Chapter 1:The Beginning
I rolled over in bed, my wife murmuring in her sleep. "Why are you up?" My wife, Jennifer, asked. "Heard something." I replied. "What?" Jennifer asked, serious now. "We've had people break in before, do you think it's happening again?" She asked. "I don't know." I said. I reached under the bed and pulled out my custom Colt Government model 1911 and cocked it. "What's that for?" Jennifer asked nervously. "Just in case." I said reassuringly. I walked down the hallway, checking the doors. I walked into the kitchen, and was relieved to see it was just a branch scratching on the window. "Damn tree." I said. "Tim?" Jennifer's voice drifted down the stairs. "Yeah, it was just a branch." I said.
And then I heard it.
The unnatural scream that would haunt me forever.
"What the hell was that?" I asked myself. As if to answer, someone or something started pounding on the door. I walked up and opened the door and said something like "Can I help you?"
Yeah, that worked. Right.
The thing hit me and the gun flew out of my hands as Jennifer screamed. "Go upstairs!" I screamed, as the thing tried to bite me, get that, bite me. Who the hell bites people? I thought. "Get off him!" Jennifer said shakily. The thing snarled and continued trying to bite my nose off. With a bark, my Colt went off, hitting the thing in the chest. Never missing a beat, the thing kept trying to bite my face.
Asshole. Really, some people.
My Colt went off again, this time hitting the thing in the head. It fell off me and Jennifer started crying. "I killed someone, I really killed someone." She stammered. "It was self defense, honey. You had to." I said, trying to comfort her, even though I felt like throwing up myself.
That awful screaming came again, and I jumped up and slammed the door shut. "Wait here." I said, running up the stairs. I threw the closet door open and grabbed my Smith & Wesson .357 revolver from under my winter jacket. I ran back down to Jennifer, who was getting composure of herself. "Can you shoot this?" I asked. "I think so." Jennifer stammered. "Good, and by the way, thank you for saving me back there." I said. "No problem." She said. "Mommy, what's wrong?" My five-year old daughter, Jessica, asked. "Nothing honey, every thing is alright." Jennifer said, instantly all motherly concern. I chanced a look out the door, and was greeted by at least a hundred of those things shambling down the street. I shut the door again and walked over to our friend on the kitchen floor. "Okay, what is that?" Jennifer asked. "Well we know it's not alive, or that shot in the chest would have dropped him. We know that it takes a head shot to kill them. And there is a lot of them." I said. "Okay, get in the truck, we're going to the store." I said. Luckily, my truck was in the garage, so we didn't have to go outside. I owned a gun store in town, business was bad, so it was fully stocked. I started the truck, and opened the garage door and drove out. I drove towards the store, running over the occasional one of those things, they were like zombies, on the way. I stopped the truck in front of the store and looked at Jennifer. "Take Jessica and run for the door, I'll hold them off." I said, climbing out of the truck. I noticed Jennifer and Jessica running for the door as I started firing at the zombies, yes that's what they were, zombies. "It's open!" Jennifer yelled. I turned around and ran for the door, leaping inside as Jennifer shut the door. "Okay, guns and ammo." I said. I walked up to the front display case, where all the best stuff was displayed. I broke the glass with a broom, and reached in and grabbed a Glock 22 .40 pistol and handed it to Jennifer. "I have a gun." She said. "Yeah, but this has a fifteen-round capacity, and the .357 has six." I explained. I grabbed a Beretta 92 Inox for my backup and walked to the long gun section. "Take your pick." I said to Jennifer. Last summer, I took Jennifer with on my hunting trip, and she surprised me by being an excellent shot. She grabbed a Winchester Model 700 in .30-06 Springfield. "You want a scope for that?" I asked. "Yeah, a Bushnell 3200, if you have it." She said. "Yeah," I said, reaching over and grabbing one. She sat down on an stool and started mounting the scope. I grabbed a Remington Model 870 shot gun and three boxes of shells. Jennifer came up, wearing two ammo sacks on her thighs.
"Got enough there?" I asked. "Fortune favors the prepared." She said. I walked into the sporting goods section and grabbed some supplies. "Are we ready to go?" I asked. "Not yet." Jennifer said. She walked over and grabbed two hiking packs and filled them with .30-06 ammo and 12 gauge shells, not to mention the pistol ammo and two pairs of long range of binoculars. I groaned when she handed me my pack, "Do we really need all this?" I asked. "Yes, now carry it and smile." She said, with one of those coy smiles I fell it love with.
I was glad for her insistence later.
We walked to the door, as the zombies rolled the truck over. "Well, looks like we're walking." I said. "Daddy, can I ride on your shoulders?" Jessica asked. "Sure honey, just be quite until I say so, okay?" "Okay Daddy." She said, climbing up my legs like a tree. We exited the building at a trot, heading for main street. "Where are we going?" Jennifer asked. "The Jeep dealership." I replied, thankful for the morning runs he had taken when Jennifer had begged him to come back to bed with her. They slowed, and something grabbed Jessica and tried to drag her off my shoulder.
It was going well for him, until his head blew up.
A man in a SWAT uniform came up, shouldering his Remington M-24. "Are you okay?" He asked. "Yeah fine...OH GOD!" Jennifer screamed, looking behind the man. I looked up as the man was tackled by three zombies. I pulled out my Colt and shot them, and looked down at the man. He was holding his hand, it was bleeding and twitching slightly. "Crap!" He said. "It's okay, we have some gauze in my pack, we'll get it patched up." I said. "No! If you get bit, you turn into one of them! I won't become one of those things!" He said, grabbing his pistol. The gun went off, and his brains splattered the wall behind him. "Ugh!" I said, vomiting. "We have to go, honey." Jennifer said in that soft comforting voice that got us through all our rough times. I nodded, grabbing his gun and the two boxes of ammo at his feet. "Let's go." I said.
"You hear that?" I asked Jennifer. "It sounds like...machine guns." She said. "I told you the army was coming!" I said. The machine guns stopped, and all we could hear...terrible screams. "Oh God." Jennifer said, putting her hand over her mouth. "I'm going out there." I said. "Stay in the cabin and don't open the door unless it's me." I said, heading out the door.
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I crouched behind a burning Humvee on the field and looked at the carnage. The field was full of heaps, I strained my eyes to see what they were, and nearly vomited when I realized it.
The heaps were zombies eating the soldiers. I knew I would never forget the screams of the soldiers as their flesh was torn from their bones. I stumbled up and ran up to one of the soldiers and grabbed his M-16 and the clips on his belt. I walked home, stopping to vomit twice on the way.
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"What happened?" Jennifer asked when I got back to the cabin. "The soldiers are dead and the zombies are everywhere. Load up everything we can fit in the jeep, we're getting out of here." I said.
Chapter 4: Endgame
Survivor's Journal
I have decided to keep a journal of what has happened. It is now two weeks since the initial outbreak, and we are in northern Minnesota. We need to stop and resupply soon, not looking forward to that.
"Stop, Tim." Jennifer said. "What is it." I asked. "I saw someone move." She said. "A zombie?" I asked. "No, it was holding a gun and running." She said. "Hold it right there!" A male voice commanded. I looked up and saw a group of people approaching the jeep. "What are you doing here?" A man asked. "We're just trying to find a place to go." I said. "Oh, well." He said. "Calm down." He said to the people behind him. "Paul Stevens," He said, holding out his hand. I shook it as I calmed down. "I'm in charge off resource gathering." Paul said. "What?" I asked. "Oh, sorry. We have a small community set up in Tofte, on the shore of Lake Superior." Paul said. "It's a small town, and we've used all the supplies in town. So we raid other towns on the shoreline." Paul said. "How big is your community?" Jennifer asked. "135." Paul said. "And we always welcome new people." He added. "You better re-think that." I warned. "Not all people are handling this well, some of them even tried to rape my wife." I said. "Oh sorry, Miss." Paul said. "I can set you guys up with a house if you want." Paul said. I looked at my family, who nodded. "Sounds good." I said, smiling with a sense of hope for the first time since it started.

Author's Note:
I have the first part of the sequel posted, here's a link: Land of the Damned
I also have another series posted, Here's a link: The Undead Series
And here is a link to my page, Cjoatey So check them out!! Thanks!!