. Slowly, I followed him when the gunshots stopped. "Hello?" I asked before leaving the room.
"Ja mon, I cleaned up da place. Joo' gon' be safe now."
I walked out slowly, holding the pistol pointed in front of me. I was still shaking. The man with the guns was standing with one foot resting on a dead zombie's head. "Now joo' said a friend o' joors is here?"
Who is this guy? I thought as I nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 14, 2008

I drove into the driveway of the familiar, garden-enclosed house. They hadn't mowed in quite a while and the flowers weren't as perky as they used to be. The bushes needed to be trimmed too. I looked at my watch (since the clock in my truck was broken) and confirmed that this was when she told me to come. I exited the vehicle and began to make my way across the paved walkway, and up to the door.
As I tapped the doorbell, I could hear the familiar dinging noise which every house in town seemed to have. The next thing I heard was a barking dog from inside the house. After that, the doorknob clicked and a woman opened the door.
"Oh hey Simon! I completely forgot you were coming today, sorry. How long do you think this is going to take?"
"Probably twenty minutes at the most. I could take care of those bushes too if you want me too."
She looked back into the house to tell her dog to calm down. It didn't help very much.
"Well-"
Buzzzzz
Her cell phone started to vibrate on her kitchen counter. I could see if from the front door.
"Sorry, hold on please."
"No problem."
She hurried into her kitchen but left the door open. I began the process of waiting patiently for her to return. I could hear her from where I was standing, although the barking made it more difficult.
"Hello? ... Hey! ... So was I, actually... Well that's what I... What?... Are you... Oh... OK, thanks... Bye."
She ended the call and ran her hand through her hair, looking agitated. She then placed the phone back on the counter, then returned to the door. She yelled at the dog this time. It seemed to work.
Her eyes were pointing to the ground now. "Sorry about that... Looks like I just got fired from work."
I really felt sorry for her. "I'm sorry ma'am."
She really seemed upset. "You'd better just take care of the lawn, Simon."
"Listen... I'll trim the bushes for free." I said as I headed for my truck to get my equipment.
"You don't have to do that Simon..."
"Hey it's no problem. I'd be glad to do it."
She smiled a little. I was hoping I could lift her spirits somehow. "Thanks."
I went through the same old process of mowing and trimming. I even fertilized the flowers for her. Might as well lift more than one mood. It was a little more than thirty minutes before the job was finished. The front of her house looked so much nicer now.
"That's it." I told her.
She smiled and handed me my pay, which she had prepared in advance. "Do you drink coffee?" She asked.
This was the first time I ever actually spent time in her house. The dog wasn't barking anymore (Thank goodness). We sat and talked for a while.
"Nice house. I mean I've never seen the inside. It's nice." I took a sip of the coffee.
"Thanks. I don't know if it compares to the outside of the house now though. You always do a great job on the yard." She replied.
"I'm flattered."
She gave out a slight laugh. "Thanks again for doing the bushes, I-"
SCREEEEEEEECH
The dog began to bark again.
"I can't believe some people." She got up and opened the blinds.
"Some kind of van... with orange stickers or something..."
"Probably a teenager." I said.
"Oh... Uh-oh."
My interest was immediately sparked. "What is it?" I said before taking another sip of coffee.
"My husband told me not to let anyone in..." She closed the blinds quickly. "I don't know why he's home. He just left an hour ago."
I knew that with my truck parked outside, there was no use in hiding.
"I'm sure it'll be alright."
Knock Knock Knock.
The woman headed to the door and opened it. "Whats going on?" She asked.
Her husband replied with a similar question. "No, Whats going on here?" He walked inside and saw me on the couch. I calmly took a sip of coffee.
"What did I tell you about this? Huh?" He slapped her.
I wasn't going to stand for that.
I put down my coffee cup and stood up. "Hey!"
She had both hands on her cheek. Her husband then looked at me. He was definitely made of more muscle than I was. His cop uniform was also pretty intimidating.
"Get out of my house." He commanded me.
"Don't hit her again."
"Go, Simon." Said his wife.
I headed to the door. When I reached her husband I said it again. "Don't hit her." I then left and didn't bother to close the door. The next thing I heard was him screaming at her. "Carol! I told you not to-" He must have noticed the door because it slammed it shut.
She is really having a bad day.
I had another house to get to. It was a little bit of a drive, but I reached it near the time I was expected.
Again, I walked to the door and rang the doorbell. Same scenario, new house. The door opened.
"Hi" Said the girl. She seemed to be around twenty or so. She was a new client. "I just need the front mowed. Oh and if a little blue sports car shows up, could you please tell the guy to buzz off? Some guy has been watching me with a camera. I'm really getting tired of it. I'm really close to calling the cops."
"Yeah... cops are great at protecting women." I replied.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing." I smiled and headed over to my truck to begin working.
I developed a habit of watching everything around me while I work. It came from a run-in with some undesirables a few years prior. Plus, I was told to watch out for a stalker in a sports-car. Something caught my attention pretty quickly. Across the street, a minivan pulled in. A woman got out of her car while holding onto a bleeding shoulder.
Strange. I wonder what happened to her.
I continued to mow, but my attention was drawn to the house across the street. Minutes passed by and nothing interesting happened. Pretty soon the house faded from my interest.
Now it's pretty hard to hear anything through the buzz of a gas-powered lawn-mower. It either takes something very loud or very shrill to get through.
The noise I heard was all of the above.
A scream, no a shriek. I immediately stopped mowing. My buzzing stopped and I could hear more.
"No! Please No! Augh!"
Something was definitely wrong. It sounded like it was coming directly from the house with the minivan. I did the first thing that came to mind. Because of my unpleasant history, I always carry a pistol in my truck. I grabbed it and ran over to the house.
Now a much less shrill scream came. It sounded so much more painful though. I opened the door and rushed inside with my weapon in front of me. The screaming I heard was coming from a man. That seemed a little strange to me. Finally I entered a bedroom.
The man had good reason to be screaming. A woman (the one that came in the minivan) was tearing at his chest with her teeth. His resistance was hardly enough to protect himself. I rushed over and pushed the woman off of him. "What are you doing?" I asked in terror.
She looked up at me and let out a shriek. It was painful to my ears. It also seemed that her eyes lacked pupils and irises. They were pure white.
She lunged at me and my instinct kicked in. I shot without thinking.
It wasn't the first time.
I hit her right between the eyes. It only occurred to me what I had done after she hit the floor.
You had to do it. She was going to kill you. You were protecting yourself and...
I remembered the man. He wasn't screaming anymore. His chest had a big hole in it where fluids had pumped out of him. Stains weren't gonna come out of that shirt anytime soon.
I began to back up, quickly re-running what had just happened in my head. The man began to twitch.
I guess twitching is an understatement.
He was shaking violently, as if he was naked in Antarctica.
Not able to move, I continued to watch. I took my cap off and rubbed my head.
Then came shrieking.
He jumped up so suddenly.
I really have to control my shooting problem.
As soon as he lunged, I shot.
This time I hit him in the neck, but somehow it didn't affect him much. He stumbled a little but he wasn't done coming after me. He tackled me to the ground and was dangerously close to biting my nose off. I pried his waist up with my knee and thrust him off with some difficulty.
He hit the corner of a nightstand and left some flesh behind. Another shriek.
My next shot was much more precise.
After leaving a bullet in his skull, I ran out of the house. Someone on a brown horse galloped by on the street. "Get out of town! It's not safe!" They called out. They continued to say the same thing in the distance.
"Whats happening here?"
I ran back to the house where I was supposed to be working. The girl (Who told me her name was Jessica when she contacted me for my service) was standing on her porch. "What happened? Why are you carrying a gun?"
"I think we'd better leave right now."
"What? Why? What are you talking about? What were those screams?"
"I don't know whats going on." I said as I put my equipment back in the bed of my truck. "But something is wrong here."
"There's blood on your shirt..."
"Like I said, something is wrong here."
"No... I'm not going anywhere with you. For all I know you could have killed someone..."
A shriek came again from somewhere near.
"Trust me... you need to get out of here."
"My car isn't working... I was going to get it towed later today... to a shop."
"Of course it's not working." I said as I shook my head. "Anyone else in the house?"
"No."
"Get in the truck."
I climbed into the driver's side and turned the vehicle on.
We pulled out of the driveway quickly. For a moment I wondered about the van that screeched by earlier.
"What was that noise?" She asked.
"I'm really not sure. I saw two of the things though." She looked at me intently. "Shot 'em"
"What do they look like?" Jessica asked.
"People... They look like people with white eyes. They try to eat you. That's all I know."
Her eyes traveled back to the windshield. "Where are we going?"
"Anywhere but back there."
I could hear another shriek through the windows of my truck. I really hated that noise.
Jessica began to talk again, "Why do you have a gun?"
"Long story."
"I've got time."
"No you don't"
We were closer to town now. Other vehicles were behind us. The guy on the horse was in sight again. He was yelling at everybody to get out of town. I would have called him a lunatic under any other circumstances.
"Hey! Hey! I know that guy! Pull over!" I turned my head to see where she was looking as I slowed down. Three guys and a girl were standing around an SUV. One of the tires had obviously blown. Jessica stuck her head out of the window. "Hey! Matt!"
One of the kids looked up and said something to his friends. They all rushed over to the truck as I pulled it over to a stop. They were all carrying some kind of firearm.
"Jessica? Where are you headed?"
"I don't know... We haven't decided that."
"We we're headed to the police station..." Said the kid.
"Do you need a ride?" I said. They weren't getting anywhere with their vehicle like that.
"Yeah...you got room?"
"Pull the stuff out of the back and hop in."
They didn't ask twice. All four of them climbed in the bed of my truck and I found a place to pull back onto the road through the traffic.
"The police station huh?" I said to myself. "So how do you know them?"
"Graduated with two of them. I don't know about the others. Matt and Kelsey are the ones I know. That's the guy I talked too and the girl."
"Well I hope they know how to fire those weapons."
We continued to weave through town, only occasionally seeing one of the creatures. The radio didn't work in my truck, so we couldn't get any information that way. As we got nearer to the police station I could see a chubby kid bicycling with a backpack on. What a time to exercise. I thought to myself. "Get outta here kid! Go home!" I yelled. It was dangerous for someone so young to be out.
We pulled into the police station. Matt jumped down from the bed and tried to open the door. No luck.
I guess we set a trend of vain hope, because some other people pulled in after us.
"Is it open?" I heard someone yell out.
"No!" Said Matt. "It's locked!"
Why in the world are no cops in the police station?
There wasn't even a cop car there. But as soon as I noticed that, one pulled in. I recognized the people that got out of the car too.
Great... I'm about tired of seeing this guy.
It was Carol and her husband. He was holding her wrist and jogging up to the door. He had keys in his hand. He opened it and entered with his wife, but he closed the door directly afterward. I could see Matt pleading with him to open the door. They argued through the glass for a moment. Finally, Carol's husband pulled a gun and shot straight up. He now had it pointed outside.
Matt had ducked and made a run back to the truck. Some other people from the other vehicles were now begging to get in.
"Get back in the truck, kid" I said.
He obeyed.
"What? We're not gonna try to stay here?" Asked Jessica.
"Too many people. It'll cause trouble." I said as we began to back up.
"So where are we going now?" She asked.
I let out a sigh. "We're getting out of town. We'll take 318. I don't think a lot of people will be using it."
I was wrong.
As we began to leave the police station lot, I saw a man walking very casually on the sidewalk. He was black and had a long braided goatee. I don't know what I found more odd: His calm walk with his hands in his pockets, his strange choice of beard, or his smile. He looked like he was on cloud nine.
Does he even know whats going on?
As we continued down the road, we finally reached county road 318. We pulled in and found that everybody and their dog was using it to exit the city. Soon another disturbing event took place. Every car was going pretty slow due to the traffic. I don't know who was holding us up, but it was slow enough that the same brown horse was keeping up with the pace of the car behind me. This time no yelling was going on.
The man was still riding, but he was limp and hanging backwards. Blood was on his leg.
I really hope that doesn't mean...
The body began to have a seizure just like the one in the house earlier. I wasn't taking any chances this time. I rolled down my window and yelled out to the back of my truck. "Kill it! Shoot it in the head!"
"What? The horse?"
"The person! It's about to turn into one of-"
That horrible scream came again. I looked out my window. The rider was strapped in by his feet on the saddle. I was about to shoot it myself, but the kid in the back took care of it for me.
POWWWWW POWWWWW
He definitely hit it in the head... and then some. The horse was spooked so it took off until it was out of my sight. "Poor guy. He was only trying to warn people..."
I looked back at Jessica. She had both her hands on her face and was crying.
"Hey...We'll be alright."
A few more minutes of slow traffic passed by. Soon, a police car seemed to be headed into town.
What are they thinking?
His sirens and lights came on as he slowed down right next to me and rolled down his window.
He turned his siren off.
"Yes sir?" I asked, a bit confused as to why I was stopped.
"Are you aware that it's illegal to carry four passengers in the bed of your truck, all carrying firearms?"
"Well under these circumstances, I didn't figure it made a whole lot of difference."
"Circumstances?" He really seemed to not know what was going on.
"You know... those things..."
He just stared at me. I tried to make him understand better.
"The zombie things." I said.
He looked at everyone in the truck.
"Sir...?"
Someone behind us was impatient enough to yell, "Hey! Let's move!"
He just looked at the road ahead of him and started to roll. Soon his flashing lights went off too.
I don't know what my deal with cops is.
We drove on. I had no idea how long it would be before we could finally get to a safer place. I didn't feel very comfortable in my truck at the time. Another shriek filled our ears.
"It's gonna get dark soon. I hope we can find a safe place by then."
Jessica held her head down. "I have time now."
I sighed.
"You're probably right. But it's not something I tell to everyone."
She had her arms crossed over her stomach. "Who all knows about it?"
"Me."
"I'm trusting you with my life. All of us are. I don't just hop into trucks with lawn care people at random. I want to know if trusting you is a good idea or not."
"It's a little late for that isn't it?" I replied, looking at everything that was going on outside of the car.
"Please tell me... Just why do you carry a gun? That's all I want to know."
I didn't respond.
She let out an odd frustration noise and looked out her side window. I still had mine rolled down. I began to talk with the people I was carrying. "So what are all of your names?"
Matt was the one to talk. "I'm Matt." He pointed to the girl. "That's Kelsey"
She was holding a pistol in her hand. Matt had a rifle.
"This guy is Spencer, a friend of mine." He said as he gestured towards the other older boy. He then pointed to the smaller one. He looked younger than the rest. A teenager perhaps. "This is my brother, Jerry."
Spencer had a shotgun in his hand. He shot the horse rider. Jerry was armed with a pistol.
"So where did you get the weapons?"
Matt answered me. "I inherited them. My father owned an old gun shop on the east of town."
"Jameson Supply?" I asked.
"Yeah... That's right...It hasn't been around for a long time... how'd you know that?"
"I knew him."
"Well that's cool. I don't know if you know this, but he died a few years ago..."
"I know."
Matt let out a slight laugh. "Went down like a hero from what I've been told. Well what do you know, six degrees of separation." He seemed awestruck by this new revelation.
I kept close watch continually throughout the rest of the trip.
He went down like a hero alright.
Just as stubborn as a hero.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(This part by: Kuthiani)
November 15, 2008

What was this guy eating?