Burn The Dead: Prologue

Day Zero1

December 21st, 1:16am. 2

The ear Splitting blare of the tornado sirens echoed through out the city, waking up any residents who may have been sound asleep. An ambulance speeds down a suburban street, it's lights flashing and it's own sirens wailing as it made its way to its destination. Somewhere off in the distance, a church bell rings, nearly drowned out by the constant scream of the high pitched wailing that saturated the city. 3

The tornado sirens die down, and there is a large crackle, followed by a short series of beeps. 4

"This is the emergency broadcast system. This is not a test." The muffled voice proclaims as it fills the streets. 5

"I repeat, this is not a test. Please, remain calm, lock your doors and stay inside your homes. this is not a test."6

Residents walk into their living rooms, wearing their bathrobes or simply just climb out of bed with whatever they have on. They turn on their televisions to see an unfamiliar white screen with the bold lettering: 7

Please stand by for a message from the emergency broadcast system. 8

People change the channel only to discover the stand-by message broadcasting over every cable, satellite and local channel. 9

Finally, the stand by message is replaced by an older gentleman sitting at a news desk. there is a picture of a downtown skyline behind him. The man's face is pale and ghostly, his gray hair, a sweaty mop. He holds a small stack of papers in his hand, and is looking away from the camera. 10

"Are we on?" The man asks. 11

"We're on." A voice says from somewhere off camera. 12

"My name is Wesley King, I am a producer here at channel 4 news. There are only a few of us left and I'm not sure how much time we have before we lose our signal, this will be our final broadcast." 13

The man loosens his tie, as if it were choking him and quickly clears his throat.14

"At approximately 12:07 this morning, the first incident of people behaving irrationally and seemingly out of control was reported here at channel 4 news. What was once believed as an isolated incident of rioting and unlawfulness quickly escalated when authorities where dispatched to the scene. What I'm about to show you may seem like it couldn't possibly be real, and I admit that I didn't believe it my self at first. But I swear on my life that this is absolutely real."15

The screen changes over to what appears to be a video shot from a camera phone. The picture is somewhat shaky but comes in very clear, countless of viewers watched, unable to look away and hoping for answers.16

"This footage was captured by a bystander outside a major metropolitan hospital, somewhere along the east coast of the united states." Wesley King told the viewers as the footage began.17

Several squad cars pull up to the emergency room entrance with lights flashing, they quickly stepped out of their cars, wearing bulletproof vests, some carried 9mm hand guns while others had taken the time to grab their shot guns. One officer, came over the loud speaker from foremost squad car. 18

"Attention, this is the police, we have the area surrounded. step outside with your hands up and surrender, or we will open fire!"19

The screen paused.20

"The police were called in to the scene when a report of a fatally wounded man attacked several hospital employees. Early reports clam that the man had been pronounced dead on arrival, just minutes earlier. This next part WILL disturb you."21

The footage continues, and the camera pans over to show several S.W.A.T. members firing tear gas through the hospital windows. The emergency room doors slide open and thick smoke quickly begin to pour out into the air. The camera phone mic begins to pick up faint screams from inside the hospital. The police tense up as they hear the screams, not knowing what to expect. Then people began to frantically come running out of the hospital, some are wearing hospital gowns, some are nurses and doctors, but all are in a hysterical panic and they attempt to get away from whatever horror lies inside. The weak and injured topple over and fall to the ground, while the able bodied stampede over them.22

"Remain clam, the situation is under control, everyone get down on the ground with their hands over their heads. I repeat, get down on the ground with your hands over your heads." The voice says over the load speaker.23

Few follow the police instruction as they continue to rampage through the street. Several are tackled to the ground by waiting police officers, and are quickly handcuffed. But the panic is too far spread, even those who had been restrained continue to fight and try to get way. 24

The first team of S.W.A.T. begin to enter the building, wearing gas masks and flak jackets, they have their automatic weapons at the ready as they disappear into the thick smoke. Gunfire quickly erupts inside the hospital. The bystander filming the scene zooms in toward the entrance of the emergency room.25

Muffled screams come from inside the hospital, and more people continue to run out, most of which are quickly detained by the police.26

"Fall back! God damn it, fall back!!" calls out a voice from inside the hospital. Several S.W.A.T. team members back out of the entrance, firing their weapons all the while. Several of the officers are injured and are dragged away by their comrades.27

Then, the scene erupts into total chaos as nearly a dozen men and women come charging out and overwhelm the retreating S.W.A.T. team. they jump on top of them and tackle them to the ground. One officer opens fire and unloads his gun as a women in hospital gown topples over him and begins to claw and tear away at his face. Even as the women's midsection is torn apart by point blank machine gun fire, she continues to claw at the downed officer. He's gun clicks as it empties and he uses the butt of the rifle to smash the women's face in. She goes sprawling to the ground and the horrified officer begins to crawl backwards in an effort to get away.28

Slowly the women begins to get up, her abdomen is nearly all gone, she hunches over to the side as her exposed spine cracks in half and her entrails fall out and on to the ground. The cameraman focus' on the gaping hole that clearly shows the other side as she begins to stumble forward.29

"My god!" The cameraman says as he shifts the camera to the woman's face. Her eyes were white and void of life, black veins bulged from her head, and her mouth was covered in fresh blood and was open wider then any person could have possible opened. Her body was mangled, her gown completely covered in red, there were several places where she had been bitten and large chucks of flesh were missing. Yet the crazed women continued on.30

As she advanced towards the police barricade, she was meet by a barrage of gun fire, half a dozen officers open fired on the relentless women, her body nearly exploded form the multiple exit wounds. But the women, though slower now, moved forward. It wasn't until one officer fired a rifle grenade that the women finally fell. She was struck squarely in the face and her head exploded on impact.31

The camera shifted once again towards the crowd of hysterical civilians and panicking cops. They were unable to tell which were hostile and which were simply in a panic. As dozens of people began to climb over the barricades, the police once again open fired.32

Those who were just trying to escape were gunned down as if they were among the hostile, they simply fell to the ground dead, while the crazed, blood hungry ones seemed unaffected by the polices frantic attempt to control the chaos.33

Then, the camera man focused on one of the innocent civilians who was struck down. He sat lifeless in a pool of his own blood. One of the mans arms had been blown off above the elbow, along with part of his face. But shortly after, even before he had bled out, he began to move again.34

His head lifted up, exposing the teeth that had only moments ago been covered by skin and muscle. His eyes had grown white and colorless like the others had, and he began to get back on his feet. Several others began to follow suit, and what had once been a dozen of the undead had turned into nearly twice that number in a matter of moments. 35

Seeing no hope for the situation, the law enforcement began to retreat. One officer approached the man who had been filming the whole scene.36

"Get the fuck out of here! If you value your life, run like hell."37

The man seemed to of listened as he began to run away in disbelief. He still held his phone, unknowingly filming his retreat as the camera captured the horror that was left behind. 38

Shortly after,the footage cut off.39

Once again Wesley King was Sitting at the news desk with the downtown skyline behind him. It was clear that even he, while trying to warn the public had been utterly shocked by the footage.40

"Up until fifteen minutes ago we continued to receive similar reports of people portraying erratic behavior, acts of cannibalism, and even the dead coming back to life to pray on strangers, friends and loved ones alike. These reports are coming in from all over the globe. We also have received reports that several major broadcasting companies have gone off air. I'm afraid that we must do the same as we all here at channel four fear for our lives. But I leave you with this." Wesley King loosened his collar and cleared his throat.41

"The dead walk the earth. This is not a hoax, do not go outside to find this out for yourself. You will only endanger your life and the lives of those around you. Lock your doors, board up your windows, and pray. But most important of all, burn your dead."42

Twelve hours later...43

Stephen Clay races his gray SUV through town, there are three passengers in the car with him. His friend Eddie is sitting the front passenger side, staring out the window and shaking his head, while Stephen's sister Carol sits in the back with her injured husband, Rob.44

The streets are littered with abandoned vehicles, several of which have been overturned and caught ablaze. Stephen speeds passed a strip-mall which is also engulfed in flames. People run rampart through downtown, some seem to be running from others. It resembles the scene of a riot, but no one is looting or breaking the windows of shops or walking away with new found goods. Stephen catches a crowd of people standing over a women. She reaches out for help as the mob tears her apart, biting into her flesh as if it were a rare cooked steak. No one stops to help the defenseless woman, not even Stephen who knows by now that the mob isn't really a mob at all, but the undead. Stephen speeds up, and nearly side swipes an overturned police cruiser.45

"Slow down Stephen, your going to get us killed!" Stephen looks in the rear veiw mirror as his sister, Carrol attempts to dress up her husbands wounds.46

"We're running out of time Carrol, I'm not slowing down for anything. Hows Rob doing?"47

"Not so good, I can't stop the bleeding, it's like that thing took a chunk out of his arm. Damn it Steve, we need to go to a hospital. Downtown General Hospital is less then a mile away, we can make it!" Carrol pleaded.48

"Didn't you see the news cast, the hospitals are like butcher's shops now. If we stop for anything, especially to go to the hospital we're all dead! Do you understand me?"49

"What about Rob? He need's a doctor! He'll die if we don't get him help!"50

"I know Carrol, I'm not going to let him die. We're heading to Susan's outside the city limits, she's a nurse and she can help."51

"Outside the city limits?! Can we even make to the bridge?" Eddie asked from the passenger seat.52

"We have to, that's why I'm not going to stop for anything. As long as we keep moving, we'll make it."53

Then from Stephen's blind spot, a car broadside the SUV from the passenger side. The truck goes into a spin and the windows shatter and rain glass over the passengers. The airbags deploy and Stephen's head snaps back form the whiplash.54

Stephen wakes up in a moment of pure panic, the SUV had been completely immobilized, the windshield was totally shattered, the front hood mangled and twisted, and the front axle was torn off with the wheels rolling down the street.55

"Carrol are you OK?" Stephen says reaching back for his sister.56

"Yeah. Rob are you still with us?"57

For a moment Rob doesn't move. Stephen reaches inside his jacket to pull out his .45 and unlocks the safety.58

"Carrol." Rob says as he opens his eyes.59

"Oh thank god Robert! Hold on we're going to get you out of there!"60

"Carrol just leave me, I'll only slow you down and get everyone killed." Rob said barely above a whisper.61

"Shut and save your strength Rob, no ones leaving you behind. I'd never forgive myself I left you here to die. Besides I don't think your wife would appreciate it much if I did."62

Rob gave out a short laugh but quickly reeled as it clearly pained him. Eddie and Carol helped Rob from the backseat as Stephen check his weapon and made his way over to the car that had struck them. The driver was unconscious, and the passenger had been impaled by a stop sign. Knowing he didn't have much time, he ran over to the car.63

"Hey wake up!" Stephen slapped the driver in the face.64

The driver suddenly come to, and wasted no time going into a panic.65

"Holy shit what the hell just happened?" The driver said.66

"You had an accident, we need to get you out of there before your friend turns into one of them."67

The driver looks over to his passenger and quickly goes into a frenzy. He began to thrash around in his seat, uselessly tugging at his seat-belt.68

"HOLY SHIT GET ME THE FUCK OUTTA HERE MAN, GET ME THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"69

"Calm down! I can cut you out of the seat-belt, but the engine is still running, I need you to shut the engine off."70

"Fuck that! Get me outta this bitch now!"71

Then, flames began to ignite from under the mangled hood of the car72

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Help me please!" The man said still strapped into the seat. But before Stephen could get him out the passenger woke. His eyes were pure white, and black veins quickly began to surface all over his body. The newly awakened undead began to reach forward but was still pinned down to the seat by the stop sign that had impaled him.73

Stephen managed to cut the seat belt loose, and the driver began to climb out through the busted window, paying no attention to the glass that was cutting into his hands. But just as the man got his head and arms out of the vehicle, the arms of the undead closed around his neck and the zombie bite directly into the mans face. The man gave out a bloodcurdling scream that was so intense, Stephen quickly backed away and fell to the pavement. The car completely ignited in flames as the man was pulled back into the burning inferno.74

"Steve, lets go! You said it your self. We stop for anything and we're dead!" Eddie screamed form the other side of the street.75

Stephen got to his feet and made his way over to his sister and her husband. Eddie ran to an empty police cruiser, busted out the window and removed the shotgun. He checked to make sure it was loaded and then joined his friends.76

Stephen looked at his friend who had never stolen anything in his life.77

"What? You going to arrest me now?"78

"Lets go."79

The small group of four made their way down the middle of the street were it was open, Carrol and Eddie held Rob up with his arms over their shoulders. Rob could barely manage a jog as they made their way through town, it was only the early afternoon.80

It took over half an hour for the four survivors to get out of the downtown area and into the more rural are of the city, but they hadn't encountered anyone, alive or undead since the scene of the car accident. The sky had grown cloudy, showing signs of incoming rain, but the group still slowly made their way through the empty street of a residential area.81

"Seems like everything's going down in the city." Eddie said82

"By now most people have locked them selves up inside their homes. I bet some are watching us now." Stephen said, still holding his handgun with the safety off.83

"I can't believe no one has come out here to try and help us." Carrol said.84

"Can you blame them though?" Rob began, clearly still in pain, with every word feeling like a knife in his lungs.85

"After all we're a bunch of strangers just walking down the middle of the street, when it seems like all hell has broken loose. Plus not to mention that Rob isn't exactly the healthiest looking guy right now." Eddie paused and gave Rob a sympathetic glance. "No hard feeling man, but you look like shit." Eddie finished.86

"Don't worry, I probably look better than how I feel. It's not too late to leave me you know."87

"Shut up Rob not another word about it. We still have time, as soon as we get to Susan's, she'll fix you right up."88

"Assuming we make it that far. Look." Eddie pointed ahead of them using his shotgun.89

up ahead, about a quarter a mile away was a roadblock near the bridge they were planning to cross. Several cars had been stopped, then abandoned, each parked side by side on the road just as if it were a normal checkpoint. Some of the cars were even still running.90

Stephen walked up to the closest car to see if they could use it. The car had been left in park and the key was still in the ignition but was parked bumper to bumper with the other cars around it.91

"Dammit." Stephen cursed under his breath.92

"Hey Steve!" Eddie called out.93

"What is it!" He called back as he turned around."94

"There's smoke up ahead!"95

Stephen turned around back towards the bridge and looked to the horizon. He could see a massive bellow of smoke coming from somewhere across the bridge.96

"I think our route is a little fucked man." Eddie said as he and Carrol carried Rob over to the roadblock.97

"Well it's not like we can go around or head back the other way." Carrol said.98

"You're right we need to keep going forward, no matter what."99

"You know that feeling people get in movies when something really bad is about to happen?" Eddie asked. Stephen turned with a look that said 'as if things weren't bad enough' on his face.100

"Let me guess." Rob managed to say.101

"Yeah I got it too, but we don't really have any other choice."102

"I know but still." Eddie pumped the shotgun, as if to reiterate his feeling. 103

After climbing over the police barricade, they cautiously made their way down the bridge. The air was beginning to smell misty and they knew it wold start raining any moment. Stephen hadn't decided if that would help them or just make things worse.104

Shortly after the police barricade they found the source of the bellowing smoke. Less than halfway down the bridge there had been some sort of car accident, several cars had collided and were piled up at the center of the bridge, nearly blocking their path.105

"You think someone got impatient and tried to breach the barricade?" Eddie asked.106

"Probably, but let's not stick around long enough to find out."107

"I think I can walk. Eddie you should be up there with Stephen." Rob said, seeming to have a little more energy than before. Now he was standing on his own with only his left arm braced over his wife's shoulder.108

"Are you sure, sweetheart? Your still bleeding a little."109

"I feel better now, really."110

It didn't take long to reach the half way point where the wreckage had been spotted. Stephen brought his gun up and stared down the sights as he approached the burning wreckage. As he got closer, the overpowering stench of burning flesh became more and more pungent. Stephen moved one step at a time, his police training had become instant this point in his life as he came into view of the bodies that were still burning inside. 111

"Jesus." Stephen murmured under his breath as he brought his free hand up in an attempt to mask the smell. Then he could hear someone quietly approaching. Instantly took over and he quickly turned to face the would-be assailant. 112

"Oh man it's me!" Eddie called out holding his shotgun in the air.113

"What the hell are you doing? I almost blew your head off!" 114

"Well, lucky for me I'm not a freaking zombie. Shit, my heart is racing." Eddie walked over to the car that was still burning with it's passengers inside, their corpses nothing more then skeletons covered in charred flesh.115

"Man what a way to go. Until today I thought there would be nothing worse than being burned alive. Now I called the poor bastards lucky."116

"I don't see how anyone could be lucky, Eddie."117

"Yeah hell on earth, right?" Eddie added.118

Just as Eddie turned away from the car, a fiery mass seemingly came out of nowhere. Eddie turned to bring up the shotgun but by the time he got a shot off the the burning mass was already on top of him and he succeeded in nothing more then shooting at the pavement. Stephen was quick but Eddie was already on the ground with the undead on top of him, completely ablaze.119

Even though he was getting burn with every attempt to overcome his attacker. Using one hand to push back the zombie's face to keep from getting bitten, he reached for his shotgun with the other. But every moment the zombie was on top of him the more severe the burning would be. 120

Suddenly the zombie reared as Stephen fired three shots into its chest, the bullets went clean through it's soft rotten tissue and the zombie went sprawling to the ground. Eddie scrambled for his gun once more, just as the zombie was getting back to it's feet. Eddie, while still on his knees, brought the shotgun up and fired a single shot.121

The blast was nearly point blank, as it took off the zombies left arm at the shoulder. Even though it was minus an arm and still burning the zombie persisted.122

"Holy shit man! Do these things ever fucking die?" Eddie pump the shot and fired again, and Stephen followed suit. Each had fired and least three shots at the Zombie, but each shot was as useless as the last. 123

Then fire began to engulf the undead completely, and it fell to it's knees and in moments it was nothing but ash blowing in the wind. They had survived, the whole ordeal has only lasted half a minute but to the two friends, it seemed like an eternity.124

"I thought we were goners man!" Eddie said, with his heart racing faster than any man should ever experience.125

"We would of been, if it hadn't been on fire." Stephen claimed, his heart moving just as fast.126

"What?" Eddie asked puzzled.127

"I shot that damn thing six times, Eddie. How many shells did you get off?"128

"Three, I think. It all happened so fast."129

"Well, one should of been enough. I don't think our weapons are going to be much use against these things."130

"Fuck."131

"Stephen! Eddie!" Carrol cried out as her and Rob made their way over. Carrol only called Stephen by his birth name when she was angry or worried about him.132

"Stay back Carrol. It may not be safe yet." Eddie called out, but his sister was near hysteria and overcome with relief. 133

Rob urged her on as she ran up to him and embraced him.134

"I was worried when I heard gun shots. Thank heavens you're alright." She said after kissing her younger brother on the forehead.135

"Yeah, I'm OK."136

"Don't worry about me, just a few second degree burns over here." Eddie said sarcastically.137

"Oh, Eddie I'm so sorry are you ok?"138

"Yeah I'm OK, really. I'm just giving you a hard time. Steve just saved my life. I'm just venting."139

"We should keep moving." Rob added in.140

Then from the other side of the bridge where they had come in at, there was a loud crash the echoed through the air.141

"What the...?" Eddie said as everyone turned to the direction the sound had came from.142

Rob had the better view as he was still standing away from the burning wwreckage.143

"Guy's," Rob said, his voice weak and cracked.144

"We should start moving, like now." 145

Carrol and Stephen rushed over to Rob and together they started to make their way down the bridge. Just as they turned there was another crash, then they could hear them. 146

Eddie turned around to get a better look at what they were running from, even-though he had already had a good idea.147

"Oh, Man! There's so many of them!" Eddie said, staring at the large mob of undead that were beginning to pile over the top of the police barricades.148

Dozens upon dozens, of undead, running and screaming. It was the sound of anger and desperation. It was the crying sound of madness and hysteria. But above all, it was the call of the dead.
Their bodies were mangled and twisted. Those who had been killed had returned, the ones they killed got up and killed. With every one of them that died, the call of the dead become louder.149

Some had been dead for hours, their faces and bodies had nearly been ripped to shreds. Clothing dangled like rags, some only wore one shoe or no shoes at all. Undead woman had hair ripped out of their head, exposed their skulls underneath.150

It was a scene of horror and of a savage frenzy as they ran towards their prey. They moved without coordination, stumbling as they ran. Even when a few had fallen over, they crawled with unbelievable speed. The survivors ran for their lives, trying to get away from the undead and their undying hunger.151

"Their gaining on us!" Eddie cried out.152

"How can they move so fast?" Stephen thought out loud.153

Some of the zombies had gotten caught up on a car from the wreckage, but as they fell to the ground, the others simply climbed over the top of them and kept moving.154

The survivors were slowing down, unable to keep their pace, the undead began to catch up. Eddie was the first to turn around, he stopped and took aim at the nearest zombie who was just twenty yards away. 155

He fired once and blew out the zombies right leg at the knees. It rolled several times as it hit the ground. Not even seeming to feel the loss of one of it's legs it continued to move forward, crawling on the ground with one of it's arms reaching out. Many of the others ran right over the top of him, some tripping over and hitting the ground hard, others lept over the falling zombies.156

Eddie fired twice more, hitting several zombies in the head and face, but most seem unaffected as they just kept moving.157

Stephen stopped as Eddie ran passed him, he brought up the gun and began to fire one shot at a time, taking aim at the moving targets. The first shot hit one in the arm, another landed one in the chest. Then Stephen fired another two rounds and hit one zombie in the head just above the eyebrow. The back of its head exploded and it collapsed to the ground, tripping up nearly a dozen others as rolled over on the pavement.158

"Stephen forget, let's go!" Carol called out, still with Rob's arm draped over her shoulder.159

Just before Stephen began to start running, an over turned car caught his attention that laid between them and the horde of undead. He brought his .45 up and took aim at the gas tank and fired three rounds at it. The car's gas tank exploded and the area around it was ignited in flames. The force of the explostion knock several zombies over and they were now engulfed in flames. But the horde kept coming, barely slowing down as they ran through the flames, catching fire as they incoherently raged on.160

The four survivors didn't hesitate to keep running away, Carrol and Eddie each held one of Rob's arms to help keep him on his feet. It didn't take long for Stephen to catch up to the other three, who had been the only to stop to shoot the car's gas tank. No one dared to look back at the steadily approaching horde, but they didn't even need to see them to know they were gaining. Their moans were almost deafening, as they went on sounding as if they were wanting to speak, but didn't know how to form the words. They screamed out mumbles and high pitched squeals. They slashed and grabbed at the air as if they could almost touch their forthcoming meal. Their legs moved like those of a stumbling child, but with unsettling easiness and speed. The longer the survivors keep going, the more the undead's wild frenzy grew.161

Stephen had only needed to see what their faces looked like once, he would always remember the translucent white faces that formed, the dark purple veins popping out, but most of all he would remember the eyes. He had witnessed someones eyes turn into a cloud of white, and then followed by black veins forming around the eyes that darkened the sockets and stretched out like worms around the brow and cheeks. 162

"Come on we have to keep moving!" Stephen called out.163

"We're going as fast as we can man!" Eddie replied.164

Stephen focused at the end of the bridge, just over a hundred yards away, he saw two vehicles speeding towards them. AS they closed in he could tell that one was a big rig of some kind and the other was a full sized SUV. Both vehicles honked obsessively as they made their approach.165

"Someone's coming our way, just keep moving!" Stephen called out, with the horde nearly at their backs.166

The group moved to the other side of the road as the big rig speed right passed them, they had gotten a good enough look at it to tell that it was a tanker. The SUV came to a screeching halt a few yards ahead of the survivors, the doors popped open and a women came out who Stephen never felt happier to see.167

"Susan!"168

"Hurry!" The mature looking women said waving her arms. She had long red hair that was tied into a ponytail and was wearing jeans and a cargo vest with a t-shirt underneath.169

The group turned around to see the tanker turning hard into a slide and seeing the driver jump out and go rolling onto the ground, when the driver came to a stop he laid out on the ground with his face down and his hands over his head. The tanker slide into junked cars and the horde of undead, the tanker's main tank split open and fuel began to pour out onto the bridge in a massive puddle. The driver got up and ran away from the tanker but stop fifteen yards from where he started and pull out a flare gun from his belt. He put a flare into the gun and aimed at the leaking fuel, just as the horde was beginning to climb on top of and around the wrecked tanker. 170

The flare shot out like a rocket towards the pool of gasoline, the gas inginited like a moving wave of flame and quickly reached the tanker which exploded into a massive fireball. The driver of the tanker had already moved behind a nearby car as a storm of debris came raining down; car doors, flamming tires, and scrap metal crashed into the ground and into the river below. Thick black smoke darkened the sky and the bridge began to shake and sway, everyone could hear the sound of the cables and support beams given way to the stress.171

"Patrick, get in the damn car!" Susan yelled out to the driver who was still crouched behind a car. He wasted no time listening as he sprinted away from the car.172

Eddie and Stephen helped Rob into the back of the SUV as Patrick got into the driver seat. The SUV made a quick U-turn and drove away from the unstable bridge. All the seats had been put down in the back of the truck, Carol sat next to Susan as she ripped open Rob's sleeve to get a look at his arm.173

"What happened!" Susan asked with a sense of urgency, while tossing the bloody rag that had served as a bandage.174

"One of those things took a chunk out of his arm." Eddie responded.175

"One of his arteries was ruptured, I can fix it but we need to get to the house first, I have plenty of supplies there."176

"We'll be there in less than ten minutes!" Patrick said from he driver seat, without turning his head around.177

Carol ripped off her other sleeves and began to wrap it around Rob's arm.178

"Ahhh!" Rob cried out, winching his eyes and baring his tightly clinched teeth.179

"Sorry we have to slow the bleeding" Susan said trying to sound calming,180

"I know, it just feels like knives!" 181

Stephen looked back of the huge smoke cloud that was pouring from the bridge, while the bridge faded off in the distance, the smoke cloud could be seen from miles away.182

"How did you know where to find us?" Stephen said, with a final sigh of relief.183

"John said you guys would take the bridge, because it was the safest way."184

"Yeah, but not anymore, nothings coming from that way for a while." Eddie said.185

"Thank you." Stephen said, collapsing against the back window.186

A couple of hours had passed once they had gotten to the house, and it had been snowing for over an hour. Susan and Patrick had just finished sewing up Rob's arm. Stephen stood by the front window on the second floor of the house. He was watching the snow fall as it began to blanket the fields and pine-covered hills, and for a few brief moments it had almost felt peaceful. But several miles away in the same direction, sat the city skyline, pillars of smoke could be seen in the distance along with an occustional flash of light. In his mind he could hear their voices and see their faces, crying out with sorrow and rage. Thier expresstions filled with an undying hunger and unbelievable madness.187

"Steve?" Susan said quietly as she touched Stephens shoulder. He turned around.188

"Are you ok?" Susan asked.189

"What the hell is going on here? Is this the end of the world?" Stephen said with a disquiet feeling in his voice.190

"I don't know...but I hope not. Is there something I can do for you?"191

"I'm OK. How's Rob?"192

"We managed to stop the bleeding, he's lost a lot of blood, so I'll need to keep an eye on him for a couple of days. I'm sure that he'll pull through, he managed to get this far after all. We found each other just in time."193

"Yeah, I guess we did."194

"John and Eddie are in the study, I thought you guys might want to put your heads together."195

"I'm sure the Coronal already has a plan, said half jokingly196

Stephen made his way down to the study of Susan and John's farm house. He had known them almost all his life, John and his father were old war buddies. When Stepehn's father died, John took on the responisibility of being the only father Stephen ever really had. John was retired now, and Susan worked as a surgens assisant while John grew corn and wheat.197

The majority of the house had already been boarded up, every window except for the one on the third floor that Stephen had looked out of. The doors had been barred as well, only the celler door and the porch on the second floor were accessible. tephen walked in to the study to find Eddie and John looking over a topagraphical map.198

"We have enough supplies to last for a couple months, but we're not going to be able to stay here forever." John told Eddie as Stephen stood in the doorway.199

"Have you been out there man? It's a freaking mad house, there's no way I'm going back out there, no way."200

"He's right Eddie,at some point well have to leave. Even with supplies there is no way to tell how long we'll be safe here." Stephen said, breeaking his breif silence.201

"Stephen, it's good to see you son. I'm glad you made it through that hell hole alive." The Colonal said, oferring his embrace. Stephen walked of to John and they hugged each other like father and son.202

"Not sure if we would have made it this far, if not for you ans Susan. She told me you were the one who knew where to find us." Stephen said, facing his mentor, their arms placed on each others shoulders.203

"Great minds think alike I suppose. I knew the farm house would be a safer place to stay than the city, and I knew that you would know that as well. The bridge was the quickest way to get out of the city, but I had heard on the radio about the road blocks"204

"So you had Patrick use a rig to smash through the barracades and come and meet us there."205

"Thats right. Now let's see just how screwed we are." The Colonal said directing his attention to a new map, one of the city and the surrounding areas.206

"If we leave we'll need to head north, towards the hills or maybe keep going till we get to the great lakes."207

"You think these things can't swim?" Eddie asked.208

"Probably not. Did you see the way they moved. It was more like they moved based on reflex than actually knowing. At the very least, we'll be able to slow them down."209

"Hey Colonal, you wouldn't have know of any secret bunkers close by would you?" Eddie asked, he sounded sarcastic but had a hint of desperation in his voice.210

"Sadly, no." John replied.211

The three men stopped when they heard someone running down the stairs, Susan soon came bursting into the study.212

"There are some people outside, in the field. At least I think they're people. Come take a look."213

John, Eddie and Stephen went to the third floor window that was overlooking the wheat field were six people were wondering around in the field.214

"Susan, my rifle." John said facing the window with his arm streched out behind him. Susan quickly retrieved the scoped hunting rifle and placed it in the Colonal's hands. John brought up the scope and peered down into the wheat field that was fifty yards off in the didstance.215

"Jesus." John said, looking through the scope.216

"Let me see." Stephen asked, and John handed him the rifle. Stephen looked through the rifle and saw what was unmistakable. It was them. All six were zombies, with their ghostly white faces, bulging veins, and the cloudy white eyes that now glew in the twilight. Some had even begun to look worse than before, peices of flesh had been torn off their faces, their clothes had been ripped to shreds, one female was even wondering around half naked through the field. Stephen panned the rifle to look at each one in turn. One man had had his nose bitten off, clugulated blood seeped from his nose and ran down his face. Another man was missing an arm, along with nearly have the skin on his face, exposing yellowish muscle underneath.217

"What should we do, do you think they'll leave us alone?" Susan asked to no one in particular.218

"They don't seem to notice us for now. But I don't think we should take any chances, we need to get rid of them."219

"We could take them out form up here. Your a police sniper!" Eddie put in.220

"Yeah, but I won't be able to get all six of them, maybe two, three at the most." Stephen Replied.221

"I have another rifle, and a couple of shotguns. Stephen, me and you will go out on to the roof. Eddie, get Patrick and the shot guns and go out on to the porch, if any break through are line of fire, blow them to hell."222

"Great plan and all Coronal, but these things don't seem to get too phased by a shotgun. If they get close..." Eddie started.223

"They went down when you shot the one in the face, blew the back of his head off. That should work." Stephen said.224

"What about fire? That worked."225

"Yeah, Eddie let's burn them all and us along with them. Besides I think we can take out the six of them."226

Stephen sat ready on the roof of the farm house, snow flakes covered his body as he lay prone with the hunting rifle press against his shoulder. The moon pierced through the sky, Shinning down on the snow as if to light up his field of fire. As he honed in on his first target, he could tell that it was a boy no older than fifteen. The boy was dressed in a light blue colored coat, mittens hung down from the boys sleeves. Two fingers were missing from his right hand and little drops of blood fell onto the snow. Ripped snowboarders pants were cover in red, the boy didn't so much as walk as drag his feet across the snow. Stephen could see a massive gash on the top of the boy's head, where hair had been ripped out by the roots. 227

It had been nearly six years since Stephen had shot anyone in the line of duty, and he never thought he would be staring down a rifle scope that was pointing at a kid.228

"He's already dead, this is mercy." Stephen said before holding in his breath to steady his aim.229

The moon light glimmered off the rifle scope, and the boy's head moved up to look Stephen in the eyes from afar. His eyes glowed with eeriness He bared his blood covered teeth and began to scream as Stephen looked him in the eyes through the cross-hairs, and the others almost in unison began to give out a blood curdling scream. 230

Stephen fired.231

The bullet hit the boy just above the left eye, the back of his head exploded in bloody chunks as the boy fell limp to the ground. A second later, John fired his rifle, but his aim was not as good as Stephens. He hit on of the me on the side of his head, and even though half of the zombies face had been blown off, it seemed only seemed to be as affective as a glancing blow. The five remaining zombies began to charge the house, screaming out in raging horror as they flailed their arm about. John's second shot hit the undead in the leg, it's knee exploded under stress and the legs snapped, sending the half faced zombie to the ground. John fired a third time, this time hitting the zombie near perfectly between the eyes, bright red blood gleamed in the moonlight as it sprayed onto the white snow.232

The four remaining intruders raced across the field and were over half way to the house by the time Stephen got a beat on his second target. He fired too soon and hit one in the shoulder, it's arm flung around uselessly and the zombie stumbled just slightly but was otherwise unaffected by the gunshot wound.233

John fired and missed, only hitting the ground near one's feet, little bits of snow and dirt flew into the air. John cocked his rifle without moving away from the sites, and fired again, this time hitting his target in the chest. The zombie collapsed and went rolling onto the ground, but quickly rebounded back on to it's feet to continue it's deadly charge towards the house.234

One of the females came into view at the center of Stephen's cross-hairs, he fired and hit the woman on the top of her head which exploded into large chunks and she fell face first on the ground. 235

"DAMMIT!" John yelled as he missed his last shot and had to reload.236

The last three came rushing in on the house, and had gotten too close for Stephen to get a shot off.237

"EDDIE GET READY!" The Coronal Yelled from the roof.238

239

Eddie sat behind the window by the front porch and watched one of the undead come running up so close, he could see the tiny veins on its face. Eddie jumped back as the zombie came slaming into the window, the boards held, but the zombie began to pound its fists on the window. The window shattered and shards of glass went flying into the air and into the zombies hands and arms. Eddie stuck the barrel of the shot gun through one of the gaps in the boards, which intsantly drew the zombie's attention. 240

241

It grabbed the barrel with the intention of yanking it out of Eddie's hands. Eddie stared straight down the sights of the gun as the Zombie was staring down it's barrel, screaming a monsterous high pitch squeel that was unlike any human sounding voice. Eddie fired, The Zombie's head exploded in a mass of tissue and thick coagulated blood. The headless zombie fell backwards into one of the support beams of the porch conopy and the beam cracked in two. 242

243

Stephen stood over the edge of the conopy on the roof as Eddie fired at the two remaining undead intruders. Stephen fired and blew off half of a female's face, but she continued to approuch the house without even slowing down. Just as she come up on the porch, Stephen aimmed straight down over the edge of the roof and fird his last round into the top of her head. The bullet exited from the side of her chin, blowing off the lower jaw, the woman fell face-first on to the steps of the porch.244

245

Just as Stephen began to walk up to the window on the second floor, the conpoy which he was standing on finally gave way, he went falling backwards as the roof collapsed and went slamming into the snow covered ground. The air rushed out from his lungs and he found him self unable to breath, a moment later, the last remaining zombie was nearly on top of him. Stephen attempted to kick the zombie as he lay on the ground, but it meerly stummbled back a couple of feet and continued forward. As Stephen tried to kick it a second time, the zombie grabed ahold of his foot and swung Stephen through the air, sending him even further away from the house. Stephen tried to regain his ballance and his breath as the zombie was standing over top of him. 246

247

Stephen could see the moon shinning down over the top of them, making the flesh crazed cannibal into a dark silohette. It's cloudy whiye eyes gave off a dim glow as it stood over Stephen, it then opened it's mouth and barred it's blood soaked teeth. Then, just as Stephen was about to become the undeads next meal, a gunshot rang out, a spray of blood splattered on to Stephen's face, then another shot echoed in the night, this time the top of the Zombies head exploded and it fell to the ground. 248

249

Stephen got back up on his feet and looked at the body that lay in the snow. Thick blood began to seep out onto the snow, staining it with red. Stephen looked at the zombies head and could see the brain, it had turned a yellowish color and was faintly pulsing. The zombie was still moving as Stephen looked on, barely moving the zombie attempted to make a grab for Stephen's feet. As he kicked the hand away, Staphen could hear the faint sound of hysteria off in the distance.250

251

"STEVE! TIME GET GET MOVING MAN!" Eddie called out from the house. Stephen looked to the direction where the sound was coming from, he could already see them.252

253

Dozens upon dozens of them, wailing and screaming with total madness. they no longer seemed to be human anymore, they had become monsters in human skin. Stephen began to run for the house he could see that John was on the roof, waving him on. 254

255

The front door was barred so Stephen ran around to the side of the house, leaving the rifle behind. Stephen got to the cellar door and tried to pull it open, but it was locked.256

257

"Come on open the damn door!" Stephen called out. He could hear shuffling beneath the door. 258

259

"We're trying, the lock is jammed!" Called out Carol from the other side of the door. Stephen looked over to the approuching mob.260

261

"God dammit they're almost to the field!" John brought up his rifle as he stood on the roof. He watched through the scope as the mob of undead came racing through the snow. He brought the rifle down to aim at a shinning peice of metal sticking out of the ground, just near the center of the field.262

263

"Come on already!" Stephen said, becoming impaticentand a little scared. The door continueously moved up and down but the door did not open. 264

265

"I'm going up the side of the house!" Stephen yelled out, giving up on the cellar door. 266

267

John waited as the mob came just into range, he fired at the metal sticking out of the ground, the propane tank exploded in a massive fireball and engulfed the wheat field in flames. They had buired several propane tanks around the field. John fired at the next, it exploded in another fireball. The crazed zombies were now running through a filed of fire, the entire wheat field had caught on fire, and the other tanks began to explode. One tank exploded as a group of zombies ran over the top of it, body parts and guts went sailing through the air. 268

269

Stephen began to climb up what was left of the porch, John met him just as he peered over the top of the roof and offered his hand, Stephen grabbed it and pulled him self up. 270

271

"I thought you didn't want to resort to using the tanks?" Stephen askked as he got to his feet.272

273

"What choice did I have?" John said, staring at the inferno that had only a minute ago been his crop field. But even as the fire raged on, they continued to come. Running through the fire without hesitation or any notion being in danger. Flamming zombies stepped out from the fire, taking a few slow steps before falling to the ground. Some came running out, completly engulfed, they too fell to the ground and burned away to ash and bone.274

275

"I think its working." Eddie said from the window, he had come upstairs to meet up with John and Stephen, he still held his shot gun in his hand. 276

277

"Think we should wait, see if any of them get through?" Stephen asked John. For the next two hours, Eddie, John and Stephen watch the field burn untill they were certain nothing was coming, untill Susan popped her head out from the window.278

279

"John, are coming back inside now?" Susan asked her husband.280

281

"I'll be right in, dear." John said, slowing satnding up on his feet. His knees gave out a loaud pop. 282

283

"I'm getting too old for this kind of shit. One of you boys have the first watch, if any thing happens..."284

285

"Yeah, we'll come get you. Get some rest John."286

287

"I don't know about you man, but I'm dead tired." Eddie said, yawning out loud.288

289

"It's alright, I'll take the first watch. I'll come and get you in a few hours." 290

291

"Thanks man." Eddie said patting his friend on the shoulder. 292

293

Stephen sat on the roof, alone, and watch the fire in the wheat field slowly burn out over the course of a few hours. Everyone else must have fallen asleep for he could hear nothing coming from the inside of the house. He sat sat with his rifle over his right shoulder and john had given him his .357 to hold on to just in case. No doubt the others would be sleeping with a gun under the pillow.294

295

Stephen looked to the city skyline once more, and wondered what was happening there now. When they had left the city, all had seemed hopless, so many people were dying. Somehow they had managed to get out alive, even with Rob's injuries. 296

297

"All Hell's broken loose. Where is the army or the national guard?" Stephen said, thinking outloud. It had been over twenty four hours now and he had seen no sign of trucks or helicopters or anything. Stephen was starting to think the worst. Just as he was thinking this, he heard the window open up behind him, Stephen looked back to see Susan walking out on to the roof. 298

299

"Susan what are you doing up?" Stephen asked, as Susan carefully walked towards him, it was obvious she had never been on the roof before, or any other roof for that matter. She slowly walked with her hands out as if she walking a tight rope. Stephen stood up and took a couple steps towards her.300

301

"It's not as hard as you think." He said taking her hand. 302

303

"Yes well I had a slight fear of heights as a child, I guess it goes to show old habits die hard." Susan said. 304

305

"So... What brings you out here?"306

307

"I just wanted to keep you company, thats all." 308

309

"Is John resting well?"310

311

"Maybe a little too well, it was his snouring that woke me up. He's had all the excitment he can handle for one day I think." 312

313

"Well I think things are only going to get worse from here on out, Susan." Stephen said, direction his attention towards his friend.314

315

"Why do you say that?" 316

317

"I haven't seen any sign of the military, which means we need to get as far away from here as possible."318

319

"Why? I mean it's only been a day, they should come any moment now."
320

"I don't thinks so..." Stephen had a feeling, and that feeling had turned into a debate inside his head, it didn't take long for him to draw a conclustion. "They're going to wipe out the hot zones."
321

"What the hell is that susposed to mean, hot zones?" 322

323

"It means no one is coming, because they're going to nuke the place." Stpehen said looking out at the skyline. 324

325

"WHAT? That's impossible, they would never so that to their own people!" 326

327

"Under normal circumstances, yes. But think about it. Every major city has got to be going through the same thing right now. Would you want send in troops into a place like the city?" 328

329

"Why not? There may still be people there, I mean people who haven't turned into those monsters."330

331

"You weren't in the city, so I guess you wouldn't understand just how bad it is. It's not like a riot or something. It's mass hysteria. People are dying, and those who die come back Susan. Those monsters are going to keep on coming and coming. If you were the one making the decision, you wouldn't want to send out soldiers just to have then turn into those freaks. The best option is to starilize the place." 332

333

"Oh my god! You really think that's true." 334

335

"Yeah, and I'm sure it's crossed John's mind as well."336

337

"So what do we do?" Susan ASked clearly alarmed.338

339

"We'll wait till morning, then we should gather up some things and head as far away from the city as possible, we're far from the blast radius, but we have termal radiation to concider and then there's the fallout. We should need south to the hills, we'll be safer there."340

341

Stephen aloud himself to realax just a little, so that he could think of what they had to do next. He tried not to think about how screwed they were, but instead just focused on coming up with some sort of plan. 342

343

He looked out torwards the city, Susan had not noticed in the short time she had been outside, but stephen had been watching the lights of the city slowly go out; one building at a time. Already, things were steadily getting worse and worse.344

345

'By morning, the power will be out for thousands of square miles. That won't be a problem during the day, but at night. We'll need to leave just after sunrise, to give us as much time as possible.'
346

One at a time, a hundred questions popped up in his head.347

348

'Which road should we take? The freeways and main roads will probably be death traps, even just after a day. How much more ammunition do we have left?...Will we have enough time to get more?...Should we head for a military base or some place as isolated as possible?...How much time do we have before the nukes go off?...Will it just be the main cities or will there be strikes all over the counrty?'349

350

Stephen didn't think too much into the last question, he knew only the major citties would be hit with a nuclear strike. Who ever survived would need the more rual areas and the farm lands. It was another question that bothered Stephen, it was the only question that he knew he couldn't answer.351

352

'How much time do we have?'353

354

Then, almost as if to mock Stephen's thoughts, a scream came from somewhere downstairs.355

356

"What?" Susan said, her voice slightly trembled.357

358

"That was Eddie." Stephen said, then took off for the window.359

360

Stephen nearly dove through the window as he went in head first, rifle in his hands. Susan was not far behind, as he went running through the doorway. He quickly looked over the rail of the third floor onto the lower floors, he could already see broken glass and what was left of a chair. Stephen took large steps, and even jumped whole sets of stairs as he raced down to the first floor. 361

362

Just as he got the bottom of the stairs, the house went dark.363

364

"Figures." Stepehn mumbled under his breath.365

366

"Here." Susan said as she turned on a flashlight and handing Stepehn another one, fumbeling with it at first. She shined the light through the hall and saw the broken chair and table on the floor. Broken glass for a vase was scattered all over the hardwood.367

368

Stephen and Susan stood at the bottom of the steps, Slowly Stephen panned this light to the right and found a small puddle of blood. Stephen removed the .357 from his belt and handed Susan the rifle. Stephen moved forward as Susan kept her back against the wall. He moved in on the blood spot adn could see it leading away into the study.369

370

"Stay here." Stephen whispered.371

372

As he moved in on the study, Stephen could hear the distinct sound of chewing.373

374

At first, he stood against the doorway, listening to what sounded like two people. He could feel his heart racing and tried to hold back of all thoughts as to who may be doing the eating and who was being eaten.375

376

He quickly rounded the corner and could see a man and a women standing over Eddie's body. His eyes were open, frozen with the terror of his last living moments. The two cannibals quickly turned around, suddenly drawn to the flashlight. Stephen saw their faces and hesitated. It was Carol and Rob.377

378

Each's face was covered in blood. Rob still held a peice of Eddie's flesh up to his mouth and gave Stephen a cold glare that was filled with rage. Rob's eyes had turned into soulless white orbs, his face bulged with the purple veins Stephen had become all too fimiliar with. Carol had transformed as well, only Stephen could see that her neck was gushing from a massive bite that had torn away skin and muscle. In unison, they screamed.379

380

Stephen, finally regaining his composure, fired the magnum. At such a close range, any one of their heads would have been blown off, but they were too fast. Stephen missed Rob's head but his him in the chest. The undead Rob flew backwards and into the desk behind him, he rolled over the top of the desk and fell onto the floor on the other side.381

382

Carol jumped through the air and tackled her brother to the ground. Stephen pushed his hand over Carol's face, keeping her at bay. She tried to pull away as he held on to her face from under her jaw. He tried to free his hands as Carol pinned them to the floor, Stephen could his gun that was just out of reach of his fingers tips. Finally his left hand broke free adn punched Carol in the face as hard as he could. Her skin alomost felt like it would burst through the soft tissue as he made contact. Carol rolled over onto the floor and Stephen made a dive for his gun, sliding across the floor as he grabbed it.383

384

Carol quickly jumped to her feet, she stood in a pouncing position and gave out a high pitch squeal. With out even bothering to stand up, Stephen aimed the gun at what used to be his sister and fired, he hit her squarely in the face, her head snapped backwards as brain matter splattered on to the wall behind her.385

386

"Stephen!" Susan called out from the hall.387

388

"Stay back, don't come in here!" Stephen yelled as he got up. He took a good look at Eddie's body, or what remained of it. His guts had been torn open, nothing was left of his abdomin. Ribs poked out from where his chest had been ripped open, and half eaten entrails lay unraveled on the floor.389

390

Then Rob came leaping through the air and tackled Stephen back down to the ground. Rob lay right over the top of Stephen as his jaws went straight for his neck. But Stephen's hands were free and he forced the barrel of the gun down Rob's throat. The moment Stephen felt the barral press against the inside his mouth, he shot Rob through the back of the neck. Robs head swung around as half of his jaw blew into pieces and he fell backwards. Stephen backed away from Rob and into the hall.391

392

"Stephen are you alright what happened?" Susan said, still where he had left her.393

394

"Don't go in there, they're gone." Stephen said holding up his hand.395

396

"Who's in there?" Susan pleaded.397

"It was Carol and Rob. We have to go, get the others." Stephen said as he lend against the wall of the hallway and slid down to the floor. 398

'How did this happen?' Stephen thought as Susan made her way to the master bedroom. He wanted so bad not to think about it, but he had just shot his sister and her husband.399

'They were gone before you even stepped in the room Steve, it's not your fault.' He tried to tel him self. He still had their faces in his mind.400

'Will all of us become one of those things? My god, I don't know if I can keep doing this.'401

As Stephen was trying to pull himself together, Susan slowly walked into the master bedroom were her husband was asleep, she still had the rifle in her hands. The moment she walked through the doorway, she could feel that something was wrong.402

"John, sweety, are you awake?" She said aloud when she didn't hear the Colonal snour as he had been earlier.403

Susan shined the flashlight over the bed, it was empty. The covers had been causualy tossed aside, so she made her way to the bathroom. Susan walked up to the door, which was cracked open just a little bit, she gently pushed the door open. Susan walked inside the bathroom and screamed.404

Stephen's head snapped up as though waking from sleep. He was instantly on his feet and running for the master bedroom, scuffing up the hardwood floor as he rounded the hallway. He kicked open the door to Susan and John's bedroom and stood in the doorway in disbelief.405

Susan was laying on her back on top of the bed, Patrick and her husband were pinning her to the bed, eating her alive. Susan's head faced towards Stephen, her face was that of utter horror and pain. Blood covered the bed as John's face was buried in his wife abdomin, Patrick was beginning to chew on Susan's thighs.406

"p-p-p-plea-sse." Susan desprately mananged with the faintist sound.407

Stephen brought up the gun and aimed for Susan's head, his eyes were stinging with tears. He shot Susan through the eye, the bullet burst through the other side of her head and into Patricks chest. Both zombies looked at Stephen as if he were next, and Stephen began to run. Just as he turned the corner of the hall, he slammed into someone and they both hit the hardwood floor, each had slipped on a puddle of blood.408

Stephen looked up and saw Rob staring at him with clouded white eyes. His jaw was gone and there was a large hole in the back of his head, when Stephen had shot him through the mouth, he had missed what ever part of the brain he needed to hit. He quickly got to his feet and ran the other way, Rob and the others blocked the stairway so Stepehn made his way to the celler, the only other way out of the house.409

Stephen closed the door leading to the celler behind him and hoped the mindless monsters didn't know how to open a door. He leaped down the entire flight of stairs and hit the cement ground hard, he could feel his ankle snap as his foot twisted in the wrong direction. Crawling on the floor, he slowly made his way to the celler door that would take him outside and presumibly to saftey.410

Just as he reached his exit, the basement door came crashing down the stairs and at Stephen's feet. At the top of the steps stood four dark figures. Stpehen reached inside his pocket were he had kept more bullets, he sprung open the chamber and ejected the empty shells. One by one, the four dark figures began to climb down the steps, weary and uncordinated, they swayed backed and forth as if never making the decent before.411

Stephen fumbled with the gun as they got closer, his hands were shaking and his eyes still stinging from tears. Just as the first zombie set foot at the bottom of the stairs, Stephen slammed the chamber of the revelvor shut and pointed it at the group of undead. The one in the front was Susan, with a large hole going through her left eye where only moments ago, Stephen had shot her. 412

He began to fire, screaming out in rage and pain as he blindly let off on round after another. The sound of the gunshots were deafening, Stephen's ears rang in pain blocking out his own cries.413

Susan felt the full barrage of gun fire, each round rippped through her body, two rounds punched through her face, another shot clean through her shoulder and into Rob. Susan fell back, lifeless and limp, knocking over Rob who had been standing behind her. John who had been unaffected, stepped over the two who had fallen down.414

Stephen's gun clicked twice, he ejected the chamber once more and prepared to reload as Patrick and John were getting closer. Rob pushed Susan's limp body off of him and began to get back up. Stephen stood as he finished reloading, he looked behind him to try and open the celler door. It was locked.415

Stephen tried hitting the lock with the butt of his revelvor but the lock wouldn't give. He turned around, John was inches away. Stephen pointed the .457 striaght at John's face.416

"Sorry Coronal." Stephen said, before firing.417

The the muzzle flash burned John's soft pale tissue as the bullet ripped through his head, the bullet exited out the back of John's skull and into Rob, who was close behind. The zombie's headless body fell limp on top of Stephen.418

"Son of a bitch!" Stephen yelled oue as he tried to push John's headless body off of him. His right hand which held the magnum was pinned under John's dead weight.419

"HUH!" Stephen grunted as Rob began to get to his feet.420

Rob stummbled his way over to Stephen as he continued to try to escape from the dead weight that pinned him down. Within a few brief moments Rob was standing over Stephen, his eyes were glowing with rage and a burning desire to feed. He opened his mouth, revealing blood-soaked teeth that had somehow grown out since his transformation. The large gash on his arm had opened up again and was pulsing wildly with coagulated blood as the arm hung useless at its side.421

Rob gave out a blood curdeling scream, his mouth opened up even further, and even further still. The flesh around the mouth began to rip apart untill the jaw hung down like that of a rabbid dog, blood and saliva dripped from the monsterous site and on to Stephen and the corpse.422

With his good arm, Rob grabbed the coronals corpse by the stump and effortlessly flung it across the celler, leaving Stephen lying against the celler door and completly exposed. Stephen brought up the revolver just as Rob lunged forward and fired, the gunshot split open the side of Rob's face, his head flew backwards from whipslash. The undead Rob lost his balance and fell backwards, Stephen fired again but missed, only hitting the ceiling.423

Stephen got to his feet, and walked over to Rob, just as he too was getting up. Stephen kicked Rob in the face, and heard a distint cracking sound as Rob's head spun around. Stephen stared down at his former friend, hoping it was over. Then came a loud crash from upstairs.424

"Shit how did they get here so fast!" Stephen wondered, he could picture them busting through the windows of the house, and knew if it was anything like before, they would be coming in large numbers.425

Stephen quiclky forgot about Rob's reanimated corpse lying on the cold cement floor beside him and made his way to the celler door. He pressed the barrel of the gun right against the lock and fired, the lock bust apart and Stephen pulled away the chain that had held the doors together. Then, just as he began to swing the doors open, an incredible barrage of pain shot up through his ankle.426

Stephen looked down to see Rob, clinching his teeth into his leg. Rob ripped his mouth away, along with a large chunk of Stephen flesh. Stephen nearly went to the floor but held him self up by grabbing the handle of the celler door with his free hand.427

Just as Rob went in for another bite, Stephen kicked him in the face again, sending him back to the ground. Stephen pointed the gun at his transformed friend one last time and shot him squarly between the eyes, thick blood sprayed out onto the floor and a pool of caogulated blood began to form around Rob's shattered head.428

Another crash came from upstairs, this time followed by the unmistakable moans and cries of the undead, Stephen wasted no time crashing through the celler door. He hurled his body into the double wooden doors, breaking through them and flying out into the cold.429

For a few moments, Stephen felt dizzy as he lay in the snow. His vision was blurred adnhe was beginning to become light headed. He stood up and put his weight on his good foot. Stephen looked down to where Rob had gotten a piece of him, it was bad. Already the snow around the wounded foot was saoked in blood, Stephen was losing blood quickly. Trying his best to ignore his foot, he began to run, not even knowing where to go.430

His head became cloud and panic quickly began to fill every inch of his body. Every step was a burning inferno of pain, the world around him began to become a daze. Stephen tripped and fell to the ground, the chilling snow flew up into his face. Stephen looked up and squinted his eyes so he could see. 431

They were everywhere.432

Their voices were almost like faint whispers as the world becaome cloudier and cloudier, Stephen began to crawl through the charred remains of the wheat field, he wanted to stand up but his body had become so weak in so little time. 433

The voices were getting closer, and they were coming from every direction.434

Stephen sat up as best he could and took a dazed look around him, he saw them pouring out of the celler where he had been followed, and towards the road where a horde was steadily making its way to the field. Stephen popped open the chamber to the revolver that John had given him, there were two shots left. Stephen felt a wave of hoplessness wash over him, and he began to weep.435

Stephen closed the chamber and put the gun to his head.436

"Will I become one of those things?" Stephen asked, pulling back the hammer.437

But as the hammer clicked into place, something caught Stephen'e eye. A piece of metal sticking out of the ground. Stephen dug through the snow to reveal a large white tank.438

"One of the propane tanks didn't explode." Stephen said, almost as if it were of no consequece. He pulled the tank out of the snow and began to turn the valve, releasing its gas into the air. Stephen took a look behind him, they were only seconds away now.439

With the very last bit of energy he had, Stephen got to his feet adn watched the horde of undead closing in Stephen pointed the gun down at the tank adn closed his eyes. He could hear them getting closer, with every step they took, they became more and more frenzied and enraged. Now he could hear their footsteps shuffling through the snow as they ran.440

"At least I'll take a few with me." Stephen said, then fired.441

The tank exploded in a massive fireball, Stephen felt nothing as he was incenerated in the blast. Over a dozen of the undead were burned up along with Stephen, a dozen more flew backwards from the force of the blast. 442

Smoke filled the air, along with the scent of burning flesh and clothing. As the smoke disapated, the moon moved out from behind the clouds, revealing the aftermath of the chaos that had insued just moments ago, body parts lay spread out all over the field. There was no distinction between what was left of Stephen and what was left of those he took with him. 443

Screams echoed through the night as the snow began to gently fall, concealing the horrors of the night as it covered the ground.