Z Day is Here (6 page)

A few days before the interview, he said he
remembered watching the news about that Damon kid but didn't think
much of it.

The day of the interview, the city was total
chaos; however, he was not going to let anything stop him from
making that interview. When he got to the building, he realized
something was very wrong. People were running all over the place
and being chased by other people covered in blood.

Ken said it was like a light bulb going off.
Something was definitely wrong. People were being eaten alive on
the streets right in front of him. He’d decided to leave the city
when he saw two women trapped in a burning car that was surrounded
by "these things" (as he called them). He grabbed his tire iron and
went to rescue the women.

When he approached the car, two of the
"things" turned around just to get a nice piece of iron implanted
into their skulls. The last two slowly walked towards him. With one
downward swing, the tire iron crushed in one of their heads, and
with a powerful uppercut, he nearly removed the other one’s head.
He got the girls out of the car and ran for safety. They took
shelter in an old warehouse that had been scheduled for demolition
within the next few weeks. They lived there the last few weeks,
scavenging for food and water whenever it was safe. Ken felt like
he had a purpose, a reason to live again. He needed these women to
be okay.

They fled the city two days ago when their
warehouse had become compromised. They found an exit and made their
way to Ken's car and headed out of the city as fast as they could.
That was when Cole found them.

I like Ken. I think he will be one hell of an
ally. A man with a purpose for living is not a man to mess
with.

What a strange day!

I awoke this morning to the sounds of Ken and
Cole arguing over whether or not we should get a car. It was
getting pretty heated until Tonya ran over and separated them. Cole
wanted to get a car; Ken did not. They both had very valid points,
but I am sick of walking, so my vote was for a car. Tonya cast her
vote with Ken, so we were deadlocked. We were in a sort of stand
off. No one would budge on the issue. I know Tonya wanted a car,
but Ken saved her life, so she felt like she owed him something.
It's not that I was on Cole's side; it's just that my lazy ass did
not want to walk any more. We all stood in an old tool shed we had
found in someone's backyard, facing each other, tempers rising. I
guess the sounds of arguing had attracted the attention of a few
nearby zombies, because before any of us knew it, the building was
surrounded. We chose this place because it had no windows and only
one door. Plus there were quite a few power tools lying around. We
had no idea how many were outside, but we knew there were quite a
few.

Panic began to set in. How could we all make
it out without getting bitten? The odds were stacked against
us.

I glanced around the shed, looking for the
perfect weapon. We were running short on bullets and needed
something, anything to take out the undead bastards. Cole grabbed
an old machete with duct tape on the handle. Ken and I both grabbed
for the chainsaw hanging on the wall. There was no time to argue,
so I reluctantly let him have it. Tonya grabbed a garden hoe from
the corner and prepared for battle. I looked around for something.
I found it! Underneath an old blue tarp was a push mower just small
enough for me to pick up.

I grabbed the mower, blades facing out. Ken
pulled the cord, and with my hands carefully gripping the sides, I
kicked open the door and blindly ran out. Within seconds, I had
mowed down three of them. Their bodies sliced in half with ease.
The amount of old rancid blood covering my body was amazing. I was
swinging the mower from side to side, slicing and dicing the undead
as if they were weeds in a yard. I had turned to my left, clearing
a path for the others, when I slipped on the entrails of one of my
sliced zombies.

I hit the ground with a thud. The mower fell
on top of me, crushing one of my ribs. The engine must have
flooded, because it shut off. I shoved it off to one side and
quickly scrambled to my feet. I was looking around, admiring my
trail of blood and guts, when an old dried hand wrapped around my
arm. My stomach sank. All I heard was the moaning. I could feel the
anticipation radiating through him and could smell his rancid
breath getting closer to my head. No one was around to save me. I
could feel my legs getting weak as I braced for the bite. It never
came.

I heard the moaning stop with a sudden crack.
I turn around to see some big guy pounding the zombie in the face
with a wooden bat. He was huge and wore an orange skull cap, a Rob
Zombie t-shirt, camo shorts, and a fanny pack. He was a very
strange-looking man. He stopped crushing the monster’s head in and
looked directly at me. All I could think to say was, “Thanks.” He
motioned for me to follow him. I told him I would once I found my
friends. Together, we went looking for them.

The others were busy hacking and slashing
their own zombies. Tonya had a little smile on her face every time
she planted her hoe into one of their heads. She got her revenge
this day. When the battle was over, we all followed the strange
tall man to his home.

When we arrived at his house, it was an old
two-story home converted into a full-time haunted house. He
introduced himself as Spook. He told us about how it was always his
dream to run a haunted house. Horror movies were his favorite. He
told us about his wife Paula, who’d gone to the grocery store when
the major outbreak began but never returned home.

Spook is cooking a warm meal for us right
now. God, it will be so good to eat a warm meal again. Even though
it is kind of strange being in a house surrounded my fake dead
people, it feels safe.

Thank you, Spook, for your kindness.

You get your dream. Not only do you have a
house full of zombies, you get a world full of them too.

We went on a tour of the haunted house today.
I don't know which is scarier: this house or being outside with the
undead. The house is crazy, with "zombies" that jump out from walls
and other assorted monsters hanging from ceilings and in staged
"death" scenes. Maybe it is because of what has been going on
lately, but I was in no mood to go through this place. I left the
house early and wandered around the back area, behind the scenes.
He had a pretty neat set up going. While I was wandering around, I
came across a room full of guns! Every type of gun you could
imagine. There were even grenades and LAW rockets lying around in
boxes. This Spook guy was ready for a war. While I was looking
around, Spook came into the room. He seemed a little irritated at
me discovering his stash. He asked me to leave the room
immediately. Now any other time, I would have been shocked, but in
this house and in this situation, nothing surprises me. I asked him
how long he’d had the weapons. He responded with, “Quite a while,
even before the zombies. I was afraid of the terrorists.” He just
smiled. I know we were both laughing a little inside. Hell, I wish
it were the terrorists we were fighting. At least they don't bite
you and turn you into one of them.

After seeing the room, I suddenly feel much
safer now.

Today was another quiet day. Maybe we are
thinning out the undead population. Maybe they are starving
themselves to death. I wonder how many normal people are out
there.

I really like being here, but I am going to
leave tomorrow. I have somewhere to go. I am on a mission. Nothing
is going to keep me from getting home.

The word of the day yesterday was arguments.
All night, it was a battle between all of us. I was leaving, no
matter who liked it or not. Cole decided he would follow me
anywhere. Tonya and Ken wanted to stay with Spook and wanted us to
stay as well. "She's dead. Get over it," was all they could say.
They told me it was suicide to travel through the city with just a
fourteen-year-old kid. I was pissed. No one would tell me where I
could and could not go. The decision had been made. We would leave
first thing in the morning. We spent the remainder of the night
packing up and gathering supplies from the house.

At about seven-thirty this morning, Cole and
I were walking out the front door after saying our goodbyes when we
all heard a truck horn blaring. It was a semi truck, just the cab,
no trailer. It was headed straight for the house. Following quicker
than I thought they should have been able to was a group of close
to one thousand zombies. The truck came to a stop inches from the
front door, and three people came out of the cab. They were
bloodied, bruised, and starving, but they were alive.

The first out was a young boy that appeared
to be barely older than Cole, and behind him was a girl around my
age. She was wearing a shirt with a nametag that read "Hi! My name
is Erin." The "I" in the name Erin had a little smiley face on top
instead of the dot. The last person out of the truck was the
miracle that gives me more hope than I have ever gotten. Spook’s
wife, gone for over three weeks, crawled out of the driver’s side
door.

Spook dropped to his knees crying. There was
no time for the reunion, though, because no sooner did Paula step
out of the truck than the horde of the undead was upon us. We ran
inside the house with just enough time to get the door shut and
blocked.

Spook and Paula embraced in front of the
door. I ran to the weapons room. Once inside, I grabbed as many
guns and as much ammo as I could carry. I ran back to the front
door. Tonya was hysterical; Cole kept an eye on the back of the
house. I threw Ken a shotgun and a rifle. Spook got his M-16 from
behind the coat rack. (Yes, this man keeps a machine gun behind the
coat rack!) I passed out the remaining weapons to everyone else. We
were ready for anything.

We’ve spent the rest of today waiting. The
house is very secure. They cannot get in. My fear, though, is how
long we will have to stay here. Every hour, more and more show up.
They are all shapes and sizes. I have seen babies barely old enough
to crawl covered in dried blood. What few teeth they have are
rotting and falling out. I have also seen old people. Their
conditions are getting worse, their bodies slowly decomposing.

This miracle today has also brought a curse.
It seems I will never get home. Darcy may be alive. She may be
okay, but I may never know. I am trapped. I cannot leave. I must be
cursed.

The word for today is target practice.

We have spent the better part of the day
shooting the zombies that have surrounded the house. I haven't had
this much fun in years. I guess that’s kind of a bad thing to
admit. "Hi! I am an addict. I am addicted to shooting people in the
head." I must have killed one hundred of them so far today. We
decided to crawl onto the roof just to get a better idea of how
many were out there. I was shocked! There were so many that I lost
count. It was amazing. I even saw an old neighbor of mine. His name
was Rey. He was a really nice guy who used to be in a band. I think
he was the singer. Though after taking an M-16 bullet to the head,
I doubt he will ever sing again! The first shot grazed his
shoulder. He barely flinched. The second shot took off his jaw.
Finally, the third shot removed the entire back half of his head. I
couldn't help but laugh to myself. First my dog shits in his yard,
and then I blow off his head!

Ken, Cole, Spook, and the new kid Brett all
enjoyed taking turns blasting the women they saw. Erin, Paula, and
Tonya all stood around watching, though they participated. In all,
we took out close to five hundred of them. Their bodies littered
the ground, making a nice body fence around the house.

Spook spent most of his time with Paula. They
barely moved from each other’s side. I know Darcy and I will be the
same. We will not want to be away from each other for even a
second. This is the longest we have been apart since the outbreak.
Let me tell you, it is true: absence does make the heart grow
fonder.

Ken has promised to show us how to throw a
grenade later. I remember throwing one when I was in the military,
but that was so long ago. I have always wanted to see what it will
do to a person. Tonight, I will get that chance.

Brett and Cole have become close friends over
the past few hours. Hell, they could be brothers. They laugh at the
same things and talk for hours about video games they have played
and girls they used to know. It’s kind of strange how things work
out. Three and a half weeks ago, I never wanted kids. Now here I
am, taking care of two teenagers. How did I get put in charge
anyway?

Well, it looks like we are going back on the
roof. Erin wants to do more shooting. She is out there waiting for
us. She looks so happy. I don't know much about her, because she is
so quiet. Maybe I can find out more tonight.

Oh my God!

She fell off the roof.

They ripped that poor girl to shreds. I guess
maybe they were taking revenge for what we had done to their kind.
Hell, they are brain dead. All they think about is eating. Eating
us, that is. The creepy thing is that after they had eaten most of
her, she began to twitch. She then rose up from the ground. All the
meat was missing from both arms, and her left leg had been
completely ripped off at the knee, but she still managed to get up.
She would rise up on one leg, try to take a step, then fall face
first onto the ground. It reminded me of a fly trying to go through
a closed window. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't
get anywhere. We all just watched her for about an hour. Ken
finally stepped up. He got down on one knee and aimed his rifle
just right for a proper kill. He asked if anyone wanted to say
something, like a memorial. We all kept our mouths shut. No one
knew her. It's not that we didn't care about her, but after
everything we have all been through, watching someone die like that
didn't mean much to us. I guess we have become desensitized by this
experience. Ken closed one eye, placed her head directly in his
sights, and slowly squeezed the trigger. Erin's head exploded like
a watermelon with an M-80 firecracker in it. She never got up
again.