Not much to be said, this is my story. I know it's not perfect in terms of grammar and punctuation and so if you see a mistake feel free to edit it as long as you leave the story the same, also please feel more then welcome to give me your thoughts, suggestions, likes, or *cries* dislikes. I will try to add onto it regularly, this is a rough draft and so please bear with me if it seems a little too drawn out I'll fix things as I notice them.

- Anti-Hero

Death … it’s Just a Formality

Chapter One

July 7th, 2008

With a loud screech, Jake Burton’s door was pushed open by his two roommates, John Grey and Matt Luchia. Jake’s emerald eyes flickered open from underneath a curtain of eye-length Black hair and he sat up in bed to see what had made the noise. “John … Matt? What … what are you doing?” he rasped, their two figures stood silhouetted in the doorframe of his room, after a moment they let loose their response, a deep throated guttural “death rattle.” “Haha! Funny guys, stop messing around I got another 27 minutes before I gotta get up” he said with an annoyed tone. John stepped into the room and was struck by a torrent of early morning sunlight that had snuck past closed blinds, once again a rasping rattle sound came from deep within his throat. Jake was angry now, he turned around, thick eyebrows slanted into a sharp “V” and his brow furrowed with signs of anger. He was about to let loose a stream of cuss words when he laid eyes on John, who had been shrouded in darkness beforehand. He stood 6’8’’ with deathly pale grey skin, a blue-grey light shimmered in his lifeless eyes, and a grievous wound was present on his Jaw, revealing a set of blood soaked teeth.

“Oh … my … God” he whispered, horrified and strangely fascinated by what he saw, he snapped back to reality as Matt shambled into the room, who was likewise abnormally pale, black veins stuck out on the pasty background, and his lower left arm had been stripped of it’s flesh. He scrambled out of bed and tried to help them, big mistake, the sudden movement seemed to confirm something to the two, something like him being prey. As soon as he got close enough John began to lurch forward, arms outstretched, almost as if falling. Jake reached out to catch him but John wasn’t falling at all, wrapping his, or more appropriately, it’s pale fingers around Jake’s biceps and triceps and forcing him against the wall, causing the drywall to cave in behind him.

Power … Immense Physical Strength it was all that went through his mind, John had Jake pinned to the wall, holding him by the shoulders now, two feet off the ground. Snapping Jaws came quickly after the hands and Jake struggled to keep John at bay. “This is impossible” Jake thought “I’ve wrestled John plenty of times, each and every match I’ve beaten him easily, maybe this is a dream, yeah … it’s not even real” The sharp pain of being quickly pulled from the wall and then just as quickly being slammed back said otherwise. Matt soon followed John’s assault and began to attack Jake too, ignoring Jake’s pleads to stop. Finally, Jake was fed up, pulling his legs close to his chest, and in a single powerful kick, Jake hit John square in the chest sending him sprawling across the polished wood floor. With John out of the way, Matt could attack Jake without obstacles. Before he could do anything, Jake rolled back onto his shoulder blades where he had fallen after John let go of him and kicked again, making contact with Matt’s head. Using the recoil of the kick, Jake rolled backwards, eventually coming to a standing position right next to his bed. John had recovered by this time and resumed his assault. He attempted to grab Jake against but Jake was ready this time. He created a windmill motion with his arms, knocking John’s arms skywards, following up by jumping, both feet leaving the floor, and striking John again in the chest. As John flew towards the opposite wall he was facing, taking out Matt again, Jake flew the other way, rolling over the bed and colliding with the wall, hard.

Slightly dazed, Jake took a quick second to regain his composure before using the wall as a support to get back up on his feet. His glance moved from his two roommates, crazed and also apparently cannibalistic, to the door leading out into the house, the garage and his car. Jake’s legs worked like pistons and he crossed the distance in two strides, converging at that point with the two animalistic humans, if they could even be called that. The two of them made it to the door first, and turned in Jake’s direction. “That’s OK” Jake thought “That’s not what I was going for” in a lithe, singular move, Jake grabbed an aluminum baseball bat propped up against the wall next to the door and swung it at Matt’s chin. “SMACK!” the bat retorted at it made contact with Matt’s chin, causing his head to snap back, “Just like a PEZ dispenser” Jake thought. “Ha!, take that” he screamed, his euphoria would not last long, Matt resumed his assault, followed closely by John, paying no heed to the damage to his jaw he had just received. Jake’s eyebrows once again met at the center of his forehead, not of anger but of confusion, as if he expected some sort of trickery. Another death rattle and Jake took his chance to get away, with a quick spin, Jake exited the room, slamming the door behind him as he tumbled into the kitchen.

The phenomenal strength of these enemies made quick work of the thin sandwich of 1 ply plywood and cardboard and the fight continued. John and Matt chased Jake around the table until Jake stopped and said “This is ridiculous.” Turning around, Jake kept his enemies at bay with a flurry of unrelenting blows that did nothing to hurt or in anyway disable them. He was slowly losing ground, being pushed back towards a wall. As he passed the fridge, Jake unleashed all of his fury into one swing aimed at John’s head. The bat collided, pushing John’s head into the refrigerator like a sandwich of sorts before John’s skull gave way and he slumped against the fridge before he fell to the ground, dead … again. “Well … that worked” he exclaimed with less then what you would call enthusiasm. As Matt moved into John’s place, Jake knocked his feet out from under him and sending him falling backwards. Jake was taking no chances, he jumped on Matt’s torso and struck him in the face with 4 hack-like swings, causing Matt’s body to go limp.

Nausea hit him as he realized what he had just done, John and Matt … Dead. The concept didn’t fit into place, he had known the two of them for 5 years, he was friends with them during High School, he remained their friend after dropping out, and now he was rooming with them to help pay the rent while they went to college. He stumbled to the sink and dry heaved, there was nothing there to regurgitate. Turning around, Jake saw that the front door was wide open and although it was a beautiful sunny day, Hell had settled on earth. Outside the same monstrous beings attacked their once beloved friends and families, those with cars drove straight and unheeding, mowing over both living and not, and blood boiling screams shot through the beautiful blue sky. Jake rushed over to it and quickly yet silently closed it and bolted it shut before tipping over an adjacent file cabinet in it’s path as a crude barricade.

“Click!” the sound radiated out from the TV as Jake turned it on, behind him blankets were placed over the mutilated corpses of his deceased best friends. “If you get bit you will turn into one of them. Period.” said a man dressed in military garb, he and a reporter were in a parking lot, a pile of burning bodies behind them, and the ring of gunfire making a noticeable presence. “Alright is there anyway to stop this?” the reporter asked, “NO!, N-O you can’t stop it after you are bitten” the Man responded. “OK so this virus, it’s spread by saliva-to-blood transmission, are their any traits that infected people will exhibit?” the woman asked. The man said “Pre-Transformation, not really, a few minutes before transformation the person will become very pale, they will die, and then will come back as one of them.” “And Post-Transformation?” she asked, he quickly answered “Post-Transformation, infected exhibit extremely pale grey skin, blood veins turn black as their blood coagulates, eyes glow in dark conditions like a cat, and a few other things.” “Ok … Ok, there are reports of these creatures having mystical abilities such as walking through walls and vast physical strength, are these reports true?” the reporter asked, flinching halfway through as a gun was fired behind her. “Yes and No, specimens exhibit strength approximately 3 to 4 times greater then when they weren’t infected, increased vision … uh, oh yeah they don’t need air and don’t seem to feel pain or get tired” he continued “they don’t bleed, they don’t appear to feel grief or guilt, and they are immune to diseases and foreign chemicals, as for things like walking through walls and flying … bullshit” “They seem to be invincible” said the woman “No, no, no; their not invincible just very hard to kill, catastrophic brain damage, decapitation, and complete immolation work.” The two of them looked behind the reporter as an explosion ripped through all other noises. “Alright, any suggestions for people watching this emergency broadcast?” the woman finished up “Yeah, stay inside, lock the doors, barricade them with anything you can get, cover the windows, turn off the lights, turn the TV down, and stay armed” the military man responded.

Jake, unsure of anything else to do did as the man said and went around the house using tables, beds, washing machines, dryers, and all sorts of things to barricade the doors and windows which he also covered with towels and blankets. Traveling back into his room, Jake retrieved a box from inside his sock drawer and opening the combination lock revealed a Colt M1911A1 Semi-Automatic Pistol, 3 spare magazines, and several boxes of ammunition. He returned to the living area, turning off lights along the way before loading the magazines and readying the gun for use. He spent the remaining day watching TV, trying to learn more about these things, during the course of the day he realized that lower ranking officers and military men were being put into command, “they’re all dying” he thought. Despite reassurances that the problem was being dealt with and that everything would be back to normal soon enough, Jake didn’t believe them.

Around noon, Jake approached the computer after finding that the phones weren’t working to try and make contact with some of his college friends. Jostling the mouse caused the screen to shine white and an ad for Caverns Hollow, a fenced in community that would be opening on July 28th. “Hmph!, we were supposed to move in their on the 30th” Jake said silently before taking the ad off the computer screen. An hour of Instant messaging and emailing ended with failure and he returned to watching the news. Jake sat impatiently on the couch for hours, waiting, for what he didn’t know and he didn’t really care, he just wanted something to aim for. Sorrow over the death of John and Matt tortured Jake the remainder of the day and thoughts of his other friends suffering similar fates plagued his mind as well. He barely ate all day and when he did it was only a few crackers and some cheese, mainly because of the screams coming from outside. By 10:00, Jake was exhausted and although he wanted to be alert he eventually lost his battle against the growing darkness and unwittingly he was engulfed in the beautiful silence of sleep.



Chapter Two

2 Months Gone

Sunday, September 7th, 2008 CE (2 Months AO)

A series of groans, death rattles, and roars reached Jake’s ears, in a panicked voice he yelled “Hurry!” Jake screamed to Kenny Lee a skinny former College Senior and Trey the former Marine. As they stopped to force in a small rest, an infected male found them, time seemed to stop as it examined them, in reality it was barely a few seconds. As the attack commenced, the infected bared his teeth, lifted it’s head towards the sky, and let loose a savage, gurgling, raw throated roar. With legs pumping like a machine, the infected crossed the 30 feet separating it from them in two strides, landing on top of Jake. His shoulders pinned, Jake kept the man at bay with his legs but he quickly began to lose space as the man’s strength bashed Jake’s stamina away. Grabbing the man by his shoulders, Kenny and Trey were successful at getting the man off of Jake but with a great shove he shook them both off, sending Trey into a broken down car and Kenny sprawling across the asphalt. Meanwhile, Jake had drawn his pistol and shot at the infected, one … two … three … four, eight blasts, five hitting various parts of the body and the remaining three entering the brain at an incline, hitting some brain tissue but exiting without causing to much damage. The man stumbled back but quickly regained his equilibrium and tackled Jake again. Trying to hold the man off, Jake screamed “Don’t wrestle with it, Shoot it, Shoot it!” as he saw Kenny regain his footing. Kenny obeyed, taking out his own gun, he unloaded a single bullet into the back of the head, hitting the cerebellum and killing the infected man.

Jake pushed the man off him and after helping Trey back to his feet the three of them took off again, heading down an alley. Their footsteps thudded against the pavement as they ran down the alleyway, quickening as the roars of other infected caught up with them. Bursting out of the alley, Trey roared “There it is!” pointing towards a heavily armored Volkswagen bus. Another roar from behind acted as a catalyst for their last sprint to the vehicle, covered in steel sheeting, rebar, and topped off with a plow. The three of them jumped in, Trey at the wheel, starting the bus, he pulled a 180 turn and rocketed up the way they came. Trey didn’t stop as he saw the horde of men and women, infected by the plague that hit the earth two months ago. The plow did what is was supposed to do, it plowed through the shifting mass of moving corpses, sending dozens flying and although it injured many they ignored their wounds and tried to chase after it. But after no more then 5 minutes, the bus had completely vanished from the infected horde’s view, after which Trey slowed down a smidge as he headed for their compound.

“CAVERNS HOLLOW” a sign reads outside of a large community, encompassed by a high fence made of wrought iron. One house stood out among the rest, it was placed on the highest peak in the community. This house was covered head to toe in all sorts of metal defenses, sheets upon sheets of steel, iron, and titanium, chain link fencing, metal grills, the exoskeletons of cars, iron rebar, chicken wire, razor wire, barbed wire, and all other sorts of scrap metal are bolted onto the frame. The garage is the only way in or out of the house from the bottom level but it to has had it’s original door replaced with a much thicker, durable, and sturdy one. The windows on the 2nd floor were covered by retractable steel shutters and outside one of the windows was a makeshift ladder made of rebar, cut and welded into shape. On top of the house was a hunting platform that housed a great vantage point, view, and one last place to make a stand if need be. 100 or so feet from the house is where the bomb field started, it was at least 25 feet thick and the area was just riddled with all types of explosives. Suddenly the roar of an engine cut through the eerie silence of the landscape, and a armored vehicle came into view on the horizon.

“Throw it” Jake said to Kenny from the back of the bus as they neared the wrought iron gate, he obeyed and hit a illuminated red switch on a control box over his head. The gate obeyed and the motorized hinges caused the two parts of the gate to flip skywards, out of the path of the truck, hit the switch, the gates closed. They heard a series of death rattles and roars as the noise of their bus reached the infected in the surrounding area. A pre-laid path, marked with flags, provided the bus a safe path through the bomb field and into the empty field surrounding the house. Hitting another illuminated switch on the control board, this one green, the heavy garage door rolled to one side and the bus rolled in, before halting to a stop inside the garage. Without missing a beat, Trey, followed by Kenny, and then by Jake sprinted up the stairs into the main house and then up to the 2nd floor. One of the shutters on the 2nd floor was lifted free and secured with a bolt, one by one, they groped the outside of the building until they made contact with the ladder bolted to the side, and then climbed up to the roof and the hunters roost. Each one of them hefted a M24A2 SWS, equipped with a suppressor, thermal imaging scope, and a bipod. Taking their positions on three different sides of the roost from each other, the three prepared for a battle with the infected.

Dozens of them, dozens upon dozens of cold, lifeless corpses, moving with the vitality of the living. Jake watched as the figures, showing blue on his thermal scope, converged upon the compound, searching for the source of the noise. For the next hour and a half the silenced retort of the M24s was all the survivors heard as they took out the monsters on their way to devour them. “Not the Brain, the Cerebellum” Jake thought as he took aim at another one of the infected, over the course of the past 2 months they had learned that the only way to kill one of these things was by damaging the cerebellum. “It makes sense, the cerebellum controls the motor functions of the human body” Kenny said when they had first made the revelation. “Shit, these things start popping up, defying the whole aspect of life that death entails, and now we find out that science is what kills them … shouldn’t it be a wooden stake or silver bullet,” Jake said in the privacy of his mind as the butt of his M24 rubbed against his cheek as he took another shot. “You see anymore?” Kenny asked, two hours after they had taken the first shot, “Nah, all the ones in the area who heard the van are dead” Trey responded. Silently the trio placed the guns back into their storage boxes and they crawled back down the ladder, through the window and into the house.

Jake and Kenny sat playing Video Games while each eating an M.R.E, Trey sat in a chair nearby, staring absentmindedly into space. “You want to play?” Kenny asked him after noticing that he was silent, true to form Trey said nothing, just sat shaking his head. After another 30 minutes, Trey proclaimed “I’m going to bed,” “Alright, see ya in the morning” Jake said. After about another hour or so Jake and Kenny turned the TV off and went to bed as well.

Jake sat bare-chested at the foot of his bed, thinking “Well … it’s been a long road but … I … we made it.” The events of the past two months rushed through Jake now as if they were a part of him, somehow, like they had mingled with his blood and now flowed freely through his veins. He remembered leaving his old house and coming here, the first night, meeting Kenny and Trey who had barricaded themselves into a convenience store, barricading the compound, making runs out into the city for supplies, and so on. A sense of accomplishment welled up inside of him but it was soon replaced with a sadness as he remembered the lives of all the people who had died. Jake was sitting on his bed staring at his wall when he heard it, the last expression of a broken man. He heard Trey give one final scream of pure pain and anguish before the sound of a single gunshot rolled through the house like a tidal wave, it certainly hit like one.

Chapter 3

Four Months Gone

November 12th, 2008 CE (4 Months AO)

“I’m freezing” Kenny said, hugging his body standing on the hunters roost, “why didn’t we set up shop in someplace warm like Florida or Tahiti” he continued. “It’s not all bad” Jake said as he looked out through a pair of binoculars at the landscape, covered in a blanket of white, “Take a look” he said, giving Kenny the binoculars. Infected men, women, and children stood here and there, but they didn’t move, as if they were frozen. “HAHA!, finally we got something on them” Kenny screamed, nearly jumping up and down in enthusiasm. “Yeah yeah, great, let’s just make sure we make the most of this time we have, something tells me they will be back in action as soon as the temperature warms up” Jake responded.

The compound has been further enhanced, now the hodgepodge of metal sheeting that covered the house is now more streamlined, everything is. The depth of the metal is no longer as shifting as it once was, the house is encased in an even shell of steel. Windows have been put back in, but they are made of tinted, bulletproof glass, are mounted in frames of concrete, and bars have been bolted over them. The front door has been reinstalled with heavy one of duty titanium locked with bolts of solid steel. Rebar stakes have been welded onto the shell at a decline, preventing the creatures from somehow jumping up the side of the building. The roof has been flattened, extra wood used to turn the slanted sides into a flat surface. Guns and Cameras have been positioned at all angles to allow the duo to watch and attack their enemy from the safety of their roof. About 70 feet from the house, a chain link fence, about 20 feet high has been constructed. Here and there it seems that the two of them have began to bulk the fence up using highway median dividers, wire, bricks, cinderblocks, and compacted car cubes, all held together either by welding or concrete. Only two ways in or out of the compound exist, both large sliding gates, one directly in front of the entrance, the other on the opposite side. Beyond the gate is the bomb field, covered in snow, the pre-laid path has been dug out, and bright neon flags driven into the ground to keep the path from becoming obscured.

The inside of the house is piled head to toe with all sorts of things ranging from essential supplies like food and ammo to luxuries like a large TV and DVDs. The walls have been filled with soundproofing foam and the drywall replaced as skillfully as it could be. Gas generators sit here and there throughout the house, a gas can right next to it. The ground floor is used mainly for the various sanity retaining activities the two engaged in, such as reading, watching DVDs, and playing games. Some of the rooms on the ground floor were used for storage but most of the supplies was crammed into the 2nd floor rooms, the attic, and the roof. The basement was filled with all sorts of exercise equipment as well as manuals and how-to DVD’s on things like Judo, Yoga, and Parkour. The sudden slamming of a shutter is heard throughout the house as Jake and Kenny head back inside to prepare for their journey outside the compound.

The window of the 2008 Shelby GT500KR Super Snake rolled down on Kenny’s command and he swung his Katana in an arc outside the window. It’s cold steel blade made contact with the neck of a frozen police officer turned infected. “That’s 23!, I’m winning” Kenny said in a cocky tone, Jake responded “I said I’m not playing this game with you.” “Okay but it’s gonna be pretty hard for you to win if you don’t kill any of them” Kenny said, as if he hadn’t heard Jake. “Fine if that’s how it’s gonna be” Jake thought, swerving the car left the snow covered asphalt and glided onto the sidewalk and into the path of at least a dozen infected men and women. Their bodies, frozen solid crashed against the reinforced hood and shattered upon contact. Kenny was obviously shocked by what had occurred, hitting the brake, Jake turned to Kenny and said “So that was at least 10.” “Kiss my ass” he responded and for a moment it seemed that Jake hadn’t heard him as he began to search through his shirt pocket, pulling out a pen he handed it to Kenny saying “Here … Mark the spot you’re all ass.” Obviously defeated, Kenny fell silent, forgetting about the game and taking the insult in quite anger.

The Shelby ground to a halt in front of Sam’s Club and the two survivors exited the vehicle, boots sinking into the snow with a crunch. The two wandered the halls of the store, bypassing the piles of soda boxes, whose cans had frozen and as a result exploded. “This must’ve been the first place a lot of people went for supplies after the infection hit” Kenny commented after staring down the almost empty shelves. “Yeah” Jake said as he stepped over a flayed skeleton “More like they went to die.” They had been walking down the hallways for at the very least 10 minutes when one of the cement blocks over their head exploded. “Shit!” Kenny muttered as he dived behind a shelf, “Get out!” yelled a Girl somewhere in the store, Jake recognized her accent as Puerto Rican. “So!, you’re along way from home” he responded as soon as everything was quite again, “I said get out!” she yelled again. “We just came to get supplies,” Jake explained, she responded with another shot and screamed out “to bad these are mine” this time her voice was closer to them. Jake slipped away from Kenny into the darkness of the abandoned store. He watched from a safe distance as the woman snuck up behind Kenny and aimed her M1 at his head and as she was about to pull the trigger he stepped in. With a right hook, Jake hit the girl in the head behind the ear as hard as he could, like a trained boxer, his blow landed and the sudden loss of equilibrium was great enough to knock her unconscious. Startled, Kenny turned and nearly shot Jake, stopping just in time, “Help me get her to the Car,” Jake said a command which Kenny obeyed with quite acceptance.

The girl was bound to a chair when she awoke, realizing this she let loose a ear piercing scream. “I think she’s up” Kenny said to Jake while they were playing a game of cards. Jake was perfectly content to let her make a fuss as he made his next move. After about 30 minutes, the girl had stopped screaming and begun crying, finally Jake got up from the table, carrying a gun he went upstairs As he entered the room the Girl tried to conceal her tears but as soon as she saw the gun she lost her composure and a new stream of tears found their way out. Jake pulled out a pack from behind the bed inside the room and placed it and the gun on the bed, before taking a seat himself. He waited for another 15 minutes while the Girl vented until she sat staring at him. “What’s your name?” he asked, she screamed, spitting in his face slightly “GO TO HELL!” Jake cocked the gun and she settled down “What’s your name?” he asked again, her eyes were locked on the gun “I’m … I’m … I’m Kyla” she stuttered. “Well Kyla, I’m Jake” he explained “You have two options now, you can take this gun and this pack and you can leave or you can stay here, if you like.” “What’s the catch?” she asked, he responded “No catch, you stay here, you do the same amount of work that we do, we watch your back, you watch ours.” Kyla’s eyebrows met in confusion as if they had expected some horrible trade for safety, “You’re a freak!” she commented. “Why? Because I’m not making you submit to me in return for staying here” he responded. She said nothing, he had hit it right on the nose, “Well I’m not like that and neither is Kenny” he went on to explain, standing he pulled out a knife and cut her bonds while saying “Stay or Go, make your choice” then without a word he left, leaving the pack and gun with her. She came wandering downstairs without the pack and asked “Where do I stay?” Jake and Kenny stared at each other before Kenny broke into a grin and said “Here, I’ll show you.”