• Outbreak



    Entry 1

    When the outbreaks first started all of us where ignorant of the coming plight that would soon engulf our cities, none of us could guess that those who where bitten where succumbing to a twenty four hour sickness that would make them rise from the dead and turn them into a ravenous organism set only to prey upon living flesh. When it came to my attention it was too late for my family, my parents had succumb to the virus. They had gone on a hunting trip to gods knows where and my father had been bitten by a man who was infected. None could have know though, yes things like this happen rarely but it is completely plausible, the warden had said the man was insane and that there was nothing to worry about, he had subdued the man by a shot to the head, he said it was the fast and most painless way to die. When my parents returned home my father was very ill and bed ridden that night. The next morning I had been awaken by a scream and a thunderous crash of a door slamming, after that things turned to be very silent. I was afflicted by my curious nature, I climbed the stairs in a groggy stagger, and to my astonishment my mother stood at the door to my parent’s room she was draped on the door the side panel and all near her right arm upon the door and knob, where once white paint now stained a deep red her arm damaged from a deep bite wound which was still bleeding heavily her face in shock and horror, I quickly moved and laid her upon the family room couch. Not long after a pounding came from the door with a hellish moan to follow, one sound I could never forget for as long as I shall live as it still plays at my dreams in sleep. I acted as I thought appropriate and called 911, I told them all that I had known, within minutes an ambulance and squad cars pulled to the front of my house and from them emerged and emergency team and two well armed police officers. They took my mother to where I thought to be a hospital and silenced my father with a twelve gauge to the head, they had told me to vacate the premises and not to return for a few days. I never truly heard what happened to my mother but now I know well what they had done, for when I went to the hospital to see her they had no records of her even being there. Within a span of a week many hospitals where quarantined and many stories of insanity had broken out, now I ask myself “how could I have been so stupid, so blind to the events befalling the area around me.” Two weeks later the News had released a warning, not to attempt to approach an individual who walks with a stagger and does not respond to orders given, just to get away from them as fast as possible and lock yourself somewhere safe and call the Authorities. I have always asked how are you going to expect a family member to heed a warning when the person is someone they loved? When the telecasts reported it as a type of rabies many people started reporting similar cases to mine the strange thing was, was after calling the authorities and ambulances had taken the family members away many people would go to the hospital to visit their family and no record of them was within the data base as was the same case with my mother, with me being the way I was back then nothing really phased me. My mistakes soon caused me to lose everything I ever loved, and now all I can think is how ignorant I was and how many lives could have been saved.

    Entry 2

    It took me a month to figure out all the things happening around me, now knowing what I was facing, it terrifies me at the very thought of it, and it chills me to my very bones. I was facing a being of whom was deceased and nothing more than a machine, tireless, and only driven by the deep instinct to move and feed upon the living. I was soon equipped and ready to fight. That was my very first mistake, and the one which had caused me to lose everything I loved. The I figured everything out I had made my way to my fiancé’s home, it was a lost cause, she left me that day and thought I was insane, and as arrogant and stupid as I was I just left leading me to lose her to the undead numbers. When I returned the next day, her home’s door was left open bloodstains led out of the door way, I entered the walls and floor where dyed red and all that was left was a half eaten corpse not even able to function much less reanimate I knew it was her because she had the necklace I had given her only a few months before when I had proposed to her. I was on the verge as the pain welled inside, as I had come, I was soon gone ready to cut my ties with the city I called home.


    Entry 3

    Time had passed quickly as I had started mobilizing myself with haste, my last week in town passed as though it where but a day if my memory serves, before I left I gained and arsenal of weaponry and ammunition thanks to my now long dead father’s gun room. His final gift, and to this day I thank him for it. I moved as many of the guns and as much ammo as possible, along with as much food as I could carry into my van. I left the city, the one place I had considered home, days later I was on my trek south to get away from the city I heard upon the radio that my old home was now embraced by a mass hysteria, I didn’t hear much about home after that, I decided south was best for me I knew the land better and knew which ways to go to escape the plight, on my trip down I soon pinned a few more towns with outbreaks and I thought to myself it seems my father isn’t the only one who was bitten by the labeled “psychopath,” soon after that I found my self drawn to head for the south where it had all started, I no longer remember the name of the town just that it was in the middle of Podunk nowhere. When I arrived I was running low on food and driving on fumes as I had stopped only when I felt it necessary to refill my gas tank. The town was in shambles many buildings had been burned and almost all that where, where still engulfed in a raging inferno, corpses littered the streets with either the skull crushed or bullet wounds through them. I stopped off at a local chapel it seemed the only placed untouched by the havoc, I entered lightly armed with a machete. I met three kind people praying to their god to save them, each one of them was bitten, I spoke with them and let them have their last prayers and then gave them time to accept their ill fates, it was perhaps the second hardest moment in my life as I laid them to rest peacefully. After I left I remembered I was low on my supplies, I headed for the local gun shop to perhaps salvage some ammo as I arrived I soon found the shop itself was well intact but abandoned I pried my way in and gains a small stock hold of ammunition for my weapons and it was also the first place I combated the dead with my hands, I was only armed with my machete at the time as the slumped walking corpse lumbered my way his carcass ripped and torn I laid my newfound ammunition upon the ground and dispatched him quickly before he could moan and alert any others in the area. After leaving the gun shop I headed for the nearest place with food, I decided to take a shortcut through a neighborhood on my way through I saw a young lady about my age at the time in which I was twenty years of age, running from a burning house she rushed to my van as I stopped and rolled down my window knowing well she was not bitten and well certainly not dead. I took her with me being a survivor I needed a group and I knew it, her name was Lily and she was kind. After taking her in the safety of my van we headed for food and we soon got what we needed, we dispatched a few more of the dead ranks and left town we headed west to see if any other cities where running into the same dilemma as us, and if not we could warn them.


    Entry 4

    Things came together as we traveled trying to find others like us, life was in some terms a trip, I guess things where a little easier, but many towns we had gone to by this time where either infected or in the process, we stopped in a city for a short break, people where still working and fulfilling the monotonous motions they had probably done for ages, still blind to the outbreaks. We had gone to a diner sitting only to ourselves but with no success we couldn’t help but feel uneasy so we ordered coffee, and we soon found we had a connection not only at our experiences but as something more, this woman was the one person I had traveled with for now going on a few weeks, I couldn’t see a day that I wasn’t thinking of her by this time. I was soon feeling something for her but I wasn’t wanting to be in the diner, we paid and left, as we talked to the van I told her what I was thinking, and the first thing to escape her breath was “Finally” as she spoke with a smile on her face that night we where on the outskirts of town and we shared our fist kiss, it seemed to take away all the negative thoughts running through my mind. It was as though feeling for once, reprieved. The next morning we awoke and a thick fog had descended upon this little back road we had chosen to spend the night, and I must say that waking next to her was one of the best feelings to me. We soon started our traverse again riding until we found another town, we soon arrived to some small backwater place, a smile blaring on both of our faces as the plight hadn’t come to affect this place yet. We soon went to restocking our supplies and leading some time for ourselves. After a while, our hearts had soon bonded, time escaped us, and we where finally happy, we both felt alive again.


    Entry 5

    Upon this particular morning winter was finally taking his grasp, the cold was almost unbearable and we awoke with the first frost on the windows. We stopped at the next town that was close, but we arrived to find that the virus had run deep in this small city. We pulled off at a gas station it was disbanded and bloodstained, and one carcass remained behind the counter. Though thanks to the absence of people we gained a large supply of gasoline, and hastily moved on. I had started to wonder to myself, “is home in the same condition? Is there even a home left to go to?” We came upon a shopping center and stopped, the dead surrounding it showed us we had a long night ahead of us. As we continued driving through this hell torn town we noticed that it looked much like Lily’s home town in its condition, burnt buildings, corpses littered the street either they where too marred to be reanimated or shot through the head, and some corpses where as far as decapitation. At these close moment we felt our hearts shrink and lose hope and then swell with it once more. We needed to find somewhere safe to sleep, but to no avail we couldn’t find an area in which to rest well, there where no safe homes, apartments, or hotels. We where searching for some place that was fortified, and it would keep the dead out for the night, so we ended up sleeping in the van with the windows open and leading ourselves to guard duty, it was my first time actually listening and watching for the undead to rear their ugly heads, and I chose to go first. This was the hardest four hours to stay awake in my life. When it was Lily’s shift I had let her sleep an hour after due. Once I knew she was awake I fell to a sleep that had been bidding me to come for four hours. When I awoke we where on the move, she was driving with a tear soaked face and a dark glare, I went to ask of why we where on the move she simply replied “The Dead” and that she would explain when we were somewhere safe. We had found an abandoned police station by day break, one with the classic high concrete walls and large Iron Gate. It soon became our haven for rest during that day when winter struck his first cold blow. We ended up staying for more than a week. During our time at the station we bonded and became so very close, it felt like nothing could stop us. She later told me the accounts of what had happened while I slept, a man who had survived was coming to our van he was covering his hand where blood was gushing, a large group of the dead was following him. She flung the van in reverse and took off down the road. She said she saw the man get eaten alive in the rear view mirror as we drove off, she broke down when she told me about it and she cursed herself for not helping the man. I said to her “Baby he was beyond our help he was bitten and already infected” she held on to me and cried into my shoulder which was soaked in tears, as we where now safe in the police station we needed not worry about our noise levels too much for the place was sound proofed.

    Entry 6

    This week and three days at the police station was wonderful as our H.Q. it was centered in a less populate part of town and that meant less of our ghoulish enemy. Our rest periods still depended of little sleep by this time we had gotten used to it. To us living was all that mattered now, we both had the mind set of just living and our bodies adjusted to what we needed to adapt. Time at many points seemed to pass slowly, now Lily was settled and happy she was kind and loving as well. As my affections deepened for this woman I felt myself happy again I had promised myself if WE survived we would be married and we would live our lives on rebuilding what was there once before.
    Life was at a standstill we had a lot of time to know each other it was some of the best moments in life, we had loved each other we had been together for over a few months by now. I thought Oklahoma was where we would start if anywhere so that we would take a home and live life in the dead free zone near the mountains, “it would remind me of home”. We where starting to run low on food and water with our extended stay at this compound. Now was our time to make a run for supplies and towards more of the dead ranks, as we entered the inner city our encounters gained as we where traveling further in. We soon arrived at the grocery store there was nothing but a silence as we collected canned goods and put them in the van, we returned after that to go and collect more types of food. In turn for our run of supplies and knowing well we would encounter more of the dead, we took care to be well armed and ready to fight. In the arsenal carried with us we had a carbine rifle a combat knife and a hand gun to our choosing. We had split up. I was collecting food in another aisle when I heard her scream, I dropped what I had and ran to her as I came close all one could see was a corpse shot through head with a broken spine, its flesh was so gray, thus I decided to call them Grays. She had said that she was fine and it had just gotten the drop on her, after this short ordeal came many moans within the deep confines on this dark store we had made a hasty retreat to the van. On our way to the police station she had turned very pale her eyes carried a deep sadness, I asked her what was wrong and only a tear escaped her and a shudder in her breath. I continued to the police station I tried to console her once we where in the safety and quiet. I said that she “would be okay.” She cried hard after I said that as I moved in she kept close to me and whispered in a raspy soft and caring voice. “I’m sorry…I’ve been bitten.” She cried hard after that as she made me lock her up, the sadness in her eyes resonated, that cell is where we shared our last kiss our faces where to the bars in one last embrace. She told me to “wait till she was reanimated”, and then give her death. As she progressed she became very pale, as in later she puked and was in pain. The day continued on, I watched her suffer it felt as though a dagger where shoved into my heart. She later complained of not feeling anything as she laid upon the cell’s bed. As I was watching her she grew silent and was still breathing as the hours went on her breath slowed, and then grew silent after a time. By now night had fallen and it was early in the morning, the moon was full and the fog was thick, she reanimated and started to moan, midway I shot her in the head, blood splattered the wall and grey matter to quickly follow I cried hard as I staggered to leave the station it was the hardest thing I could have ever done. I got in the van and left that hell ridden town and that dark house upon my memory. The winter night cold and my anger flared after I left the place behind, and I will never return there, not for as long as my life span permits me, that place holds too hard of a memory to deal with it. I now had realized what I needed to do to survive this apocalypse. It taught me not to get close and be ready to stay in teams. And to fight, though now it seemed I would need many more people before I started my fight. Now the war was started as the state of emergency was now engaged, now ready for my road ahead leaving behind who I had loved and lost.

    Entry 7

    The social order of the country broke down, to think now the whole nation finally knew we had a menace causing havoc from the inside and it now laid upon the under filth of our peoples. Times where getting ready to plunge into a long war of taking back our country, and perhaps the world. As I continued to traverse across the long trek around the country, I saw a military crack down upon others like me traveling with weapons and supplies they said we where “dangerous”, and many who had succumb to these crack downs where never heard from again. I was able to evade suspicion easily by staying on the back roads and filling up at smaller gas stations, after about two weeks our land and people fell, and the military had been over powered by those who had felt oppressed. Cities became a horrible place to be even near the small towns weren’t so bad unless there where dead there. I came to many towns to resupply most where abandoned and takings where either slim or easy, many places where quiet and serene unlike the cities I entered which where in chaos. As things started to spiral downward crime and vigilantes where on the rise, many people took matters into their own hands and fortified themselves within their own home. I still kept my move, and started riding by night when there was less action and less chance of me becoming a victim of the crack down.



    Entry 8

    I came upon a strange town, it was quiet and long burned out I armed myself with a shot gun, a long balanced knife tied to my arm with some five fifty chord, brass knuckles and a pistol. I explored the town and her story seeing the town as abandoned I lit one of my good cigarettes and took my first drag, then entered a 24 hour waffle place. Coffee was left and cold on the burners the place showed a hard struggle as a few of the windows where broken and many plates where shattered amongst the floor I entered towards the back, a shuffle could be heard. I put my gun through the waiter doors as I entered I was prepared for the worst but there where windows for light in the back. I soon saw her, a waitress who had been bitten on the forearm now she was of the dead and reanimated. I threw my knife into her throat and saw her face well, there was nothing in her eyes, there was no fire no life just hollow scraped glassy eyes, I then rammed a slug through her head I took another drag of my cigarette and began to see them in a new way. Her skin was grayed and torn slightly her dried features where scarcely in any form beauty. Where I had shot her no blood ran only a black jelly and a resonance of gray matter through the opened split of her skull, as I still studied I noticed her clothes where drenched in blood, pock marks ran on her body where she had been shot. Her knuckles where so split and dry as she laid in a puddle of dried blood from someone who was killed in chaos that had taken this place. Her coloration was at such a shocking depth that I astonished by her pale complexities that had subsided within her flesh.

    Entry 9

    Life was gaining its own trail as the pandemic raged across the country I stayed in towns, constantly small towns that even the military had no crackdown on any more, by now many stations of the radio had fallen silent and many broadcasts had disappeared I was ready for anything to come my way. I was now a silent man almost mute, no sound coming from my radios and no signs of life for miles around. I felt alone and lost, I was left with my most animalistic side. During these times alone and left only to my devices I had many thoughts, my other side eating at me and slowly taking me into its abyss, my emotions where centered at a deep hate and anger left from the deep wells of sorrow. I had started hunting lightly exterminating places for safe houses for short amounts of time. At so many points it had come to the predicament of four shells and five grays which, one to start with was always the question. I was tired, sore, and in need of a long rest. The time I spent talking to my guns, left me to weather, to take me and my inner social needs and lead it to collapse. Many times I was in the dark, perched outside of towns so that my occurrences with grays where lessened, so I could sleep with a better feeling and thus rest better. My days became a routine drive, eat, sleep, and carry all motions carefully. This monotony came to eat at me and that was when I would raid the towns of no life and gain some better weapons and new supplies such as two way radios, some even better than government standard, and even a large supply of batteries to use at my disposal, I had also found ways to make good bombs that could help me later, I grabbed twenty good packages and a few packages of the low end radios. That day I wired home made bombs at the center of the square and wired the five to be able to contact each other. I kept the sixth and used it to lure grays. Later that night my plan worked well and I felt a little more at ease that night I slept. I soon found myself wondering what some of the cities where like still, It had now been a year and times where rough I needed a few people by this time, it was three months after the incident, and by now I was in a social collapse and ready to find any life. As I left my caution to the flame, I headed towards the cities and hopefully towards more friend units. My hopes where failing slowly still my decline into my mind ripped me it turned me to my own grief and left me in a hollow shell now I was hoping for a redemption and now perhaps a light grace of hope.

    Entry 10

    As I entered a wrecked city’s remains where smoke had stained the sky and death reeked in its entirety, night was approaching fast as I journeyed the city. That night it seemed to only be darkness met with impenetrable walls that seemed to go on forever. I drove further into the city’s heart still and endless coat of blackness off in the distance I noticed an orange dot in the haze of shadow. I pulled to a stop and shut my vehicle down I noticed the dot heading in erratic ways with a speed to me not seen for a while, and with that I started my van and drove with haste to catch what was making my interests spark in fear that it may disappear. With my approach I noticed as it was headed towards my position with loud cracks through the night light spots of flame could now be seen as one could hear round after round be fired out into a crowd of hungry gray arms. As the orange glow became a torch I could see it was a short haired man attached to the warm orange light. I stopped pulling my vehicle so my side door could be opened, he was firing explosive tipped rounds I grabbed my father’s old semiautomatic rifle and started helping as he ran towards me with a tired look in his eyes I fired five rounds each was a direct blow to each grays head spraying black ooze and gray matter into the night black embrace. The smell of decay lofted through the city streets as a light gust sent the stench in my direction, my van was ready and turned with the side back seat door open. He climbed in as he pounded his shots into the crowd of the dead. As he did this I fired out into the masses following him, knowing well I took my targets with a speed as soon as he entered the van I laid my gun in the passenger’s seat and floored my gas. When we sped off he had said something as we where further away I saw a large pillar of fire gnash out against the pitch black of night a few more buildings burned and rubble was now crossing the road. After the incidents we had spent our way out of town till the next morning. As the morning’s light reached over the large metropolis I could see much more smoke hanging among the lower levels of the cities streets. As we pushed our way through we had made our return to the scene of the night’s events two of the buildings had fallen into the street on each building the main struts for support facing the road had been blown out and had caused a clash of crushing stones down upon our adversaries and had blocked them from making their way further for advancement. I asked the man his name, he said he had renounced everything from his former life other than his guns and a nick name given to him so I came to know him as Heavy. Heavy was a well built man darker complexion and hot tempered. he was a previous soldier and was honorably discharged when he had been shot, I seemed to forget about the war after the country had fallen into its sickness and the government had been thrown into a burning hellfire. We decided to try and move on after a few days rest for the both of us taking shifts, once more the schedule came to me naturally upon the first night, rest was now a thing of pleasure and it had come gracefully to me.

    Entry 11

    Gaining a new ally had done a good thing for me within a day my psychological state improved drastically. I had a person to talk to, judging from Heavy’s state he had gone through some similar trials, perhaps he saw many of his comrades die then rise again against him and his brothers in arms. Since I had left no mention to my name or origin he had given me a name of his own choosing, he had called me Grieves for the mournful look in my eyes and my wayward movements, he had labeled me one of his new buddies. We had gained a lot of common ground, and his ability to survive in a disciplined environment had given us a few advantages. We had a deep will to live, that was our burden and that started us anew. With bold intentions and tactics that would ensure our survival against the gray ranks, we soon started traversing the city in search of survivors, when we reached those still living it was too late, many had been bitten or others had turned against their own with the dead wailing leaving many peoples psychological state to collapse and drive many individuals insane, we found many bodies that had been dead from anywhere of a few hours to days some had no bite wounds. We had entered houses and apartments to find locked doors, our first door we decided to break down the had a gray awaiting us behind it, it lay moaning in their way, restrained to the bed we gave it peace and left. Many doors where the same way more of the dead where not strapped down and none had gained the drop on us, we kept a sharp eye for the enemy the machines that could lead to the world collapsing if it had not already. Time had passed very slowly in this city. The bright sun had left us with unbearable heats in mid winter. The city smelled of death, we kept to our schedule we lost our interest in finding any survivors, so we soon disbanded our quest and moved on. Heavy said his home was close to the outskirts of this small metropolis we headed there, he said he had a stock hold of supplies our hope was riding high.

    Entry 12

    When we arrived to his former home I saw what remained, a battered house the windows where broken out and holes where in the walls where bullets were embedded. Stains of blood and black ooze painted the floor and walls five corpses littered the ground two children, one female, and two men. Heavy looked away as his breath had shortened bite marks littered the men and one child, and the other two victims had one each. Each body had a shot through the skull and in the woman’s hand laid a pistol her finger still gripped the trigger as her slumped corpse left what one’s mind only confirmed. Heavy’s muscles clenched as he saw the bodies lying amongst the floor and clutter of what was his home. The floor had glass shards upon it many things where broken a struggle was apparent. Heavy walked to another room his breathing was harsh by this point. “Suicide. How could she have done that” his words where mixed with sobs “I cant believe she committed suicide, of all things. I can’t believe it, my child too, she killed him. My son she killed my son and then killed herself.” Heavy’s words where deeply moving, I did not know what it was to lose a child, I know only what it was like to lose those of which I had loved. He started to hold a pistol to his head, then stopped as he saw me approach through the door way. I stepped closer to him as he put his weapon down upon a table and looked away from me, his face was tear soaked and ridden in pain. I told him a bit of my recent life and I has said I can somewhat understand his thoughts and position. I started to move forwards more so, but a an almost subtle pace until we heard a crash coming from the dark stairwell leading to the second story of his house we moved with haste towards the noise in hopes of it being a survivor, but to no avail all we gained from our curiosity was one bullet less. A gray about the age of a young teen had come tumbling towards the top of the stairs. one shot, one target, and one less dead man walking to worry about. We gathered his supplies and gained a few new guns to add into our arsenal I gathered some blankets, lights, and his camping equipment. Among the items we gathered from his house where gas tanks so that we would have to refuel less, weapons, ammunition, and foods to help us on our longer trips. We soon left after a few hours, his strength showed well against the gruesome scene we discovered in his former abode.

    Entry 13

    We headed to the north after departing from the metropolis with hopes that we could find survivors among our new trail, unsurprisingly nothing we found was of the living. Our hopes still remained through this deterring time, as with most one would guess all hope would be crushed and scattered in ruins. I was not phased by death from seeing all of which I had loved become a machine driven by a deep instinct and hunger, left only to be splattered against walls in a mess of gray matter and black ooze. My mentality had run unto a stage of change since I had left home, my mind was delved within itself ridden to its own chaos, reconstruction, and order. My thoughts where rational and strangely more lethal than my older way of thinking, time had left me a bitter shell with nothing to fill it. When nightfall came Heavy and I had stopped for the night we rested near an abandoned building, we thought perhaps a bar previously. We entered in search of the living or dead to make sure we where secure, to our astonishment nothing stirred, this former bar was devoid of even a drop of liquor or life. When daylight came Heavy and I where well rested, we left and continued our trek north. We came upon a large town that seemed unaffected by the dead plight, it was the first town I had seen for a long time that had remained in its condition after the nation fell, only a few buildings where actually burnt. The people of the town where well and alive but seemed to have a deep fear for us as though we where something come to harm them, on our way towards the town’s center many people had shut their doors on us as though we where Grays ready to eat their flesh. We ended up finding our way to the town hall and the mayor’s office on our own. We entered lightly armed with knives and a pistol each, the man who ran the town was there, he asked us to leave our weapons at his door. The mayor explained his people’s fear for us and why they feared less for the dead than for the living. The mayor told us of a people who commonly terrorized the town, he called them Raiders. They where a people who pillaged and killed a small population of the town taking what they wished with force and a disregard for their fellow man. The raiders where best described as savage and barbaric individuals who cared not for survival but for riches, when I pondered on the situation I could bear only one thought, that man turning against man in times like these was a horrible thing, to know I now had two enemies one dead and the other living was gut wrenching. The war had stopped when the country had witnessed the decent into its darker age, now as a menace to the country and perhaps the world the dead showed what some of mankind truly was. The mayor allowed us to stay in the town and offered us supplies, Heavy and I decided to stay for a short time, we thought perhaps we could save this town from suffering too harshly at the hands of our own kind.