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Journal Entry

Journal Entry

Damien Cooper Letter to self

    As I sit here, writing in my journal I recall a better time. A time before all that has transpired over the last few weeks. When things were normal like driving too and from work, taking care of my kid, going out to eat and paying bills. That all seems a figment of my imagination now and feels so long ago at the same time. I really don’t know where to start from with so much going on I’m afraid I might miss something, but I guess the best place would be to start at the beginning. 

This is my first chance to sit down and record all that I have seen, for my friends and loved ones that will never be forgotten. I am sorry. Sorry that I could not be there in time to help you. Sorry that this whole fucked up situation happened in the first place. I will truly miss each one of you, and if I could I would trade places with you all so you could have a second chance. But really, now that I think about it, at least you don’t have to live in this world anymore. I don’t know if that’s better or worse. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #1

    So much has happened and this is just my first chance to sit down and write. Normally I would never keep a written log of anything as I see it kind of pointless but with the power outage and not much to do in down time I find myself pulled to record events that I have seen. I don’t know why I find myself writing in this. I keep rationalizing it that I need to record all that I see for the next generation of people to read, so they might learn from my mistakes and others. But who am I kidding though, it’s more for me than anyone else, other than patrols and extra duties this is really all there is to do at the moment. Wouldn’t hurt and I guess I could be wasting my time doing some other trivial things.

    When this hole shit show started I was on my way home from work at roughly 21:00 that I received a call from my sergeant in the army national guard. I live an hour away from my work place when he called. I answered my phone immediately to nothing. All I heard was a blip, a sign that I ran out of service, which is nothing new. At best on my drive home it’s in and out of service. I pulled off the side a couple miles down the road in a place I knew I had service to try and call him back. But again my phone had no service. I’m a little confused because literally a month prior to this my car had problems and I had to pull over right there. Well in all actuality I ran out of gas. Sue me, I was running late and forgot to stop and get some, but the point is I had service. I continued on my drive with this night being no different than any other. I was half way between my workplace and home when I received a text. I again pulled off the side of the road so I could read it. “Need you at the armory, we have all been called in”. I immediately get uneasy because this has never happened before. I have been in the Guard for 5 years now and this has never happened. Never have I even heard of this happening in Idaho. Maybe Florida with all the Hurricanes the guard would be called out to help during a crises, but as of yet I have not heard of an emergency in Idaho. You would think if it was big enough news for them to contact me others would have heard about it, especially at work. Somebody should have said something. Like “Oh look, there’s is a Tsunami heading right for us”, or maybe “Hey, half the state is on fire”. Considering we are almost 500 miles from the ocean I would think it’s the former not the ladder. 

    When I get home, I head inside to see my Fiancé has dinner ready for me. That night was pork chops and corn with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. I call out for her because as of yet I haven’t seen her. I came in from the front door that leads upstairs to our living room and the kitchen, or downstairs into our spare bedrooms and a big open room that I believe at one time used to be a garage that I have converted into a gym. I turned from the kitchen to start heading towards our bedroom to see if Mary it in there. I opened the door and walked in, carful to step over the baby gate that we have in place. I walked over to myside of the bed, because when I’m not laying there she tends to steal my spot. I gently nudge Mary to wake her and inform her of what is going on. She is confused at first because I just woke her up, but she sits up and comes out into the living room with me. I let her know again what’s going on. 

“But why do they want you to come in, they didn’t tell you anything”?

I shrug and reply “No. the sergeant called but all I got was a dial tone, then I got this text”.

    I handed her my phone so she could read what was displayed on the screen. She looked confused because as long as we have been together I have been in the Army guard and this has never happened before. I have gone on my monthly drills and my 2 weeks a year training, but never have I been called in on a day drill wasn’t scheduled. 

“I wonder what’s going on”.

“Have you heard anything today, like maybe on the news, of from your mom, to why there could be a reason I have to go in”? 

Now it was her turn to shrug, “I haven’t heard anything”.

Thinking in my head that this is all new to me and it must be something major, I ask her to keep the doors to the house locked and to lock the bedroom. She complied saying “That’s not going to be a problem as long as I can sleep”. 

I quickly head downstairs into my room that houses my uniform and put it on, considering I spent a few minutes upstairs letting Mary know of the situation, I need to get ready fast and on the road. I say situation but who knows, I jump to conclusions often and maybe this is just a training exercise to see how fast they can ready an armory in case of an emergency but this wouldn’t explain why the phone was acting funny. 

I get in my car, which is a reliable Chevy Sonic that I got for its fuel economy back when I first started at the school. On my drive to the armory I flip on the radio to listen to see if anything is going on of any importance but the first channel yields no information. I’m flipping through the channels trying to find information that will give me something I can go on.  At his point I’m only a couple miles into my drive. I look down at my radio to see what station I’m on when out of the corner of my eye I see something moving into the middle of the road. Time began to slow down, or at least it felt like it did. You know that feeling when you go to a movie theater to watch that brand new scary movie with Jessica Sue, the girl you have had a crush on for several months now but only recently got the courage to ask her on a date thinking that the scary movie will make her jump and get closer to you, but to only realize that it’s you who almost ends up in her seat when that crazy looking half ghost thing with black long strands of hair in its face pops up out of nowhere.  Yeah, that’s how I felt.  It was mere feet in front of my car when it started to run off. I know from past experience, that when it comes to white tail deer that it’s generally not the first one you need to be worried about, it’s about the other one just out of sight. I saw the glows of its eyes starting to pop up from the bush it was standing behind. It jumped out and ran across the road in front of me following suite missing the front of my car by mere centimeters. 

    After my heart rate slows back down to a pace that feels like I just sprinted half a mile, I begin to hear something pick up on the radio. I start to listen intently trying to discern any information. All I get is a warning of severe weather in the next couple of hours and that all citizens should remain indoors if at all possible.  This message is on loop every 30 seconds with a sound of warning every 5 seconds. After hearing what the radio had to say I look to the illuminated sky and marvel at the full moon looking for any signs of dark clouds, but yet nothing stands out to me, at least nothing out of the ordinary. 

Rounding the corner when the fifty five changes into a fifty mile and hour zone, I see a drunk stumbling across the bridge. He’s on the sidewalk walking into town. He’s about mid-way cross the bridge as I pass I see him swivel his head towards me and our gaze meets. It is a bright night out tonight but even with the lighting I cannot see him clearly, mostly just a silhouette of what I think is a man. I think to myself that this guy must be tanked pretty hard just by the way he is carrying himself. I continue passed the bridge and head to the armory. 

    As I pull into the parking lot I take note that the only other vehicle here is that of my sergeants. Sergeant Goerner and I have been friends for a long time. We used to be roommates when we first joined the army together. It was actually me who convinced him to join and we went to basic training together. For the longest of times I was the higher rank but when we got out of basic and went into our separate armory’s his unit helped him progress and sent him to schools while mine was stagnate and I only promoted up to specialist, one rank below sergeant. I see him standing in front of the door leading into the armory. I get out and walk up to him and begin talking.

    “What the hell is going on, why did we get called in”?

    “I don’t know, I got a phone call from the LT to get ahold of everyone and get to the armory so we can get briefed. I assume this is just a test to see how fast we all get here.”

    “That’s bullshit, some guys live 60 plus miles from here. If this is just a test to see how fast our armory can be activated in a crises I’m going to be pissed”.

    “I’ll be sure to tell the LT that you said that”.

    “I really meant, uh, this is wonderful, and I am so glad I joined the army”.

    About an hour goes by with just some minor small talk. Most of the time I was trying to get my damn phone to work so I could check Facebook to see if anyone knew what was going on. But the service is shit and all I can see is a post by someone I don’t even know, let’s call her Betty, about how much weight she lost and a before and after pictures. To be honest I can’t tell the difference. About the fifth or sixth time I checked my phone a car pulls into the parking lot. It’s our new Private who is right out of high school. His name is Dick Johnson. I know right, can you imagine what the drill sergeants came up with when he was going through basic. It must have been brutal. 

    He steps out of his car and comes over to where we are sitting and begins asking all the basic questions. Like “What’s going on, why are we here and when is everyone going to show up?” After we answer all Johnson’s questions, Captain Lance finally shows up. He steps out of his car and walks over to us. We all Snapped to attention and saluted, as he told us to carry on. 

He looks at us all and asks “Is this it, just the three of you”?

    Sergeant Goerner replied back “Yes sir, I was only able to call Specialist Cooper and Private Johnson but I was able to send out a group text to the rest before the phones went down, it said all messages were delivered. What is going on Sir?”

    “I have no clue, I wasn’t informed on much. I was told there was an incident in Seattle quit possibly a terrorist attack. They said something about a chemical attack or something like that but they were waiting on more Intel. As a precaution it came down the pipe that all the surrounding states where to activate their guard units just in case.”

    “So what are we going to do here sir?” Goerner asked.

    “Well I figured we are going to wait until the rest of the guys get here so we can go over our SOP just in case something happens”.

    “Sounds like fun. What was that warning about on the radio about severe weather in our area is that something else we need to contend with?”

    “That was probably put out so the populace wouldn’t go into panic mode and cause even more problems.”

 I totally think that’s a bullshit call. If people in the area have family in Seattle you would think it would be best for them to try and contact them or something, but hey, it’s not my job to question the brass, I just do as I am told. The LT opens up the armory and we all go in. There is an open area for formations and off of that there is a room used so we can be briefed and receive classroom instruction. So in short, this is the room we spend a lot of time on our phones trying to be out of sight and out of mind.

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #2

Its 2300 by my time and for all you civilians out there that means its 11:00PM. I ask Goerner if we should take turns with guard duty waiting for the others to show up. As a good sergeant he is in agreement and says he will take the first watch. I grab a chair and pull it up and rest my head against the desk. I was out rather quickly as far as I remember. I normally don’t dream, but maybe it was due to being so uneasy about the events of that last couple of hours and being in the unknown, but I dreamt about my fiancé and daughter at home.  I awoke to the sound of thumping coming from the other side of the room. It took me several moments to get my head on straight and to go see what was going on. I walk out of the room the see Goerner just outside the door, kneeling down and peering to the main entrance. 

I kneel down next to him and watch the front door closely. I turn to him and ask what he’s doing. All he replied with was a “SSssshhhhh” moving his finger to his lips and then too the door slowly as to signify that we should be looking that direction. 

“Tell me, what do you see?”

“Looks like a drunk trying to break into the armory. Probably doesn’t even know we are here.”

“Look closer.”

I focus my gaze on the individual. He’s and older male probably in late forties, heavier set around 250 pounds. But his face is what will plague my thoughts for a long time. He has a dark goatee that only offsets the color of his face. His skin is a light grey, almost a pale white, like he has no color to him at all. I have never seen someone so pale except in the movies or somebody who is extremely sick. 

    “He looks sick or hurt. Maybe he’s here for help.”

    “He’s been hitting the door for a few minutes now, and not once has he cried out for help. Something is off about this.”

    “We should probably wake the LT.”

    We both walk back around the corner and head to the LTs office. We walk in and wake him to explain the situation. As we are heading to the LTs office which is about half way across the armory we hear a commotion coming from behind us. We both turn around and look at Johnson opening the front door. I begin sprinting back to try and stop him, but am already way too late. I can see the latch start to lift as the pale man pushes the door open and ascends onto Johnson. Sergeant Goerner is not far behind me. I’m almost to Johnson and the pale man as I see them start to fight. I’m mere feet away when I watch the man nearly miss Johnson fore arm with his mouth. The mother fucker was trying to bite him. I dove at the man knocking him off of Johnson. We rolled on the ground but during the roll I was able to position myself directly behind the man. I quickly put him in a full nelson with both my hand around the back of his neck. 

    I yell out “Hurry up and get something to tie this fucker up! He is way stronger then he looks.”

    I can barely hold onto the man for the minute and a half it took Goerner to get something to secure him. This man has no right to be this strong. I nearly lost control 3 different times with the last damn near costing my hand. He rolled to his right side and jerked so hard back catching me in the cheek with the back of his skull. I lost my grip with my left hand and it slid forward to the front of his face. I couldn’t see how close my hand was but I could hear the man chomping down with his jaw. I was able to pull my hand back quickly but I swear I could hear his teeth breaking under the assault. 

    Goerner was able to grab some zip ties and while I had the man’s hands up in the air he was able to secure them to one another. We also secured the man’s feet to each other to limit his mobility. Goerner also found a rag and stuffed it inside the man’s mouth to stop the man from trying to bite us. I was able to let go and stand up. We grabbed him by the legs and started dragging him to the utility closet when the LT finally showed up. 

    He looked puzzled as he said “What the fuck is going on here?” Goerner explained to him what had just transpired as we put the man in the closet and secured it. After we got the door closed I went and check on Johnson who was still in shock at the event. 

    “Hey man, you alright?” He turned to me with an ashy expression.

    “I’m… I’m alright. Thanks for that.” 

“You’re Welcome”.

    I turn around and head back to the sergeant and the LT. I walk up to them while they are discussing the situation. 

    “Do you have anything to add to the Sergeant’s story Specialist?”

    “Sir, I don’t know what was going on, but that man was way stronger then he should have been. I had him in a full nelson with every ounce of strength I could muster and yet he was still able to throw me around while I was in the superior position. He was also trying to bite Johnson and almost took my hand off.” It took the LT a few minutes to think about what I said. I don’t know what Goerner told him but he must have missed the biting part. But I’ll give it to LT Lance, he righted himself quickly. He then started giving orders. 

I went to make sure all the doors in the building were secure, while Goerner checked more thoroughly on Johnson. I believe the LT went to grab one of the radios to see if he could get in contact with any of the other armories or maybe he just went back to his office to get a nap, I don’t know. I’ve never been a fan of the brass. Always giving orders and never doing the lifting. I should give the benefit of the doubt to LT Lance because he was still knew to the armory.     

    I checked 5 of the 6 entrances into the building, when I decided to check my phone. Maybe I had service. I have never been so happy before to see 1 bar. I called Mary as fast as I could just in case I lost service. It rang for about 35 seconds before I heard a voice on the other end. Mary answered and was crying. 

    “Damien Help!” was all I heard before the phone went out again and went to dial tones. Hearing this I am stunned, not knowing what to do. I stare at my phone dumbfounded at what I just heard. After a couple of seconds which seemed like an eternity I began to try and call her back. I tried four or five times but to the same outcome. All I hear is the dial tone again and again. 

    I made my way to Goerner and let him know of situation at home. I then told him I was leaving to get Mary and my daughter.  As I was explaining to him, LT Lance was coming up from behind him with radio in hand. 

    “I haven’t made contact with any of the other armories, and it seems like the phones are still down.”

    “Sir I was able to get in touch with my fiancé and she needs my help. I don’t know what happened but she sounded scared. I need to get back now to make sure everything is all right.” I look directly at Lance and he must of saw a look in my eye or maybe my voice betrayed me.

    “Cooper, I know you are worried but let’s do this smart. If whatever is going on in Seattle is what is going on here then we need to take precautions. I’m thinking whatever is wrong with our man in the utility closet might just be what’s happening in Seattle. We will stay in groups of two, I’ll stay back with the private here at the armory just in case the others show up, you and Goerner head over to your place.”

    “Thank you sir.” And with that, we were out the door and heading back to my home. As we were leaving the LT locked the door behind us. The armory on a good day takes about 25 minutes to get to from my house with no traffic. I must have broken some land speed records because I was able to make it into my town in about half that. I didn’t notice but Goerner was looking a little green. I’m not just saying that, he actually had a tint of green to him. 

    I live a little bit outside of town about a mile in a subdivision. As I slowed the car down to a more reasonable speed for Goerner we still had a couple minutes left to get to the house. 

    “They are going to be alright man, just remember to keep your head when we get there. We don’t know what happened.” 

    “I know….. I know.”

    We turned the corner for the last stretch to get to my house. I was looking at all my Nabors houses and I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary which I take as a good sign. I didn’t know what to expect, houses on fire, bodies in the street packs of dogs running around looking for owners that will never give them treats again. I don’t know, but something felt eerie about my block. It might be a sixth sent or something but I could feel that something was wrong and that it was hiding just beneath the surface. 

    I turned the car up my driveway that had a slight incline. As I was pulling in I take notice that the house looks just fine. I step out of the car and I can hear my daughter crying from inside the house. I make my way up the stairs. At the top of the stairs there is a patio with a sliding glass door leading in a dining room. Glass litters the ground as I enter the house. I see a body lying on the ground with blood pooling around his head. This body is just as pale as the man that’s tied up at the armory. There is what appears to be an exit hole in the back of his skull with brain matter on the wall behind me. I announce my presence by calling out to Mary to make sure I don’t end up like this poor bastered. “Mary, I’m here, are you alright, please don’t shoot me!”

    “Damien, we are in the bedroom. There is another one in the house. I think it went down stairs.”

    Slowing my pace, I force myself to take a couple breaths to calm down. To make a hasty decision now could cost me everything. Even though I still don’t know exactly what is going on, I know there is a person in my house who threatened my family to the point where Mary felt the need to defend herself. Goerner and I clear the top half of my house excluding the bedroom. This is never something I have done in a combat situation before but only in practice. I told Mary to stay in the bedroom with the gun. 

    I then motioned with my hand to the stairs. Not knowing if the intruder could hear us, but I wanted to have some element of surprise. We have the high ground, but they could be in any room. There are two bedrooms to the left of the bottom of the stairs with a laundry room with a joining bathroom to the front of that. I do not believe whoever it is to be armed because if so they could have gained entrance to the bedroom rather easily. We head down stairs and check the first bedroom to the left. I keep a gun cabinet in there and figure this would be the best, we clear a room and arm ourselves as an added benefit. We stack up on the door with him directly behind me. My idea is if the person is in there we would take them down and restrain them. I push open the door with myself heading to the right and scanning my sector of the room, I trust that Goerner gets his. 

I hear a “Clear” from behind me, signifying that we are all good. We secure the room behind us so we can grab some weapons. I walk up to the gun cabinet and break the glass that is between me and my guns. I grabbed my 1911 that shoots 45 ACP and my 9mm carbine. I give Goerner my 9mm Glock. For my 1911 I have 3 mags and my 9mm carbine I have 4. I double check each one of my weapons and chamber a round in each. I watch Goerner do the same. I store the extra mags in my back pockets, the 45 on my left and the 9mm on my right. I shoulder my carbine and draw my pistol thinking in tight corners it would be better for moving and it has more knock down power. 

    “We are not shooting to kill Cooper. We have to give warning first before defending ourselves. Keep calm”. 

    I understand where he’s coming from, we are in the Army Guard with no orders from higher dictating us the right to shoot, and we are not the cops. Our mission is to defend ourselves and only shoot if threatened. 

    “Are you ready”? He asks. 

    I take a deep intake of air again to cool my head and steady my hand and replied back with a “Yeah. Let’s do this”. 

We pushed through the door, I checked right while Goerner went forward into the other bedroom.  Hearing clear I continue down the short hallway making my way to the downstairs living room, I notice that the door is cracked open, although this isn’t a direct confirmation that somebody is in their but it does lead me to believe there is because we always try to keep this door shut. I slowly open the door with my left hand while my right has the pistol at the ready. I enter the room and see a small woman standing on the other side of the room in front of the downstairs door. She has long matted black hair going down past her shoulders and is wearing a local uniform from the grocery store. Looking at her I am taken aback to all the times I have purchased something from this lady. She is standing with her shoulders slumped and is looking directly at me, long swoves of saliva spilling from her mouth.  We lock eyes for a moment when she starts moving in my direction. In only two steps she is barreling down in my direction at top speed. I raise my pistol to her midsection and yell “STOP!” but she just keeps coming. At this point I am force to take the shot. I feel the pistol kick in my hands and smell the gun powder as my round pushes through the barrel catches her just under her ribs. She stumbles to her right and trips up crashing into the wall to the left of me. Goerner pushes past me with his weapon drawn. The woman is sprawling out on the ground kicking in all directions trying to regain her balance. She is able to make it to her knees when she looks up at me with glossed over milky eyes with a murderess hatred I have never seen before. Although I normally don’t go around shooting people to get this response.  She uses the wall to get back up to her feet, and all while doing this Goerner is giving her commands to stay down. 

She lunges at Goerner pushing off the wall which added to her speed and power sweeping him off his feet. They both go down in a heap with Goerner on his back. I can see the distress in Goerner’s features as he’s gasping for breath, with all the air in his lungs being forcefully evicted from the fall. I move in sending a boot directly into the bridge of the nose of the woman. Her neck snaps back and she falls over to the side of Goerner. I reach a hand down to help him to his feet. 

“What in the fuck was that? It’s like your shot didn’t even faze her. Did you miss?”

I wish I could have replied back with a bad ass answer like “I never miss” but with my adrenaline so high all that came out was a whispered “No.” I was still staring down at the woman when I saw her start to move again although it wasn’t in the same fashion as what she came at me with before. It dawned on me through this whole experience that she didn’t make a single sound. She didn’t scream out in pain being gut shot and pushed through. As well as I know I just broke most of the bones in the front portion of her skull but she was still moving be it at a much slower pace. 

“Stay down lady.” I say through gritted teeth slowly. 

Goerner reached into one of his cargo pockets and pulls out the zip ties that we had left over from the man at the armory. He pushes the lady back down with his boot and grabs each one of her arms and secures them behind her back while I keep my pistol trained on her head with my finger on the trigger with several pounds of force applied. 

When we finished up with the lady I went back upstairs to check on Mary and Madison. I get upstairs and make sure to announce myself before stepping in front of the door just in case I startle her. I have taken Mary out shooting several times and I know she knows the basics, but she hasn’t been through the training I have and with the tensions the way they are I could end up a causality of the night as well. 

I got to the door and said her name. “Mary, Every thi….” I hear a loud bang with part of the door about six feet up exploding outward spraying the wall behind it with debris. Looking back if I was in front of the door, that’s exactly where my head would have been. With all the shit I have been through tonight, the time I was closest to death was at the hands of my fiancé. Brings a whole new meaning to “Who needs enemies when I have family”. 

“Mary, fuck it’s me, don’t shoot!”

Hearing a sob as I approached in a crouch she unlocks the door and I go in. Making sure to grab the gun before embracing her with a hug, I don’t want her getting trigger happy and put one in me. It was several minutes before she was able to calm herself and get her sobbing under control to tell me what happened. I don’t blame her, she just took somebodies life in the defense of herself and our daughter. 

“I’m so.. I’m so sorry Damien. I didn’t mean to shoot at you. I… I just didn’t know if it was one of the people again. I killed someone”. 

    “Hey, you did alright Mary. What else where you going to do, they threatened you and Madison and you protected yourself. You did well. But we need to get out of here. We need to get back to the armory. It will be safe there and we will try and contact the police tomorrow if our phones are back up. We will even drive by the police station to see if anyone is their”.

    I had Mary grab Madison. She was reluctant to do so and I could tell she was in the early stages of shock, but she would have to move on. There will be time later to dwell on the happenings of the night but right now is not the time nor the place. She stands up and we head down to the car. I’m making sure to scan the area outside and near our drive way, but nothing seems disconcerting. Mary put Madison in her car seat. 

    “Goerner could you stay here with Mary and Madison, I have some other stuff I want to grab”. 

    “Go for it. I’ll give you 10 minutes.”

    I figured he would be more reluctant then that, but from our driveway he can clearly see up and down both sides of the road which covers his exit and he can see the front and patio door which covers mine. I make my way back into the house and start packing up the things we will need. I head down stairs and grab a pack that I use for hiking which already has several provisions in it.  I load up all the ammo I have which is only about 1 box per gun. I also grab 2 boxes of MRE’s that I have saved up. I then head to Madison’s room to grab all of the things I think she will need, Pull ups, a couple toys, (Nothing that makes noise) wipes and sippy cups. I have no idea how long our stay is going to be at the armory but I need to be as prepared as possible. If this is going on around the state then we need to be able to whole up there for an extended period of time. 

    At thirteen minutes I decide that I have everything that I could think of. If all else fails its only 20 miles, I could come back to grab the rest plus I don’t want to chance Goerner leaving me. I don’t think he would but I’d rather not chance it. I start to make my way to the down stairs door having to go right through the room the woman is tied up in. before heading into the room I stop, and look at my hands. With all the gear I am carrying I won’t be able to defend myself at all. I put both boxes of MRE’s on the ground and draw my side arm. I can see her still tied up on the ground and not moving but I still proceed with caution. I take note that she is not thrashing around, which leads me to believe that she either succumbed to her head wound or the shot to the stomach. I holstered my pistol and grabbed the MRE boxes heading to the car. When I get there I motion to Goerner to pop the trunk. When he does I make quick work of loading it up, only having to move some items. Inside the trunk I have a jack, small break down shovel, first aid kit and a small pry bar that doubles as an axe and hammer. 

    I close the trunk and looking into the car from my position I can see Goerner looking to the house and Mary waving at me to get in. Like anyone in a situation like this, instead of doing the smart thing and getting into the car so we can drive off, I waist precious seconds turning my head and looking in the direction of Goerner. As I turn my head nothing catches my eye but I’m still blinded a bit by the trunk light, my natural night vision hasn’t come back yet. I stare for a couple more seconds as my vision starts to clear. I can see the woman standing in the door frame with both hands free. She is staring back at me as she starts to move forward. Not at the same pace she did before, but still much faster then she should be able to with a skull fracture and a gunshot wound to the abdomen. 

    “Damien come on, we need to hurry. SHE’S COMING!” Mary said in a shrieking voice.

    “Moving”. Was all I was able to get out. Getting in the passenger side seat, Goerner started to back out of the drive way. It was his turn to try and make me turn green. He backed the car up so fast onto the road and flipped the frontend around like they do in the movies as he punched it into drive. We just started moving when the woman slammed into the trunk. She hit with such force that I’m sure she did some damage. She was fast but was not able to keep up with the car.

    The car ride was silent until we got to the highway. I was flipping through the radio stations checking to see if there was anything new that might give us a clue as to what’s going on but still just the same thing about severe weather. Switching the channel again I hear Mary in the back, finally start to breath.

    “How are you doing Mary? What happened in their?”

    Mary Vetter’s story

    Madison was sleeping in the bed next to me, when I heard a nocking coming from the kitchen. Leaving Madison I walked out into the kitchen and flipped the light on to see a man with pale skin staring at me with ashy eyes. He was knocking on the glass with his fist. When he saw me he got angry. I had no idea why, I’ve never met this man before in my life. He starting hitting the glass more furiously. I ran back to the bedroom where I grabbed your gun. I then grabbed the mag next to it. It took a second but I was able to get a round chambered. Heading back into the kitchen the man was gone so I grabbed my cellphone and was going to call 911 when he came back into view. He ran up the steps and into the glass shattering it. He stumbled and fell into the kitchen. I raised my hand and told him to stop and that the cops were on their way. He started to get up to his feet, blood was dripping from several places on his body due to the glass. When get got to his feet he looked right at me. I raised the pistol up, he opened his found to reveal his yellow stained teeth. I freaked out as he released a screech, pulling the trigger by accident I missed and hit the wall behind him. This didn’t even faze the man, he just kept staring at me. I turned around to see Madison come out of the bedroom to see what all the commotion was. Turning my head back around I can see the man’s gaze changed to my daughters location. He started making his way around our dining room table. At this point I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger. All I heard was a loud “Thump!” as his body hit the ground. 

    Looking past the man, I see another figure make its way up onto the deck. I turn and run towards Madison grabbing her and locking ourselves in the bedroom. Hearing crunching I know it’s inside the house. Working with Madison I grab her sippy cup so she will stop crying and place her on the ground behind me. At the point I hear my phone go off and it’s Damien. We stayed in the bedroom locked until you arrived.

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #3

Pulling into the armory we see the LT at the front entrance standing their waiting for us or the other soldiers showing up. We pull in on the far side of the building and exit. With Madison sound asleep I grab her and help Mary out of the car. Making our way to the front door of the building, the LT is there to greet us and unlocks the door to let us in. LT Lance normally is very calm and collective but right now he has a very ashy expression and has sweat on his brow. 

“LT what happened?” I asked walking by him. 

“Just get inside!” He snapped at me. 

    I wave it off and enter the building. I look to Mary and she gives me a concerned look with her mouth slightly opened crunched to the right side. I shrug and we move on into the room I was previously in. I can see five others sleeping in cots all around the room. I grabbed a cot for Mary and Madison and set it up for them in the back right corner of the room. 

    “Try and get some sleep.” I tell her. She looks up at me teary eyed.

    “How can I do that Damien, I killed someone. How can I live with myself? With the… the guilt of what I did?!” She said quietly. 

    “Mary, look. You kept out daughter safe from someone who broke into our house. You did good. You kept her and yourself safe. I don’t know what I would ever do without you guys and I can’t thank you enough for protecting yourself. Know that what you did was not wrong and there was no other way”.  I said

    I grab her and pull her in close for a hug. Her tensed figure seem to dissipate into one that was calmer. Her sobs turned into a light cry and eventually nothingness. I held her for long minutes in a tight embrace. 

    “I love you Damien and thank you for coming home”.

    “I love you too, now try and get some rest. We are going to need it for tomorrow I’m sure”. I kiss her on her tender lips and hold it for a moment. When I release I move my head up and kiss her on the forehead and stand up. I turn around and make my way back to Sergeant Goerner and LT lance. I walk up to them discussing what’s going on. 

    “Tomorrow morning we need get with local law enforcement and start creating a presence around the city. If what I was told on the radio is reliable information, Seattle is almost completely out of control. Riots are taking place and people are attacking one another. That’s not even the worst part. It seems that the people are biting one another and then those who are bitten become very hostile towards everyone.” LT Lance said. 

    “So what are we dealing with then sir? It seems like it has already reached us. I don’t know how it did so fast Seattle, is 8 hours away. ” Goerner said. 

    “Speaking freely here, I don’t want to come off sounding crazy, but a, doesn’t this kind of sound like the walking dead? Let’s look at what we know. Seattle is over run by people who are extremely hostile and when one person is bitten they also become hostile and aggressive. Now let’s look at what we have seen here. We have pale people, who attack on sight and have tried to bite us as well as they almost show super human strength and durability.” I said. 

    “Specialist Cooper I don’t want to jump to any conclusions. I don’t want you going around and telling everyone else that. These people could be sick and could very well be treated. The last thing I want is for us to be blamed for friendly fire because one of us was trigger happy.” LT said. 

    “Understood. Mind if I turn in for the night. With what Mary has been through today I want to be next to her”.  I said knowing that I wanted to be by her side more then she needed me.

    “Yes that’s fine, be ready for an early wake up”.  Is what I heard. I was just so tired. I needed to lay down. I know adrenalin can be a double edged sword. For one it can help you push longer and fight harder but when you come down for it you crash hard. Setting up a cot next to Mary and Madison I sit down for just a second thinking about today’s events.  I turned and laid down. I was asleep almost instantly. I heard of falling asleep before hitting the pillow but have never had it happen to me before. My night was plagued with what I saw, and what I thought was to come. 

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #4

“Pssst, Hey…Hey wake up.” 

    I sit up abruptly damn near catching the man on his nose. I rub my eyes trying to bring life back into them. It was a long couple of moments before everything came back to me. I look directly at Goerner and ask “What’s going on?” 

    “LT wants everyone up so we can get briefed on what we are going to do today”. Goerner said.

    I look around and I see that several of the cots are empty and a couple are still waking up. Looks like I was the last one to be woken up. I rise being careful not to wake Madison and Mary. I roll out of the cot and slide into my combat boots and put my ACU top back on. Everyone is in the next room over.

    I walk into the room getting the first real visual on who all showed up last night. I see Sergeant Harris, a man who has seen a couple of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, easily the most experienced person on our team. He stands at about 5’9 and weighs in close to 190 pounds of pure muscle. Looking to the right I see Specialist Blake who was easily one of my closest friends here. We have been to the bar multiple times and in several bar fights. If there is anyone I want watching my back, it’s him. He’s of similar build to me at 6ft 200 pounds. We have Private Johnson and Sergeant Goerner and sitting to the right of them is Private Winters. Just a little bit older then I at 29 he joined the army later in life. He’s not overly a fit man but is extremely nice and always quick to learn. He stands very tall towering over me at 6, 4 and 230 pounds. He has a belly but he could probably bench press a Buick.  He’s overly kind and this is probably why in his civilian career he’s an EMT.

    “At ease, the LT wants to speak”. Sgt Harris said. 

    “Thank you Sergeant, as you all know an attack happened in Seattle yesterday at around 1400. We believe whatever it to be a virus that travels from host to host quickly. As far as we know it is not airborne, but our knowledge on this matter is very limited. I have received orders from higher that our goal is to assist local law enforcement. We are still missing Sergeant Kinder and specialist Regal. I want accountability of all who are at the armory right now that includes family members that came with you. Specialist Blake can you get me this list by 0800? I want occupations and important skills that might come in handy like medical training or prior law enforcement, you know like that kind of stuff”. The LT said.

    Specialist Blake Snapped to the position of attention and said “Yes sir, I’m on it.”

    “For the rest of you we are going to split into teams. Sergeant Goerner and Specialist Cooper, you too are going to head to the hospital and see if you can lend a hand over there, while Sgt Harris, Private Johnson and Winters head over to the police station and get with the Chief and find out anyway he would like us to assist. Understood?” The LT asked.

    At this point we all went to the position of attend and sounded off with a “Yes sir”. 

    “Good. Now we are in the Army National guard, people are going to be panicked and fearful, show them respect and be professional, we do not want the civilians going crazy. We already have enough to deal with. I have been given the order for us to be armed so get with Sergeant Bicker and head to the vault so we can get our weapons. Gear up, we are going to be in full battle rattle”. The LT said.

    Full battle rattle stands for wearing of all our gear. Our combat helmet, bullet proof vest with neck and groin guards, our tactical vest that holds our extra mags and our IFAK (individual first aid kit). Everyone was also going to grab their camel backs as well to drink water on the go. 

    We all followed Sergeant Bicker over to the vault. He proceeded to type in a code and entered. He bag to issue out our weapons, when I finally got mine I went to check on Mary who was just waking up. It’s around 0700. I sit back down on my cot and look at her”.

    “Good morning”. I said

    “Good morning” she replied back.

    “So, look. The LT has issued out things for the platoon to do. Sgt. Goerner and I have to go to the hospital to see if we can assist in anyway. Are you going to be okay here with the others”?  I ask

    She looked at me and almost started to tear up. She was still feeling the effects of last night. But looking into her eyes I see confidence, maybe not in what she has done, but what is to come. She will be strong for Madison.

    “Ill…Ill be fine. I love you, and come back to us”. She said.

    I stood up and kissed her lips and held her head against my forehead with my hand pressed around the back of her head. I said “I will, and I love you too”. And with that I stood up and turned around to look for Sgt. Goerner. I walked out of the room and made my way out to the motor pool. I see Goerner standing next to one of the Humvees. 

    “I guess we are taking one of these huh? Do we at least get to mount the 50 Cal?” I ask

    “The LT told us after you guys left that we are not to mount them. It would cause people to panic thinking that we were either trying to suppress them or that the threat was enemy forces on our ground”. He said. 

    “Well, it very well could be, but I understand his reasoning. That’s too bad though, I always feel like such a bad ass on those”. I said

    I get in the Humvee and turn the ignition but wait for the glow plugs to kick on being that these vehicles run on diesel. When the glow lights finally come on I turn the key even further and hear the Humvee come to life with a vigor. Goerner gets in the passenger side seat and we pull up to the gate. Specialist Blake is standing by opening the gate for us. As we pull though he says “Good luck guys, hopefully I can catch up with you later”.  We nod and drive through. I can see him latch the gate behind us and lock it with a heavy duty lock. 

    The hospital is only just a couple miles away, and from there the police station is only half mile from that. Everything is relatively close which works in our favor. The Armory is on the highway so if anything goes wrong they can radio us and vice versa. Driving through the city, not much looks out of the ordinary. Several vehicles are loaded to the max with items like they are planning on getting out of dodge. 

    “I guess people aren’t being fooled by the severe weather announcements anymore”. I said

    “No I guess not”. Goerner said

    I look at him with a questioning look. Normally he’s not so short so I assume this whole thing is getting to him hard. “You alright man?” I ask

    “No Cooper, my parents are in Montana and Emily is still Boise and I haven’t heard anything. I’m pretty far from fucking alright.” He said angrily. I didn’t even take this in to account. I’m sitting here in a decent mood but my family is at the armory and Goerner’s wife and parents are still out there and with the cell phones being down I don’t know how he will ever get in touch with them. 

    “Goerner, I wish there was something I could tell you to help you, but I don’t know anything for sure, and neither do you. Don’t assume the worst, they could be perfectly alright. When we get back let’s talk to the LT and see if we can’t secure the radio for a little while. We might be in luck and could pick something up about their surround areas.” I said. He seemed to perk up with that and I could noticeable see a bit of relief enter his eyes. 

    The rest of the drive to the hospital was in a comfortable silence. We pulled into the parking lot and went up into the hospital. Lots of vehicles are out front and while walking up to the hospital I take notice at the large group of people inside and standing near the reception desk.  Several of the people exit the hospital and come up to us asking questions like “What’s going on, and are we under attack? Our replies where “We don’t know anything at this time, we are just here to help with security around the hospital”. 

    As we enter the crowd dissipates around the front desk and they back away from us. Looking at two fully decked out armed soldiers tends to make people a little uneasy, like something was seriously wrong that we are here. In front of the reception desk there is a man who is yelling at the nurse demanding that he get checked out. 

    “Look at me when I’m talking to you, take your head away from that computer. I had one of those things in my house last night. I don’t know if I’m okay. LISTEN TO ME!” he started to raise his voice. 

    “Sir, I’m checking with the nurse’s desk now to see if they can look at you. Please keep your voice down”.

    “Listen here you bitch, I’ll do whatever I want, and I don’t want to be looked at by a damn nurse, where are your doctors aren’t you people supposed to be helping us?” the man said.

    At this point I walked up to the man and placed a stern hand on his shoulder. I spun him around and started talking. “Sir, I need you to calm down, this lady is doing everything in her power to help you now please go sit down until you can be looked at”. About half way through with what I was saying he pulled away from me and turned around quickly. He wasn’t expecting to see two armed soldiers behind him. He looked at first like he wanted to say something but then turned away and walked to the waiting area. 

    Sgt Goerner asked “Ma’am, we are here to help we just need to speak with who is in charge”.

    “That would be, Chief Bisbee. He is up on the 2nd floor in the room marked administration. Just take a left at the top of the stairs and go straight and at the end of the hall you will be there”. She said.

“Thanks ma’am. Specialist Cooper, please stay here and keep an eye on things. I’m going to talk to Chief Bisbee. I should only be a few minutes.” He turned and started walking to the stairs, didn’t even wait for me to acknowledge him before doing so. I turn and start to walk to the front of the building to pull security but as I start to head that direction as I hear the receptionist behind me say “Thank you.” I turn and say “no problem” as I am exiting the building. 

    Several long minutes go by when I hear the same guy start screaming at the receptionist again. I head back into the building. I see the man start to raise an open hand above his head. He swung at the lady catching her on her right cheek just above her jaw. I started running at the man. He was so fixated on her that he had no idea I was right behind him. I grabbed him with both hands on each one of his shoulders and placed my leg behind his and threw him backwards. He came down landing hard. I pull my weapon and hold it at the low ready. I gave a command to stay down and the man looked right at me startled that I just put him on his ass. I look at the man and he is sweating profusely and his skin has a tint of red like he is burning up. Something doesn’t look right. 

    “Everyone, get back, don’t get any closer to him.” I yelled. 

    I hear the people start talking and asking questions. “Is he one of them, is he infected?”

    “I don’t know…I don’t know. Ma’am, you need to get a nurse or a doctor up her right now. This man doesn’t look alright.” 

    The man started to stand up when I repeated my previous command of stay down but he didn’t look like he was in a listening mood. He kept rising but it was very twitchy. The best way I can describe it was that as he was coming up, only part of his body would work and then stop and a different part would take over. He got all the way to his feet when I pulled my rifle and leveled it on his chest, I instinctively switched my M4 from safe to semi as I was yelling for him to get back down. When he got all the way to his feet our eyes met again, they appeared to be a fainter color brown then they were before. He started to take a step forward when he fell over. I thought I pulled the trigger but I didn’t feel a kick to my weapon or the ear piercing sound that would come with firing a weapon in small quarters. He just fell over, like his entire body went limp. 

    He came down in a heap right onto his face. It looked like he landed directly on his nose. At this point he just quite moving. He was frozen in place on the ground. Everyone in the room was very quiet. There were probably 10 of us or so but I wasn’t keeping count. I stared at the body for a long moment, when the receptionist ran to go get help. I keep my muzzle on him with my weapon still on semi but I keep my finger off the trigger. 

    “Everyone, please take a few steps back. I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but I don’t want him lashing out at anybody.” I say    

Several minutes later the receptionist came back with a gurney and two nurses. As they were hefting his body onto the lowered gurney I noticed that he had large stands of spital dripping from his mouth. In fact where his head was resting there was a pool of saliva. Getting the big man on the gurney was a daunting task but both these nurses look like they have seen worse. 

“Before you guys take him, please strap his head down. He hit the ground pretty hard with his head, I just want to make sure there’s no damage to his spine.” I know this was a lie, and I can give two shits if this guy is hurt or not, but I saw what almost happened to Johnson last night and would hate for that to happen here. They did as I asked and were on their way down the hall. 

Sgt. Goerner came down and rounded passing the nurses with the gurney making a V line right for me. He steps right up to me and kind of looks pissed off. He is squinting his eyes just a little bit, you know how your mother would do this if she caught you trying to steal something. Well that was the look I was getting right now.

“Come here” was all he said as we walked around the corner out of sight. 

All I could think was great, this is all I need at the moment was for my friend to try and tongue lash me just because he’s a sergeant. 

“What just happened, I was only gone for a few minutes, what did you do?” Sgt. Goerner asked a bit peeved, but with bearing. 

He was rapid firing questions at me so fast and gave little time to respond, he even broke the knife hand out on me. I’ve seen him do this to the Privates, but for him to do it to me was something new in general. He was starting to piss me off a little bit and rank be damned but the only thing that saved face was the fact we have been friends a long time. 

“Hey man, if you would just calm down for 2 seconds I would explain to you what happened. Remember who I am Sgt. Goerner, I’m not the privates back at the armory, we have been friends along time, you should know I wouldn’t do anything to crazy especially giving what’s going on.” I said, and met his gaze. 

He took a step back and looked down for a second and then back up to me. His eyes were starting to form deep dark circles underneath. 

“Sorry man. I’m just stressed out. Can you tell me what happened”? He asked

As I explained to him over the next couple of minutes we walked outside to grab some food and get on the radio to relay back to the LT what was going on. We both sat in the Humvee calling up the LT, so Sgt. Goerner could explain to me what he heard from the chief. 

“So Chief Bisbee basically confirmed everything you were talking about the other night.” Goerner said

“Ohh, about it being zombies”? I said.

“He never said that, but he does have a couple patients that came in last night that are in ICU strapped to their bed. One male and one female. Apparently they came in fine with nothing too serious. One had a deep cut on his arm and the woman had a bite wound on her right leg.” I cut him off “And let me guess they turned into those things we saw last night? Huh?” I asked.

“If you would quite interrupting me, I can tell you.” He stared at me for a moment before continuing with one eyebrow raised. “Where was I? Right, so the nurse looked over the guy and brought him back to the operating room to get stitches, but by the time the doctor could get to him his wound started looking infected. It was black about an inch all the way around the cut. They hooked him up to several different types of antibiotics but nothing seemed to work. The man started to get very aggressive towards staff and started swinging at people ripping out his sutures so they strapped him down and has been there for several hours. As for the woman her bite wasn’t very big or threatening at all. She actually said it was her dog who bit her, but it was a small dog. He thinks what’s going around is some sort of rabies.” He said.

“So what do we do now?’

“We need to relay this information back to the LT and continue mission”. He said. 

“Alright, while you do that ill head back inside and see if I can do anything productive. I want to look at those individuals who are in ICU. Be a good Idea to double check that they are secured so they can’t spread what they have.” I said. 

Heading back into the hospital I stop and talk to the receptionist to find out in which direction I need to head to get to ICU. I walk down the hall in the direction she said to go but I see an office door that is open and above it on a medal sign it says “Doctor Derooh”. Inside the poorly lit room sits a desk with papers scattered all around it with one small desk light illuminating the surface. I quickly look too my left and then my right and decide to head in. 

Looking down at the desk I notice several files with names on them. There were more but these are the two who match the description Goerner gave me, or at least there wounds. Patricia Peterson and Dick Garrison. I flipped open Patricia’s file HIPPA regulations be damned, to see if I could discern any additional information that would help us figure out what’s going on. Reading on through her file I don’t notice anything that we don’t already know about how the infection spreads. It also has a description of the antibiotics used trying to treat her and all the medicine they used as well. I snap a picture of the documents with my phone to ponder over later and head back out of the room.

I finally make it to the ICU and am stopped by a nurse.

“You can’t be down here, only authorized people are to be back here at this point. Several patients are ill”. 

“No problem ma’am. I just came down here to double check that the man that you just took back here and the other two are secured and can’t harm anyone.”

“I can assure you they are firmly secured to their beds and can’t hurt anyone”.

“Roger that ma’am, but I would feel a lot better if I could see it for myself I would really appreciate it.” 

She acquiesced and led me to all three of the patients. All three where in separate rooms, heavily sedated but aware and hooked up to plenty of machines. Each one of them had a steady heart rate until we came by to check each room every time we entered one of the rooms I noticed on the EKG machine it would rise much higher than where it was at. As we were finishing the last room I thanked the lady and headed back down to the main entrance. I looked out the glass window door and saw SGT Goerner frantically waving for me from the Humvee. 

I ran out the door and as I was running too him I asked him what happened.

“There’s been an incident at the armory, everyone is okay but we have to go!”

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #5

My heart immediately skipped a beat. Mary and Madison were there, my world was behind those doors. Again my family was in direct danger and there was nothing I could do about it. The only thing that gave me ease was knowing they were with other soldiers and in good hands. I jumped into the driver’s side and tried to start the Humvee but I didn’t wait for the glow plugs to warm up which costed my several additional seconds. I finally got the green light I turned the key. The engine roared to life as I put the beast in drive and started down the road.

We pulled up to the armory and I put the rig in park and bolted to the front door. I entered the armory with my weapon at the low ready not knowing what to expect. I look to the right at the utility closet and it is wide open with dark liquid on the floor that I would soon learn was congealed blood. Looking down the hall I see the blood on the walls heading to the latrines and an office. It looked like the man was able to break the zip ties but not without some damage to himself. It looks like he used the wall for balance as he walked down this direction. Following the direction of the blood I find myself looking into the platoon sergeants office to find the man face down on the ground with a hole drilled into the back of his skull. Blood covered the carpet beneath him. 

“Cooper, down here. In the drill hall”. I hear Goerner yelling. 

    I turn around and immediately start heading in that direction. Entering the drill pad I scan the area noticing several faces that were not here this morning. I see Mary and Madison in the back of the drill hall. She is waving at me, to come to her. 

    “You okay?” I ask

    “I’m fine, just scared”. She replied.

    “What happened”. I questioned her.

    “I don’t know, one minute that army guy was going around checking on everyone, getting names and stuff. After he finished talking with me, I heard a crash and the army guy ran off telling us to stay here and then a gun shot.”

    “I’m glad you’re okay, but I have to see if they need my help.” I told her as I turned around.

    “Damien, are we ever going to be alright?” she asked as I was walking away. 

I turned around and walked to her embracing her and Madison in a hug. “As long as we have each other we will be able to make it through this”. I kissed her and turned around to check with everyone else. 

    Walking up I check with Sgt. Goerner to see what’s going on. 

    “So, Mary just told me what happened, do you need me to do anything”? 

    “Get with Blake and get that body out of here, make sure to put rubber gloves on, don’t let anything get on you”. He said

    “Shit. I shouldn’t have asked”. Turning around I see Blake walking to the hallway. I run to catch up to him. 

    “What the fuck happened man?” I asked

    “The fucking creep got loose from the closet by busting the door handle. Don’t ask me how the fucker did it. Then he meandered his way down the hall the office where the LT was. I heard the door break while I was getting that list for the LT, and I ran in that direction. I saw the bastard heading into the office. I came up on him, and pushed him over with my shoulder and put a bullet in the back of his head”. Blake said. 

    “Well, good job man. You probably just saved the LTs life. Maybe he will put you up for a coin or something”. Trying to make light of the situation. Blake seemed to get my humor and replied with “Better be a fucking big one”.

Stopping by the supply room to pick up the necessary stuff we need like rubber gloves, towels, garbage bags, hand sanitizer we make our way down the hallway. We also picked up a tarp from outside to wrap the body in. 

After we dawn the gloves and lay the tarp down, the goal was to just pick the guy up from his shoulders and drag him forward unto the tarp. The guy probably weighed in at 240 pounds and moving that dead weight is not easy. See what I did their? I’m on the left and Blake is on the right.

I look up at Blake and ask if he’s ready, and he give me a nod. We both lift and start dragging him to the tarp. We are about 2 steps into moving and my back left heel catches on the wall behind me and I tripped over my feet. I came down on my right shoulder but as in doing so the body rolled on top of me. With the force of the fall Blake lost his shoulder he had. 

“Shit man, get him off of me”. I yelled.

“Yeah, hold on a second”. He pulled the body back down to the tarp. We rolled the body over and grabbed both arms at the forearm to drag him due to his wrists being cut up from the zip ties.  When we finally got him on the tarp we rapped both sides covering the man completely. From here we drug the body outside, being much easier now that he was on the tarp. We loaded him up in Blake’s truck. 

When we both got back inside we went to work cleaning up the blood left behind. It took about 30 minutes nut it really wasn’t too bad, the stain will always be their but all in all I think we did a pretty good job. After we finished we both went to the restroom and vigorously scrubbed our arms with soup and finished up with the hand sanitizer. I even dawned a new set of uniforms just to be on the safe side.  

    “So what do you think we are dealing with here, did you find anything out at the hospital?”

    “Yeah, they think it’s some type of rabies or something. This lady was bit by her dog and then turned at the hospital”. I answered 

    “No shit, I wonder how this happened and how it made it from Seattle that fast”. Blake said

    After we got all cleaned up we went looking for somebody to see if there was anything else that needed to be done. We were walking to the drill hall when we saw the other group pull up in their Humvee. Blake went to go let them in and I went to let the LT know.

    “Sir, the other group is back from the police station. What would you like us to do?” I ask

“Get Sgt Harris and Sgt Goerner to my office. I want a brief on the information you guys got.”

    I saluted LT Lance and turned around to get both sergeants to speak the LT. I let Sgt Goerner know first because he was at the other end of the drill hall talking to a young couple who looked to be arguing over something. 

    “Sergeant, the LT would like to speak with you and Sergeant Harris soon”. I barely made it through this sentence when the Young woman who was just a little younger than me started yelling at the man.

    “How dare you treat me like that, what did I ever do to you, was she better than me?” was all I needed to hear to know this was not a conversation I wanted to be a part of. 

    “Roger that Specialist, I’ll go talk to him now then”.  As Goerner passed me he whispered a silent “thank you”. 

    I turned to go let Sergeant Harris know about the brief but I no soon turned around when I heard a loud clapping sound. I spun on my heel to see the man on the ground holding his left cheek mouth opened and stunned. The woman turned and walked away. 

    I’m not one for violence, but I can’t stand people who cheat on others in a relationship. It’s a major act of betrayal to another person. Especially if that other person puts forth all of their energy towards that relationship. I don’t know this girls personality, maybe she’s ruthless and drove this guy away but she had long curvy brunet hair going down past her shoulders and was dressed in some cut off shorts with a white tank top on. She had that type of look to her that if she wanted to she could be a model. 

    I turn back to look at the man who is still sobbing into his hand and say with a smirk “Hope it was worth it”. And with that I went to find Sergeant Harris. 

    Heading towards the front entrance I see Sergeant Harris walking through the door. 

    “Sergeant Harris, the LT would like to speak with you, he wants a brief in his office.” I said

    “Roger that” he said.

    Going back to the drill pad to the classroom, I meet up with Mary and Madison and spend what seems close to an hour playing with my daughter and making small talk with Mary.  When Harris and Goerner come out of the office, they start to gather everyone up in the drill pad so we can have a meeting. A lot of commotion and side chatter was going when the LT entered the room. 

    “Excuse me, everyone can I have your attention”. The crowd started to get quiet when the LT spoke up. “Alright everyone now that I have your attention I would like to disseminate some information to you, that I deem relevant. So as you know we were hit pretty hard in Seattle from and unknown source and now there is a disease going around infecting people. It does seem to have reached us here, in our town but the outbreak seems to be minor. I have heard over the radio before communications went out that the disease is popping up in most major cities and spreading fast. It doesn’t seem that things are going to get any easier and I don’t believe help is on the way. I want everyone to understand the situation and when more information comes to light I will let you all know. The Police chief will be here shortly with the mayor to discuss in further detail our next actions. I believe it to be critical that we start preparing now for what is to come.” 

    Everyone in the room looked confused and shocked at the same time. I don’t blame them. Most are just family members of the soldiers who are here, they don’t really know what’s going on and being faced with it right up front like this can be outrageous. 

    The LT went back to his office and that large group started to disperse into every corner of the open area. I assume to cope with what they all just heard. All of the soldiers split up and went with their respected families to discuss further. 

    It was only a few minutes later when the mayor and the police chief showed up. I went to unlock the door for them and let them in. they thanked me and proceeded straight to the LT’s office. They were in their for several  hours and during this time, Pvt Winters was able to get the old T.V. to work and we hooked it up to the cable that was used long before I got here for a group of sergeants who are no longer here to get together and watch some football on the Sundays.

    “Good job winters, that’s awesome”. I told him.

    “It really wasn’t anything, the wire on the back just got loose and I was able to cut it and splice it back together.” He said. 

    We started flipping it through the channels and got static form most of them but we did find a couple news stations reporting on major cities.  Foxx news and CNN both had reporters in the fields. As we sat and listened to the news caster who was dressed in a  blue suit and tie, a crowd started to form. 

    “As you can see, large groups of people are rioting in the streets, a mass hysteria has broken out in most major cities. As of yet, we do not know what is going on but we urge all to stay indoors. Hold on, I’m getting something” the anchor put 2 fingers to his ear and looked down. “Alright, I’m getting news that we have a specialist coming on to give us more information.. Hello, ma’am, are you with us?”

    The screen split and a lady in a lab coat popped up on the screen. She was probably in her early 40’s, but she stood with a posture that looked like she had lots of confidence.

    “Hello, I am a head researcher with the Centers for Disease Control out of the Office of noncommunicable diseases, injury and environmental health. What you are seeing in the streets is a disease and attacks the body rapidly. Once infected the virus acts like rabies when in the body. You will feel pain around the bite site that grows throughout the body as well as a severe fever. Those infected will start to see hallucinations, feel confused, restless and in a constant high level of excitement and skin will start to pale. The fever eventually drives the infected person to become very hostile to all those around. They will try and attack you by any means. Those infected do not seem to have higher function of the brain or fine motor skills, they cannot communicate or feel pain the way we do. Their pain receptors have significantly decreased due to the fever. If you are bit, or scratched you are at high risk of getting the disease. We are currently working on a vaccine to immunize those who are not infected, but those infected will not be able to regain the function of their brain. We urge you to stay inside and lock your doors and wait for help to arrive and only go outside to seek emergency medical care.”

    The channel then switched back to just the reporter who was in shock. It looked like he wanted to question the doctor but he wasn’t going to get the chance. 

    “There you have it ladies and gentleman, directly from the CDC. We urge you to stay indoors and be safe. We will continue to bring you as much information as possible. May god be with us all. Now we bring you footage of Seattle and what is taking place.”

    The footage switched to a young female reporter who looked to of Asian descent but it was difficult to tell. It looks like she has been in the area for some time without sleep and in rugged situations. Her hair is pulled up in a tight bun but with large dark bags underneath her eyes. She stood behind a police barricade on a bridge in the city. 

    As she was about to speak the camera panned to just over her right shoulder and focused past the police cars. A big white semi came barreling down the road. You could see the police yelling, and trying to move to better locations to brace for impact. A larger man stepped up and raised his rifle to fire. The glass in front of the driver splintered as the truck veered off and crashed into the side rail. the wheels drove up unto the side railing and flipped onto its side, and slid forward for about 15 feet coming to a stop about 10 feet before the police barricade. The trailer on the back of the semi came sliding forward and blocking the view past it. The rear door on the trailer opened up and slammed to the ground. Out of the rear of it, a large number of the pale people came out and started running towards the barricade. The police opened fire into a hail of bullets mowing down a few of them, but it wasn’t enough. The pale people ran right into the police jumping on them and ripping and tearing at them with anything they could. The police put up a valent effort but it wasn’t enough. At this point the man holding the camera dropped to run. It fell and the camera I presume broke because the screen went black and then to a label apologizing for the inconvenience and they will be back shortly. 

    I turned from the screen not wanting to lay witness to the horror taking place. I looked at the other people in the area. Several everted their eyes in tears, others watched on in pure disbelief. I put my hand on Winters right shoulder as I walked out. 

    About an hour went by when they finished up with their meeting. The mayor and the police chief went straight for the door and left. They didn’t even say good bye. The LT came to the classroom where everybody was so he could speak.

    “Can I have everyone’s attention again please? I have just finished up with the meeting and would like to let the rest of you know what is going on. We will be holding a town hall meeting tomorrow at 10:00 AM at the park to discuss with the rest of the town on what needs to happen next. I believe that involves fortifying the town and blocking all major entrances into the town with the soldiers and the police acting as guards and working on a security detail”.

    Lots of people started blurting out questions and voicing concern about martial law. The LT spoke up “That is all I have for you for now, there will be more at the town hall meeting to discuss in further detail.”

    As the LT turned to head back to his office one of the civilians I didn’t recognize reached a meaty hand out and grabbed the LT. He stood a little over 6ft and had a deep scar just under his right lip that went to the bottom of his chin. He was a bald man who looks like he has spent a lot of time at the gym. He spun and forced the LT to turn back around “Wait just one fucking.” He started before Lance spun on his right foot and came back around with a straight jab catching the man in the throat. 

    The man went straight to his knees grasping his throat wincing for air. Lance looked down at the man and said “Don’t you ever fucking touch me like that, I told you everything. Now everyone, I’m going to my office, I suggest you all get some sleep. It’s going to be a busy day tomorrow.”

    A couple of people went to go pick up the man and dragged him to a cot. After they sat him down he was able to start breathing again. It didn’t take too long, lance didn’t put much into that strike. I didn’t even take into account what time it was until lance said something. I went to find Mary and Madison. Mary was just laying Madison down to go to bed. 

    “Hey, how’s it going? Anything New?” she asked.

    “There’s going to be a town hall meeting tomorrow at the park.”

    I helped tuck Madison into her cot, which was 5 times bigger then she was. I turned on my cot to look at Mary. 

    “A lot of things are going to change, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep you guys safe. Everything is going to shit, and I don’t know what to do. I just want you to know that I love you.” I said

    “I love you too, but I can take care of myself and I won’t let anything happen to this little fart machine, you just focus on staying alive out there okay. Make sure you always come back to us no matter what.”

    As she was saying this, she laid down in the cot to the right of Madison and reach out a hand. I did the same, and I grasped her hand rightly over Madison.

    “I will” I said. Nothing else was said as we both closed out eyes and fell asleep.

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #6

    The next morning went by fast. It was up to both Privates to get up and hand out MRES to everyone who didn’t have food. Most people were afraid of them or at least the rumors they heard. I on the other hand enjoy them, not saying they are the best thing in the world, but I rather like them. As long as it’s not the vegetarian ones, I’m good or the chili mac one. I get a lot of slack for always eating MRE’s instead of the hot food the cooks make. Fake eggs, two pieces of turkey the size of two quarters, and a piece of toast isn’t appetizing to me. 

    We were up and ready to go by 0800, and our time to get there was 0830 to help set up and prepare. We shuttled several of the civilians over in our Humvees but most had vehicles of their own. Pvt Winters and SPC Blake stayed behind to lock down the armory while we were gone. It’s not like they would be in danger, the park we were having the town hall meeting is almost in eye shot of the armory.  The park was only about a football field wide and on one side a river flowed. The police patrolled the one side of the park to make sure everything stayed in order while everyone else prepared for the meeting. There was a big gazeebo that was used by the public for bands or weddings. The mayor, LT and the police chief would all stand up here.  

Around 0930 the crowed grew around the park. What started off as a couple of dozen people eventually turned into a few hundred. The population of the city was around 3,000 or so but most of those numbers lived up in the mountains a few miles out of town but I think most of the people who lived in town showed up. 

The meeting finally took place around 1000 with mayor Hinesburg stepping up and addressing the Crowed. For being mayor he wasn’t very impressive, he couldn’t have been more than 5’5 and was a very plump man. 

“Good morning everyone, I hope you are all doing well under these strenuous circumstances. I regret to inform you all but we are all aware of the news. This country is under attack by an unknown group, and of late no one has taken credit for the disease that is ravaging the country side. I stand here today to tell you that this is not a joke and the incidences that you see are real. The National Guard has been deployed to their armories here and have been instructed to help out local law enforcements while other national guard units near major outbreaks where rallied to help contain the disease. But it can’t be helped that the military, CDC and law enforcement are all being overrun and can’t contain it. I called this emergency meeting today to discuss with you all, how we can take precautions as a town to protect our own until the military can take back this country. I’ll have Captain Newsome talk about some of the plans they will in place to ensure the safety of our families”.

The Captain was much more impressive then the Mayor. He came right of to the podium with confidence. He was in his early 50s with a high and tight hair cut that screamed discipline. 

“Alright everyone, there are going to have to be some changes around here. First of all, we are starting a curfew to an hour before it gets dark. According to our news, the infected are more active at night, not to say they won’t come out during the day though. We also recommend that you carry a weapon of sorts. It is your 2nd amendment right to carry a firearm and we recommend you have one on you. The police are going to be patrolling still. Next step will be blocking off all major roads entering the city and placing 2-3 guards at each gate.” 

From the back of the crowd a older woman spoke up. “So what, is this a prison now, are we allowed to leave?”

“Yes ma’am. This is a free country. I will always believe that you are free to leave anytime you like. But here comes the part that will be unpopular. If you leave our boarders after they are secure, you will have to be strip searched for bites. To ensure the safety of those inside the walls a screening will have to be completed. We will also have to sweep every house within the borders to make sure we do not get attacked from the inside. These are all a necessary evil’s that we will all have to submit too. That only goes for the main part of the town. If you live outside the borders, local businesses will be converted into living quarters, but you are welcome to stay at your home if it is outside the secure location, but we cannot guarantee your safety if you choose to do this.”

A lot of people in the crowed were starting to get upset with the new laws of the lands. I understand that these are all things that we have to get done to be able to survive, but a lot of these people here won’t be willing to give up their homes yet, because they haven’t seen the infected first hand. 

“I want reassure everyone that we are here to serve and protect, but we all need to remain calm. We are in a safe zone at the moment but with Seattle falling we have to assume that a large group of people will be fleeing in this direction. We will need volunteers to block off with vehicles on the far side and our side of the bridge coming into town. As well as blocking all major entrances into the heart of the city. I want to reiterate to you all that these are necessary precautions that we have to take because we don’t know when help is coming, we have to help ourselves. I will need a group of volunteers to help make this happen. We will have to get several vehicles that can be moved to block the entrances. We can move some of the cement barriers to block the other entrances into down. Our national guard soldiers here will be escorting each group to act as security.”

Newsome’s words must have rang true to a large portion of the crowd. After the meeting several groups came forth to volunteer. Although most people were trying to help, there was still a group of about 30 or so who grouped around a man who was talking to them. He looked to be in his thirties, who I recognize from around town, I’m pretty sure A lot of people know him. Apart of the growing crowd was that man who got slapped by that beauty at the armory. 

    “Don’t listen to them. What do they know? The world is going to hell and people want to follow a fucking pig? Why didn’t they tell us about what was going on beforehand? There laws don’t apply to us anymore. The only laws that matter now are god’s laws, gods plan”. 

    Eight of the people walked away with some heading to the group of volunteers and others heading for their vehicles. I walked up to one of the ones who walked away. 

    “Who is that guy and what’s his deal?” I asked the stranger.

    “That’s Brett Garrison. He’s the owner of Garrisons Construction in the area. Don’t give him too much attention, when he’s not at work he’s at the bar all the time pissing away his pay check. That’s why he doesn’t want anything to do with chief Newsome.  Newsome busted him for a D.U.I s few years back before he was chief and he lost is position at the church.” He said.

    “Thanks, I appreciate the information”. I said. 

    I walked over to Sgt Goerner and the rest. The LT was calling us all in to group up. 

    “Alright, so we have three Humvees altogether.  We are going to break into three teams. Team one will be Sgt. Goerner and Pvt Johnson, team two will be Sgt Harris and Spc Damien and ill relieve Spc Blake and Pvt Winters at the armory so they can act as team three and get to work on securing the bridge. Team one will be security for the group of volunteers getting the grade coming into town, and team two you will get the two back roads. Radio in every half hour with an update on how its going. I want full battle rattle, make sure you have your hydration system and at least 2 full mags. We need to create a reliable presence, so no fuck ups, understand?” 

    We all sounded of with a “Yes Sir” and saluted the officer. 

    I was a little surprised that I was put with Sgt Harris. Not that I mind, he’s a great guy, but my first line leader is Sgt Goerner must be a reason, I just don’t know it. I first met Sgt Harris when I came to the unit four and a half years ago. I was just a private, no rank or anything. I was what we call a fuzzy, the soft spot a Velcro rank would go. I was busy trying to get to know everyone, and just being around sgts was a weird thing in general. I was used to the drill sergeants we had at basic, so I was eager to get stuff done. When I walked up to him he didn’t even say hi, he just asked me “Hey, I need a box of grid squares, can you go ask the supply guy if you can get a box.” 

    Being a moron private I went straight to Parade rest, “Roger that sergeant, I’m on it.” I left, eager and happy to be looking for a box of cut up map pieces. During my search I stopped by the Supply sergeant, the XO and the first sergeant. They were all in on the joke. At the end of the day, they held a formation and presented me with a box of the allusive grid squares. The funny thing is I still have the box in my wall locker, just in case he sends someone else looking. I played a similar prank on Johnson a few months back. I’ll save that story for later though. Harris always has something to say with lots of incite. He was active duty a few years back, and during that time he went to sniper school and participated in several missions and still participates in long range shooting events.  He was also level 3 certified in combative’s. He was in several army combative tournaments and took 1st place in all of them. 

    “Sgt Harris, looks like we are grouped for the day. Any particular way you want to get this done?” I asked

    “Let’s get the Humvee prepped and ready to get. I want two full water cans and a half a case of MRE’s, with four full mags for you and I. I don’t think we will need that much, but I’d rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it.” He replied

    We got back to the armory and It was half hour later when we met up with our group of volunteers at the gas station closet to the park. We pulled in and the leader of the group was female cop in her late 30’s who was in her full uniform, vest and all. It’s good to know the cops are not playing around either. 

    “Good morning officer, I’m Sergeant Harris” He said with a smirk dipping his head down giving her a sloppy two finger salute, I think I even saw him wink at her. “Is your group ready to get going?” 

    “Sergeant Harris I see. I had no idea you were in the guard. It’s good to see you again. Yeah, my group is ready to go. We were just waiting on you.” She said

    Her group consisted of four people including herself with only two of the civilians carrying. The three were male. Looks like two of them were in their teens with one being in their mid-40’s. The older man had greyish hair and a large salt and pepper beard and both kids looked to be on the football team or something. 

    She looked at me and said “I’m Officer O’Connor and this is Robert and his two sons, Jeremy and Michael”.

    I stuck out a hand and went down the line swapping pleasantries. When I made it to Michael he grabbed my hand in excitement and gripped it with a firm handshake. “I’ve always wanted to join the Army, in fact, I have the papers at home. I was going to do it on my 18th birthday.” He said with a gleam in his eye.

    “Is that so, it looks like your guys rig is a little crowded. I can talk to Sgt. Harris and see if you can ride with us up to our point”. I said.

     “That would be awesome Sir” he gripped my hand even harder and then let go. 

    “Just call me Cooper. I’m not a sir, I work for a living.” I said

    Harris looked at O’Connor “Alright, we should get going. Let us take point and you guys follow about six car lengths behind us. If anything happens our first goal is to get out of the situation and regroup back here to get reinforcement. Mount up. Let’s get going”. Harris said. 

    Sgt. Harris, Michael and I all got into the Humvee. Michael got in the back while I took the driver’s seat. I started it up and we were on our way. Michael seemed to be having the time of his life. I remember when I first joined I thought ridding in a Humvee was just the coolest thing in the world, but now when I get in one I’m surprised at how much it can shake and stay on the road. If you get up faster the 45 it sounds like your reentering earth’s atmosphere. 

    I looked over at Sgt. Harris “What was that back their between O’Connor and you”. 

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about” He replied

    “I saw the way you looked at her, something happened. It looked like a good something though”. I said with a laugh.

    “You could say a good something alright. We hooked up last month. After drill I went to the bar in town and I saw the pretty little red head sitting at the bar, so I went up to her, and asked her to dance. It wasn’t hard to impress her with my moves”. He said

    “Did you know she was a cop?” I asked

    “No, I had no clue, after we knocked back a few shots of tequila we called an Uber back to her place. We really didn’t do much talking if you get me”. He said.  

    When we pulled up Harris marked the location on his map. I’ve been the route several times before on my way to work. A lot of big houses, it looks like a lot of retired people live up here. The truck behind us pulled ahead and parked just off the road. We were at a corner at the starting point of the grade. Plenty of cement barriers were on the cliff side that we could use to block the road coming into town. The truck they drove was a Chevy 3,500 with a custom made bumper and a 6,000lbs wench on the front. 

    “Cooper get on the roof and be our spotter while we start to move these into place. I want you to be on a swivel, keep an eye out for anything.” Harris said

    Moving the first barrier took some time, apart from getting it connected correctly to the wench, but it kept pulling the truck forward. We had to back the truck off the road a bit to be at more of angle but still straight with the barrier. We anchored the back of the truck to a tree with some chain we had in the Humvee. 

    After the first one the rest kind of fell into place. We had two rows with four deep enough to stop entry into town unless on foot. I believe the idea is to place a guard at some point and control the flow of people into town. 

    We were just getting the last one into place when I noticed movement coming from one of the houses just past our road block up a short drive way. The door opened slowly show a few feet into the house. All the power was off to the house so the only light was that of the door opening. I kept seeing something move inside the door, but just out of range to make out what it was. I was just about to let Harris know when it came directly into view in the doorway. It was a pale woman with the front half of her tank top was covered in crimson. Her mouth was stained blacked which was in direct contrast to her skin and her matted blond hair. Her mouth opened up to let loose a hellish screech that chilled me right to the bone. 

    Everyone stopped what they were doing to look up in the direction of the scream. Sgt. Harris didn’t even hesitate, he was quick and calm. 

    “Hurry up people we need to move. Unhook the back of the truck and let’s get going.” He said.  

    He immediately pulled his M4 to the low ready. He held it in a relaxed stance, but he could be up and firing in a second. He waved at the group with his left hand to pick up the pace. 

    “Cooper, do you see any more?” He asked.

    “Just the one Sgt. Should we take it,” I was interrupted by a hail of more screeches coming from up the road. 

    “Stay ready, Cooper. O’Connor are your people ready?” he asked in a calm voice.

    Her gaze went to Harris, then up the road and back to Robert and his boys. “I’d say just another minute or so”. 

    “You don’t have the much time”. He said quietly.

    I looked back to the house and the figure was gone. I berated myself for not keeping my eyes on the target. I looked down the drive way and Ms. Tank top was running right for us. She looked to be in her mid-50s but was sprinting like someone a quarter her age. 

    “Cooper, do you got eyes?” he asked

    “I do. Want me to take her out?” I asked

    She was about half way and closing the distance too us fast. It couldn’t have been more than 50 yards but I could see the determination in her milky eyes.  

    “Not her Cooper, up the road”. He yelled.

    I pulled my gaze from Ms. Tank top and looked up the road when I heard a shot ring out below me. Not willing to waist anymore time I level my sight up the road past the barriers to see 5 of the creeps making their way at a faster pace than the pale woman. I flipped the safety to PEW and leveled my sight on an elderly man. I didn’t get a chance to see any other identifiers as I pulled the trigger. The shot surprised the hell out of me as my bullet went down range. My first shot was wide and to the right catching another infected in the shoulder. Shit, it was an accident but I’ll take it. The one I hit staggered and rolled to that side hitting the ground with a thud. I have no doubts that it will get back up, but that’s in a few seconds and at least it bought us some time. Another shot rang out below as I see the one I originally tried to shoot go down in a heap with its head violently snapping backwards. I sighted in on another one aiming for the head. It was a medium build man with a blue bathrobe on. It was pumping its arm and an unnatural speed closing the distance fast. It was only about 35 feet in front of us. With four potential targets still bearing down on us at this close of range we were going to have to pick up the pace. 

    I pulled the trigger being careful not to slap it and throw my aim off when again another shot surprised me as I sent it to its new home. This shot rang true as it caught bathrobe right in his nose. He came down forward landing directly on his face with a crunch that was louder than the footsteps of the creeps. 

    The one I hit by accident was just getting back to its feet and as it lifted its head and tilted it in our direction tiny new hole blossomed opened dead center of its forehead. As it collapsed I watched Harris take up the last target moving smoothly transitioning between targets with ease to the last one. He pulled the trigger and the shot struck the creep in the chest. It was 15ft away but I could hear the air escape its lungs with a sucking sound. The creep kept running forwards but I think it was moment caring it. It went down much like the others. 

    “We need to get moving, I don’t know if the shots will attract others”. Harris said to the others. I kept my sight trained down the road, looking for new targets.

    Michael was making his way to the Humvee, while Robert was finally able to get the chain unhooked. He through it into the back of the truck and was jumping into the driver’s side seat. As he was closing the door, one of the infected people came running from behind the tree. Nobody could see it because of the path it took placed it right out of sight. It followed the hedge bush down to the truck. It moved with such speed, Robert didn’t even have time to yank his hand back before the thing was on him. It slammed the door open causing the hinges to creek in protest. It latched onto his arm sinking its teeth into the meaty part of the forearm. Robert cried out in pain but was able to un-holster the pistol and place the barrel up against the creatures head. He pulled the hammer back and slammed the trigger home. The body slumped forward as red gore exploded from the back of the skull case. 

    “He’s been bit. Jeremy, I need your belt.” O’Conner said. Jeremy just looked, dumb founded at the officer. “Jeremy now! If we hurry we might be able to stop the virus, do you want your dad to die!” Jeremy hesitated, but something finally clicked and he scrambled to get his belt off. He fumbled around for a few seconds but was able to get it off and handed it to O’Connor. 

    She quickly looped one end around and pulled the look up to the armpit of Robert. She cinched it as tight as she could and tied it off thought the end. She then looked in the back of the truck and grabbed what looked to be like a small piece of rebar and shoved it between the belt and Roberts’s skin, twisting it to the right three times wrapping the end up under the belt to hold it in place. She grabbed his wrist and felt for a pulse. 

    You can see it in the officers eyes that she was nervous, but she knew what had to be done, and did it. I wouldn’t have even thought of making an improvised tourniquet. I’ve been taught countless times to do this with a gun shot, but never a bite. Sure it looked like it hurt like hell, but other than a little blood it didn’t look that bad. I would have to congratulate her later on her quick thinking. 

    “Let’s get going, ill radio ahead and have the hospital get ready. “ I said. We loaded up and were down the road. I kept stealing glances back at Michael to see how he was holding up. He had a look of shock on his features. He looked up and asked “Is my dad going to be alright?” 

    “I won’t lie to you. I don’t know, but I’ll tell you what, I think his chances are pretty good. With O’Connor’s quick thinking that tourniquet won’t let the infection spread past his arm and if we get him to the hospital fast enough, they should be able to do something about it.” I said. Michael’s features lightened up but just a degree.

    The rest of the drive went by silently besides Sgt. Harris on the radio. It didn’t take long for us to get back. We parked out front but we waved the truck by to out back were the ambulance would normal unload passengers. As soon as we parked Michael got out and ran inside. LT lance was waiting for us outside the hospital. 

    The LT walked up to the passenger side door. Sgt. Harris stepped out and saluted the officer. “I need to know what happened out there. What are we dealing with?” Lance asked.

    “Sir, we got the barriers into place and came under contact shortly after. One of the infected came from a house screaming and shortly after five more approached from up the road just past our barricade. We had no choice but to take them out. When we cleared out the ones on the street we were just loading up to get heading back when one came out from behind some trees and charged Robert. He wasn’t able to get the door closed in time. Well, and now were here.”    

    Lance looked at me “Cooper, get on the radio and let group’s one and three know to be on their toes.”

    “Roger sir.” I said as I was making my way back to the Humvee. I got into the driver’s seat and grabbed the radio. LT and Harris seemed to be discussing something but I was too far away to be able to hear it. 

    “Three this is two, sit rep over”. I waited a few seconds before trying again. “Three, this is two, radio check over”. I still didn’t hear anything for a few seconds, I was just about to try again when Pvt. Winters came over the radio. 

    “Two, this is three blockade is almost in place… Break…. ETA ten mikes…. read you Lima Charlie over.” Came over the radio

    I listen to the radio, pretty impressed that Winters has improved this much. Last time I can remember that he was on radio was during a training exercise, he gave some bad coordinates or something and our entire platoon ended up in the wrong place because he didn’t know what he was doing. He received a good ass chewing, but hearing him now, I would never guess it was him besides his voice. 

    “Three, this is two. Big Dog barked, keep your head on a swivel. Tangos are moving. Out”.

    The Lt Like to keep our radio chatter short with his call sign being Big Dog and the rest of us by our team number. Short and sweet and not two difficult to remember. 

    I was able to get ahold of team one much easier. They were already enroot back and were going to see if they could help set up one of the stores for a short term living quarters for the people. I let the LT know what was going on. He sent us both down to help team one secure the building.

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #7

    Several hours went by and we had several of the buildings fortified. I was in awe of how fast the townsfolk came together. Most of the local business owners were quick to donate what they had to help secure the buildings. I’ve seen on the news and read books about how fast civilization can crumble in a crisis especially when they think their actions will go unnoticed but that was always in big cities. Being that we are in a small town and most people know each other it is really helping to our advantage. Of course this does not mean that there were no faults. One of the parts stores just outside of the perimeter was broken into and the owner was beaten up. Nothing too serious just a bloody nose and a headache but he wanted the police to go looking for him and get his stuff back. With the police numbers being so small and having so much to do, they weren’t able to spend to long trying to locate the looters. 

    A couple more stories like the above but for the most part it was a small community of people working together to further a cause for the greater good. If I estimated correctly it seems like there are around 400 people in the perimeter but only about of quarter of that were working. A lot of older folk and children with their parents remained in the park for now. By the end of the day we had all three major roads blocked off as our first line of defense and we wedged vans between buildings as a makeshift blockade. For the most part if you wanted to get into the perimeter you had to climb. 

    We had several parking lots within our perimeter that were rapidly being filled with Motor homes and several families had tents and tarps strung up over vehicles. No body was really concerned about the weather, the last we heard it was to be sunny the rest of the week. We secured in total of ten buildings boarded up all the windows. By no way was our perimeter secure but we were on our way. 

    The night past with not so much as a hitch. We took rotating shifts throughout the night with the police to make sure nothing got in. We kept our original teams and we alternated on a 3 hour basis. The cops that were already on the night shift before the outbreak just stayed throughout the night. We had at least two soldiers and three policemen roving around the perimeter. We didn’t have enough space to drive so we parked most vehicles just outside our compound. We just went on foot, even if something went wrong getting from one side to the other would only take a good minute at a full sprint. 

    We turned a mechanic shop at the edge of the compound into our base of operations. It had concrete walls and very few windows. It was large enough to keep one Humvee with a 50 Cal and a living quarters for the soldiers. I was even able to get Mary and Madison to stay there with us. It was only due to Madison’s age but I was happy with it. The rest of the soldiers loved ones were holed up in in a theatre just down the road. Each building had at least one radio in it just in case something happened the rovers could get to them in a hurry.  

    The hospital was a mile outside of our perimeter but one of the cops volunteered to stay throughout the night and keep the building secure. Most patients were moved to the 2nd and 3rd floor as a precaution with the stairs being blocked off by pallets. All the doors were locked and windows were boarded up. A few retired vets stepped up and helped guard the hospital throughout the night. Most everybody saw the news and were willing to step up and make sure what was going on in Seattle would not happen here.

    We had a decent set up and over the week it only improved. Not a single incident took place besides the attack while setting up the barriers. Robert ended up losing his arm and has been in a coma ever sense he was bitten. They have told me that it has been touch and go, but even though he is stabilized they don’t think he will make it another few days. He has been pumped full of antibiotics but nothing seems to be helping, just slowing the spread rate of the virus.

    I haven’t been able to see Mary and Madison much sense this all happened. Having weekends off during the apocalypse is not a luxury we get anymore. But when I do get to spend time with them, I make sure the cherish it.  From working with Madison on her ABC’s or the embrace of Mary’s lips on mine. I make sure to make each moment last as long as they can. Spending hours patrolling and keeping presence around town and being posted up to watch out check points. Between the seven of us soldiers and the ten or so cops, rotation through shifts over our area free time is something of the past. This is what I went to talk to LT Lance about to bring up at his daily meetings with the Mayor and police chief. 

    I caught him while I was out on patrol. He was dressed in his military fatigues and I walked up on him during breakfast. We set up a small DFAC at one of the local bar and grills in our compound. It didn’t serve anything fancy and nobody was required to eat there, but it served food for those who didn’t have anything of their own. He had some bread and what could pass as eggs but I think they were of the powdered variety their color was off. 

    “Sir, could I speak with you about something real quick?” I asked

    “Aren’t you on patrol right now?”

    “Well yeah, but that’s why I said real quick”. I said straight faced.

    “Smart Ass. What’s on your mind?”

    “I’m not trying to sound lazy or nothing but all these patrols are running all of us ragged. This rotating shift schedule that we are all on barely gives us enough time to sleep, none the less spend time with our loved ones. I wanted to see if we are going to be here for a while if we can start training civilians to start watching the gates?” I said

    The LT had the bread folded in half and was just about to take a bite when I finished my question. He placed it down and reach the same hand back up to his face and pinched the top part of his nose with his fingers and looked down.

    “We are soldiers in the United States Army, we will protect these people with everything that we have, and it’s what we all signed up for when we enlisted. If civilians start stepping in the help guard these walls it will diminish our ability to maintain order and without order, we fall”. He said

    “I’m not talking about throwing untrained civilians on the wall and letting them patrol by them self, but rather we recruit others into the army, by having them shadow one of us for a while. It’s definitely not a traditional basic training, but rather we enlist those who want to help out. If we let three to five civilians shadow each of us it would cut down on our duties and it wouldn’t hurt at all to have more trained people around here.  We could even ask several of the vets to help out as well.”.

    He sat back in his chair and took his hand away from his face. I noticed that he had large bags underneath his eyes and looked very stressed. It is a look I haven’t seen on him. Bearing the weight of not having higher command to fall back on can be very demanding.

    “I like that idea, but what makes you think you are qualified to teach anyone how to be a soldier? Do you want to train someone and then have them die to something you taught them?”

    “What if you came up with a curriculum and a test at the end of the training to see if they meet your standards? If we did this, only one of us would have to be either on patrol or on the gate while the other could be supplemented with civilians.” I said

    “You’ve really thought this through, huh?” Lance asked

    “I’ve been talking with Goerner about it a bit and we worked out some details”. I said

    “I’ll talk to Hinesburg and Newsome about it at our meeting” as he is saying this he looks down at his watch “that I’m rapidly growing late for. Shit, I have to go”. He stood up fast knocking his stool to the floor behind him. He grabbed his food and left the makeshift DFAK and headed for the meeting.

    As my shift only just started an hour ago I get back to it and step out to start walking the perimeter. To go around the entire perimeter it only takes about ten minutes. I walk around inspecting our makeshift barricades checking for any signs of weakness or looking for signs of a breach. I walk around to one of main gates that are set up for certain vehicles to come in as I do this one of the food trucks comes in from the west gate. It’s my job to inspect it and radio down to the storage facility that it’s enroot and to clear the area. The food we have within our meager won’t last for long so we have been sending some groups out to the nearby grocery stores to get as much food as possible. 

    There is a grocery store to the north east about a one mile down the road, and another one across the bridge 2 miles north and next to that is a family dollar. Feeding four hundred plus people this food won’t last longer than a few weeks even with rationing.  

    I wave the food truck by after inspecting underneath the trailer and checking inside. Inside the cab was the driver that I didn’t know, Officer O’Connor and another guy in the sleeper. O’Connor was the first one to volunteer to go out on a run as support. 

A lot of people are out and wandering around today. The first couple of days everybody just stayed inside or in their make shift tents, especially after what happened to us setting up the barricades. But with us setting up a sense of security and protection people are starting to get comfortable. Everyone seems to have a job to do but with so many bodies in such a small area, getting stuff done doesn’t take too long. 

    11:00am rolls around and I have just another hour left for my shift to be over. I must have walked around these walls at least thirty times now. It’s hard to stay vigilant and ready at all times when we haven’t seen anything in a while. I’ve heard stories of those in Iraq of soldiers who were gate guards who would do the same job day in and day out. They would get complacent and forget to check someone or let a vehicle through just for it to explode taking out others in the process. I force myself to stay focused and alert. 

    A gun shot rings out. I’m at the southern end of the compound and it sounded like it came from the north end. I look around quickly and then reach for my radio to report the shot. I hear another short, confirming the direction of the round. 

    “Big dog this is 2,2 shots fired near the north end of the compound, requesting QRF team to south end of the Krystal cafe.” I said into my radio.

    For those of you who do not know the QRF is a quick reaction force for situations like these. Those who are off duty but on call for any situation that the LT deems worthy.

    Making my way to the north end of the compound to Krystal, I’m yelling for people to head inside and get to cover. I still have yet to fully understand the situation but these people are my top priority and keeping them safe is my job. I don’t know if we are under attack, or if our walls have been breached or not. 

    “All coms, all coms QRF is a go, meet at rear of building krystal”. Lt came over the radio.

    What seems like an hour, but is really only 4 minutes I see Sgt Goerner, Sgt Harris and Johnson coming from the back of the ally to my location. 

    “What’s going on, heard shots?” Sgt Harris asked

    “Had shots from the north, I havnt heard anything sense. It was muffled a little bit, I think it came from the Wells Fargo from across the street.”

    “Roger that. Johnson on me, Cooper on Goerner. We are going to check it out. Watch your sectors, we will stay to the left, you guys to the right.” Harris said

He just got here and Harris already knows exactly what to do. It just shocks me about how experienced this man really is. You would never know by looking at him but to see him in action is, well, let’s just say I’m glad he’s on our side. 

We all acknowledge his order and stack up to move out. We head around the corner east towards the front gate. Most of the civilians have gone inside like I ordered but I still see a couple moving about. I think to myself that this is something that needs to be brought up with Lt Lance and the Mayor about addressing the people during an emergency the first thing to do is head inside and lock the doors. 

When we reach the gate I slide it open, and we move out. Locking the gate behind us, I signal that we are good to start moving again. The Wells Fargo from this point is only a couple hundred feet in front of us. We keep to the sidewalk and as close to the building as possible. There is a parking lot with a lot of open ground between us and the Bank. 

    Harris has us move and kneel to take position to cover their forward advance.  When they got to the front of the bank they signaled for us to move up. We both get up and to a crouched position and head forward. We move past some shrubbery that is out front that was once a decretive plant. The entire west side of the bank has these bushes in the yard. They still looked groomed but I think about how they will look in another couple of weeks. With man not being able to spare the time for upkeep, Mother Nature will reclaim much of what we have done. 

    “See anything?” Goerner asks

    “No, it’s well-lit inside but I don’t see anything. Cooper, are you sure it was this building.” He asked

    “I didn’t see where the shots were coming from. All I know is they were muffled and it sounded like it was from this direction.” I said

    It looked like Harris was just about to say something when we all heard a sound coming from inside the bank. 

    “Keep close, watch your sectors, we will cover the left side, you guys get the right. Keep calm. Move out!” Harris said.

    As we approached we approached the door, Harris reached out with his left hand and opened it while keeping his rifle at the ready. He entered and immediately covered to the left with Johnson right behind him. Goerner was next and headed to the right and I followed up the rear. 

    Once inside I take notice of my side I do not spare the few seconds it would take to look to the left. It’s not my sector so I don’t focus on it and trust that Harris and Johnson have it covered. The first thing up is an office that has glass walls completely surrounding it. With a desk that doesn’t have a front to it so I can completely see into the room without having to enter it. Papers are everywhere, but other than that, nothing too far out of the ordinary. Just further past, the back wall has four cubicles. 

    As we moved forward in a crouch alongside the flimsy walls, Goerner had point. We came to the first opening and Goerner checked inside. He moved forward and I made sure that nothing came out of the cubicles in front of us. We did the same to the remaining three cubicles with no problems. We got by and covered our sectors until Harris and Johnson caught up. 

    When they finished clearing their section the only thing that was left in the bank was the vault which was cracked open. We stacked up Harris and Johnson on the left and Goerner and I on the right. I covered the entrance while Harris was giving the hand signal to enter. Goerner first, Harris second, Johnson third and I followed last. Inside the vault was dark with no light coming in besides from the vault door. When it opened it illuminated the room to a very grotesque sight. 

    Inside there were three bodies. One laid in the middle of the room and could not be identified. It was in pieces. Bloody ragged bits of clothing were spread all around it. Bits of sinew lay torn out from its legs and part of its right arm. The left one was missing with nothing but a bloody nub poking out from where it connected to the shoulder once. No skin lay on the chest, but just ribs. Entrails were scattered around all over. Around the corpse lay a pull of dried blood spreading out several feet around the body. Bloody feet prints laid scattered throughout the room. The smell was putrid and smelt like rot and death. It assaulted my nostrils and I almost lost my breakfast because I could taste on my tongue. 

    The next body looked fresh. It was a man holding a pistol in his right hand but a large chunk was missing from the forearm. It looks like the man’s windpipe was crushed from a bite. I recognized the man from town. He had white hair, balding at the top and he wore a black T shirt with some emblem on it that I could not make out.

    Lying next to him was what a appeared to be one of the infected. Its hands were covered in dried blood. It was in direct contrast to its skin, most of its face was covered in blood also, some dried and some fresh. It had a hole in its right shoulder and one in the center of its skull directly in the noes. 

    Harris reached down and grabbed the gun from the man and pulled the chamber back looking inside. He then ejected the mag looked at it and placed it back inside, stuffing the gun into his waistband. 

    “Just my luck, a G17 with only 2 bullets missing.” Harris said.

    “What do you think happened” I asked.

    “If I had to guess, this moron thought it would be a good idea to break into the safe, not knowing that one of those things were locked in there. When he got it open the thing inside charged him and that’s when you heard the gun shots.” Harris said

    I looked around taking in the whole seen. My adrenaline is still very high from the events and I feel as if my senses are heightened. It is during this time, that I saw someone staring at me through the window near the exit door.  Johnson was looking in the same direction but before I could let the others know, he started to yell. 

    “Hey, hey you! Come here, it’s not safe out there!”

    Whoever it was, started to run across the road towards post office. Johnson got up and turned towards the rear exit to follow. I ran after him to try and stop him but Johnson was already out the door heading in the same direction. When he was out the door, he started yelling after the person. 

    “Johnson” I yelled but quietly trying to stop my voice from carrying further. We are not that far out from the compound but we haven’t checked these building yet, and do not know what is inside. 

    “Johnson, stop!” I said again. At this point he’s gained some distance on me. I’m not a strong sprinter, more of a long distance guy. I take note that, I should probably work on that in the future. He ran past the post office and the next building to B street and turned left and out of my sight. I turned the corner looking down the street. A green house with a brown roof is at the end of the block but I rule this one out because I know he couldn’t have made it to that one. If he did make it to that building I would have to rethink my life. I’ve sprinted for less than 100ft and can feel my lungs in my throat. I head to the closest hours which looks like a duplex. It has 2 front doors and is a white house and blue roof. 

    I turn that directing and start jogging towards the closest door to me. Moving in the direction of the door I check my M4 to make sure I have it set to burst. I head up the concrete stair way and stop at the door to listen. I force myself to take a breath. I picked up a trick to get my breathing under control by lowering my heart rate. This is a slow process but just by doing it, it helps me concentrate. Inhale for 5 seconds, hold it for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 seconds. Using this technique I listen, I have my M-4 pointed at the low ready. 

    I don’t hear anything out of the ordinary, so looking at the other door I see it close a little. Looking back the way I came, I don’t see Sgt Harris or Sgt Goerner, I contemplate trying to find them for back up, but I decide against this because it could be too late. I don’t take it as a good sign, that Johnson was only out of my sight for a couple of seconds and now I don’t hear or see him. 

    I approach the next door much slower because of the known movement. I stay at the bottom of the concrete stairs and call out for Johnson quietly.

    “Johnson, you in their? Is anyone in there?”

    I listen intently trying to pick out any sounds but still nothing. 

    Shit, Johnson, were the fuck are you. I don’t want to be the hero. I just want us all to make it back alive. I think.

    The door is cracked open and I look inside. I don’t see much, the windows seem to be blocked and its dark inside. I push the door open slowly, letting the light illuminate the room. I keep my muzzle back from the door making sure not to lead with it just in case someone tries to grab it. 

    I’ve never seen anything like this before. There is loose paper everywhere scattered on the ground and hanging like wall paper. Thousands of pieces of paper are just everywhere. In the center of the room, there is a man crouched down on the ground sitting on his heels. The man is naked and his skin is a lighter color, not the pale skin of the infected but close. I call out to him quietly.

    “Sir, are you alright”.

    I wait for a reply but nothing comes. I try again.

    “Sir, are you okay?”

    At this point the smell hit me and I figured out what the papers were stuck up on the wall with. He used his own feces to stick the papers to the wall because it was on the ground next to him. 

    The second time I called out to him he turned his head in my direction and I noticed his eyes. He had no eye lids and he just stared at me, wide eyed. He was also missing his lips. They look to be torn away because it was not even on one side of his face and the skin looked ripped. His mouth hung open because the muscle holding the chin up was gone. It was just a bloody jaw. A deep guttural sound came from the man that shook me to the core. 

    I felt something on my shoulder grab hold of me. The hair on my body stood on end. I wasted so much time focusing on my front that I forgot to check on my rear. I prepared to feel claws dig into my back, or teeth sink into my neck and to be drug away. I turn quickly, away from the grab thinking it’s too late to bring my M-4 up and fire, when I hear Sgt. Goerner.

    “Relax man, Friendly! Friendly!” He said

    I still wanted to shoot him, here I am looking at the monstrosity before me and then to be grabbed from behind with no warning. I’m pretty sure I just shit myself. 

    “What’s that smell?” He asked. 

    “It’s not me”. I say

    Off to the side a bit, I try to get my heart rate under control using my breathing exercise, when again my nostrils are assaulted by the smell. At this point I don’t know if it’s coming from within the building or myself, but I wanted to get far away from this place. 

 Goerner looked inside and then backed up quickly. 

    “What happened to him?”

    “I don’t know. I came this way looking for Johnson and this looked to be the way he went. I looked in here and saw that.”

    “You weren’t able to keep up with him?” he looked back at me with a smirk “We have to get you on a treadmill.”

    I replied back with a long exaggerated “Fuck off. Now instead of giving me shit, what do we do next?”

    “Sgt Harris went up the other side of the road and down the alley looking for Johnson. We are checking this side.” 

    During our little conversation the man inside the house didn’t move an inch. He just sat on his heels staring out the door in our directing. I could see part of him where the door connects to the wall. 

    “Sir, im going to need you to stand up and slowly make your way to the door. Are you infected?”

    We waited and yet again we receive no reply. He just kept staring at us with those eyes that didn’t blink. This guy didn’t act like the infected that we first encountered. They were ravenous beast’s that looked at us like we were the last 55 inch TV on black Friday at Walmart. This guy just sat there, and stared. 

    “I don’t know if this guy is infected, but he’s not right, something major is wrong.” I said

    “St…ay ..in ..lig….ht… St….ay.. in…li….ght.. Stay….in….. Light”. It spoke in a mumbled broken up whisper. It was difficult to make out. 

    “Sir have you seen a soldier pass by here?” Goerner asked.

    I grabbed my weapon tight, feeling like my hand might melt into my grips but I feel like I should be prepared for the worst.

    The man stood up and turned towards us. He was missing his manhood. I couldn’t tell before because of how he was sitting. If I thought the smell was bad, this just didn’t compare. I felt the bile work its way up my stomach and to my throat. I bit back the urge to vomit, not wanting to take my eyes off the man. 

    “Wha….What happened to you?” I asked 

    The man started walking towards us. We both started to back up down the concrete stairs keeping our weapons at the ready. He looked to have red marks all down his arms like he was picking at himself. He was also missing all his fingernails, they looked to either being chewed down to the nub or torn out altogether. 

    “Ki…ll …mm..  Kill..” He raised his left arm up and fell forward to his knees. Blood came out from this man from all over his body. There didn’t seem to be a bit of skin on this man that didn’t have some sort of laceration on it.  

    He fell forward onto his stomach. Looking at the man, you could see the rise and fall of his chest. His breath started to pick up rapidly like he just got done sprinting, and then it just stopped moving altogether. . He fell just outside the door frame with his legs still resting inside.

    “What the fuck just happened?” I asked. 

    Goerner was silently whispering a prayer to the man. I was thinking to myself that I should probably pull my sidearm and put one in the back of the man’s skull just to be safe but we were only to fire if under attack. 

    Goerner was still deep in reciting his prayer when I spoke. “We need to go, I don’t think Winters is in there.”

    Goerner turned and gave me a slight nod and we turned to head down to the next house when we heard Sgt Harris from behind us. 

    “Goerner, Cooper I got Winters. Let’s head back.”

    Heading to Harris, he gave us a questioning look. 

    “I’ll explain later, let’s get back inside the compound first.” Goerner said

    “Roger that”. 

    We beat feat back to the compound and during the entire light jog back Winters held his head down. At the pace we set, we were back within the compound in just a couple minutes. When we got back within the compound Goerner asked for me to brief the Lt on what I saw, and that he would brief Harris. 

    I was the one on shift when I had the QRF deploy, so it was my job to brief the LT. It was 2:30 pm and my shift has been over for a while now and I want more than anything to go and see my family. Just have to get this over with which is more than enough incentive. 

    Heading down main St to where Lance, Hinesburg and Newsom set up for their meeting I run into Spc. Blake walking on the opposite side near the Chinese restaurant. It was his turn to patrol. 

    “Blake. Hey Blake!” a lot of people were out walking on the sidewalks after being inside. I could hear people murmurings about earlier. The all clear was sounded when we got back. I’m assuming Harris told one of the deputies of the events and they issued the all clear.

    “Hey man, what the fuck happened out there”. He asked.

    “Some moron was trying to steal from the bank and got rushed by one of the creatures inside the vault. He didn’t make it”. I replied

    “How did he get the combo to get in?” He questioned.

    “I don’t know. We didn’t find anything on the body but a glock. Keep an eye out. We saw some messed up shit in one of the houses, something right out of a horror movie or something. Go talk to Goerner about it, I have to go brief Lance”. I said

    “No shit, good luck with that. I just came from there and he was pissed off”. He said

    “Ooh great. What’s up his ass.”

    “I only caught part of the conversation but it sounded like he was having an argument with Newsome about training some of the people around here.”

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #8

    “Sir, I’m here to report the contact we had earlier.”

    I managed to get to Captain Lance within just a few minutes. Not really liking were I knew this conversation was eventually going.

    “Yes, enter and relax.” He said

    I entered, not knowing if that was a good sign or not that I was allowed to relax. The captain can be ruthless with the ass chewing’s he can give. 

    “Give me the short version Cooper”. 

    “Yes sir. As you know I heard 2 gun shots coming from outside the compound from the wells fargo. I called up QRF and we proceeded to investigate. Entering wells Fargo we cleared the building and found a recently deceased man, an infected and a corpse that looked fed on for a while. After that Winters and I spotted someone looking at us through the window and Winters sprinted after. I followed trying to stop Winters but he is much faster than I am. I turned the corner and he was gone, so I checked the nearest building where there was a man inside who… well…  He looked to be as brutally mutilated as a man could be and still be cognitive. He was cut up all over his body, missing his eye lids and lips, and when he stood and looked at me, he was missing his genitalia.” I said

    That Cpt Lance looked at me and his expression changed drastically. He had a stern face on when I was briefing him except when I got to the man. Everything about him shifted, he began to look worried. 

    “I you sure of what you saw?” he asked

    “Yes sir”. I said.

    His expression changed back to a stern one. “Okay. Now please tell me, why you took it upon yourself to run after Winters”. 

    “Sir, I saw him running after the person so I followed trying to stop him.”

    “Did you not inform the others?” He asked

    “I did not sir, I assumed they were right behind me until I got to the first house.”

    “But you told me you were going to look inside a house without back up”. He said

    “Yes Sir”.

    “That was really stupid. Why would you do something like that? Instead of waiting for the rest of your Squad you ran off like a moron. So if something were to of happen, we would be looking for two men who could either be together or separate. That is not what was taught to you. You were taught to move as a unit and not an individual unless no other option presented itself. You caused more problems than what needed to be.” He said with a raised voice but still calm.

    “Yes, sir”

    “I don’t want you to make a mistake like this again. That will be all”. He said.

    “Yes, sir” I snapped to attention gave a salute and headed for the door. 

    I was about to ask how the conversation went with the mayor and the police chief, but I thought better of it. I just wanted to get to Mary and Madison. The events of the day really shook me on the inside. No matter how hard I tried I could not get that man out of my head. Every time I thought of it I checked myself to make sure my boys were still there.

    I finally made it to Mary and embraced her with a tight hug. I gave her a kiss and picked Madison up raising her up and down. She loves when I do this. She will start giggling kicking her feat. I do this until I start to feel my arms get tired, do I move to the cot. Madison Is not too pleased that her airplane ride is over.

    “How was work” Mary asked.

    “It was rough one”. I said. 

I give her the PG rating of the events not wanting frighten my daughter. I know she doesn’t understand all the words yet, but I still didn’t want to say it in front of her. Somehow this made me feel like I was protecting her, but how long would that last?

I have to give it to her, even after hearing what happened she still remained collected. I may be a soldier and forced to be strong, but she pulls it off much better then I. You can tell, that she has hardened from her previous encounter with the infected. 

“Is it something new with the disease? Is it something we should worry about?” she asked

“I don’t know, let’s just focus on this moment, right now.” I answered. 

I took Madison for a while so Mary could have some time to herself. She has several friends in the compound that she went to go visit. I just played with Madison and we worked on her ABC’s. Just before this all happened we took her to the doctor to check on her learning. She seemed to play, run around and her motor skills all seemed fine according to the doctor, she is behind in speech and other things children her age should know. So we have been working with her more than normal. 

I was wrapped up in playing with Madison that I didn’t realize that Mary was in the door way looking at us. I looked at her and for the briefest of seconds I saw a mutilated woman standing there, naked bleeding from several cuts around her body. She somehow seemed worse than the man I saw at the house. I took a deep breath and was just about to scream when I closed my eyes and opened them again and she was back to normal. 

I shook my head back and forth trying to figure out what the hell did I just see. I know people can hallucinate if they don’t get a lot of sleep, and with all the patrols we have been doing none of the soldiers are getting enough and with the events of earlier I am extremely stressed out. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, noticing the look of fright on my face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just really tired. I sweat I just saw something”. I said

“Like what?” she asked 

“When you walked in I swear for a second you looked like the man I saw earlier”. I said

“Well thanks I guess. I know I haven’t really taken a good shower in a week.” She said with a smile. “You just need some rest. You will be fine”. 

Its not the first time something like this has happened to me. When I was just getting out of basic training and returned home to my civilian job, it was difficult. Getting up at 4:00AM every day for several months and then coming home to do the night shift wasn’t very fun. Needless to say I also saw things at this time to. 

“Your right.” I set Madison down and ran both hands over my face. “Could you take her for a bit so I could try and get some sleep?” I asked. She nodded her head, grabbed Madison and went outside. I wrapped a shirt around my head and closed my eyes. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.  

I was woken up several hours later by something pushing on my right shoulder. I could hear a faint whisper that sounded like it was coming from a male. I sat up and open my eyes and everything was dark. I went to rub my face wear I felt the shirt I tied there earlier. I remove it looking around and see Goerner standing next to me. I look past him and see Mary and Madison sleep on their own cot.  

“Hey, Lance has something for us to do. It’s time to get up.” He said

I looked at him still blurry eyed, I swung my legs over to the side and start to lace my boots up. 

“Damn im so tired”. I said

“I couldn’t tell. That rag you had over your head was covered in drool”. He said

“I must have been really out.”

    Keeping as quietly as I can I lean over and kiss Mary and Madison both before following Goerner outside. 

    “What time is it?” 

    “It’s about 11:00 PM” he said

    “Eh, what’s he need us for?” I ask

    “He told me to get you and head over to the hospital as soon as possible. Blake is at the gate now waiting for us.” He said

    I yawned and did one of those stretching motions with both hands going up in the air. Goerner then surprised me with a cup of coffee. 

    “Sweet, thank you.” I said

    We started walking to one of the Humvees we kept within the compound. From the position we were at we could see Blake. He already started it for us so it was warm when we got in. Goerner got in the driver’s side seat.

    “I thought lower enlisted are supposed to drive.” I said

    “I still don’t feel comfortable with you driving after last time.” He said

    “But did you die though?” I said chuckling under my breath.  

    I climbed into the Humvee and a few moments later Blake signaled for us to pass through the gate. The hospital wasn’t too far from the compound so it didn’t take us long to get there. 

    We have been keeping the hospitals backup generators fueled with the diesel from the gas station but even with that they have only been running the bar essentials. Just a few lights and certain machines. What I’m trying to say is, you couldn’t even tell people were in the hospital. 

    Parking the Humvee we both grab our M4’s and head for the front door. For security purposes you have to be buzzed into the hospital so there always has to be a receptionist at the front desk. We hit the intercom and let them know we arrived.

    We head for the nearest stairs because the entire first floor has been moved to the 2nd and 3rd for added protection. The receptionist let us know that we were going to meet with Chief Bisbee on the 2nd floor at the end of the hall on the left. 

    As we exited the stairway door there was a waiting room just to the left that we had to walk by. Inside on the couch I saw two people. One of which I believe was Michael. Probably been here ever sense his dad got bit. 

    We went by and met up with Chief Bisbee at his office. We entered and he stood to greet both of us. After we shook hands he asked for us to take a seat. He then exited his office and looked both directions and closed the door in silence. 

    “Alright, I need to know exactly what you saw today down to every last detail. If you can please keep your voices down these walls are thick and I do not want to worry my patients.” He said

    We spent a few minutes going over our story from start to finish. We didn’t edit the story or give him the PG 13 version but let him know down to the very last detail. As we told the story the Chiefs face never changed, it remained stone cold. 

    “Are you sure that’s exactly how you remember it?” he said

    I looked at Goerner and said “I can’t think of anything else, can you?” he shook his head in the negative. 

    Bisbee stood up and motioned for us to do the same. “Please gentlemen if you could follow me, there is something I would like to confirm with you.”  We both stood, I feeling a sense of unease wash over me. 

    We followed Bisbee who led us into the stairwell where he proceeded down past the 1st floor to the basement. It was locked but he unlocked it with a key that he had around his neck. We all went through and he secured the door behind us and locked it again. 

    “Alright, shoot, I’ll say it. What the fucks going on where are we going?” I say a little unprofessional and with some worry in my voice but I’ve seen enough movies to know you never go in the basement of a hospital under any circumstances.

    “I assure you, we are under no danger, I just want to confirm what you saw with something we are looking into.” Bisbee says

    We continue down the hall and with every step my sense of unease doubles. We are heading down a long hallway with only security lights to guide the way that are very dim. Doors are on both sides of the hallway containing extra equipment and other medical supplies. 

    We make it about five doors down and he comes to a stop.

    “This is Robert Williams’s room. We have been keeping a close eye on him sense you brought him in.” he said

    “I was told he has been in a coma and didn’t seem to be doing any better.” I said

    “He is, but under a medically induced coma. When he first came here he started to change. He didn’t act like the first infected that we saw here. We ran his blood and compared it to the others and noticed his blood was fighting off the infection.”

    “Does that mean he’s immune”. Goerner asked

    “No, his body just reacted differently to the infection. We believe it is due to his white blood cell count which is higher than the average adult male which allowed him to fight the disease but it wasn’t enough. We kept him strapped down for the first day and when there were no signs of the disease we undid the straps but still kept a close eye on him. He never became aggressive, but started showing strange symptoms. He had a sensitivity to light, hearing loss and no control over his bowel movements. He also started talking incoherently with nothing making sense and shortly after that he started mutilating himself. We were able to subdue him but not after he caused significant harm to himself. We were able to stabilize him and keep him alive, but for his own good we have kept him in a medicated coma. I would like you to look at Robert and tell me if this is similar to what you saw.” 

    I was just about to ask more questions be he opened the door and stepped in. I followed suit with Goerner right behind me. Looking at Robert my mind was flooded with images of the man in the house.

    “He looks very similar, maybe a bit more pale but his injuries are not as bad. What does this mean?” Goerner said

    “If there are others like Robert out there, and we could find them before they become infected we might be able to create a vaccine.” He said

    “That’s great news” I said. 

    Bisbee checked several instruments in the room and marked a couple different clip boards hanging on the edge of the bed before we exited. Heading upstairs we kept silent about everything that we learned. We made it back to the office, I closed the door behind us after checking down both sides of the hall way.  

    We discussed about what to do next. Bisbee had several ideas about getting a blood sample from everyone at the compound and possibly going on rescue missions to look for more survivors. Other things came up but for the most part it was out of our hands. We would have to let the captain know, and then we would find out.    

    I checked my watch and it was 1:37 AM, shaking my head I have an internal dialog with myself about how I could be asleep right now, at home, in my own bed if it wasn’t for these things. I think how much the world has changed in such a short period of time and what my purpose is now. 

    I brought up the time, saying that it was late and we should get back soon. Bisbee and Goerner both agreed. We bid our good byes and headed for the exit. 

    Downstairs near the reception desk we noticed that the lady who let us in was nowhere as well as the police officer who was here. Goerner looked at me.

    “Check the front door, make sure its secure.” He said

    I immediately pulled my weapon from my shoulder and kept it at the low ready. I crouch walked to the front and checked the door. It was locked, and no sign of a break in. I looked to Goerner and gave him the signal that everything was good. He was keeping an eye down the hall. He waved for me to come back and put 1 finger to his lips. 

    “Do you hear that?” he said.

    “No, my hearing is trash, what is it?” I asked

    “I can’t tell, sounds like breathing. Coming from down there. Let’s check it out.” He said

    I nod and we both head in the direction. I can’t hear anything so Goerner leads and I take up the rear. He starts moving slowly down the hall in the direction I assume he hears the sound. 

    A muffled scream comes from one of the rooms behind a door that is slightly ajar. We both looked at each other, there was no mistaking that sound. Looked like the officer and the receptionist have been spending a lot of time together these past few nights and have been relieving some stress in the comfort of one another. 

    “Should we say something?” I ask

    “I’m not.” He said

    “Hey, I know you guys are busy and everything but could one of you come buzz us out”. I said

    Everything went silent for a few seconds and then we started to hear giggling coming from the pair, followed by the rustling of clothing being put back on and zipped up. They both came out with their heads down, knowing they have been caught and not wanting to make eye contact. 

    “Sorry about that, let me get the door for you.” The officer said. 

    I made not to check his name tag just in case. His name was Miller and he was a heavy man, couldn’t have been much older than his mid-thirties. He looked like your stereotypical, big belly, high and tight haircut. 

    He walked past us to the door bringing an idea card up to the pad which then flash green for a second and a click proceeded that. He moved his hand out and held the door open. Something reached out quickly and grabbed his hand yanking his entire body outside. It happened so fast that Miller had no time to react. He was outside with a pistol pressed up underneath his chin.

    We both raise our weapons up at the target shouldering them and switching to semi and started shouting commands.

    “Let him go!” I Yelled

    The man kept directly behind Miller, so getting a shot off would be damn near impossible and I don’t think I’m that good of a shot, I’m more likely to hit Miller because of all his bulk. Several other people came out from the shadows, each holding a weapon of their own. The one on the left looked to have a shotgun in a blue flannel long sleeve and the one on the right had a hunting rifle with a camo shirt.

    “Why are you doing this?” Goerner yelled.

    “Why does anyone do anything?” the man with the shot gun asked. I looked at him when he said this and it dawned on me who he was. It was Brett Garrison from the town hall meeting a week ago. “It is God who guides us down this path. He is a vengeful god who is sick of the injustices of man who brought the dead back to reclaim what is his.” He said

    “Your god wanted you to attack the hospital?” I said, trying to stall for more time, but I don’t know what for.

    “Not attack but merely a mission to keep our own alive, for in the coming days god will need his flock healthy for war. Do not stand in the way of god’s divine plan foretold in revelations” Garrison said

    “Your view of god is clouded by the actions of man. God did not cause this. He is loving and would want man to band together in this hour of need to preserve his greatest creation. Us.” Goerner said.

    Camo boy looked to be a younger man. He looked at Goerner after he spoke with worry in his eye that maybe he made the wrong decision. He then looked back to Garrison.

    “This man tells lies. Does anything not happen according to gods plan, does he not see all, control all, and is he not all powerful. This is all according to gods plan. He speaks to me, I hear the word, and I know the truth. Now place your weapons on the ground and let us take what we need.” Garrison said

    This seemed to motivate and reassure camo boy who then raised his rifle a little higher. “We have one of yours, if you do not want to see him dead place your weapons on the ground”. The person holding Miller said. 

    “What you say makes sense to me. I’ve believed in god my entire life and this has to be a part of god’s plan what else could it be.” Goerner said. 

    I looked at him astounded at what he just said. I’m confused, they haven’t even talked that much, how could Garrison change Goerner’s mind so fast. He turned and looked at me and said.

    “Come bother, it’s just like when we were in basic training and you went to church service with me, you can learn the word. Trust me.”

    And then it dawned on me. It was all a charade to put Garrison at a false sense of at ease. When we went to church service, I only went to get extra food and he knew that. He knows I’ve never been a believer. Maybe it was a shitty thing to do at the time, but it beat staying at the barracks and getting stuck doing a few hundred pushups and sprints because some Joe thought it would be a good idea to sleep under his rack. 

    “Your right. I can see the light.” I said it then immediately regretted it thinking it was too corny. Goerner furrowed his nose just a bit so I could see it. My eyes got a little wide, thinking that I just blew it.

    “Brothers, I am so glad you see the way, but”. And there it was, the but that signified that I gave it away “could I have you please place your weapons on the ground, to prove your worthiness?” 

    I looked to Goerner and he shook his head in compliance. I felt really uneasy about this, I don’t want to give my gun up to nobody. 

    “Please stop, let me go. Please don’t kill me!” Miller pleaded with the man holding the gun to his chin. 

    His pleas went unanswered. Goerner and I both placed our weapons on the ground slowly we stood back up with our hands raised. 

    “No need for that brothers, be at ease. If you help us take what we need you can come back with us and live in gods favor”. When Garrison said that camo boy relaxed his grip on his rifle. 

    They started moving forward towards the door. Garrison came up and put a hand on Goerner’s right shoulder and said “Amen” Goerner repeated it. He then turned towards me to repeat the process.  Goerner motioned for me to step back behind the wall. I did so and as soon as I did, Goerner pulled his knife from his vest and placed it underneath Garrison’s neck mimicking the same as the man who had Miller. 

    The camo boy raised his rifle again, but was not fast enough. He held it up very much like we did in the beginning.  

    “Looks like things have changed, now please if you would so kindly release Miller there, we can talk this through with no blood shed.” Goerner said 

    They both looked at each other unsure of what to do now. Garrison started screaming out orders. “Shoot them, Shoot them now!” They didn’t follow his order. Goerner pressed the knife a little harder into his neck to the point a little trickle of blood started flowing. This changed Garrison’s demeanor real quick. He started screaming in a panic, tears and snot started pouring. His confidence he had so shortly ago was no were in sight. 

    The one holding Miller looked to the other then then released him. More screams erupted from Garrison. “No, No you fools!” Garrison pushed back against Goerner which shoved him into the wall loosening his grip. He turned into Goerner reaching into his pocket and dug out his own knife, shoving it into Goerner’s chest all the way to the hilt. I could hear the air escape his lungs. “Goerner NO!” I yell as a war cry. I ran to him as Garrison let go I caught him and set him to the ground. 

    Garrison took this time to run past the two with weapons. “Kill them now, protect me!” he screamed. I rolled down quickly grabbing my weapon and shoot in Garrisons direction. Camo boy took a shot, but it was high and to the right hitting the wall behind me. I adjust my fire to the immediate threat. I pull the trigger sending a round into camo boys left calf dropping him to his knees. The man screamed out in pain but was still trying to rack a new round but with his leg low bleeding it was making it very difficult. 

    Another shot rang out from the man who had Miller. He was wearing a thick, brown Carhartt jacket.  He was pulling the trigger as fast as he could. One round went flying past my head and I swear I could feel the heat off it. Another bullet pierced my left shoulder. I felt shot jerking me to that side a little bit but enough to throw my round off to the left and I missed. 

I pulled the trigger again on the camo boy who was just about to send another round my way. I caught him in the upper right portion of his chest. He fell forward thriving in pain.  

I felt an unbearable pain in my left shoulder as hot sticky blood started to run freely from it. The other one with the pistols rack stuck open showing he was out of ammo. He started to reach for his own knife when I ran up on him. I tackled him to the ground and swung back to hit him.

“Where is Garrison going?” I Yelled 

Brown jacket kept thrashing around aggressively trying to get me off of him. He had his blade out and was trying to stab me in my throat but I grabbed his hand. I turned the blade around and started pushing down. He started thrashing around and found some strength I didn’t think he had. He had both hands on mine while I pushed down but he was winning with my shoulder making it extremely difficult for me to push. If I didn’t do something fast I could very well end up losing my life. I took my left hand off the blade and jammed my thumb into his eye. I pushed and squeezed as hard as I could, until I felt his slimy eyeball moving around my thumb the more I explored his orbital socket. He screamed out in pain loosening his grip to try and stop the assault on his eye. I was able to plunge the knife deep into his chest easily going through his jacket. I felt the blade slide between his ribs as it drove into his lungs. I could hear his breathing becoming very rapid and then slowing. I looked into his one good eye as I twisted the blade to the left and to the right, feeling the ribs shift under the stabbing.

I stood up and looked around, trying to see if I could see any more threats in the area or if Garrison was still around. I couldn’t see him anywhere. I turned around and ran back to Goerner. He was laying on the ground with the knife still in his chest. Blood was starting to dampen his cloths and it ran freely from the wound. 

“Miller go get help now!” I cried.

He ran to the door but fumbled with his key card before he was able to enter I yelled “Hurry the fuck up!” 

    “Goerner you’re going to be alright man! Stay with me”. I plead with him but his eyes are distant and flickering. 

    “Damien find Emily please.” His eyes tearing, he is only able to cough it out. “Please Damien, make sure she’s alright.” 

    I could hear a hissing sound coming from the corners of the blade, it’s a faint sound but catches my ear. 

    “Hurry up!” I yell over my shoulder at the hospital “Please!” I beg. “I will man!” I said.

    My vision started to go black. I thought it was due to my tears but I brought my hand up and rubbed my eyes but when I took them away I started to slouch forward. I brought my eyes back to Goerner. “I will”. I said before fading to darkness. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #9

    I can hear people talking around me, but I can’t see them or make out anything of what they are saying although I think they are talking about me. What is this, am I sleeping I think to myself. I try to open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out, and then everything gets dark and I fade to a deep blackness. 

    “Get the gurney quick.” 

    I can feel my body getting lifted up and unto something. My chest gets tight followed by my arms and then legs. 

    Suddenly I’m at home sitting on my recliner watching some cartoon on the TV for my daughter who is too busy running around the living room with her ukulele playing it like it’s a guitar. I look to my right and Mary is sitting on the couch playing around on her phone. 

    “Get the I.V. We need to get some fluids pumping into him.”

    I try to speak to her but nothing comes out. Seems like all I can do is move my head. I hear a ding coming from the kitchen from the stove. She must have been cooking something because she stood up and went into the kitchen immediately. 

    “He’s lost a lot of blood, what’s his blood type? Isn’t that on his dog tags, check those?”

As she gets into the kitchen the dividing wall blocks my view of her and I look back in Madison’s direction but she is nowhere to be found. A black haze fills my view and everything becomes dim. I catch something appear behind the sliding glass door and stare. A figure is just standing there, not moving but looking inside the door. 

    “His heart rate is going down. Hurry up, grab that.”

    The figure is inside the house now, just on the other side of the glass. I blink for a second and it’s gone, then a loud crashing sound comes from inside the kitchen followed by a scream. I blink again and it’s right in front of me standing there not moving. It had blood dripping from its chin unto its chest. It was staring at me, with its glossy white eyes. I look to the right and see my daughter there looking at us both. 

    I try not to blink but it seems forced on my eyes. The pale man is no longer in front of me but standing next to my daughter staring down at her. 

    I try to stand but I can’t move a single inch of my body. I’m being forced into my chair and nothing is working. Opening my mouth trying to find the words that are eluding me, the man reaches a hand out and places it on my daughter. 

    “Damien, wake up.” A soft voice comes from just outside of my thought if that makes sense. 

    Opening my eyes, I am blinded by a bright light. Keeping my eyes open even to a squint seemed to take more out of me then I had to give. 

    “Damien please, I see your eyes trying to open”. 

    “Wh…at happened” I ask

    “Doctor, Derooh he’s awake.” I can hear Mary yell down the hall. 

    I try to sit up but I can’t. I can’t even roll around.     

“What’s going on, why can’t I move?” I ask

    I can hear a man start to speak. 

    “Ah, you’re awake. You gave us quite the scare last night. You lost a lot of blood and we had to give you a transfusion, sorry about the extra precautions, in these times you can never be too safe, ill undo the straps.” Derooh said

    He walked over to some instruments and looked at them and then back to the clipboard that he grabbed at the end of my bed. 

    “What happened?” I ask again, sounding a little impatient. 

    “During the skirmish last night you were shot two times. Once in the shoulder, which was a through and though and for the second you were hit in the lower back right it missed your major organs and also went all the way through.” Derooh said

    “I only remember being hit the one time in the shoulder, how did I get hit in the back?” I ask

    “Sometimes under extreme stress or adrenaline the body can do amazing things. You were struck in the back by the bullet and didn’t even notice. But you passed out due to blood loss.” He said

    “Is Goerner okay I ask?” 

    I can see Mary look to the doctor and then back to me. I can see that her eyes were starting to swell up with tears. That told me everything I needed to hear. 

    “I’m sorry to inform you but Mr. Goerner passed away last night. He was stabbed in the lung and it collapsed. We didn’t have sufficient equipment, nor would it have mattered. I’m sorry for your loss.” Derooh said

    “Damnit! Damnit!” I yell. “Why couldn’t you do anything? He was here, right outside the door.” I can feel my hands tighten into fists I wanted to fight, but didn’t know who or what I wanted to do.

    Mary grabbed my hand in hers and looked at me with tear-filled eyes. I looked at her and I could feel my anger dissipating as my eyes started to tear up as well. She’s always been my anchor, the person who has kept me sane through the last few years. From constantly struggling with bills, being a good parent, work and all other sorts of things. I could never ask for anyone better and again with just a look, she is able to pull me out of my anger induced rage and get me to see that acting like this is not helping the situation. 

    “I’ll leave you too alone, Captain Lance wanted me to inform him when you woke. Again I am sorry for your loss.” Derooh said and then turned to head out the door.

    “Thank you”. I said to his back.

    I wait for the doctor to close the door behind him before looking at Mary again. 

    “I just can’t believe he’s gone, everything happened so fast that there wasn’t anything I could do.” I said

    She met my gaze and then looked down at our hands and stared for a moment returning back to my eyes. 

“Remember what you told me about keeping Madison safe and myself. I did what I had to and so did you. You stopped those men from getting into the hospital and you saved that cop. You did good and helped a lot of people.” She said, still pushing back some tears. 

“Thank you for being here. You know I love you right?” I ask 

“I love you too.” She said back

We stay locked in each other’s eyes for a long moment, I leaned forward to give her a kiss but I felt a searing pain in my lower back from where I was shot. The pain was so sever I started to cough right in Mary’s face. 

“Gross.” She pulled back with a disgusted look. “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine. Their goes that moment.” I say in-between coughing. After a few moments the coughing stops and she leans in to give me a kiss. We both still have tears running and I can feel hers on my face as I’m sure she can feel mine but we don’t care. Our kiss is passionate and long and I feel as if it might not ever end, and I’m okay with that. A few seconds guy by with our lips locked and she pulls away. 

“I’ll go see if we can get you some more medicine”. She said and turned to walk out. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #10

I was stuck up in the hospital for an entire week. I was up and moving around the next day with crutches but that didn’t last long. It hurt but I didn’t show it or at least I don’t think I showed it. Every day I walked a little bit further trying to regain my strength, trying to prove to the doctor that I could be released. 

    I was able to make it to Goerner’s funeral. The cemetery was too far away so we set up several stacked rows of logs. We placed his body on them and several people stood up to give words of the time they spent with him. I didn’t say anything, I wanted to but could not bring myself to. I only had one thing on my mind, and that was to find Garrison, and gut him.     

The captain would let me return to duty yet, but I was allowed to walk around with them during their patrols. I tried to get out and about with them at least two hours a day to do what I can, if that just be someone to talk to. The only time I’m not laying around was the time I spent out with the others walking.

It was another week before I started to feel better. That entire two weeks I was in recovery there was no sign of Garrison or his followers but we have been seeing more of the infected. Some people around the compound have been calling them paler’s and the name is starting to spread. Most sighting are at night with them being more active and a couple sighting have been during the day. 

The Captain, Mayor and police chief are holding a meeting tonight to discuss several things around the compound. Everyone is to meet outside in the parking lot. It is set to take place at 3:00pm and doesn’t have and end time. 

I’m out walking with Spc Blake during his security check while we wait for the meeting to kick off. 

“Why do you think the paler’s are showing up all of a sudden?” Blake asks

We are near the front of the compound near the entrance turning to head down the west wall. 

I shrug “It could be a lot of things, but I’m not an expert.”

“No shit. What do you think?” He said 

“If I had to guess, I think they are coming from some of the surrounding houses outside the compound. I think the people who decided not to stay are getting turned.” I answered

“No fucking way. People who live out there are armed to the teeth. Most of them are farmers, and ranchers always dealing with coyotes and wolfs.” He said

“I don’t know man. It just seems they would be the most vulnerable. The palers could be coming from Lewiston.” I said.

“Why are we calling them palers and not zombies? It makes no sense to me.” He said

“Maybe Palers is just easier to hear. I don’t know. I’d rather call them zombies but they aren’t exactly dead though or reanimated, so I don’t think zombie fits.” I said

“They fucking bite people and then those people are infected and then change. How are they not zombies?” Blake said

“They might be. Can we talk about something else?” I ask

“You getting laid?” Blake asked

“Holy shit man, that’s where you go?”

“Yeah.” He said with a smirk.

“No. We can’t get any time to ourselves with Madison and where would we? Plus I’m still healing, if I tried to do anything id be in too much pain. You?”

“Give me shit for asking you, but then you ask me?”

    “Yeah.” I said.

    “All the single women around here are looking for someone to keep them safe, I am more than willing to oblige their needs. You need to get over the privacy shit, you might not know when it will be your time.” He said

    “I bet.” Changing the subject I say “Let’s head over to the parking lot to see if they need help setting anything up.” 

    It’s about an hour before the meeting when we finally get there. Several people are getting in place now so they can have a better view. With no television a lot of people have been coming to these meetings way more than they would have a few weeks ago. 

    The hour goes by and it looks like all that could show up did. Out of the 400 who live in the compound I would say at least eighty percent showed up.  The Mayor, Captain and Chief all made it but went to the roof of the building to be able to address the crowd. Mayor Hinesburg was up first

    “Thank you all for coming. I would like participation from the crowd with the discussions that will be held tonight. We have lots of decisions that must be made today. Some decisions will not be popular but I assure it they are all necessary for our survival Newsom would you come up here please.”

    The mayor turned to Newsom and wave him over. Newsom stood wearing his best uniform that he clearly would wear during an interview with the press. 

    “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I hope it wasn’t too difficult for you to attend this meeting. I’ll get to the point for the first topic. I’ll be blunt with you all we don’t believe help is coming”. This got a lot of people in the crowd to gasp and look around to one another. “Let me rephrase, we don’t think help is coming anytime soon. We need to become more self-sufficient. Our runs to the grocery store and other local places in town won’t be enough and it won’t last forever. We need those who know how to trap, hunt, farm and raise live stock to do their thing. If we don’t start getting food stored up for the winter, we will starve to death. We need volunteers for these jobs. If you are interested please come forth after the meeting.” 

    A person in the crowd that sounded like it was coming from the rear yelled out a question. “I thought we were voting.” 

    “Not on this subject. This is not up for debate, these are things we have to do, or we will not survive. If we don’t get a sufficient amount stored up for winter, we will starve. I don’t know if you guys are very familiar with the Donnar Party but I am. I’m not saying things will end up with us converting to cannibalism but it won’t be pretty.” He said this not trying to be funny but in complete honesty. 

    “Next up would be on the topic of security. With the attack at the hospital and the recent sightings of the infected outside our walls, we would like to start putting people on the walls for added security. With our compound and our population size we should have at least forty people for this duty. Ten people would take the day shift from 6:30Am to 6:30Pm and then swap out with the other team and so on and so forth.” Newsom said

    “Do you expect us to do this all for free!” one of the people upfront yelled.

    “I expect you to do it if you want to live because if we don’t, we stand a very good chance of being overtaken at any time by either the Palers or the other group that attacked the hospital without a decent fighting force.” 

    “Were not soldiers, we shouldn’t have to fight.” A man in a light green jacket next to me yelled.

    “I don’t expect all of you to help, or stand up and fight when the time arises but if you are not willing to band together to survive, by all means the gate is over there.” Newsome looked at the gate that leads out of the compound and then points to it. A lot of people in the crowd got quiet. “If you think you can live out their way we used to then by all means go for it”. 

    The mayor stood up and walked over to place a hand on the shoulder of the police chief. The Newsom looked to him and the mayor whispered in his ear. 

    “It has come to my attention the Chief Bisbee from the hospital has arrived. Chief Bisbee could you take the stage?” Newsome asked. 

    Bisbee walked up and shook Newsome’s hand. Newsome then walked back and took a seat next to the mayor and the started talking quietly. This whole time Captain Lance has been sitting their silently listening and watching the crowd. 

    “Good Afternoon everyone. I apologize for being tardy. I was going over some research. For those of you who do not know we have come across some findings that might lead to a vaccine.”

    Everyone in the crowd’s faces shifted from one of dread after listening to Newsome to a more cheerful one. 

    “We have discovered that some people have a natural immunity to this advanced case of rabies. Unlike traditional rabies which is 100% fatal unless caught early enough this version infects the host at a much faster rate. Traditional rabies take as little as 10 days now only takes hours. We believe that by speeding up the infection process it also made it weaker against certain individuals. We have found a common trait amongst those who have the partial immunity and would like a sample of everyone’s blood to help prove this theory. If we are successful a vaccine is not far off. But even if everyone here gives a sample I don’t believe that it will be enough. We will not force anyone to donate blood. You will be allowed to choose whether or not you give. The percentages are very low that anyone is immune.” The Chief Bisbee said. 

    Captain Lance stood up and walked to the right of Bisbee. 

“We will need to conduct special missions to look for survivors. On these missions we will also scavenge for additional items that we may need here. My soldiers and I are willing to go out, we are the best prepared to handle what’s out there, but this will leave the base with less protection. Hence the need for trained guards but it is our duty as soldiers to fight back against terrorists, Religious radicals or even these palers. We will stand against these creatures that want us dead, and take the fight to them!”

A lot of people in the crowd started cheering. The captain was able to calm the crowd and even instill some moral into the compounds residents. It’s crazy how fast a crowd can go from being uneasy to just the mention of palers being in the same category of terrorists brought these people together. 

The meeting went on for a couple more hours with them talking about changes that need to happen. So many different topics were brought up from reinforcing the walls, expanding the compound, reconstructing new living arrangements and a duties list for all residents in the compound. 

It seems like they is taking over a leadership role similar to the way things were before. Mayor Hinesburg seems to be the face of the people who they could go to talk to about things around the community. Chief Bisbee is in charge of the hospital and research into the infected. Police Chief Newsome is in charge of security around the compound and training of new guards. Captain Lance was in charge of the soldiers, scavenging for goods and looking for more survivors. 

At the end of the meeting, people were lining up in eight lines behind the police. They took a census of those in the compound of names, and useful skills similar to what Captain lance had Blake do at the armory but on a much larger scale. This time the list should actually go to good use. The bonus is though that everyone who was at the armory that day did not have to stand in line.

This took several hours but we easily met our quota of forty to the security guard, of course they will take a little bit to get trained up but this quadruples our protection of the compound. 

Captain Lance also requested ten others to enlist in our mission. We were looking for prior service members but the first two to sign up were Michael and Jeremy. Revenge can be a hell of a motivator and these two where a prime example of that. After that several others came forth to enlist.  

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #11

    After the meeting Captain Lance wanted a meet and greet with those we would be fighting alongside with. Most of them varied a lot. We have three prior service members, two Marines and one Airforce, two others who used to be in law enforcement and three people who had no experience in combat, but swore they were avid hunters.

    Our pleasantries were stopped by Cpt Lance. “There will be more time for that later, Specialist Cooper how much longer do you have until you are mission capable?” 

    “Doctor Derooh says I should be another two weeks, but I feel ready now sir.” I let loose before thinking about it. I should have stayed quiet because I know what he will say next. 

    “No. If you go out to early you could be a liability to yourself and others. I need you at top condition. Specialist Blake, come here”. 

    Blake looks around for just a second with confusion on his face. He quickly got over and walked up to Lance.

    “Yes sir.”

    “I am officially promoting you two the rank of Sergeant. You have both been proving your self’s regularly under this crisis and believe you are both ready.” Cpt Lance said.

    We both sound off with a “Yes sir, thank you sir”. As he gives us our new rank. 

    “Sergeant Harris will you come here also”.  Harris stepped up and stood next to Lance.  “Sergeant, I am officially promoting you to Staff Sergeant.”  

    “Thank you sir.”  He reached out a hand shook the captains hand. “Won’t let ya down.”

    “Cooper this is why I want you at your top. We are going to breaking into three different teams for our missions. Two teams will go out at a time with one team in reserve here at the compound. SSgt Harris will lead one, Sgt Blake will lead the other and Sgt Cooper you will lead the last, with your team being reserve for the time being. SSgt Harris please separate the teams based on equal experience per team.” Captain Lance said. 

    It didn’t take long for Harris to put us into teams. He asked each one of them their experiences and teamed us up accordingly.  Harris was team one, Blake team two and myself was team three. 

    I ended up with Winters, Michael, Jeramiah the hunter and Caroline one of the marines. Caroline had around the same experience as myself, she had four years in the reserves with no deployments, and she had a small frame but looked extremely fit which means she has kept up on her physical training. Her hair was black with a military high and tight. 

    I spent some time with my new team before Lance started speaking again. 

    “We will have our first run in two days at 0400 hours. Team leads please get with your team’s and go over the basics with them and what to expect. We don’t have a hell of a lot of time so we will have a lot of hands on learning. Ill brief the destination the day of because that has not been decided yet.” 

    “Roger sir”. We replied. 

    It was around 7:30 Pm now. I let the team know that I was heading back to our makeshift barracks for some sleep. I let the group know that I wanted to meet back up here at 0800 so we can go over some things. 

    It didn’t take me long to get back to my sleeping quarters where I found Mary and Madison hanging out in one of the open areas of the building. Madison had small ukulele she was running around with. 

    “It looks like the one she had at home, where did you get that?” I ask

    “One of the men had it outside his tent and Madison ran over and grabbed it. After I told him about the one she used to play with at home and how we left it, he just gave it to her”. She said

    “That was nice of him.” I look down at Madison “At least she looks happy”. I wonder to myself how much longer she will be able to hold onto what makes her a child. In this new world we will all have to grow up fast and our children’s childhoods won’t be what they used to be. No more cartoons, TV, Video games, or school, every day will be a struggle to survive in this new world of ours.  

    “Damien” Mary says which breaks me out of thought. 

    “Sorry, what’s up?” I ask 

    “How are you doing?” 

    “I’m doing fine, the captain just promoted me to sergeant and I have my own team now”. I say

    She got a large smile on her face and said “Hey, that’s awesome. Isn’t that what you wanted?” 

    “Yeah, it’s cool, I’m just a little worried. I’ve never led anyone before”. 

    “You will do fine. I know it, your caring and always know what to do.” There she goes again keeping me grounded when I start to worry. “But that’s not what I meant. How are you doing with, you know. I just want you to know whenever you want to talk about it, I’m here.”

    I looked down and said in a whisper “I’m fine, but I’ll be much better when I get the chance to kill that fat bastard Garrison”. 

    She stayed quiet for several moments but spoke softly. “You will get your chance and I hope he suffers”. 

    I look up quickly and meet her eyes. I didn’t expect to hear that at all. “I’m glad you’re not trying to stop me.” 

    “Dustin Goerner has been my friend longer than yours, I went to school with him. I want Garrison to pay as much as you do. But don’t let that consume you okay.” She said

    “I love you.” I say and pull her in close for a hug, the mood suddenly starting to lighten up. “What do you say about find a place to relieve some stress” I said

    “How do you expect to do that? We can’t just go outside, someone has to watch Madison.”

    “I can set up the tent on the roof, and it’s a two bedroom tent, so we can put Madison on the other side”. 

    “You want us to put our kid on the roof! What’s wrong with you?”

    “I was just joking” I said with a laugh, but I was lying.

    Madison was jamming out playing her ukulele singing a song only she was able to understand.  I pick her up and give her a kiss and set her back down. She looked a little peeved that I interrupted her rock show but she got right back into.   

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #12

    The two days go by without much incident, the new guard seem to be doing a good job. All ten are posted up at different sections of the wall and the all have short wave civilian model radios that they are using to keep in contact with one another. While they are guarding the wall two police officers are roaming the streets ready to give reinforcement to anyone who made need it. 

    It’s a cool morning with the sun just coming over the horizon. Harris and Blake’s teams are getting ready to depart the compound to search for survivors.  They decided on taking three different vehicles. One Humvee to show military presence attached with the 50 Cal, one full size Chevy pickup and one minivan. Blake rode with two of his team in the Humvee with Private Johnson on the 50. Harris was in the truck with Jeremy and the rest were in the van. 

    The overall mission was to perform recon looking for survivors and to head to the grocery store to grab as many supplies as they can. 

    “Stay safe and radio checks every half hour.” Lance tells the teams and with that they were out the gate and heading down the road. Everything seemed good for their mission, the weather was sunny, it wasn’t too cold and all the pre-checks of equipment check out. 

    The destination was the town I lived in. Kamiah was only 24 miles away and they were to check in when they got there. We have seen several survivors taking the main highway going in that direction and they never came back, so it is safe to assume that the roads are clear of debris and obstacles in the direction. Kamiah’s population is around 1,200 so they shouldn’t see too many. 

    My group was set up to be able to deploy in a matter of minutes but we also were the ones communicating with Teams one and two with Lance close by. Only about five minutes after they crossed the bridge and turned left, we got our first radio call.

“Three this is one, over”.

It sounded like Harris put Prescott on the radio which makes sense because of his prior knowledge using military radios in the Air force. 

I took the radio on my team, not much else I can do besides this anyway and the rest need to be able to roll out at a moment’s notice. 

“One, this is three go with your traffic, over”.

‘Three, this is one, there is one downed vehicle heading southbound on right side on its top. Red pickup. Over

”One, this is three, Roger that, it’s been marked, proceed with caution only cursory checks. Over”. 

“Three, this is one. Copy that, Out”. 

We received three more calls like that. They were instructed to provide feedback on the drive to Kamiah on the highway, to paint a picture what it looked like. More downed vehicles meant a higher population of palers in the area, or at least that’s the idea.

They called in at 0745Am to report that both teams have made it to the destination. The goal was to check for survivors by performing recon. With the way things were and the palers staying indoors during the day, each house could be a ticking time bomb so they were instructed not to sweep the houses. The working theory is that palers only came out during the day if they felt threatened, and that moving vehicles didn’t seem to bother them if they were indoors. The groups doing the runs to the grocery store near the compound and with what we saw at the barricade seems to support it. 

    “Three this is one, 4 civilians located, not infected, appear in rough shape. One adult male, one adult female and two kids, over”     

    “One this is three, roger that you are cleared, load them up. Out”

    The radio crackled to life as soon as I let go of the button to end my transmission. 

    “Palers in the rear moving in our direction over” 

    I stayed off the radio to not interfere with their radio traffic. The last thing we need is to walk all over the other teams who need the airways clear. 

    “Take them out over.”

    Several long moments go by before we hear the all clear and they were going to continue the mission. I can’t stand not being out there. I know there is more I can do with them, then there is I can do here. But I keep telling me self that I’ll be able to go on the next mission and be there with them. 

    They call in every half hour on the mark with a radio check. Five hours have passed with six more survivors’ civilians being found, two of which had minor injuries but did not need immediate care. With the hours of daylight being limited Captain Lance told the groups to head to the grocery store and grab as many supplies as they can fit into the truck. 

    Harry the driver of the van and former cop requested and received permission for the van head back to the compound because they were almost to capacity. They were to head immediately to the hospital to take care of the injured and undergo a screening to check for the infection. Leaving the Humvee and the truck behind to load up supplies. 

The rest I sat down with Blake when they got back and tried to record it into my journal. I highly edited down because I would eventually get sick of writing the word fuck every other word.

When the bus pulled out of the parking lot we parked our rigs over by the retaining wall that was at the end of the lot. I kept Johnson on the 50cal to watch the entrance of the grocery store. The building looked to be dark the further you looked in. The glass doors are shattered and there is glass all around scattered.  

    Several ideas were thrown around but to clear the entire building on foot would take a long time. 

    “Any ideas?”

    “Let’s get near the front door and make a lot of noise, shoot anything that comes out that looks infected.” Harris said

    “What the fuck happened to being all silent and shit?” Blake said with a questing look. 

    “Maybe it’s time we change the way we do things.” Harris replied back as serious as ever.

    “Fuck it, I’m game. Who’s going to be the genie pig?” Blake asks

    “Well let’s compare, my last time at the range I scored expert. 40/40 and you got marksmen with 23/40 and you have the faster run time.”

    “Fuck you... Fine I’ll do it, just don’t shoot my ass though!”

    “You army guys are fucking crazy!” Prescott said. 

    “Well if you didn’t sit in a chair all day, in an air conditioned office and joined us on the ground you might understand.” Harris said with a smirk

    Doyle the former marine spoke up. “Shit, neither of you guys have anything on the marines”. 

    “When did you stop eating the crayons I saw you munching on to be able to chime in?” Harris said with a laugh. 

    “Guys, I don’t know about you, but can we stop with what branch has the biggest dick and get this done.” Mason said. He was one of the hunters who signed up for these missions. 

    I walked up to the door looking inside for any threats but all I see is darkness past what the sun touched. I could tell something was not right with the smell emanating out from the door.  

    “We are here to help. Is there anyone inside?” Blake yells. 

    Listening intently I heard jack shit besides the bird’s overhead. I was just about to yell again when I heard something come from inside the store.  It was quiet but it sounded like several somethings were walking around. 

    “Is it just you, all you infected Assholes. I’m out here. Come, get a nibble.” Blake yells again. 

    A loud scream came from inside the store followed by running footsteps. 

    “Oh shit.” Blake said before started to run. His left foot slipped on some of the glass and he lost his footing falling in direction he was trying to run. He came down hard on his left side but recovered quickly getting to his feet and running again. I ran the side of the building. 

    Gun fire erupted from Harris and the others, but I didn’t hear the 50.cal. I ran to make sure I was clear of the fire and turned around taking a knee pulling up the M4 to get in on the fun. They just kept pouring out of the building. A couple veered off in my direction and made it pretty close before I put them down. The two that I put down, were both female, maybe around their late twenties, and both had yoga pants on. This was not a time I was happy to see that. When the firing stopped, there were at least fourteen bodies on the ground with blood pooling around each one. 

    “Ceasefire!” Blake yelled.

    Harris and the others walked up with weapons drawn and ready to send some other creature back to hell if it dared show its face. I stood up and joined them at the front door. Harris noticed I saw bleeding and eyed me. 

    “I fell on the fucking glass as I was trying to move back.” Blake said.

    “I know. Scared the shit out of me then, now it’s funny.” Harris said with a slight smirk. 

    I gave him the middle finger and we kept going. The store was quiet. I could have heard a mouse fart from the back of the building. We sat there for several minutes waiting for any sort of sound, but nothing came. 

    “All you fuckers dead!” Blake yelled, startling the others.

    “Warn us before you do that. Holy shit. You almost gave me a heart attack.” Mason snapped breathing heavily, clearly shaken up. 

    “How’s everyone doing on ammo?” Harris asked.

    Everyone checked their magazines and gave a nod. Everyone was good, we had three magazines apiece on our person and I don’t think anyone even went through a full mag during the exchange. 

    When we got inside, we flipped our flash lights to on and proceeded to check the building. We started from the front and worked our way to the back to make sure the building was clear. It would suck if right in the middle of our run we were to be attacked by another group of palers. 

    It didn’t take long for us to search the building. Our plan worked perfectly, no one got hurt besides my slip up, and there were no more palers in the building. 

    We quickly loaded up all the can food we could, not even attempting to open the meat locker. Dairy products were no longer good because the coolers went out weeks ago. We grabbed all the can food and medical supplies we could. We snagged a lot of the camping gear that was way overpriced.  I was able to get a couple fifths of jack and a couple bottles of Jager as well. Yeah, I know it wasn’t on the grocery list, but I haven’t had a good drink in a while and I know a couple hotties who will thank me. 

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Damien Cooper Journal Entry #13

    When the van returned one of the guard teams was sent up to the hospital to provide extra security for the patients and staff. Not fully trusting these people is an SOP that has to be followed. It sounds cruel but anyone might be infected and is too afraid to tell anybody, thinking that if they could just hide it, they could survive. 

    It was around 7:34Pm when the rest of the teams finally arrived. Each one of them went through a quick examination to look for bites but it didn’t last long. They came into the compound and pulled up next to one of the restaurants that had a one of the big walk in freezers. It was to be our main storage facility for food and water when things start running a bit more smoothly. 

    Captain Lance met with Harris to go over everything that happened. This is a common thing for anyone in the military to do after anytime of mission. A quick after action review to make sure nothing was missed or to see if anything could have gone better. 

    “I think next time we go out, it would be a good idea to bring Team 3 with us as well. A total of fifteen palers were in the store that tried to rush us, who knows how many were in the houses around us when we were looking. It would be best to have more fire power.” Harris said.

    “If you think that would be best. I would like for us to scout the town again in another day or so.” Lance said

    “Roger that sir, we will be ready.” 

    Both teams look tired and spent with the exception of SSgt Harris or if he was I wasn’t able to tell. The rest of the team though looks like they could use some sleep. Back before any of this happened, if we need to conduct recon we would just send a drone, but now, going into unknown territory blind is a dangerous thing. Those going always having to maintain an alert sense of awareness after a while takes its toll 

We are still looking good on ammo, one of the benefits of living in rural Idaho, everyone has varying types of ammo and it’s in abundance, but we have in reserves won’t last forever and it never hurts to have more. We only have one box of 50cal. Ammo and it is to be used only in an emergency. 

    I walked up to SSgt Harris to see what my team needs to get done before tomorrow morning. 

    “What would you like my team to prepare for tomorrow, and what vehicle would you want us in?”

    “Well, we hit the store, but I know we can get several trips from there alone and still not get everything. I would like to bring another truck, and maybe another van just in case we find more survivors, we got lucky today but there could be more tomorrow.” 

    “Okay, we will get it done. Anything else?”

    “Well it would be good to be on the same page. We cleared the building by luring the infected outside and then greeting them with led as they came out. It worked out good.” Harris said.

    “That’s good to know, there wasn’t any more inside the building?”

    “Nope. We killed them all when they rushed us. These things are not that bright and we can use that to our advantage.” 

    “Alright that’s good news. It’s like at the barricade then?”  I asked

    “Just like that, with the scream as well. I think it’s a form of communication that they use.” 

    I was just about to ask another question when I looked over at Blake fishing something out of the back of the truck. He was right over the passenger side fender leaning over with his feet hang off the edge. 

    “Damnit, one of the jager’s broke.” 

    This perked my interest and a smile grew on my face. He kicked his legs back down with one bottle in each of his hands, One Jager and one Jack. 

    “Aaayyyyyy” Harris said in his best impersonation of the Fonz from happy days the show. 

    “I’m down, we got enough for the rest of the teams” I ask

    “Shit yeah” Blake said.

    “Alright, put the word out to the teams to meet behind Krystal in thirty minutes. I think I saw an old burn barrel. We will treat it as a team building exercise.” Harris said. 

    “Sweet. I’ll be there, I should let the fiancé know.” I said

    I started walking away when I can hear Blake making the sound of a whip crack behind me. 

    “Got a get your nuts back from her purse?” he yelled.

    “Nah, they are safe in there and she’s good to them.” I reply. This gets a good laugh from Harris, who has already taken a pull off the Jack Daniels. 

    And being that this is my journal, I don’t need to lie. I can’t really remember anything else of the night, so I assume Mary did give me my balls. I woke up squinting my eyes because the sun was relentless, each noise I heard sounded like an atomic bomb was going off, and my mouth was dry as hell. I sat up slowly head still spinning from the night before looking around. I didn’t see anyone around me, and I was still near the burn barrel. My head throbbed as I tried to stand on wobbly legs and it was at this point I noticed my pants sticking to my legs. I got so drunk that I pissed myself. I almost didn’t write that last part but figure I might as well be honest. 

    I look around quickly trying to see if anyone is around me, but it looks like I’m in the clear. Looking around I find nothing to cover my embarrassment, so it looks like I have to do the walk of shame back to the barracks to get a change of clothes.

    I passed countless people on my way to the barracks, all of which either just stared at me, or laughed. The barracks was only about 100 yards from Krystal but In the short time it took to get there, I couldn’t tell you how many people saw me.  

    Mary was the first person I saw at the barracks and she just laughed her ass off. It was the funniest thing in the word to her, she said it served me right for staying out all night partying, but she got me some water and an Advil. 

    “Thank you.” I said and I leaned in to give her a kiss. She pulled away in disgust. “You smell like alcohol and puke, get away from me”. She shrieked

    “I’m already down women, quite hitting me.” I laugh and sit down on the cot taking my boots off so I can change my cloths. 

    Blake is coming down the stairs that leads to the roof and I notice he doesn’t have his shirt on. He looks a little bit worse than me because at least I have both boots on. 

    “What happened to you last night?” I ask

    “I don’t know. I freaking woke up on the roof like this.” He said catching that Blake does have a filter when it comes to kids.

    “I saw Suzan come down earlier.” Mary said with a giggle

    “No…NO!” Blake said shaking his head in the negative “Not her.” 

    Suzan was definitely bigger woman. Back before the apoc when Blake and I would go to the bar, she would always hit on him, and no matter how drunk he got he always turned her down. She was a very heavy set woman in her late forties, which for Blake is a deal breaker. This got a laugh from Mary and I as we both know how adamant he was with her before. 

    “Blake, the thing is, when you came in last night, you were all over her, and you weren’t slurring your words at all. I would say that you were not drunk at all.”  Mary said

    “Eh, have you seen my other shoe, we have a meeting today at noon?” Blake said trying to change the subject. Mary and I just laughed at him. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #14    

    As we were getting ready, an alarm sang out through the compound. 

    “What was that” Mary asked

    “We need to get going. Mary stay in here with Madison. I’ll be back. Somethings happening.” I said

    “Cooper, we need to go. Where is my boot?” Blake said

    “Take my extra pair, hurry up.” I said. 

    It took another minute but he was able to get the boots on fast and put a new shirt on. We went down the stairs and just got outside the front door when we could hear someone talking on a Mega phone. We couldn’t make out what it was. I could see SSgt Harris up the road at the square intersection. We both ran up to him.

    “What the fuck is going on? Blake asked

    “I don’t know yet, but we need to be prepared.  Blake, get your team on the roof of that building over there. Do not be seen. Cooper, get your team behind that building over there to cover my team.” Harris said that as he pointed to the building just before the gate. 

    We both nodded in the affirmative and separated to get our teams. I was looking around for my team when I thought to myself, that this is a shitty time for something to happen. Can’t we have just one day were everything is normal, not a constant struggle for survival.

    I heard a soft voice yelling for me from further down the road. It was difficult to tell in which direction it was coming because people were moving in every direction, some indoors, others were trying to get a better view of what was happening at the gate/ 

    “Cooper.” I hear from the other side of the block.  I ran over to here.

    “Where is the rest of our team.” I ask

    “They are getting ready now, and are heading over to the place we talked about last night.” Caroline said.

    “Caroline, I have no clue were that is. I blacked out, were is that?” I said with a bit of shame.

    “Behind Krystal in the ally. You said if anything were to happen that it would make a great place to meet up for our team.” 

    “Of course, lets meet them their then.” I said.

    We jetted over there in a matter of seconds and my team was their ready and waiting for command. I think to myself that this is a good group I have here. 

    “Listen up. Harris is expecting us to cover him from behind the closest building to the main gate. We are to stay out of sight. No one sho0ts unless we get the signal. Understood?” I ask and I receive nods in the affirmative from each and every one of them.

    We move as a unit motioning for people to get inside and off the streets. We get around to the back of the building and from here we can hear what the man with the mega phone is saying. 

    “This group you have here, some within your walls are ready to follow the word of god. Some used to attend the church with Garrison before your leaders accused him of falsehoods. These demons are a sign of the end times. We only wish to help you seek salvation.” 

It was only one man standing at the outside of the gate. He was a tall man who looks to tower over my height of 6ft. He had a holster with a pistol in it and a rifle slung over his right shoulder with the megaphone in his right hand. The man was wearing a light blue dress shirt on with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, as well as tan pants.

Harris stood in the street yelling to the man. Two of the stations with the guard are watching intently, but you could see the carelessness in each of them. They are aware of what’s happening but will hesitate, most of which are just everyday normal people. They all had regular jobs before this, bankers, grocery store clerks and the pizza guy are not trained for these situations. Harris must have taken this into account when he gave us our positions.

    “Are you the leader of this said group?” Harris asked

    “I am but a loyal servant who has been entrusted to deliver a message. We are all children of the pale men and our leader has spoken with them and we are no longer attacked by the palers. All those within your walls that would like to join us, you are welcome to.” He said

    “You offer sanctuary, but some of your group attacked the hospital, and killed a soldier. You were trying to raid the hospital when we would have opened our doors to you. Your leader is despicable, just like any religious zealot, he’s a terrorist.” Harris said with a little bit louder of a voice. 

    “Shut your mouth! You cannot speak that way of our faith. With us you will do more than survive, you will thrive. On your own this is the best you will ever hope to achieve.” The man yelled at Harris.

    “How about you take your message and go back to your boss and shove it up his ass and I mean real nice and deep like. To the elbow preferably.” Harris said

    “Fine, I’ll be back tomorrow for all who wish to bask in the glory of the light. Those who do not wish to fear the paler’s wrath should come.” He turned and started walking away.

    Harris turned around and waved for Blake’s team to come down. He then turned to my team and walked over.

    “That sounded scripted. I think something else is going on.” Harris said

    “Sounds like they are just a bunch of religious loons to me.” I said 

    Blake showed up just as I was finishing that sentence, with team 2 right on his heels.

    “Blake take Doyle and follow him. I want to know where he is going. These fuckers know where we are, we need to know where they are. Do not be seen, I want the element of surprise just in case.” Harris said

    “Roger. Doyle let go.” Blake said. And with that they were out the gate following the man a few hundred feet behind him. 

I want to protest for my team to go, but I know with my injuries at the moment I would do little but slow them down, which is a constant reminder of why I want to go.  I want to see Garrison and watch the look on his face as his life slips away. 

“Cooper, get your team and make sure our outside perimeter is secure. I don’t want any surprises from these fuckers.” 

“I’m going to inform the heads of what is going on.” Harris said

“Roger. Michael go grab the Humvee, take Jeramiah with you. Winters, get that alarm shut off if you could. It’s killing my hangover.” I say

    My group splits up and each carry out their tasks quickly. It didn’t take Winters long, and I quietly thanked him because when the alarm finally stops, I could feel the headache go from someone hitting me in the head with a hammer to something more of a dull roar.

    Michael pulls in with the Humvee and we load up. A lot of the vehicles have been moved off the road or placed strategically so people would have to travel slowly. The idea was to stop anyone from just running into our walls taking them down. 

    I keep Michael as the driver for no other reason than he enjoys it, I put winters on the 50cal. as a show of force for anyone thinking about trying to attack us and Caroline in the passenger side seat to help Michael out.

    Jeramiah and I walk behind the Humvee for two reasons, we might catch something those in the Humvee miss and so we can check with each of the guys on guard.  We patrolled around the compound eight different times but we didn’t see anything that stood out, we just wanted to make a presence, a show of force if you will. 

    When we finished we went back inside the compound always staying ready for the next alarm. Word got around fast about the man who was here earlier. I could hear people murmuring to one another about another group that doesn’t get attacked by the palers. There is no way to tell if anyone will take him up on his offer. 

    It was several hours later when Blake and Doyle returned back to the compound, they came into the barrack where I was sitting down with Harris talking about what if scenarios about the other group. The children of the pale men. What could have gone so differently with this group that they created a cult with a following? Why did they do what they did? Is there any truth to any of the words he said, especially talking to the palers? I wonder if they mistook those with partial immunity for the palers. 

    “Their four miles north of us at the old high school. They converted the fucking baseball field into a tent city of sorts. They have two fences set up, with bob wire around the top and bottom. I don’t know if they have more somewhere else, but the ball field has about 150 people there.” Blake said.

    “Good work. Did you go the entire way on foot?” Harris asked

    “The bastered walked the entire way, he didn’t even seem concerned that their might be palers around.” Blake said

    “Keep that to us, I don’t want people thinking he was telling the truth. I think they have a way to mask themselves from them. I’m going to go talk to the heads for our next course of action. You guys try and get some sleep. Good work out their Blake.” Harris said as he turned and walked to the door. 

    Blake stayed and we talked for a little while. I let him know of the various things Harris and I talked about while he was gone, that way he could be as prepared as possible. 

    “Do you think any of our people are going to go with that pyscho bastered?” 

    “Harris tends to think so. He said he saw things kind of like this in Iraq. One village leader would go to another and feud, shortly after a fight would ensue with the winning party taking over.” I said

    “Shit, you think they are going to try and attack us?”

    “If your right about their numbers I don’t think it would be in their best interest. We have superior numbers and fire power. We proved that today.” I say

    “Anything can happen. The best idea is to be prepared. I wonder what the heads are going to do.”

    I feel my eyes start to grow heavy. It’s been a while sense I have been able to get good night’s sleep, due to the pain in my back and being on a cot doesn’t help at all. 

    “I’m getting tired, I’m a get going to bed.” I say

    “Alright, you want a shot before I go?” Blake says while pulling out what was left of the bottle of jack. 

    I could feel the bile raise in my throat just thinking about it. It’s a few feet away but I swear I could smell it, and that’s not making it any easier. I can feel my stomach doing flips.

    “No.” I blurt out “How can you drink it after last night.” 

    He just smiled and walked away. I stood up from the chair and walked over to my cot and sat down. Mary and Madison were asleep on theirs. I sit and take off my boots and roll underneath my blanket. 

    Several moments go by when I hear Mary’s cot making noise. I open my eyes and I see her tucking Madison down making sure she was comfortable. Then she moved over to my cot and I can feel my blanket life up. She swung her hips underneath and laid down. I placed an arm underneath her head and pulled her close to my chest.

    “It’s been to long sense we just laid together.” She said

    “Yeah it has.” I reply back. 

    Shortly after that I can feel her start to pull her pants off and after she finishes she starts on mine next. Sensing that she wasn’t just getting comfortable I kiss the back of her neck and for the next three minutes we are in bliss or at least I am. 

    “What was that.” She asked

    “It’s been awhile, you said so yourself”. I retort

    “I would say are you ready for round two, but that wasn’t even a half of round one.” She said

    “Ouch.” I reply and then move in for a kiss to continue what we were doing.

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #15

    The first thing I remember this morning of waking up was self-consciously lacing up my boots. I remember looking around the room looking at all the other soldiers, my friends getting ready for what might come. Back before the apocalypse each one of these soldiers had jobs outside their military career. Blake worked at an IHOP, Winters an EMT and Harris was, well, I actually don’t know what Harris was but the point was a little over a month ago we had regular lives and none of this was happening and today, we all lace up our boots the same way, preparing ourselves to defend and serve these people. 

    The barracks was dimly lit, and with all of us getting ready there was an eerie silence that washed over the entire room. Loading up with our full battle rattle, we were as prepared for the day as we could be. Looking around I could see the sense of unease on Blake’s, Johnsons and winters face that I wore on my own. Stepping outside into the brisk morning with the sun not even cresting the mountains yet, I could see my breath escaping into the air. 

    “Little nippy out Huh? I know the body armor can stop bullets, but if it gets any colder ill have two nice little holes in the front.” Harris said.

He must have seen the look on our faces and was trying to lighten the mood. For the most part it worked because he was able to get a chuckle out of everyone except Winters. Although of no fault of his own, Winters was a very sheltered individual and probably had no idea what he was talking about. 

I know my mood was boosted by Harris, and it seemed like it worked on everyone else as well. We all had a little bit more vigor in our step making our way to our stations. With Harris having more experience in these matters, it put the rest of us at ease knowing that he was comfortable enough to make jokes. 

Nobody knew at what time the man was going to be back, so we were on guard all day at the gate and around the perimeter. My group was instructed to mount up in the Humvee with the 50cal as a show of force and as always, to be used only under extreme circumstances. 

We waited, and waited with every minute going by feeling like an eternity. Every second that went by you could see the tension rise among those who were out. Most people stayed indoors, but a good number were out and about. I talked the night before with Blake about how many people he thought might leave because the promise of no longer being attacked by the palers seemed incising, but he had no clue, just like me. I thought to myself if these people in the streets would leave.

It seemed like hours went by before we saw the man walking down the middle of the street. He had no one with him, and those on the roof reported that they couldn’t see anyone else in the distance. He came strolling up the middle of the street like he owned it but not dressed in his blue dress shirt from yesterday. Today he wore a blood red dress shirt and black pants and again with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Unlike yesterday though he had stubble on his face from a lack of a fresh shave. I couldn’t tell but it looked like he was favoring one side while he was walking, like he had a slight limp that I didn’t notice yesterday. I take note of it, even though I only saw him walk a short distance yesterday. 

He started to speak but he didn’t have the megaphone from yesterday. 

“As promised, I returned to collect those of you who wish to join our flock. I take it you are not forcing your people to stay?” he yelled

The mayor stood up on the wall and spoke down to the red shirt man.

“Sir, I assure you, at any point our people are allowed to leave. We are not running a prison.” He then turned to the people in the streets to address them. “If you would like to leave the compound you are free to do so.” He then pointed to one of the guards on the gate. “Please open the gate to allow those who want to, to leave”. 

The guard looked at mayor Hinesburg with a questioning glance and then turned his head away towards the gate. He hesitated pushing the button, but with one more prompting from the mayor “Go ahead, open it” he did as he was ordered. 

It seemed to take longer than normal for the gates to rise up or maybe it was the anticipation for those who were about to leave. As the gates drew higher I turned to look at the group. A few had backpacks but that wasn’t too uncommon for someone to walk around with one. 

After a few more moments the gates were fully up and out of the way. A couple people hesitated and then took an involuntary step back. It looked like they made a choice to go, but when actually given the option they were unsure of themselves. About thirteen people looked to have wanted to go but didn’t take that first step. We may not have things perfect here, but we have kept these people safe from the palers and what has this other group done for them? 

“If you wish to go with this man, you may. We will not stop you.” The police chief said. He seeming arrived out of no were. 

No one stepped forward, in fact several people got further away from the gate as if, if they stepped out they would become one of the zombies. 

“Is no one willing to join me in sanctuary free of the threat of constant attack?” the red shirt man asked

The small crowd stayed still, with a couple of them turning their backs and walking away. 

“Do they keep you in there against your will? Their will is not as strong as gods will. He will protect you.” He said in a calm voice. His gaze looked around at the small crowd inside the compound and noticed several walking away. He then had a look of panic rise on his face followed by a calmness that seemed to take over him. 

He was only about 20 yards away from the gate when he dropped to his knees and clasped both hands together and lowered his head. He spoke very softly that looked like he was praying. He was just far enough that I couldn’t make out what he was saying. 

Standing back up, he spread his arm far apart and rose them up. He then spoke very loudly for all to hear “If you go against god, you will be forsaken.” 

A loud explosion rang out over the compound. It came from behind us and we could feel the shock wave move through us. Everyone ducked down as debris started to litter the ground in front of us. Before one of the guards was able to get to the ground a piece of metal flew into the left side of his head impaling him kicking his body to the ground like he was a rag doll. 

A cloud of smoke was behind us on the wall, it started to pour in our direction. My hearing has never been that good before, but now all I could hear was a loud ringing in both of my ears. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were bleeding. I looked around still dazed and confused from the explosion, I was still next to the Humvee so I rolled underneath and looked back to the rear, the pain from my wound on my back intensified. 

I could see some of the guard getting back to their feet and stand, but through the smoke were figures starting to appear coming in our direction. At first it was just two, but then it grew to four and then ten. I lost count shortly after I saw they had their weapons raised and pointing in our direction. 

    I rolled to my left side unslinging my M-4 and flipping it from safe to semi I started picking targets. I centered my sights on the first one. I pulled the trigger sending a round to them, I felt the kick of my rifle that reassures me that I did pull the trigger. My shot was not true, I missed. It seems that I have a bad habit of missing on my first shot. 

    I picked out my target again who still hasn’t noticed my location yet and centered on his midsection thinking that this would increase my chances of hitting the man. I pulled the trigger again but this time I saw my round impact the man. I still couldn’t see any identifiers besides his silhouette in the smoke and the occasional bark of his rifle. 

    I was just lining up my next shot when I felt a grip on my shoulder. I turned quickly trying to bring my M-4 to my side, but I saw Blake yelling at me or at least that’s what it looked like, but all I saw was his mouth moving. He pulled me out and we stayed low moving to the back of the Humvee. 

    He started waving in a direction next to the building. I shook my head in the affirmative and then motioned to my ears to show him that I couldn’t hear. He then took the lead as I followed in a crouch jog. We got behind the building and I could see Harris crouched down and then lean around the corner with his M-4 and then back again. 

    My hearing started to come back enough for me to be able to understand words but with a lot of effort. 

    “We need to cover the gate they are hitting us from both sides. The guard covering our rear was hit hard. Blake and Cooper, get your teams and take back that wall. We have enough to hold the front.” 

    We both shook our heads in the affirmative and turned to each of our teams. I was missing Winters and Caroline and it looked like Blake was missing Mason.  

    “We will hold position at the corner of the building keeping their fire on us. Your team head down the street and cut across to stop them from getting into the compound from the street. Flank them from that direction.” I said 

    “No, we need to get a group up on the building to snipe, covering all directions.” Doyle said. 

    “That won’t work, we had snipers up their already. Something happened and they are not firing, we have to assume they were taken out.” I said

    “You’re wrong. We need men up on the” I stopped him. 

    “Look every second we waist arguing over this, the further they get in. We need to move and we need to move now.” I said

    He shot me a glare that I could feel. He must not be used to receiving orders which Is something that I would have to remember for later. After a moment of his stare he finally acquiesced and Blake’s team started down the road. 

    We stayed down and crouched our way over to our position keeping down from the gun fire. The Humvee was still in the middle of the road. It looked to be in working order. I had Micheal and Jeramiah stay behind cover and return fire when they had a chance. I doubled back across the road trying to get some distance from the enemy and me. The idea was to get to the middle of the road and run up to the Humvee, keeping it between them and me. 

    Every step I took I could feel the pain from my wound increase. I could feel the back of my shirt start to get wet, and I could only assume I tore some stitches or reopened it. 

    I waited for a break in the enemy’s gun fire or for Michael and Jeramiah to return fire. It seemed like a long time before I saw my opening or my adrenaline was making me think it was longer. Finally I saw Micheal take a shot followed by Jeramiah. I took off with everything that I had left

    I started my run across the road. I took off with my right foot leading followed by my left. With every step I could feel that portion on my back ignite in fire and with the added weight of all my gear it damn near made me double over in pain. I couldn’t have been more than 20 yards away from the Humvee but it might have well been a mile. I pushed my body as hard as I could, but with each step the Humvee seemed to get further away. The pain must have been playing tricks on me, because before I knew it I ran directly into the back of the Humvee. I ducked down and got on the ground looking underneath to see if I could get eyes on. 

    The smoke was starting to lift and I could see several squads of armed civilians moving down the road. One of the squads veered of left down the street heading in the direction of the barracks. All I could think about was Mary and Madison who were in side. I hope that Blake’s team are able to push them back, but for our plan to work we have to keep them from pushing forward. 

    I kept low and as close to the Humvee as possible, if I was any closer I would probably become a permanent fixture to the door. I know as soon as I open it, it could draw the attention of the squads moving in our direction. Two of the closest intruders fell. The first looked like a trucker, with a red and yellow stripped shirt. His head snapped violently to the right and he collapsed. The other was turning to his friend when he fell forward. He dropped his weapon and reached with both hands to his left ass cheek, another shot drilled him right in the back of the head. Pink mist erupted from the explosion that rocked his skull forward. It blew the left part of his skull forward exposing what was left of his brain. 

    I moved quickly and opened the door and crawled in. There was a body slumped down in the sling that acts as a seat for the gunner. All I could see was the legs but that was enough. They were soaked though with blood and it was coming down on the floor board. I got up as close to him as possible and undid the seat. The body that came down was Winters. He fell right next to me, I couldn’t see any damage until I saw blood coming from underneath his left arm. He was either shot or shrapnel got him.

    I move him aside to the seat I’m in. I don’t check for a pulse because even if he had one, I couldn’t do anything about it. I had to complete my mission first before he could get help. I didn’t bother re-slinging the seat. I stood on the platform. I poked my head out to see if I could see any damage to the 50cal but it looked in good shape. I pull the charging handle back and let it slam forward sounding off with a loud metallic clang. I grab the handles and put my thumbs on the trigger. I stood up just barely peeking my head up. I could see that Mickeal and Jeramiah are almost overrun. I jump up quickly looking down the barrel and begin my hail of bullets. My first three to five second burst of bullets plow into the enemy. Spraying body parts in every direction. The destruction and massacre brought by this weapon is hard to describe, but if you could just imagine what a chunky people protein shake made up in a blender would look like, then your almost there. 

    I change my targets with my next three to five burst to the group trying to come down the right side of the road. This group did not fare any better than the previous. I severed the top half’s of men as their legs blew past them, I decapitated heads from shoulders and limbs from bodies. 

    I was just targeting the next group for my subsequent three to five when a small arms round pinged off the metal guard in front of my ricocheting in some random direction followed by another. I dropped down fast and saw several bullets rain above me. I watched through the front window for an opening. 

    Micheal and Jeramiah now had some breathing room and were sending rounds down range at the enemies across the street. I saw a group running from around the corner. They were fleeing. More than one fell and hit the ground as they were running away. The groups that Michael and Jeramiah started to shoot at, took off and ran as well. 

    I was compelled to stand back up and fire into the group running down the street and end them all and why shouldn’t I? The more I kill right now, the less we will have to deal with later right? I stood up and spun the 50cal around to assist Harris behind me, but they seemed to have everything covered. I turned the cannon back around and scoped in on the retreating backs of the people who attacked our home, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. They were being chased out by Blake and his team. 

    Harris came up to the Humvee and yelled to me after the gun fire started to settle down. 

    “Good job.” And slapped at the side of the Humvee. He then moved forward and started to assess the damage of the wall. They took out a significant amount of the fence and two of the cars parked on the outside.

    “We need to get these walls back up now! You, and you, get a couple vehicles in front of it now.” Harris said pointing to a couple of the guard who were dressed down in full camo. 

    In the distance we could hear gun fire and screams, the sound of another battle taking place. There wasn’t the same volley of gun fire that we faced but still a significant amount. We could hear screams but the distance and sound of gun fire made it impossible to hear what they were saying. The bark of weapons started to slow down as the screams increased. It went on like this for a couple of minute until silence shrouded us all in its unnerving veil.

    “Hurry up! With the fence”. Harris exclaimed. 

    We had no other vehicles in the compound besides the Humvee, and we couldn’t use it for a makeshift fence because it had the canvas doors and not the medal ones. Anything could get through those. They had to go out the gate and grab a couple from the parking lot across the street. Several others of the guard were moving debris to make way for the cars coming in. 

    “Get ready, keep the 50 cal pointed in that direction. Get ready, Palers are coming.” Harris yelled. 

    A loud shriek came from the direction the people from the baseball camp were running. It rang throughout the compound. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a creature emit such a noise at such a high frequency. Even the times I have heard it previous it was never this loud. 

    “Let’s go, get to a defensible position. We cannot let them get in. Cover the gap.” Harris said pointing for certain groups of people to go in certain directions. 

    “Harris where do you want us.” O’Conner said. 

    I didn’t see her before but she got her just in time. She and four other cops were here. 

    “Good, I’m glad to see you O’Conner. Can you and your men cover the vehicles when they come in? We need to get the gap closed immediately. “

    “Were on it.” O’Conner said. Her people got into position and she followed. 

    It started off small, only a couple turned the corner to face to face us. If I had to guess they were just a little over 100 yards away. It looked like they were sizing up the situation. Fresh blood drenched the front of each of their mouths and covered their cloths crimson. 

    The one that turned the corner first used to be a giant man. He was tall but I couldn’t get an accurate because it was slouched over and had biceps bigger than my thighs. It looked just like those body builders you see on TV, that compete in the competitions.

    It turned its head at us, slowly turning its body in our direction. It stood up straight and opened its jaw. It let loose with a screech that could have rivaled the previous one. 

    A shot rang out behind me, and I saw the palers head collapse in amongst itself as its body fell backwards. I looked back, and saw SSgt. Harris with one of the hunting rifles. He had the scope up to his eye and the stock firmly pressed into his shoulder. 

    “That’s enough of that shit.” Harris said as he was handing the rifle back to one of the guard.

    More started to turn the corner, but this time they were not stopping. I had no idea how many were coming, the noise must of attracted all of them in the town. So many palers, came around the corner like a parade, each at a full sprint in our direction. Several of the closer ones fell as they tripped over debris that was scattered out and were trampled by those following. 

    “Open fire! Pick your shots, don’t let them through!” Harris let loose in his best war cry. Others joined in with a scream of their own. 

    The guard was in the kneeling position with several on each side of the road firing into the horde. I watched the first row of the palers drop from the volley to just be immediately trampled by those behind. I gripped the hands of the 50cal again and place my thumbs back on the trigger to press down. I used about fifty or more rounds on the people attacking us which leaves me with 250 rounds left. I aligned the barrel up with the left side and press down on the trigger sweeping the barrel to the right. 

    The 50 cal bullet can go through several feet of concrete with ease and penetrate steel several inches thick, so going through bodies is a cake walk. One round will go through one zombie and hit another dropping multiple bodies at a time. I would start with one side and sweep to the other, only doing three to five second bursts to let the barrel cool down some. If I just let loose the barrel would melt and we would lose the only thing giving us a chance. 

    “They don’t have to be kill shots! If they fall they will trample each other to death!” I yell

    I look down at the ammo belt and see that I’m running low. I decide to switch to my M-4 and conserve what I have left for when the horde gets closer to the opening. 

    “Switching to M-4”. I yelled

    I take a second to look back in the direction of the two who went to go get the vehicles, and they were nowhere in sight. 

    “What the fuck are they doing.” I yell to O’Connor. 

    “I don’t know they just ran out the gate and left”  she replied.

    I turned back to the crowd and started firing. Bang….Bang….Bang…. Three bullets down range and three bodies dropped…..Bang… A women maybe in her thirties with long black hair fell to the ground…..Bang….. A older man wearing a green jacket with a salt and peppered beard covered in blood fell….Moving my riffle to acquire my next target I see a young boy, just a child with blood stained cloths missing a small chunk of skin from his neck run towards Michael. It didn’t look like Michael had seen him yet, he was busy swapping out mags for a fresh one. I hesitated as it got closer to Michael. Pulling the trigger I watched the boy get slammed in the chest by my bullet throwing him back wards unto the ground. 

    I set my M-4 down next to me as I grabbed the hands of the 50 cal once again. If something doesn’t change quickly we are going to lose the compound. Moving my barrel to the left to sweep right I push down on the trigger and send another torrent of lead to the palers. 

    “Take that mother fuckers!” I yelled in-between sweeping the barrel from right to left this time. I can now see the end of the ammo belt and I watched that last round make its way into the feed and exit my barrel. I couldn’t tell who it hit anymore, but bodies fell and that’s all the mattered. 

    I look around at everyone trying to hold the line. The determination on everyone’s face reassured me that we could hold them back. Nobody ran, everyone stood their ground as the horde pressed further towards us. Bang…Bang…Bang.. I pick out targets as fast as I can and pull the trigger. I know I’m running low with this mag and mentally prepare myself to swap it out with a fresh one. Bang…Bang… two more bodies dropped before my bolt kicked open. I hit the eject mag and reached for a fresh mag, replacing the old with the new I pulled back on the charging handle and sent more lead to its new home, hopefully in the top floor of a skull. 

    I heard a vehicle driving in from behind me, but I don’t take the time to look because I can’t afford those precious seconds. A bus drove past me driving over the bodies of the fallen. The sound of a skull exploding under the pressure of a vehicle driving over it is disgusting. A loud pop as brain matter exploded from the top of the head. It pressed further slowly bogging down on the falling and the debris from the explosion. The guy driving was able to get the bus far enough so he could turn and back up the length of the gap. It covered and addition 5 feet on each side. 

    I could hear the cry of the infected as they slammed the side of the bus. They tried to will themselves through it, but to no avail. It was at this point I noticed the door for the guy driving the bus was on the same side as the infected. I saw the glass break out of the driver’s side window in our direction. The man started to crawl out and was about halfway through when the palers broke through the glass door separating him from them. It didn’t take long for them to be on him. He was half way out when he started to scream. They tore through his cloths and were stripping him of his flesh. You could see the look of terror and pain on his face as he screamed. 

    Harris pulled his M-4 up and shot the man in the head, affectively putting him out of his misery, his body fell limp as he fell slouched over. Harris then laid down on the ground and shot the wheels on the passenger side dropping the bus a couple of inches, he then shot the ones on the driver’s side as well. 

    “This will stop them, but we need to do something about their numbers, let’s get several groups on the roof to take them out.” He pointed to one of the guard team and then to the roof. They did as instructed and started packing their equipment up there.

    It took them several hours to kill the remaining palers before the rest of us could get to work on the fence. During the time we were waiting we started to check for wounded and organize our dead. Luckily those who stayed inside were fine because we were able to push the intruders back before they could gain access. But our boots on the ground didn’t fare as well. We lost eight out of the forty guard with seven injured, we lost Winters with Caroline and Mason still missing. 

    “Bring all the bodies to the parking lot. So we can give them a proper send off. Place the enemies dead over there, collect the weapons and check the bodies for information or anything useful.” Harris said. 

    This is the part that I didn’t count on. The aftermath of battle, the fallen everywhere. Having to move them. I looked down at each of the ones I helped carry and ingrained their image into my mind. I helped carry Winters body to the others. I look down at him. We weren’t just soldiers, we were friends. Another friend that Garrison took from me. I’ll keep true to my promise, I will kill you Garrison. I laid Winters down and grab each arm laying them on his chest. 

    Now that the adrenaline is wearing off I could feel the pain grow in my back, and then I remembered that I reopened my wound. 

    “Blake, can you look at my back real quick?” I ask

    “Yeah, what’s up?” he asked

    “I think I reinjured my back during the explosion. I can’t tell but it hurts badly.” I said

    I took my vest off, and laid it on the grounded but I could feel it stick to me as it peeled away. 

    “Holy shit man, we need to get you up to the hospital. That needs to be looked at right now!” Blake said.

    It only took a few seconds later for Harris to see us. He came running over to see what was going on. When he saw, it didn’t take long for him to send me to the hospital. Blake drove me up, but in the hour after we got the gate secured I started to crash hard. I don’t think it was due to blood loss but really just the come down from being so high on adrenaline for so long.  

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #16

I opened my eyes and saw Mary staring at me. She looked worried and relieved at the same time. 

“That’s a little creepy. Do you always stare at me when I’m trying to sleep.” I ask

“Damnit Damien, you almost died again!” she yelled. 

“It’s still the same wound from last time, so I think I’ve just been dying”. I retorted

“This is starting to happen way too often.” She said

I could see Blake standing in the doorway entrance so I waved for him to come in.

“Hey man, what’s going on?” I asked

“They are calling you a fucking hero back at the compound”. Blake said excitedly. 

    “Why. All I did was get on the big gun.” I said

    “A lot of the guys who are on the guard saw you run straight into the line of fire to get to the Humvee.” He said

    “That’s not what happened.” 

    “It doesn’t matter, that’s what they think. Do you know how long you’re going to be in here this time?” he changed subjects

    “I don’t know, it doesn’t hurt as bad this time, so I don’t think too long. Do you know what’s going to happen next? With the camp I mean?” I asked

    “The heads want us to keep an eye on their camp. I’m on my way there now with Doyle. I told him I wanted to check on you first. I didn’t think you would be awake though.” He leaned in close “We are going to get those fuckers don’t worry.” Then he sat back up “The higher ups want us to check and gather some Intel first”. Blake said. 

    “I won’t be in here long.” I said

    “I know you won’t. You will be right as shit soon. I have to get going though. We still have a hike ahead with limited daylight.” Blake said

    “Be safe out there. Don’t do anything stupid!” I say

    He nodded an affirmative, turned around and walked out the door. I still feel eyes drilling daggers into the back of my head. I turn, reluctant to do so. 

    “They want to keep you over night. You pulled some stitches, but nothing more, it was basically healed over, you just reopened it about halfway.” Mary said

    “Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked

    “I didn’t want Blake letting anyone know, I want you to rest.” Mary said

    “I need to be out there.” I said

    “No, the doctor said you need to rest. This is why I didn’t want to tell you.” She said

    I knew this conversation wasn’t going to get me anywhere. We don’t argue much, but I can count the number of times I have won on one finger in the last five years. So needless to say I’d rather not get into it with her.

    “Fine, I’ll be good. I won’t leave, until Derooh clears me.” I said

    “Thank you. I know it’s hard, but you won’t be doing anyone any good if you’re all beat up.” She said. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #17

     Instead of staying for one day, they kept me for two. I guess the wound looked like it had the starting’s of infection and they wanted to give me extra antibiotics and keep me for observation for an additional day. Not as long as last time but still not fast enough. Mary made sure to spend here time here with Madison. For a while it was like we weren’t living in the apocalypse. We had power and food constantly brought to us and we were able to play with Madison, and work with her learning.

    It almost felt like our life’s where normal again until the captain came to check up on me. He had a serious demeanor and wore a concerned look on his face. 

    “How are you doing Cooper?” He asked

    “Doing much better, they said I could leave today. I want to get out there as soon as possible.” I said

    “Well you’re going to get your chance. Blake has given us some interesting news. I have been talking with the Mayor and chief about what needs to happen next and they are in agreement.” 

    “Roger sir, we will pack our things now.” I motioned over to Mary and Madison. I stood up and started to get our stuff packed. It didn’t take us long because we really didn’t have much. Mary had her pack and I with mine. We both keep a change of clothes for ourselves and for Madison, including a couple MRE’s and some bottled water. She also has the 9mm glock with two mags with 1 box of ammo, I had my 1911 in mine with three mags and about 30 extra rounds. 

    After a minute we were out and ready to go. We followed Lance down the stairs and outside to the truck. We settled up and left for the compound. With the exception of some small talk, the ten minute drive mostly went in silence. I know the Captain didn’t want to say anything in front of Mary or Madison and I made sure not to bring up the topic. 

    The gate opened up and I could see that they were able to repair the wall. The buss still remained and several more cars were added to the outside of the wall to stop that from happening again. The guard who let us in had each of us step outside of the truck and inspected us. It didn’t take long for us to get checked out. Pull sleeves, pants up, show neck, hands and feet and we were on our way. His eyes lingered on Mary a little bit longer then they should have, and I take note of that. 

    “You done.” Mary asked 

    “Yes, you four are cleared to enter.” He said.

    We left the gate. Lance was turning right down the road so I asked for Mary to take Madison and go settle back down at the barracks. I followed Lance in silence, expecting if he wanted to say something he would. We passed two of the guard and Lance sent them to let the others know we were ready to conduct the meeting. 

    We went for the parking lot, several people were already there. I didn’t take long for those two to come back saying the others are just a few minutes out. Sometime past with forced small talk. I found out that in our skirmish we took out twenty-four of them, and we killed at least a hundred of the palers although it was hard to tell after the devastation of the 50cal. 

    After several minutes goes by it seems like everyone is in attendance. All the heads are here, the police, several of the guard teams and all of the soldiers excluding Blake. 

    “Alright, let’s get down to business. Sergeant Blake has informed us of the goings on at the ball field. Most people there attend a church of sorts daily, like clockwork. The population is around 150 or so, even after their attack on us. Blake believes that it is a cult following and most are too afraid to do anything about it, and are under constant watch from those who do believe.” Lance said

    “Alright, so what are we going to do with this? who cares, let’s just go in there and wipe them out. They attacked us first.” One of the guards spoke up.

    “That’s not how we do things, there are civilians in there that need our help.” Lance said keeping a calm voice. 

    “How do we know they are good people?” another one spoke up.

    “Yesterday, the man who came here in the red dress shirt, got back to them. He walked into the camp, and was escorted to a building, afterword’s the drug him out kicking and screaming. They placed a board between his ankles and then kicked them while he was on the ground, snapping them until they touched his calf. They then did the same with the man’s wrists. The group picked him up and threw him into a building and he started to scream, and during all of this, those who were in the field or in their tents keep their heads away. There were two distinct groups, those who enjoyed it, and those who were afraid.”

    “What’s the plan then, sounds like these people need to be liberated?” Harris asked

    “We can’t go at night because of the palers and that would thwart any rescue we could come up with. If we roll in there with vehicles they will know, and we will be in the same situation they did here except on their home town. The number that are loyal to the cult is estimated at a minimum of forty according to Blake.” Lance said

    The group went back and forth several times, trying to come up with a good plan of attack. Several ideas were brought up of just storming their gates and killing them all, or destroying their fence at night to let the palers do the work. To even disguising one of ours to sneak in and start a rebellion. But after an hour of intense conversation Harris came up with an idea. 

    His idea was to break into three forces. The first force would lure the enemy out from their fence while the second force would be out of sight ready to take them out. The third force would be positioned close to the ball field and would take care of any remaining stragglers. I voiced several concerns with the plan but was shut down fast. 

    “Cooper, have you ever been deployed? I can guarantee this plan works, and this is what we are going to do!” Harris snapped 

    I didn’t expect that at all. Normally Harris didn’t act agitated but he seemed oddly   

    With the remainder of the meeting it didn’t sound like we were being told everything. I thought back to what all the captain talked about, and why it was him who got me in the first place. I know things have changed with the way the world did, but Captain Lance is all about rank and structure, he would have sent someone else to do that. 

    After the meeting I decided to ask Harris what that was all about. 

    “What the hell man, I was just trying to help?” I said with a little bit more force then I wanted too.

    “Cooper I,” he stopped, but looked like he had more to say. “Sometimes you have to trust in your leadership even if you don’t agree with them sometimes.” 

    “Roger that.” I didn’t really have much to add. He was right. I felt like I deserved more of an answer then that, but I resorted back to my training and put my trust back in the higher ups.

    The idea was to put our plan into motion in two days at first light, that way we have time to get everything prepped and the teams good to go. 

    I made my way to the barracks, it was around 2000 and I could feel myself getting tired but I still had things to do. I picked Madison up as soon as I walked through the door and hugged her. I set her back down and watched her run to her ukulele and pick it up to give me a jam out session. I went to Mary and gave her a kiss and for the next hour we struggled to get Madison to go to sleep. When she finally did fall asleep, I set up a comfortable spot and started to clean my rifle, I’m not sure why I felt an urge to do this, but it felt relaxing. After I was done I checked my mags and made sure they were full, which has become a nightly regimen of mine, and then I placed my kit up on a hook on the wall next to my cot. I rolled over and felt my eyes get heavy as the world collapsed around me, as I fell asleep. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #18

“Cooper wake up”. I heard a voice say.

I sat up quickly looking around and saw Harris with his arm on my shoulder. 

    “Can’t I ever get a good night sleep?” I say

    “You need to grab your gear, we are moving out now. Stay quiet.” Harris said.

    “What’s going on?” I asked

    “Hurry up, I’ll tell you later.” He said

    I quickly move out of bed and get dressed. Laced up my boots, grabbed my TAC vest and put my combat knife in its sheath just under my left shoulder. It hung so I could pull it on a downward motion to make it quicker to use, and allows for one motion instead of two when drawing it. I also put my two mags in my ammo pouches with one going in the M-4. I then attached my 1911 to my right leg using a drop down holster. I kept 2 loaded mags in my other ammo pouches with one going in the 1911. 

    Outside I saw Harris talking with Prescott about something but it was very quiet. I walked over to him and was about to ask something when Harris shushed me and had us move forward. We snuck around building to the back of the compound. There waiting for us was a ladder leading over the wall. When we got their Harris started to climb and motioned for us to do the same thing. On the other side of the wall the rest of our teams were already out there. 

    “Hey Cooper, It’s about time!” Micheal said

    “Quiet, that’s too loud. We have to be quiet out here.” I said in a whisper. 

    “My bad”. He said in a voice that I could barely hear. 

    “Harris can you explain to us now, what’s going on?” I asked

    “Yes, but we have to do it quickly. Let’s get a little bit of distance from the wall, I don’t want to attack anyone or let the guard know what’s going on.”

    We all shook our head in the affirmative and we started to make our way away from the compound. We looped up around Main Street sticking to back alleys and got about 300 yards away from the compound. Harris halted us, he checked in all directions. It looked clear. 

    “There is a mole in the compound.” Harris said

    We all looked at him in confusion. 

    “How do you think they were able to get the explosives on the wall, and to get so many of them as close as they did? They knew what wall was weakest and where to hit us to cause the most damage. That’s why we are out here.” Harris said

    “What about the plan in two days?” I asked.

    “That was to leak false information to the mole so he would report back. The heads called that meeting with as many guard as he could. One or more is the mole. We let several hours go by so he could let them know and now we are going to attack under the cover of darkness.” Harris said

    He pulled his backpack off and grabbed out nine pairs of NVG’s that we liberated from the armory a couple weeks back. “We only have a few of these, so distribute them evenly. We will meet up with Blake when we get closer and then from their go over our game plan. Radio silence until we get there. Do not shoot, if you see palers, alert the others and we will navigate past them.” 

    We left quickly heading west on Michigan ave for a few blocks. We had to avoid staying in the street to not be spotted by any of the guard, but we also didn’t want to travel next to the buildings to keep some distance from us and them just in case there were palers. 

    Getting another couple hundred yards from the compound I felt a tug on my shoulder. I turned to see Morgan, one of Blake’s team, point to the left to something up the road. I let Harris know and he adjusted our rout to the right a few degrees. He moved slowly down the road with us trailing him in a column.  The paler that Morgan saw was just on this side of the bridge leading into town. 

    A builders supply sits off to the left side of the road that we scavenged a lot of our supplies from to build our wall had several palers roaming around. I don’t know which one of them saw them first but Harris adjusted the path again, which brought us really cloths to a large two story building that had a black roof. We pushed up next to it and followed wall to the edge. We moved up next to the corner and a hand reached out grabbing at Harris shoulder. I watched him pull his knife from his belt and jam it into the things temple. He pulled his blade out and wiped it on the paler’s shirt and he started going again. I looked down at the paler as we passed, and thought I recognized the face under the green glow of the NVG’s but we didn’t have the time to stop and check. 

    We moved further north on Riverside Ave staying to the west side of the road. I could see Harris continuously look west towards the river. I had a feeling he wanted to get to the river and follow it down to keep our rear safe but the further we followed the road the further we moved away from the river. 

    Just down the road was an RV park that was wide open. Most of the RV’s have either been take to help support the wall due to their height and flat surface or the owners left in them during the initial outbreak. A paler was standing their staring the opposite direction of us, and we were lucky, the wind was at our backs. I moved forward at a crouch towards the paler and slung my M-4 as silently as I could. The front part of the barrel tapped something on my person that made a faint metallic cling sound. I stopped and held as still as I could, hoping the paler didn’t turn. If it did nothing would stop it from screeching out to others and we are sunk. Luckily it didn’t turn around it was fixated on something. I pulled my knife from its sheath and got within five feet of the creature. It heard me and started to turn around, I had a fraction of a second to make my decision to either draw my weapon and fire or lunge at it. I lunged thinking I would at least catch it off guard and it would have enough time to sink its teeth into me. I drove the knife up into the bottom of its chin and lifted up until its feet came off the ground an inch or two. I used my momentum to push it forward and with my left hand grabbed it around the caller to let it down to the ground slowly to not create any excess sound. 

    Harris past me on the road and gave me a thumbs up. I shook my head in the affirmative and we pressed on past the railroad tracks down to the river. We followed it north for another mile without incident. We could see the road from our position and past several palers without them even glancing in our direction. I remember the doctor saying that they are infected with a form of rabies and with that comes the fear of water. I’m glad Harris is on our side, he probably already thought of this and was just acting on it. I on the other hand had to put the two together to see the bigger picture. 

    We could actually see the edge of the ball field, but kept going. We decided to push past so we can circle back in a wide loop to Sergeant Blake and Doyle’s position. Although I still don’t know where that is, but it overlooks the ball field so I assume it’s one of the houses on the mountain behind. Another quarter mile later Harris cuts across the rocky beach then more railroad tracks to finally the even ground of the road. Moving in our column formation up the road we move to a dead end that has several houses to the left and to the right. Not the ideal location to be because palers could be any of them. 

    A game trail move up the side of the hill heading east towards the school track. It was all open with very few trees, but I couldn’t see anything with the NVG’s so the path was clear for now. But any misstep could cause a twisted ankle or worse, and that would spell death for anyone it happened to. We pushed forward, taking our steps slowly, watching where each foot lands. The entire walk up the side of the hill was only a little over 100 yards if I had to guess. 

    We emerged at the top next to one of the schools storage facility. We could see down to the ball field but we are still too far away to notice anything major even with the NVG’s. I couple of palers are mulling about the track, but they haven’t noticed us. With them there we could either go around the back of the track or the front. 

    Harris motioned for us to follow him as he started heading around the back half of the track. Being so close to the baseball field making the excess noise would draw to much attention to our location and we would either be found by the palers or the others. We left our spot behind the storage shed and made for the wood line to the north, when a loud metallic bang came from behind us. We all turned to see Micheal struggling with his pants.

    “Sorry, I didn’t mean for that to happen, I got caught on a nail”. Micheal said well above a whisper.

    “Keep quiet!” Jeremy said

    Harris was just starting to raise his M-4 up when the palers turned in our direction. The first one let out a loud screech that they have been known to let out when they found prey. 

    “Lay down. Cooper Get your knife”. Harris said in a quiet tone

    I didn’t question and did as I was told. The palers didn’t see us yet, but was only looking in our direction. Two started running loosely our way, and were staggered by several feet. They quickly picked up space and closed the gap I could see what Harris plan was. They had no clue where we were at until they were right on top of us. The first paler tripped over Harris and went down to the ground barely putting its hands up in time to brace for the fall, but it was already too late. Harris was able to get on its back while it was down and jammed the blade into the back of its skull, instantly killing it. 

    The other one saw the action and turned towards its friend. I stood and started after it. It was only a couple feet from me when I kicked my left leg out connecting with the paler’s right foot tripping it. It tumbled forward and rolled. As I did this I almost lost my footing and tripped onto the paler but instead I was able to push my knife through its temple into the brain. 

    We all stayed still for several minutes waiting. Even after all that not much noise was made besides that first initial screech. No other Palers showed themselves but I think that has more to do with luck. Being in our current location the sound didn’t vibrate off the mountain to alert other palers, but there is no way the compound didn’t hear it. The only thing we had going was that maybe it was a common thing near the field. 

    A few more minutes passed and yet still no major movements from the baseball field. 

    “Let’s go and be careful.” Harris said while glaring at Michael

    “Sorry.” Michael whispered

    We traveled across the track walking the back half still in our column. Behind the track was a small gravel that doesn’t look like it has seen any maintenance in years that we traveled. It took us through a small nature trail. We all stayed low scanning into the darkness looking for anything that could possible do us harm. 

    A small wooden bridge that went over a small stream of water. The bridge was unnecessary because the stream was less than one foot across but was a neat little addition that seem inexpensive for the school. It continued around a corner budding up against a chain link fence that opened up to a yard. 

    “That’s the house. We need to climb the fence.” Harris said. 

    Harris and his team were first and they scaled the eight foot fence with no problem two at a time. I did the same and sent Jeramiah and Michael followed by Johnson and Morgan. I took up the rear to make sure nothing was able to come up on us as they went. 

    “Cooper would you hurry up, I have a hot date later that I would like to make it to tonight”. Harris whispered

    “O’Conner?” I asked

    “You know it, now let’s go!” 

    I put both hands near the top of the chain-link and gripped it, pulling myself pushing my feet into the fence to gain traction to repeat. Everyone on the other side of the fence tensed up and looked uneasy.

    “You might want to hurry up.” I heard somebody say. 

    “You think!” I replied back to all of them.

    I could hear something coming from down the trail moving in our direction. I swung my right leg over and started on my other when I saw movement out of the left corner of my eye. I swung my right over when the laces on my boot caught the top of the chain. I fell forward landing on my back, all the air escaping from my lungs. Everyone around me was laughing quietly but my world was still spinning and could hear what was said. 

    Jeramiah and Morgan both stuck a hand out to help me up. My heart was still pounded from the excitement when I heard Harris say “It was just a squirrel.” 

    In-between trying to catch my breath I heard Prescott say “For that bad ass shit you did earlier, you almost die to a squirrel”. I give a half harded smile. Everyone was looking at me except Harris, he was looking right through us. I followed his gaze to the chain link fence that had a paler standing next to it looking at us. It was a female with bloodshot greyed out eyes. It was opening its mouth and closing it, but no sound was coming out except an escape of air. 

    Harris walked up and got next to the fence. The paler moved in close and pressed its face against the chain-link trying to will itself through. Her hands were raised with each finger pressing through the fence. Its head was cocked sideways with its left ear facing us. She stuck her tongue through one of the holes in the chain. You could see bits of saliva hanging off the chain were she licked it. It hung in rivulets as it dripped from her open mouth. The chain was starting to cut her face she was pressing so hard against it. This had to be one of the most disgusting things I’ve ever seen. Harris took his knife and thrust it into her eye until the blade reached her brain and the body fell limp.  

    My breath finally reentered my lungs at around the same time I wanted to puke from watching the female paler. I felt the bile again caress the bottom portion of my esophagus which caused a slight burn radiate up my throat. Anything that has to do with saliva just turns my gut and twists it. I didn’t puke but I wiped my mouth anyway thinking the movement might alleviate the feeling.

    “Look at the big strong Army man.” Prescott said in a hushed manner.

    I look up at him and think to myself “really, right now?” I try to think of something good to say back but nothing really comes to mind.

    “We need to get going, that’s the building up ahead.” Harris said

    I look down at my watch and it say’s 0237. I don’t know when Harris wants to put his plan in motion but the sun is coming up soon and we are running out of time. The house is only fifty feet ahead, and I could see movement coming from inside the window next to the door. 

    The door opened and Doyle stepped out waving for us to come up. Even though our destination is in sight we still kept in a tight column as we made our way up, everyone scanning there areas of fire. I look behind me and am impressed by what I see with Michael and Jeremy. Both were just boys who were thrust into this situation but are still keeping their cool. Even with some mistakes here and they are still overcoming their desire to run to keep with the mission. I don’t have much to go on myself besides just training, but I used their courage to spur myself forward. 

    I look at the house which is a two story with a blue tin roof. As we approach I notice that the windows on the front half of the house all seemed to be broke. After we all get inside the house all we see is darkness as the door closes behind us. I could hear Doyle messing with something that gave a faint metallic sliding sound which I assume is him setting the lock.

    “We have been waiting for hours, it’s about time.” Doyle said as seriously as he could

    I roll my eyes and ask “Where’s Blake?” 

    He looked at me questioning like I should already know the answer. “How about you check upstairs boss”. He emphasized that last part. 

    I wanted to ask him “Are you always this much of an asshole” but I thought better of it focusing on the mission. 

    A light glow illuminated the room that we stood in but only about eight feet from the source. We all stood in a living room with a greenish blue sectional couch and a bookshelf off to the side, most of the books littered the ground nearby. An old box TV sat on a small stand with a DVD player to the right of that. Behind the couch was a staircase that led up and behind the staircase was the kitchen. The light didn’t penetrate to deep but you could see that the linoleum floor was an orange color with brown squares in a pattern. 

    “Cooper go get Blake”. Harris asked

    Old wooden stairs led the way up. Blake met me at the top of them. 

    “Holy shit. They let you come?” Blake asked

    “Yeah, my shot really isn’t that bad. I fell off a fence down there and landed right on it with just a little bit of pain”. I pointed to the wall, like we could magically see the fence. Blake’s expression changed immediately to one of all seriousness

    “Let’s head down stairs, I have some fucked up shit to tell you all.” Blake said

    They picked up the first floor just a little bit so everyone could get around a small table and Harris was writing on it. I looked over his shoulder as I was trying to find my own spot to watch and he was drawing a map of the baseball field. 

    Over the next hour Blake and Doyle explained in detail everything that has been going on sense the attack. They talked about guard shift changes, how many guards, and people living there and about several prisoners. 

    “Do we know who the prisoners are?” Harris asked

    “No. They keep them in a little shed right here.” Doyle took the pen and drew a box on the makeshift map. “When they do come out their heads are hooded.”

    “How many do they have?” Harris asked

    “Six but when we first got here they had seven”. Doyle said

    “They tied her up to a pole and buried it in the ground outside of their fence. She was only four feet off the ground. The Palers ripped into her legs man. The ones who tied her up were laughing at her screams. Their fucking crazy man.” Blake said

    Everyone in the room cringed a little bit to hearing the news. We knew those who follow Garrison were bat shit but this brings them to a whole new level. 

    “Let’s get back into our regular teams, for my plan to work we will need to hit on three different fronts. We already got the element of surprise so let’s use that to our advantage. They have only five guards that patrol their fence at night, so let’s hit them right after shift change. Team 1 will stay in close and lure the guards in our direction and take them out. Team 2 I want you to go take care of the remaining guards, they should still be asleep in the big wall tent they have set up. Team 3 I want you on security watching team 2 and my team.” 

    He spent more time going over various different tactics and exactly what each team would do. This is exactly what we need, besides the failed attack on us, I’ve never been in a fire fight and am extremely nervous. 

    Checking the time I see that its 0330 and I give a nod to Harris. He returns my nod and says “Its time, we need to get moving into position before 0400. Wait for my signal, ill radio when we are in position”. 

    Harris and his team went out the door followed by Blake then us. Michael and Jeramiah were right on my heels as we started down the path. We followed after Blake’s team. We stayed about twenty five feet behind his last man. Harris team went over the fence that we took to get up here, but we went around it. At first both our teams are meant as security for Team 1. Just in case the rest catch wind of what we are doing we can give covering fire while they can tactfully withdraw. 

    Luckily we didn’t run into any palers while we were getting into position. Blake’s team moved down the left side while mine went the right. Team 1 was just out of sight from our position at the moment. We got down and ready to give covering fire if need be. I look at my watch. 0402, they are in the middle of shift change, it shouldn’t be much longer now. 

    I look to Jeramiah “You ready?” I ask

    He gives me a nod. I turn to Michael and ask him the same thing. He also gives me a nod in the affirmative. 

    “Good, I’m glad you guys are because I’m not”. I said quietly. I looked at both of them again, noticing a slight smile perk up on both. I turn back to the task at hand and wait. I keep my eyes on a swivel to watch for Harris to appear. 

    Several minutes go by before anything happens but I could see through the NVGs that Harris has gotten into position. One of the new guards on shift is rounding one of the corners when he turned his head in Harris’s direction. For a second I thought he was going to alert the others but then he started walking towards him. The guard got right next to the fence and then he fell over backwards and was drug through the bottom. He started to yell but it was quickly silenced and all that came out was muffled sound. 

I took my attention from him and watched the field to see if anyone noticed. It was several long moments before I convinced myself that no one saw what had happened. I heard my radio crackle to life in my ear.

“One down, four more to go.” Harris said 

They took out two more guards using the same tactic but were almost discovered by the las two. They were walking and talking to one another. The tall one in blue jeans came right up to the fence and looked around three feet from team 1. I really don’t know how they didn’t get spotted, they were right there. But they kept going along their route. 

“That was close” I hear Prescott say over the radio in a hushed whisper.

“Were waiting for them to swing back around and we will take them out on the next pass. Blake, Cooper inform us if anything changes in the camp.” Harris said

“Team 2 copies.” Follows immediately after the radio traffic and then I give my affirmative as well. I watch those two guards walk around the home plate and up to the opposing team’s dugout following the chain link to a row of tents that are set up in a loose formation. A couple people saw them coming and moved quickly into their tent. 

The duo kept moving around lazily checking outside the fence, not really paying attention. Nearing the back of the outfield on the first base side they turn the corner and follow it around to team 1’s location. They were just outside the fence on a downhill slope. The guard was still walking side by side. 

The shorter of the two suddenly turns around acting as if he was startled. The one in front turned with him, but didn’t look too excited and he said something that I couldn’t hear what it was. The taller man turned and started walking forward. Almost simultaneously both men fell and hit the ground and drug out and just like the first group they didn’t even have a chance to make a sound. Both had their throats slit before either could even think of uttering a sound.  

“All guards are down. All teams get into position.” Harris calls out. 

    Team 2 converges from the left unto Teams 1’s location and then my team follows suit after. Harris team but a small hole into the fence with a small pair of bolt cutters. I had Michael and Jeramiah grab either side of the fence and held it open for the other teams to enter. Team one made their way down the fence towards home plate. The large wall tent was in the outfield near 2nd base. Team 2 crept up on the wall tent at a slow crouch weapons at the low ready. 

    We came up behind them to the rear of the tent and crouched down. No body spoke a word, we just listened for any obvious signs of movement or people being awake. Small movement and some rhythmic breathing escaped the tent but no signs of anyone being awake. 

    Blake gave a nod to me and I moved in and lifted part of the wall slowly, taking extra care not to make any additional noise. Jeramiah joined me on the other side. Team two pulled their knifes and made their way in but before we could place the wall back down I saw Blake cover the mouth to the closest person sleeping and plunged his knife into the chest. He didn’t even flinch in his cot, just laid their like he was still sleeping. Blake looked hesitant at first like he wanted to turn back. Being attacked and defending yourself is one thing, but this just felt like murder. 

    We then placed the wall back down and pulled up security on the tent as team 2 did their job inside. Jeramiah and Michael are on both sides of the tent watching our rear while I covered the front. Inside the tent, it was silent except an occasional gasp of air that could very easily sound like a yawn. 

    Blake emerges from the front of the tent still grasping the knife. His expression has changed dramatically from when he entered to now. Even under the glow of the NVG’s I could tell the effects of what just happened are eating away at him. The rest of his team doesn’t look much better, but Blake puts on a strong face for his team as they come out. He gives me a thumbs up then nods. 

    An engine starts in the hometown dugout and shortly after the lights start to turn on. Blake and I look at each other and we motion to get into the wall tent before we get spotted. 

    “This isn’t good. Get inside and get down.” I say to the others. Michael and Jeramiah come inside through the back. Everyone looks tensed but we all take up defensive positions and prepare for the worst.

    “Did Team 1 get spotted?” Michael asks

    “I don’t know, stay quiet.” Blake said

    I could hear a man talking on a megaphone coming from the large groups of tents from near first base. He is on a megaphone.

    “Everyone please wake up. I received some urgent news from god himself. I must share it with you now.” The man spoke with such clarity and calmness that didn’t show a hint of worry in his voice. I’m starting to feel a little bit better about our situation because if this was an alarm, it’s the calmest one ever. 

    We all get lower and keep down and ready to spring into action if the need arises. I could hear people waking up and moving about the tents. 

    “You all know that I am a prophet of God, and that he speaks to me. He told me to treat you all good and keep you safe from those who wish to cause us harm. We tried to give the people of the town a way out and to join our flock but they spat in the face of our offer. They refused and attacked the soldiers of god.” Garrison said over the megaphone for all to hear. 

    “They started that attack.” Michael said quietly

    “Sssshhhhh.” I say. 

    “They attacked us and mercifully killed unarmed preachers and drove them out. That’s why we had to sacrifice Tommy. He was tainted after speaking with them, they corrupted his heart and he was unable to sway them into a better life. But isn’t our god merciful, he asked of me to treat his followers to the best and that’s why I moved some of you into gods soldiers tent.” 

    Recognition hit everyone. Blake started looking around frantically, he started breathing heavy, and he grabbed his knife and dropped it away from himself. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #19

“Fuck. Fuck. What have we….” Blake said before I jumped over to him, placing my hand over his mouth. “Blake, calm down. You didn’t know. We need to stay quiet!” I said trying to be as convincing as I could, but even I didn’t believe my own words. 

    “When our preachers fled, they were able to round up a couple of the heathens and bring them back here, as you all know. Please bring them out now!” Garrison said

    We watched from a hole in the tent as a group of those who Garrison calls soldiers walked over the metal shack and four entered with two staying outside. They spent a little time in there as what appeared to be a struggle as they pushed out Mason who hit the ground, his hands tied with rope behind his back. 

    “Blake they have Mason. Look at me. They have Mason. If you guys don’t calm down we will be spotted and have no way of rescuing them.” I try to reassure them while being as quiet as possible. 

    “I was a cop. I took an oath to protect these people. But I just killed them.” Morgan said as he fell to his knees. Johnson and Doyle both had blank stares with watery eyes but other than that maintained composure. Blake still looked confused and could only watch as I tried to talk to him. 

    “Listen, what happened here is horrible, but if we don’t get under control we will end up dead. You all have to deal with this later, we don’t have time right now.” I say still trying to maintain silence but raising my voice just a little, thinking it might out way the risk a little bit. 

    Doyle snapped “How the fuck would you know, you didn’t just kill a bunch of innocent people?” He didn’t yell, but he wasn’t trying to keep quiet either. 

    “Your right, but if we don’t stay quiet more are going to die needlessly.” 

    Doyle quite talking, dropped his rifle and balled up his fists. I could see as plain as day as his body posture shifted into an aggressive one. 

    “This isn’t the time Doyle. We need to.” Doyle started moving towards me still with balled up fists.

    “Who do you think you are?” Doyle said 

He threw a quick jab at me with his right but I was able to dip to the left and avoid the strike, it was a very sloppy punch. He then through another strike with his left catching me in my stomach, that I was not prepared for. It caught me off guard and I felt a little air escape my lungs but not enough to put me out of the fight. 

    I got in close thinking that if I could get him to the ground we might be able to talk to him. He threw another right that I dipped underneath again but this time as I came up bringing my right hand around the back of his head and his shoulders. I put it underneath his armpit turning to my right using my hips to leverage him up and over me to the ground with me landing on top of him. His head and right arm still trapped between mine. 

    As we came down we pushed against several of the cots moving them around. Michael started to move in from the side and grabbed Doyle’s legs to stop him from kicking around. He wanted to yell, I could see it in his eyes, but I had him with his bicep blocking his mouth affectively cutting off his means to do so. 

    “Doyle, you need to calm down. We have a mission to accomplish. If we fail, more people will die. Remember your training Marine.” I said

    His eyes started to tear up as he shook his head up and down. 

    “If I let you go are you going to be alright?” I ask.

    He shook his head again. I released the arm and stood up slowly, keeping ready to defend myself if he tries to attack again, but he doesn’t. He rolls over and sits up. 

    “We good?” I extend my right hand offering to help him up. He reached up and took it standing to his feet and nodded. 

    Blake still stood with an expressionless face. I looked at him and was at a loss what to do. This is bigger than anything I could come up with and I needed his help, so I slapped him. 

    “What the fuck was that for?” Blake asked as he was getting ready to punch me. 

    “I didn’t think that would work.” I said

    Blake looked like he was about to say something else but relaxed and thought about it. Several seconds later he said “Thank you.” 

    “Glad your back, I need you for whatever is coming next.” I said

    I turned to look out the tear in the tent and the soldiers were just finishing tying Mason up to a log. Then the soldiers turned back around to the shed. “Grab the other one” yelled one of the soldiers. Two of them walked into the shed and two stayed out. The two carried out Caroline by both arms as her legs were dragging on the ground. They pulled on Caroline up and to her feet. Her head was still drooped down, but then she snapped up and jerked an arm away. She quickly turned towards the one who had her left arm and drilled him right in his junk. That man let go and to his knees reaching for his jewels.     She then turned to the other man who was trying to grab her arm again. The man reached out and was able to get ahold of her wrist. He spun Caroline around and put her wrist behind her back. She swung her head backwards catching the other man on the bridge of the nose. It instantly started bleed as he let go of her wrist bringing both hands up to his nose. She spins on him and throws a punch connecting with both his hands pressed against his nose causing even more damage. 

    Caroline is just about to grab the man’s weapon when the other two behind her pull up their weapons pointed at her. 

    “Wait, Wait.” Garrison says. “God wants this heathen put on the pole for the palers to have. Do not shoot her!” He yelled

    “You fucking cowards think you’re tough. I just took out two of you dipshits without a weapon. I’ll take you all on by myself put your weapons down and try me!” Caroline yelled

    The man who was his in his balls was finally able to stand back up. He walked over to Caroline and drilled her right in the stomach. She toppled forward, gasping for air, eyes wide. They then drug her over next to Mason. 

    “Big man hitting my while I can’t fight back. Fucking pussies”. Caroline said as she spat on the ground.    “Gag her. There is still more to tell”. Garrison then fell to his knees with his arms raised up talking silently for a few moments. Everyone around stood in anticipation like they knew what was coming next. Garrison then through himself violently forward unto his chest were he laid perfectly still for another few moments. He placed both hands underneath himself and lifted upwards to his feet. “I have spoken to god. We are not alone” Garrison then pointed in our direction at the tent. “There are intruders, in the tent! Seize them” Garrison yelled

    “Oh shit”. I say as I turn to everyone else. “They know we are here”. I look around trying to find something to use as cover thinking we are going to be under attack soon. The only thing in the tent are cots and the people we killed. 

    “Move the cots and stack the bodies to the front and sides of us!” I said

    Everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

    “We are out of time and there is nothing in here we can use as cover. They know we are here, if we don’t they will gun us down with no problem.” I said

    Doyle did as I asked and the others jumped in after to help. We quickly stacked the bodies in a C around us. Two body’s places head to toe with two more stack on top of them and the same on both sides. It won’t protect us against much higher caliber rounds but it affords us some protection. 

    I pointed where I wanted people to go but by this time I could hear people getting closer to us their shouts moving in our direction. Doyle and Jeramiah covered our rear on both sides of the make shift barricade, while Johnson and Michael covered our sides. Blake, Morgan and myself covered the front. 

    “Focus on your line of fire, pick your shots and stay down. Anyone who comes in is an enemy, don’t shoot until I do”. I said

    The first of the group opened the front flap of the door and turned back to yell. It was the same guy that Caroline broke his nose. 

    I focused on his head, wanting to show a message to all who want to try and enter this tent will face the same fate. I pulled the trigger allowing it to surprise me. My bullet left the barrel and raced to its new target and drilled into the back of the man’s head sending a red mist forward and unto the ground followed by the body. The tent flap fell closed besides the part that was still held open by the man’s foot. 

    Gun fire exploded from outside of the tent and holes streaked the walls from the rounds. They still don’t know how positon or what we have done yet so at least we have that going for us. Rounds hit the body directly in front of me showering my in his still warm blood. It ran down my face and covered the NVG’s to the point I couldn’t see out of them. I tried wiping it off but it just smeared and made it worse. I took the NVG’s off and set them to the side. 

    Several moments went by as we received a barrage of gun fire. Bullets struck several other bodies, more holes opened up in the sides all around us as the hell fire was laid down. I looked around from my prone position tilting me head to the left and to the right careful not to lift above the bodies. Everyone seemed to be okay so far but no one dared lift their head. 

    “Ceasefire….Ceasefire…. If any of you are still alive in there, throw down your weapons and you will not be harmed any further!” somebody yelled from outside the tent. 

    “Bull shit. He’s lying through his fucking teeth.” Blake said. 

    “Stay quiet. Get into position. Somebody try and get ahold of team 1” I said.

    Several moments go by and nothing. “Is he answering.” I ask 

    “No, radios must be down”. Morgan says

    Everyone slowly moved back up to a supported prone position. I pulled my rifle back to the center and had it trained on the front flap like before.  Footsteps fall from outside of the tent and I can hear several people moving in on us. A group came to the front and positioned themselves there. I could hear murmurs of individuals outside saying “No one could survive that, we shot a couple hundred rounds” and “Their dead”. 

    I tapped Blake and pointed to the side, he nodded in understanding and he did the same to Johnson. The flap started to move as someone tried to look in as best they could without giving themselves away. We were stone silent, nobody was even breathing. The man looked in slowly moving his head in turning it around the wall. His eyes met mine as I let loose with a round, his eyes widened in shock as his mind tried to register the fact that it no longer worked. Johnson and Blake opened fire through the tent in the direction of the ones who were a few feet away. Several screams erupted from the wall of the tent and several bodies hit the ground. As the others tried to run, several of which tripped over each other as they tried to get away. 

    “Alright fine. Have it your way. Grab the Molotov!” the man yelled once more. 

    “That’s not good.” I say

    Through the holes we could see one of the women bringing a man a box. He reached down and grabbed one pulling out a battle. He took the lid off and stuffed a rag about halfway down and then lit the end.  He held it in his hand above himself. It looked like he was admiring it. The man then cocked his arm back and prepared to throw, when the bottle shattered covering himself in flames. The Fire lit up everything around and we could see several dozen people scatter and raise their weapons away from us to the front. 

    The man on fire dropped and hit the ground screaming, he tried to roll around but the fire was all around him on the ground. He rolled around thrashing but he was starting to slow down as the flames blackened his skin. Shortly after he stopped screaming, and his body fell still but the flames still illuminated those outside. Johnson and Blake got to a kneeling position and started firing. I kept an eyes on my sector as did the others.

    Total chaos was erupting within the ball field. My best guess was that Team 1 got into a good firing position and were supplying us with covering fire. But even with the cover fire it didn’t stop the enemy soldiers from sending some bullets our way, except now they were more sporadic.   

    A scream shot out from behind me. I turned quickly to see Jeramiah grabbing his thigh. I turned and crawled to him, while the others kept security. 

    “Morgan move forward and see if there is better cover in front of us. Keep your head down.” I said 

    I crawled up to the back of Jeremiah and looked at his leg. A lot of blood was shooting out in steams which means he was shot in the femoral artery. Luckily it was lower on his thigh where he was shot. I grab him, and take of his belt and he gave me a questioning look with gritted teeth. 

    “Tourniquet.” I said

    He nodded as I got his belt through the last loop of his pants. I quickly moved down and slid the belt underneath his leg and run it through the loops pulling it as tight as I can until the blood stops and then I pull it a little harder. I look at my watch and note that the time is 0440 and I write this time with his blood on his shirt. 

    “Most of them have scattered, I think we can make it to the home dugout if we move now.” Morgan says turning back to us from the front. 

    A spray of bullets peppered the ground all around Morgan. His body slumped forward and quite moving. 

    “Morgan!” I yell but he didn’t stir at all, just stayed their motionless. More bullets entered through the wall of the tent peppering Morgan’s body.

    “I think I got one!” I could hear a man yell. More shots from outside the tent but this time now at us, they were coming from a distance. Screams erupted outside as bullets started firing from much closer.

    “We need to go.” I yelled.

    “Doyle, Jonson grab Jeramiah we need to fucking move!” Blake said. 

    Doyle and Johnson didn’t even hesitate, they started over and lifted Jeramiah up with one under each arm and in their other, their M-4. Jeramiah’s lay slung on the front of his chest. Blake is up by myside as I move the flap an inch to the right and look out. Nobody, and I could see flashes of light coming from just outside the fence. It had to be Harris and his team. 

    “I’ll lead the way, Blake take up the rear and you guys get the center. We need to move now.” I said

    I was the first one out. I first look to the left scanning the area with my riffle. I couple of people not paying attention to us and trying to stay low and out of side behind some tents. I turn to the right and find nobody over their except for some open field. We make our way heading in that directing being it that it’s the closest path to the dugout. 

    “This way.” I say. I moved to the right keeping to a crouch with my weapon raised. Shots fired up behind me from the rear. I take a quick second to look to the rear and see Blake shooting at a couple of people, moving back words in our direction. 

    “Keep moving forward. I saw one of the pull up a fucking rifle on us.” Blake said. 

    I turned forward again as we continued our path to the dugout. Shots still rung out behind as we pushed through redoubling our efforts. Thanks to Blake we didn’t end up with new holes in our ass. 

    We turned in and got low below the 2ft dividing barrier. Everyone took up defensive positions and started firing at anyone who was carrying a rifle. 

    “You guys make it.? Harris said over the radio

    “Yes, what’s your guy’s position? How we looking?” I ask 

    “There is not to many left, we will supply covering fire while you guys move forward.” Harris said

    “Morgan is down and Jeramiah has been shot in the leg. We are short on fire power.” I said

    “Hold on.” Several moments go by before he speaks again. “They have several armed people getting into a position. We should be able to take them out from here.” Harris said.

    A symphony of the chatter of several weapons being fired simultaneously and the bark of our M-4’s in the dugout is almost more than I can bare. My hearing can only take so much and ever sense the explosion back at the compound from these assholes it feels as if it is getting worse. 

    “Most of the civilians are trying to escape near the other dugout but it’s blocked. Most of the soldiers are in the outfield. Leave one back with Jeramiah and the rest of you move on their position. We got you covered.” Harris said

    “Roger that. How are Caroline and Mason?” I say.

    “Doing fine. Get them down and pursue.” Harris said

    “Michael, stay back with Jeramiah. The rest ammo check?” I say

    For the most part it looks like we are doing decent on ammo. The lowest man was Blake who was down two mags but still had 2 more to go and everyone else used up 1 mag so far. 

    “Were getting Caroline and Mason. Then we are moving on the rest.” I said

    Everyone turns towards me and I see them prepare to leave. We run over keeping weapons raised running to where Caroline and Mason are tied up. They are raised about 3 ft. off the ground in the middle of the diamond. Our path is free from obstruction especially with Team 1 giving us over watch. 

    “Doyle you get Caroline, Johnson get Mason. Hurry the fuck up. Give them your side arm when they are free.” Blake said. 

    Both got to work cutting them down while we kept security. We both took up kneeling positions with Blake covering the right side and I on the left. 

    Out of one of the tents a woman with a rifle came crawling out. She was trying to move quickly but she was scared and she tripped with the rifle hitting the ground. She sat up to her knees. She had long curly red hair and her face was very dirty. The rifle landed a few feet in front of her, but by this time I already had my weapon raised and trained on her. 

    “Ma’am put your hands up. Please don’t do anything stupid”? I say

    “You killed my husband.” She cried out.

    “We didn’t know. Ma’am please don’t go for that weapon.” I say

    “I have too!” she yelled and this time her eyes were filled with tears running down her face. She scrambled forward moving towards the rifle. She just got a couple fingers on the wooden stock when it bucked forward, breaking into pieces. She pushed herself back words away from it onto her back. 

    “I got you.” I hear Harris come over the radio.

    “Thanks.” I say with my finger applying at least a couple pounds of pressure on the trigger. 

    Caroline was cut free and Doyle hander her a pistol and a couple mags. I looked to Mason and Johnson was struggling with his bindings. 

    “Doyle help Johnson.”

    Doyle moved in quickly lifting Masons legs up to loosen the rope a little. Johnson was able to get the blade between his wrists and cut the rope. Mason fell off the pole but Doyle was able to catch him on the way down. 

    “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Mayson said almost on the verge of crying.

    “He’s been an emotional wreck, almost the entire time. I kept telling him we would be alright.” Caroline said rubbing her wrists.

    “Mason can you run?” Doyle asks

    “No, they day we were taken, I was hit in the leg by some metal. It’s infected and hurts bad.” Mason said

    “Get to the dugout. Over there. Callout to Michael, he’s in their” I said pointing in the direction of the dugout.

    “Yes, thank you.” Mason said as he started in the direction of the dugout.

    “Caroline you good?” I ask

    “Damn right. I’ve been waiting for you guys to get here so I could get some payback”. She said

    “Alright, let’s get going.” I said

    “You need to move now. Palers are coming from the route we took. A lot of them.” Harris said. 

    I look in the direction and can see a lot of palers looking in with a couple making their way in. A loud shriek comes from one holding the fence open. I think to myself “Is he signaling to the others that he’s holding the gate open, if so this is new for them.” 

    “We need to get these civilians out of here. It’s no longer secured.” Harris says on the radio, I can hear in the background that gunshots are ringing out periodically as they shoot. 

    “What about Garrison?” I ask

    “Lost him after the Molotov. Our priority needs to be the civilians.” Harris said

    “Damnit.” I say without clicking the radios button. “We need to get these people out of here and lead them back to the compound.” I said 

    “What about Garrison?” Caroline asked. 

    “Don’t worry. We are going to get him. Blake take the rest and get our guys in the dugout. Get these people to the compound. Caroline and I will make sure we are not followed by these people.” I look at Caroline

    “Cooper, what the fuck are you talking about?” Blake said

    “We don’t have to time to talk about this. If they escape, the attacks will continue. Save the Civilians, we will take out Garrison.” I said. 

    “We need to…..” Blake started to say before I cut him off. “You need to get going. We are going to end this!” I said back.  Blake is starting to look a little pissed off and not too happy about my decision. His face changes from one of anger to one of approval. 

    “Alright. Be safe out there you idiot. Doyle give your rifle to Caroline, you can take Jeramiah’s, he can’t use it anyway.  ” Blake said. 

I shake my head and then turn to Caroline. “You good with this?”  

“Hell yeah!” she says

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #20

“Let’s get going.” Blake says to his group with a nod. He turns and leads the way back to the dugout, leaving Caroline and myself. She turns to me and asks “How do you want to do this?”

“I thought we would just shoot them.” I said.

“I like the idea, and don’t disagree with it, but I think we need a little bit more than that.” Caroline said with a bit of an annoyed expression. 

“Garrison is a coward, he is going to be with his soldiers. He knows he is losing this fight and will likely try and escape soon.” I said. 

“I have seen them using a couple cars and a brown truck outside of the fences. They could be trying for those.” She said

“Let’s go then.” I said

I motion for her to lead the way. She knows the surrounding areas better then I and knows where we are going. I take up the rear. 

The sun is just starting to make it over the hill, illuminating a little bit of our small part of the earth with each second that goes by. A large crowd is off near the rival school dugout as they try to escape Garrisons rule and the Palers entering. While another group of enemy soldiers are mounting up in a brown ford truck and a couple of cars beside it. We can make them out from the field as they dash across the field in retreat. 

    Heading across the field, we see several palers tackle individuals, bringing them to the ground tearing into any exposed flesh they can find. Palers are running around everywhere now looking for easy targets or focusing on those who are making too much noise. This works in our favor as those remaining soldiers don’t see us because they are too focused on the palers. 

    At the gate where Garrison’s men escaped are two soldiers. They are both in kneeling positions covering those who are in the parking lot getting the vehicles ready. They haven’t noticed us moving in. I see Caroline move her M-4 up and switch the selector switch to auto and take aim at the first target. Her weapon lets loose with a volley of rounds heading towards their target at supersonic speeds. A few of the rounds are low and too the right, but she corrects moving quickly to bring it up and get it on target. Moving and shooting isn’t as easy as it looks on the TV or in video games, every step throws off your shot. 

    The first guy drops tumbling to the side while the other one dove for cover. We moved in a little bit closer and the one who dove threw their weapon to the side and put her hands up in the Air. “Please don’t shoot!” she yelled. Before I could say anything Caroline turned her rifle around and thrust it into the females face knocking her unconscious. She fell forward with blood flowing through the right side of her face. 

    “She was one of the guards. Every day she would bring us water she would spit in it right in front of us then laugh. She also lied to get someone strung up on the pole outside the fence. We are leaving her. She deserves it.” Caroline stated, not in a question but a fact.

    I gave her a nod knowing that we didn’t have any time for it anyway. If we let her go she would fire on us as we moved forward and if we tied her up she would die anyway. Ill hate myself for it later but I know if we leave her here it will at least slow down some of the palers who are focused on her so the others can escape. 

    She held the gate open as I moved through and doing the same for her on the other side so we could move quickly and efficiently. From our position looking down the hill is a parking lot a hundred feet away. Several vehicles with their head lights on are being loaded up with gear and equipment. Both cars have drivers already in the vehicle and the rest are either busy loading or on security. I turn and head vertically down the hill staying parallel to the road that leads up to the parking lot. 

    “Where are we going?” Caroline asked.

    “We used to compete here in wrestling when I was in high school. There is only one way into the parking lot from down here. I have a plan but we need them down there.” I said

    “I hope it’s a good one. I see about fifteen of them.” She said. The road leading up to the parking lot was a curvatures of winding turns and will allow us another element of surprise. 

    I paler rolls down the side of the hill just in front of us passing us by to the road. I follow it with my eyes and then it dawns. Turning my head another paler comes sprinting down the side of the mountain past me and trips crashing into the first paler, knocking it back into the ground. Palers line the top of the hill looking down at us. Some are still moving forward trying to gain access into the ball field but a small number turn to us.

    We can’t shoot at them because of our close proximity to the enemy soldiers so as we are moving I pull my knife down from my vest and have it ready. Those that roll past us will have to climb up to get to us while those coming down can’t control their speed enough to attack us. I look back at Caroline and see that she is doing the same. 

    “I’ll watch the top, you watch below. We need to move as quick as possible.” I said. She gives me a nod and we redouble our efforts and move forward. I watch several Palers follow us from the top of the hill moving with us, trying to find the best way to get to their food. One moves in and starts down the side. I whisper a “Heads up” as I prepare. I watch it start of slow but as it gets closer, picks up speed. By the time it gets to me it’s almost at a full sprint. I dip my shoulder down and let it run into me as I lift up sending it toppling over me. It went soring into the air over and down the other side of the hill. 

    One after another they started coming down the side of the hill. We were dodging zombies left and right as they came from the top and bottom. Caroline had easy targets as they had to climb to reach her making for easy targets for skull shattering strikes with her blade. I on the other hand had to deal with those who were able to maintain footing or those who fell down the side. The palers that ran at me were easy, I knew where they were going, but those who came tumbling down were unpredictable. 

    A paler that I didn’t see came rolling down in my direction sweeping my legs out from under me, causing me to fall to my right side. The bad thing was though that after the paler knocked me over its forward momentum stopped. It was now directly on top of me, pinning me to the ground. It was sprawling about on top of me trying to sink its teeth into my flesh, but I was keeping it at length with my reach, but it was slowly over powering me. I could feel my elbows starting to bend down like I was bench pressing a lot of weight. Its arms were out too its side trying to shake lose my grip and its biceps. Inch by inch it grew closer to my face and I could smell its putrid breath enter my nose. 

    The palers stopped snapping its teeth, and I get to see it for just a second. It’s a female with dirty blond hair tangled up and matted down drooped in front of her face with bits of brown in their as well. I could feel the weight on my chest lift as Caroline grabbed it and moved the body to the side.

    “How the hell are you going to almost die to a tiny paler like that?” Caroline asks as she extended a hand to help me up.

I look back and see that the paler couldn’t have been more than a hundred pounds. 

    “That’s not the same one.” I say this without thinking of a better excuse first. 

    “Sure.” She said rolling her eyes and yanking me to my feet. 

    “Thanks.” I said to her as I turn back to the front and continue forward.

    “We are even now.” she said. 

    A few more palers came down before we got to the first switchback in the road. We both allowed the ones on the ground to work their way up to us in a controlled manner. Luckily we were far enough down the hill that the ones on top didn’t see us anymore, and we only had to worry about the ones on bottom. Two of them, a small boy and a very large female paler that looked like she could be the boy’s mother but it was hard to tell with how dirty they both were. 

    “I got the left.” I said which left me with the small boy. I took it to spare Caroline, not because she’s a woman but because no one should have to kill a child, even if it’s a paler. The woman made it up first but only by a few seconds and was finished off with a quick thrust of her knife into the nose of the woman. She tumbled down the side quickly almost causing Caroline to lose her knife, but she was able to get it loose as the body toppled down.

I quickly take a knee to limit my chance of missing and increase my chance at getting a killing blow. I came down with my knife with the blade pointing down directly on top of the skull. I watched its eyes twitch for a second as the body went lifeless. I watched the so called life leave the boys eyes. I pull the blade out and watch him roll down the hill, coming at a rest in the ditch below. 

We finished the rest in a very similar fashion. The job only took a little over a minute as each one would charge at us to then be sent backwards with a new hole in its body.

It didn’t take long for us to get down to the other side of the switch back. I sat in a kneeling position, and kept my eyes down the road to keep security. 

“Stay here, ill head down the road and take out the lead vehicle slowing them here, after I do that you take the ones out in the back of the truck. After you do that run down the hill and position at the next switch back taking my role and taking out the lead vehicle and ill unload into one of the other vehicles.” I said

“Good, I like it.” Caroline said. 

She then took up a good prone position far enough away from the road to not be spotted. I ran down to the end of the switch back and did the same, but I positioned myself so I would be directly in line with the vehicle as it turned the corner. 

A few minutes later and I could hear the vehicles moving down the road. The sun was still on a steady rise and I could feel the temperature start to go up. I could feel a calmness enter me that I haven’t ever felt before. I didn’t want to kill them, but I was okay with what was going to happen next. My breathing slowed down as I felt this strange feeling take over my very being. I thought of Mary and Madison who would just be waking up right now to find my cot empty, and wonder what they might think happened to me. 

The first vehicle rounded the corner and I lift my rifle up just a couple of degrees positioning it were I think the driver will enter my sights as it draws closer. The driver is in a light green button up shirt and the passenger was a female with her hair pulled back behind her head with three others behind her. I move my finger to the selector switch and flip it to three round burst. The next vehicle is turning around the switch back followed by another. 

I move my index finger to the trigger and apply a couple pounds of pressure to it. My finger tenses a little bit, but I take a breath and force myself to wait. I have to wait until all the vehicles are on the road so Caroline stands the best shot at taking the most out that she can. The lead car is only 25ft in front of me when I see that last vehicle turn down the switch back, and it’s the truck.

I pull the trigger back, trying hard not to anticipate the shot. The M-4 barked in my hand as the rounds flew through the barrel and out into the cool morning air followed by two others. They traveled the course I set them on without a hitch. My shot was true as they pierced the windshield and the driver. 

I could see the look in the driver’s eye as he spotted me a fraction of a second before the bullet connected with his skull. I will forever be the last thing he saw. The bullet entered through his nose and continued out the back of his skull. The man’s body stiffened up and his foot pressed down on the accelerator moving the car faster. I thought rushed through my head “that I shouldn’t of put myself directly in front of the vehicle but maybe off to the side a bit just in case this happens. Lessons learned I guess. I’ll be sure to do it next time if I make it.”

I duck my head and try to become one with the ground. I wait for the inevitable to happen, to be killed by the car but nothing happens. I lift my head as see the car swerve to the left. I stand up quick to a kneeling position flipping my weapon from burst to auto. I move towards the car sending rounds into the rear window. Everyone in the car was trying to either get down or out. The female tried to open the passenger side door but I sent several round her way forcing her to stay inside. I put down a hail of bullets on the car. As my weapon locked to the rear signifying that I have ran out of ammo, I saw no movement from the car. 

Multiple rounds from behind me are sent in my direction as I dove behind the car I just peppered. I was affectively pinned with no were to go when I heard several people yell “Behind us!” as the rounds shifted from me to another. “Must be Caroline” I think. I look underneath the car and see that only two of them are looking in my direction. Ejecting my mag, I grab a fresh one off my vest and swop them out. I slide the bolt home and I am on my way. I shoot in the direction of the two facing me so I can get around a big boulder around the corner.  

They didn’t even have time to shoot back as I cleared the few feet. I don’t think I hit a single one of them but I drew the attention of a couple more allowing Caroline more breathing room. I sit up against the rock taking a breath to calm myself, noticing the sense of ease I felt earlier is no were in sight. I move down the road and get into position for the next altercation.  

The gun fire starts to taper off as I hear a familiar voice yell. “It’s over they are cowards and ran off. God has cleared our path!”

“Garrison!” I say to myself quietly. I felt like standing up and letting my rage surface, but I let my cooler head prevail and I wait patiently. Looking down the road I watch Caroline dart across and get into position and off to the side. I quietly belittle myself for not doing that exact same thing. 

The other car pulls around the car that I took out followed by the truck. I see Garrison in the passenger side seat and it takes every bit of my strength not to stand and fire, but I know if I do that we will fail our mission. The car passes and so does my chance at revenge as I watch the truck move past me. Two were up front and two were in the back of the truck with a body hanging over the edge. 

They are uneasy now and paying attention to their surroundings now. I wait before getting into position because they are just mere feet away and if I move I will be spotted. 

I hear a crack of gunfire in front of me. I switch my legs sideways and pop up, and spray the back of the truck with bullets. I caught one of them off guard with my bullet catching him in the chest. He fell forward out of the bed. The other one though was quick to recover after the first attack and saw me pop up. A couple of things happened at this point at the exact same time, which I owe my life too. The truck went over a pot hole which threw his shot off, raising it a couple inches upward and to the left. It hit, but just grazed my shoulder. The second thing was that it caused the guy to pitch sideways giving me time to recover and fire back. I pulled the trigger again sending another round his direction. The first one caught him in the collarbone deflecting the round upward and out his neck. The second one punched through his chest and into his heart. 

The lead car’s horn sounded off like a siren. It was extremely loud and will pull every paler to our position that are not already engaged up in the ball field. Something has to be done about it quickly or our plan is quickly going to go to shit. 

I move in up the passenger side of the truck with my weapon raised. The door opens and a foot steps out swiveling in my direction. I light him up before he could do anything. And he fell out. I move past looking inside and see the driver reaching for a pistol on the dash. I pull the trigger on him as his head explodes out the back of his skull covering the window in blood. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #21

Not seeing Caroline anywhere and hear no shooting, I renew my efforts approaching the driver’s side door. I look into the rear and I see one person down with the passenger side door open. I move to the driver side and see the driver fell forward with his head on the horn. I move him to the side off of the steering while, and I stand up looking around as I soak up the silence that is within my immediate presence. 

I look left, then right but I don’t see anything. Standing up I spin in a 360 looking for anyone but no one is in sight. Moving crouched with my M-4 at the ready I head further down the road looking for Caroline. 

    A couple of palers pop up on the left moving at a full sprint onto the road.  The first turns in my direction and starts running for me. It’s a skinny man wearing Hawaiian shorts that comes for me first. The rifle bucks in my hand and pushes into my shoulder but I don’t remember squeezing the trigger. Everything is becoming muscle memory in this new world, which is a skill that saves lives. He drops on the ground rolling to the side as his body twitches in its final death throws. 

The paler directly behind the skinny one was too disfigured to guess the gender. Its face was cut up bad with puss leaking out of each one, with yellowish liquid running down its face were its eye used to be. Its mouth had white foam around its edges. Again my weapon goes off and surprises me with a single projectile exiting the barrel. The ejector locked to the rear, upset that I didn’t feed another mag into it. 

I drop the weapon unto my shoulder letting it rest on my sling and pull my knife from its sheath knowing I don’t have enough time to put a new mag in. I brace myself by bringing my left foot back and squaring my shoulders. I side step to the right tripping the paler as it moved forward and it went falling behind me. This bought me a couple of extra seconds to prepare for the one that was following it. I through my right hand up and plunged the knife deep into is jugular. The paler’s forward momentum pulled the blade through the front of its throat and out. 

I spun around just in time to see the one that I tripped tackle me to the ground. I fell over back words throwing everything I could into throwing my hips up and to the right to give myself some distance. As I did this I could feel my wound in my lower back ignite in pain. The palers legs fly to the right but its arms are still locked under my arm pits. This move has only bought me a fraction of a second and not enough to do anything with. I watch the palers head move in what seems like slow motion to the left side of my neck. I felt its teeth bite into my neck as I screamed out in pain. 

I expected it to rip away with my flesh still in its mouth but its body went limp on top of me. I think to myself that maybe I am poison to the palers and one bite of me is enough to kill them instantly, but I push that idea aside because it literally makes no sense. 

“Cooper you alright?” I hear a female’s voice come from somewhere. 

“No.” I scream. “I’ve just been bit!” 

She moves over and pushes the body off of me and puts a hand out. She eyes me carefully all around my neck. Grabbing my chin and yanking it up, causing my neck to stretch I flinch taking a step back. 

“Would you calm down? You’re going to be alright.” Caroline says

“How? I’ve been bit!” I say again starting to protest and argue with her. 

“My first shot missed and hit you in the neck. It’s barely a scratch.” She said. 

“What?” I ask again not believing her. 

“You’re going to be fine. I killed it before it touched you.” She said

“Thank….You!” I say still not grasping what had just happened. I started laughing, just a little bit but it broke out and I just let loose. I’m sure I sounded like a loon to Caroline but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to become one of those things. 

“You alright?” she asked with a confused look. 

“Just need new pants is all.” I said before asking “What way did Garrison go?” 

“Before I came back to get you I saw him running down the side of the hill with two others but one looked to be hurt” She said.

“We need to move. How much of a lead?” I ask

“They might be at the main road by now.” She said excitedly.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

I reach down to the ground to my right and pick up my M-4. I eject the old mag and inserting my last full mag. Looking over my M-4 I decided nothing is wrong with it and I turn to Caroline and nod my head. She nods back as we both turn and head down the road. 

We both move at a slight jog, her watching the left and I on the right making sure to move quick but still be thorough. My eyes dart behind and in front of us as I scan my sector, but everything so far seems clear. The sun is out now and the palers are starting to retreat back into the darkness. As long as we don’t bother them and move quickly they won’t bother us. 

    We come to a stop sign to a T in the road. Straight ahead are the railroad tracks and to the left is the compound. The right leads out of town and it’s the way I would go if I were them. We looked in all direction and couldn’t see anything. 

    “Hear that?” Caroline asked

    “No. What do you hear?” I ask tilting my head to try and pick up the sound a little bit better. 

    “It sounds like a car trying to start. Bad starter.” She said

    We both started moving in the direction of the sound. We ran a little bit further down the road until we came to a house on the right side. The front yard was fenced in with lots of kid’s toys out front, complete with a swing set. The house was a light green with a shingled roof and looked to be a double wide.

    When we reached the building the sound grew louder. “Come on, Come on!” I hear from a man. “We need to find a new car! Let’s move further this one won’t start. Jeffery give me your hand!” He says.

    “God has spoken with me. He wishes us to leave this place quickly.” I hear Garrison say.

    “I will not leave my brother behind. I don’t care if you speak to god or not!” The man said

    We walk up next to the house and creep around back while I take lead. Caroline is right on my heels as we push further along the side of the house. We push up along the rear of the house when crouch lower into a kneeling position. I have the barrel at the low ready while I take a deep breath to calm. 

    “You ready? I whisper looking back at Caroline as she gives me a nod in the affirmative. 

I was just about to turn the corner when a hand reaches out from the window above us and grabs at me. I startled and fell backwards shooting into the wall just below the window. I hit the ground hard, regaining my senses I look back to the window from the ground and see that the hand quite moving. 

The engine of the little car fires to life and I hear “Go, Go, Go!” 

    I quickly get back to and turn the corner and fire a couple of rounds into the back of the car but quite shooting not wanting to waist ammo. I see Caroline running down the end of the house, she then jumps down into a prone position. I see her looking into the sights, the rise and fall of her chest as her rifle kicks in her shoulder.

    “Got em!” is all I hear before I turn my gaze to the car to watch the right rear tire begin to shred away. This didn’t happen like the movies, where the car shifts to the side and then rolls. It is enough though to slow them down. 

    “Damn, nice!” I say

    The vehicle doesn’t come to a complete stop, but they do slow down considerably. Sparks start to shoot from the rim scrapping on the ground, followed by the sound of metal scraping on pavement.

    “They’re getting away, let’s go!” Caroline says. 

    We both quickly get on the road again moving down the street bringing us further away from the compound. Garrison and the others are moving out of town to the north. 

    “We can catch them if we hurry.” I said

    “How? They are going at least twenty!” she says in between breaths. 

    “Further down the road are the barricades that we set up”. I say

    You can hear the squeal of the rim on the road even as the car turned the corner out of sight. We moved as quickly as we could without going at a full sprint. This slows us down, but there is no point catching up to them if we are too winded to do anything when we catch up. We would get there and be too tired to fight. 

    We end up jogging for at least another half mile when I hear Caroline ask “How much further?” 

    “It should be just up around the corner. Let’s slow down to catch our breath.”

    This road is built at the base of a mountain limiting people from going around the barricade in their vehicles. The road goes around a bend but doesn’t allow us to see around the corner. We stopped and waited trying to listen to anything that might give us early warning. Not hearing anything ii stand up and take a chance walking around the corner.

I look around and see the car stopped at the front of the barricade. When we got a little bit closer, we checked inside but the vehicle was empty. 

    “What the hell do we do now?” Caroline asked

    “We got to find him. He’s got to die.” I reply. 

    I look around quickly trying to find any sign of what direction they went. I first check the driver’s side of the car, back seat and then the passenger seat. I saw some blood on the floor board. 

    “Look for blood.” I said

    Caroline started to move around quickly checking around. I walked to the front looking on the ground but didn’t find anything in front but I move to the barrier. On the bottom of the barrier I see a tiny amount of blood, but it’s enough. 

    “This way.” I said. 

    “You find something?” she asked

    “Yeah, blood. Let’s go”. I said

    We move off the road closer to the river across the rail road tracks that stretch for miles. We get on the rails and see that the blood is heading north, and is staying on the tracks. We move slowly at a walk for a while before we find that we are starting to see the blood more frequently. 

    Every step we take we find more and more blood until we find a man lying on the ground in the middle of the tracks. “Check for a pulse, ill cover you.” I asked Caroline.

    The man was sitting on the ground slumped over on his right side. She grabbed his right wrist lifting it from the ground and holing it in her hand checking for a pulse but he jerked it back quickly.

    “Leave, me alone.” The man coughed out. 

    “Were did they go?” Caroline asked

    “Fuck..You..” the man choked out. Caroline looked down his leg and saw the blood coming from his upper thigh. She grabbed it and put her thumb into the wound squeezing it. He screamed out in pain for a couple of seconds and then pleaded for her to stop. 

    “Tell me where they went!” Caroline said slowly making sure to say each word slowly to drive it up that she wasn’t messing around. 

    They must of done something horrible to her for her to go this far. I know why I’m doing this. I want revenge for Goerner but I don’t know why Caroline came along. 

    “Now!” I hear snapping me back to the situation at hand. 

    “Please tell her.” I said in a cool and calm voice. 

    “Garrison was talking about a cabin down here.” He said

    “You better not be lying to me.” As she twisted her thumb around in the hole again making him tense in pain.

    “I’m not!” he cried. 

    “Good.” She said. 

    She stands up and we both start walking away. 

    “Are you just going to leave me here?” the wounded man said.

    “Ah, Yeah.” Caroline said and with that she turned back around again and we walked away with the man pleading with us to help.

    We walk until the sun is high in the sky and the day is at its hottest. I know I have been battling the sweat now for some time from going into my eyes. We have checked every building along the way looking for anything, but nothing stuck out. 

We did come across a house that we checked out. A wooden house that seemed to be falling apart, and looked to be in desperate needs of repairs. All its windows appeared to be broken. Probably before the outbreak even took place. We checked inside but found nothing of importance. Caroline and I turned back to the tracks and try to pick up the trail again. 

I think to myself that I wish Harris was here, he would probably know what to do. I was just about to turn back thinking we might have missed something or to go question the man again, but I know that we haven’t and he’s probably dead by now but a dead paler is off the side of the tracks. 

    “We are getting close.” I said and just like that we came across an old trail. It led to an old wooden cabin that was just far enough away from the tracks to not be noticed if we didn’t look down the trail. We followed it to the tree line and made sure to stay out of sight. 

    The curtains have been drawn, but you could clearly hear people inside arguing in the silence of the wood.

    “Why did we leave my brother?” a man yelled

    “Everything happens according to gods will. Or do you deny your god in the face of all his miracles?” Garrison asked but in a heated condescending tone.

    “No. I just need time.” the other man said. More was clearly said, but the voices got quiet and muffled. 

The door opened up and a man came out. He walked around on the deck clearly uneasy about himself. He paced back in fourth, quickly looking around scanning the area. 

Caroline shifts on the ground raising her weapon up. I give her a nod in the affirmative, letting her know to continue. She pulled the trigger and thunder rings out and a fraction of a second later his head snaps to the rear with bullet entering his nose. The body falls back words as Caroline is getting to her feet.

I moved in first with my weapon raised.

    “Garrison, you have no were to go. Come out!” I yelled. 

“Why do you interfere with gods plan?” Garrison says through the window. 

“Your gods plan is to make people work as slaves and kill those who dont agree with you?” I yell back 

“Our god.” He snaps back “Is the creator of everything including good an evil. Your sins and others like you, are the reason he has opened the 7th seals, as told in revolutions”. Garrison said. 

“Is it your god who told you to raid the hospital and kill my friend?” I yell

“I thought I recognized your voice. You are the heathens who lied to the prophet of god?” He yelled

“We were trying to protect people! You were trying to steal what we had!” I said

“You work for that demon sent by Satan to lie about me before the 7th seal was broken. Anyone who speaks ill of the prophet of god or his followers deserve to die. I did give your people a chance and they rejected it!” Garrison yelled

“I’m going to kill you!” I said as I started moving towards the door. I fire a round into the house to let him know I’m done talking. The bullet flies through the window pings off something inside and I could hear the familiar sound of a ricochet. 

I move in with Caroline covering the windows. A bullet sounds out from inside the house hitting the front door creating a hole in it sending splinters out in every direction. I reach my hand up quickly and turn the nob and push the door open then pull back. I wait a few seconds and then another bullet hits the door sending more splinters outward. I flip my weapon to burst and point at the door, not opening it any further and fire into the door.  

Caroline moved to the side keeping low below the window as I fired through. She got below the window I sent my first round into then crouched down. I motion and show that I’m going to shoot through the door again then look to her window. She caught what I was trying to say and nodded. 

I got down below the new holes in the door trying to stay back as far away as possible to not receive a new bullet hole. I’d rather avoid those because they hurt like hell. I reach out and pull the trigger sending three more rounds inside the house. I roll back to my original spot quickly as Garrison fires another round at the door. The hole splintered out again just like previously but this time a piece hit me in my left eye. 

I immediately bring my hand up to it, but don’t feel anything sticking out, but it hurt like hell. I hear another shot, but this time it’s right next to me and from Caroline. She stood up and while Garrison was busy firing at me, she had time to line up a shot. Garrison screamed out.

“I’m done, I’m sorry. Please stop!” He yells out. 

“Throw your gun out!” Caroline yells in.

“How do I know you won’t kill me?” he said

“Caroline, shoot him!” I said

    “No, don’t! Here it is.” 

    I could hear something heavy and metallic clank across the floor inside and then slide. It hit the door in front of us. 

    “This better not be a game, if you’re fucking with us I’m going to gut you!” I yelled

    “I’m not. I’m not!” Garrison beseeched.

    I looked to Caroline and whispered “Ill reach in, cover me.” She nods. I sit down with my back against the wall and push the door open just a couple of inches. I reach in bending my arm around the door until I feel the object, as Caroline sends a shot in Garrison’s direction. He yells out again but not in pain but rather frustration.  I grab it and pull it out quickly.

    “You ass hole. A Fucking frying pan!” I yell. 

    “Were safe, let’s go in.” Caroline said

    “How do you know?” I ask

    “I shot his gun” She said

    “Damn you’re a good shot” I said

    “I was aiming for his head.” She said

    I stood up and put my M-4 up to my shoulder. Cracking the door open I step through aiming down the sights directly in front of me. Garrison crawled further into the kitchen in front of the refrigerator so I pushed further into the room with Caroline directly behind me. Keeping the rifle raised I move further into the kitchen. I turn the corner and Garrison is holding his right shoulder pressed up against some cabinets. 

    He first looks to me and the Caroline. He coughs out some blood before speaking. “I am a prophet of god.” He said. 

    “Quite with that bull shit. Why did you do it!” I yell. I kneel down next to him. He spits out some blood on the ground to his right. That first bullet must have hit a bone and traveled into his lung. 

     “A pale man talked to me when everything first happened.” Garrison said before I interrupted

    “He’s delusional.” 

    “No. No. After I left the town those who listened left me. I wandered around for a short time coming across the baseball field. I sat on the pitcher’s mound praying for a miracle when one of the pale men came up to me just before sunset.”

“I don’t believe you!” I said

    He reached into his pocket and grabbed something out. This made Caroline twitch and almost blow his brains out, but I reached up and pushed her barrel down to his waist. 

    “If he tries anything shoot him there.” I gesture at his crotch. “Now you better start making sense.” I said. 

    He shifted quickly and started stuttering his words. “Its…Its..” His gaze looks up to Caroline then back to me. “He gave me this.” He pulled out his hands from his pocket with a small vile on it. “This ah, this keeps the pale ones away.” 

    “Bull shit.” I said

    “I’m not lying. He told me to get others. He needed people. So I lied about being able to speak with god and used this” he held up the vile “to keep them away and claimed it was god.” He said

    I grabbed the vile from him and looked at it. I held it up to the light from the window and examined it. It was a glass vile in a cylinder that had a cap on the top.  “How does it work?” I ask

    “It… It only takes a bit… mix it with water and spread around. It will keep them away.” He said

    Caroline moved in and pressed her barrel again Garrisons head. She had a tear running down her face. “What gave you the right to do what you did to the prisoners?” 

    “I…I.. Did what I had to.” Garrison said

    “You did what you had too! Putting people on poles for the Palers and what you did to the other male Prisoners! That’s what you had to do!” she screamed.

    “I’m sorry.” He cried

    “Garrison, the man you killed at the hospital was a good man. He is one of the many reasons you are going to die here.” I said

    “Please no!” he screamed.

    Damien Cooper Journal Entry #22

We drug Garrison outside and tied him to a nearby pine tree that was just wide enough to bear hug. We cut the back of his left ankle preventing him from running even if he did escape. We left him screaming behind us as we started back to the railroad tracks. Step after step we took made Garrison’s cries and begging for mercy fade deeper into nothingness as we travelled closer to home. 

    We walked in silence for some time which allowed my mind to wonder. I began to question everything about what I have done up until this point and if it has been correct. Could I have done anything different for Goerner or Winters? Was it my fault that Morgan is dead or the civilians who were in the tent? Is leaving Garrison tied up on the tree the correct course of action? Yes, out of all the decisions I have made, this one seems correct. 

    I look to Caroline and see that she is deep in thought too. She had her own motives to leave Garrison and they had something to do with the way Michael was treated. I want to ask what happened but it’s not my place. The horrible acts committed against Michael are only for him and Caroline to know. When we get back I’ll let Harris know that it would be a good idea to get him to a counselor or something.

    “It’s getting late.” Caroline said

    I didn’t even notice. My thoughts earlier preoccupied my time when I should have been paying attention to my surroundings. It reminded me of how one could drive and let their mind drift and not remember anything at all of the previous miles driven. 

    I looked up into the sky at the positioning of the sun. It was just starting to crest the tops of the mountains in the west. 

    “I don’t think we are going to make it home. We should probably look for a place to bunker down for the night.” I said

    “Your foresight is amazing.” She said sarcastically.

    “Let’s make for the old house we passed on the way here. It may not have windows but it will give us some cover.” I said

    She nodded her agreement as we pressed on further down the trail. We continued without much talking or incident except when we both raised our rifles and prepared to fight an angry squirrel that seemingly came out of nowhere to give me a heart attack. Not much after the squirrel attack we came to the familiar trail that lead to the house. 

    “Barricade the bottom windows as best you can and I’ll work on the doors. We need to be quick I think we only have a half hour left of daylight.” I said. 

    “What about the vile?” Caroline questioned

    “I don’t want to put all my trust into Garrison, do you? Especially with our life on the line.” I said

“Good point. I’ll get started on the windows then.” She said

Two main entrances led into the house. The front door which still had its door on its hinges, luckily it was a thick door and not one of those hallow ones. The locks wouldn’t engage so I opted to move the refrigerator in front of it. The back door was trickier as it had no door on it at all. A quick search of the house turns up nothing that I could use. Upstairs has a closet with a door that would fit decently but it’s not a solid door and will not leave us with much protection. A motivated Paler would break through in seconds. Nothing else has presented itself to me, so I grab it and begin putting it in place. 

An old couch sits in the living room that I grab and start to move into place behind the closet door. It’s ripped in a lot of places and has several rats nests in it but it should hold. The couch was probably made in the 60’s when they used real metal for the frames because it weighed a couple hundred pounds easy. I was able to wedge it between the wall and the closet door. Now it won’t go anywhere but the top half can still be broke fairly easy. 

“Just a few more minutes left.” I hear Caroline say from the other room. 

    “How the windows coming?” I ask

“They’re coming.” She said.

I start to help her out with the windows, but she has made much better progress then me, getting most of them secure. So I make my way for the stairs trying to see if I could block them from down here, but I stop, hearing a familiar sound from outside. A distant screech rings out from a paler. 

“Did you hear that?” I ask

“Yep.” Caroline said in a calm voice. 

“Let’s get upstairs.” I said

    The stairs were just wide enough for two people to climb up at the same time with only railings to stop one from falling off. At the top of the stairs were two bedrooms with one to the left and one to the right. I go to the bedroom on the left and push out a dresser. The idea was to block the stairs with as much stuff as we could find to stop them from gaining entry to the top floor. It was a small dresser so I thought I could do it myself but as I was about a quarter of the way down it slipped from my grasp and fell to the bottom making a very loud crashing sound.

    “Shit.” I said in a whisper

    “What was that?” Caroline asked from the other bedroom. 

    I said the first thing that came to mind. “Um, just the dinner bell. Nothing major, but we might want to hurry.”

    “Holy shit Cooper.” I hear her mumble, muffled from the distance. 

    Another scream comes from outside the house, but this one I much closer. I move and grab everything I can from the top bedroom and start pushing it down the stairs, thinking that it really doesn’t matter if I make much noise now. Caroline does the same and soon the stairway quickly becomes congested. 

    The last thing we move into position is the bedframe which we use to brace up against the wall affectively cutting off entrance to the upstairs.

    “How many rounds you have left?” I ask

    “A little over half a magazine.” Caroline said. 

    “Same here.” Caroline said.

    “Only use them if they get to the stairs.” I said.

A loud pounding on the front door draws our attention and we both go silent. More screeches from outside echo through the night calling in more of these zombies in our direction. A window break shattering inward spilling glass fragments to the ground. A hand grasps the window seal and pulls its body up until its head pokes up and looks inside. I can’t make out to many features due to the diminishing sunlight but I could clearly see its eyes. It looked the same as all the others, it was a hateful hunger if that makes sense. 

It started to climb in, but slipped on the broken glass impaling itself on a larger piece of glass that was still standing. The paler struggled for a while trying to get itself free, blood drooped down the wall like a slow moving waterfall. The more if thrashed around the more damage it was causing to itself. Eventually the body went limp and it hunt in the window, half in and half out.  

The front door was under a constant barrage of palers trying to gain entry. We had our NVG’s from the previous night, but they were almost out of juice. Neither one of us wanted to waist them so early in the night. We could hear palers outside the house trying to get in. So far the only window to break was the one the paler got stuck in. All the others held up and didn’t look to be given way anytime soon. 

The building was just starting to look secure when the back door sounded with a crack. The bottom was braised up with the couch, but the top was weak. A palers hand punched through the top of the door causing it to splinter all around. The hand came through getting cut up in the process. Blood fell from its wrist to the floor creating small pools of blood before it ripped its hand back from the door. 

“It’s about to start.” I said in a hushed whisper.

“I thought it already did.” Caroline said back

It wasn’t long before the top part of the back door was broken inwards, just large enough for a man to come through. Two hands came through gripping both sides of the door as it pulled its way inside. Caroline took the first shot dropping it to the ground just in front of the door. Another one poked its dome through and tried to look around before Caroline sent it a greeting as well, dropping it with its head partially in the door. 

“If we pile them up at each entry it will make it harder for them to get in.” She said

“Good idea, if we have thirty rounds, that’s thirty bodies.” I said with excitement.

“More like twenty three.” She said

“I think your math is wrong.” I said after her next shot at a paler trying to do the same as the last but only to lose its head in the process. 

“Well, I’ll hit all of mine. You will miss the first shot of each of yours.” She said

“Screw you.” I said back as I raised my rifle and did just what she said. A paler was standing up next to the paler in the window trying to get in. My first shot drilled the paler that was stuck in the back. My second shot severed its jaw from its skull. I looked to Caroline and said “The first shot was a double tap.” 

 Caroline rolled her eyes as she covered the rear door. I scanned the rest of the house periodically switching on my NVG’s to assess the damage on the front door and surrounding windows. Most appeared to be holding up okay, but the front door is pulling away from its hinges.

    The window in the kitchen next to the front door pushed open allowing the paler to get at the board Caroline put up. The small piece of plywood that was blocking the entrance would not last long as it was already starting to crack and splinter. 

    “Make sure your knife is handy. When we run out we can stab them from over the bedframe.” I said

    She pulls the trigger again and again dropping a paler with each bullet. The noises from the ones outside are so loud, and are only being drowned out from the bark of her M-4. Her bolt locks to the rear letting us both know her hellfire is over and it’s my turn.

    “Try and get one of the rooms ready for a fallback.” I said

    “Maybe you should give me your rifle so I can keep both of us alive.”  Caroline said being half serious. 

    “No, I got this.” Get the room ready, but be quick, I’m going to need your help.” I said.

    She was off trying to make one of the bedrooms a good safe room if we can’t hold them back on the stairs. A loud snap lets me know that the plywood broke. Aiming down the sights I catch a glimpse of the paler, and for a split second it looked just like Mary. She had her black dress jacket over a tight orange dress and her long brown hair hung down through the window. After I blinked the zombie reverted back to the pale skin creature it was now.

    I hesitated long enough for the paler to gain access to the house. It hit the ground and then started making its way to me at the base of the stairs. It started to climb up and around the debris we threw down and made it about half way up when I pulled the trigger sending a shot center mass. The round hurled it backwards and it crashed to the bottom adding another obstacle. 

    The front door broke free from its hinges and the palers drug it outside. They pushed the fridge over and made their way above and over quickly. The first one in was a fat man. It wore a white tank top that barely covered its gut. He had a large wound to its left shoulder with brown stains underneath his left arm. The one behind was a child, couldn’t have been more than ten years old wearing a super hero shirt, or I think it was. It was stained with fresh blood. 

    The fat paler was moving extremely fast and crashed into the dresser on the bottom with such force it ripped the railing off the right side of the stairs. It pushed the dresser off the stairs and some of the stuff we threw down slid down to the ground. This one paler royally just screwed us bad. The only good thing to come of this was that paler I killed earlier fell off as well landing on the fat paler causing him to struggle getting back to his feet. I shot him in the right side of his forehead. 

    “What was that?” Caroline asked

    “Nothing, but you might want to hurry up. No biggie.” I said back

    The small paler looked directly at me and started to waddle in my direction. Its left pant leg was missing and you could see that its calf was gone. It looked like it was chewed off with bits of meat still clinging to it. As it walked you could see where the muscle would have connected because it would contract like it was still there. I watched its body get thrown back to the rear, crashing into the wall. It kicked and rolled to the side pushing back to its feet. I pulled the trigger again this time catching the small paler in the neck, dropping it to the ground. The paler kicked around for a moment and then it went still. 

    While I was focused on the fat and little paler several others gained entrance into the house. I moved from target to target dropping bodies or at least slowing them down but it wasn’t enough. A paler that looked to be a cheerleader made it up about half way before I send her sprawling back down. My bolt locked to the rear, letting me know I was out of ammo. 

    “Caroline I’m out. Need back up.” I said

    She ran up beside me with her knife drawn. The first one made it to us and tried to climb over when I shoved my knife through the bottom of its jaw through the soft pallet into the brain. The next one Caroline cut its jugular, you could hear the breath escape its neck. One after another after another we put them down, but more and more kept coming into the house. One tried to jump over the bedframe but I stopped it with my nose. Not really, I looked up to get ready to get the next one and as soon as I did one jumped and clocked my in the nose. 

    I fell backwards fighting off my darkening vision. I probably would have passed out if it wasn’t Caroline yelling at me. “Wake your ass up. I don’t want to die here!” blood poured from both nostrils as I retook up my position. I stood on wobbly feet and stabbed at a paler, completely missing. It might have been because I saw two of them. The paler didn’t hesitate, as soon as my arm was passed its head it turned and grabbed my arm. 

    Caroline struck out with her knife getting the creature in the left eye. The knife didn’t sink it but glided across its skull through the nose into the right eye. The paler let go of my arm and threw itself backwards falling down the stairs. I fell to the floor, still feeling a throbbing in my nose. “It has to be broken” I think to myself.

    “Cooper, I need you in this, or they are going to run over me! Get your shit together!” Caroline damn near yelled at me. I rolled over to her with my back resting against the back of the bed frame. I shook my head to the left and right and then felt my nose with my left hand. It hurt like hell but it didn’t feel broken. 

    I readied myself for the next paler. I went to a kneeling position with my head barely over the frame. Caroline just ended another one and the next was right behind it. I stood up and struck down on the top of the head of the closest paler. I was just about to congratulate myself internally but its damn skull wouldn’t give my knife back. It slid down the stairs and then fell off the side taking my knife with it. 

    “Shit!” I said.

    “What?” She said.

    “Lost the knife!” I replied. 

    “Holy shit cooper.” She retorted.

    “I know, I suck. Hand me the M-4.” I said

    She grabbed the M-4 that was to the left of her off the ground and looked it over. She then handed it to me. I pushed the stock all the way in and grabbed the barrel, with the intent to use it like a club. 

    For an hour we kept this up. I swung the M-4 until my arms burned from just picking them up and Caroline would take out the ones that would make it past my reach. We both were coated with sweat and our arms with blood from the palers but we didn’t stop. It wasn’t a constant attack, there would be breaks in their movements, but never for too long. The only thing left of my M-4 was the upper receiver and barrel. The floor was littered with bodies or those who couldn’t move anymore. We were both spent and couldn’t keep this up for much longer. 

    Finally after what seemed like hours a break in the palers attack. A screech came from outside and the palers left the stairs. Most left the house entirely but two stayed at the bottom of the stairs watching us intently. I wondered if it was a new stage in their thinking process and they thought to reconsider their strategy and this gave me some pause for concern. Are these assholes getting smarter?

    “What’s going on?” Caroline asked never lowering her knife or letting her guard down. 

    “I don’t know. I don’t like that they left with these two down there.” I answered her question, trying to do my best to maintain alertness, but my ass was kicked. I was tired and pissed off, which was probably what led to my next actions. I started yelling at them. “Come on! Is that all you got! You fucking assholes!” I yelled at the top of my lungs, causing my throat to hurt in protest.

    “What are you doing?” Caroline yelled at me angrily. 

    “I think they are trying to find a different way up.” I said

    The only two left in the house kept eyes glued on us. One was hunched over like it had a something wrong with it while the other stood up talk with its head tilted back to look at us. One had a pair of red running shoes while the other was barefoot. Mr. Posture had dried blood all down the front half of his face from his forehead that had a large cut across it. 

    I could hear movement from outside but I couldn’t discern any information. There is a window in each bedroom so I decide to go look. I let Caroline know what I am going to do and she gives me a nod. I check the bedroom on my right and look out the window, but don’t see any movement. 

    I look down at the twenty or so palers we have killed so far and find the two that were left inside. I check out the window in the other bedroom and could see several palers standing doing nothing. Right below a bush stood out four feet from the wall. Looking further into the tree line also turns up nothing.

    “Anything?” I hear from the other room.

    “No. There are a few over here but I don’t see the others?” I said back

    I take up position again next to Caroline and ready my tactical M-4 club and steel my resolve for another battle that is sure to come. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. My arms feel heavy, my shoulders hurt, my knees want to give out but if I ever want to see my family again we have to push forward, we have to succeed. 

    Palers started to enter the house through the front door climbing over the couch and through the back. I don’t know why but a paler even came in through the window. It didn’t make much sense to me why it did that. The door seemed so much easier. It made me stop and get lost in thought for a second, like maybe that paler wasn’t the brightest of the bunch. She was probably pissed at the others because she wasn’t included in the meeting or something. 

    Caroline jabbed me in the side, bringing me back from my thoughts. 

    “What?” I ask

    She looked at me with an eye brow slightly raised and marginally confused facial expressions. “Where are you?” 

    “What kind of question is that?” I ask

    “You don’t look like your head is in the game.” She said

    “I was thinking about the paler that came in through the window.” I said

    “Why?” she said

    “I was wondering why she did that. Like maybe she was trying to be a rebel or something.” I said

    Caroline started laughing uncontrollably and so did I. Maybe it was because I was tired or my body exhausted but for some reason this was the funniest thing in the world at the moment. 

    As soon as the laughing was just starting to die down the palers started to move on the stairs. They started to step over their fallen brethren and the remaining obstacles on the stairway. In moments Caroline and I were back to work using the same routine as early taking out paler after paler. I would swing my M-4 club into skulls, cracking them while Caroline would use precision, stabbing palers through eye sockets, temples or up through the jaw.

    In between swings I could see the palers below were moving our obstacles away. They almost had the stairs clear of the debris and when this happened they would be able to put more bodies on the stairs to get to us. 

“There moving the stuff. We are going to be over run.” I said

“I thought we were already. I mean it’s not like we are going anywhere.” Caroline said.

“Point taken.” I say as I crack a skull of a paler trying to pull the bed frame down. “We need to fall back to the safe room.”

“It’s not so safe.” She said as she stabbed out barely missing a paler, but it backed up affectively giving us more room.

“It will be. We move on three.” I said.

The palers were just about through with a couple already at the top keep us busy. 

“Three.” I swung down missing the head of a paler, but busting its left shoulder.

“Two.” The three palers at the bottom were moving the final mattress and several were getting into position. 

“One.” We grabbed the bedframe lifting it up and backtracking with it. The palers on the other side crashed into us as we moved away. A shriek echoed from down below and the palers moved as one up the stairs. We carried the frame backward towards the room. 

At the last second I pushed around the frame and rammed my shoulder into the first paler, knocking it to the ground. I was able to run past the stairs before the palers reached the top. I could hear Caroline behind me yell out “Get back here you idiot!” Even if I wanted to I couldn’t. I heard the bed frame fall down and the door shut behind me. “Come on you fuckers, follow me!” I yelled. 

Everything was over so fast but while it was happening it felt like it was slow motion. I made it to the bedroom with the palers we were fighting crashed into those who made it to the top of the stairs. It didn’t slow them down for long but it gave me an additional foot or two. I swear I could feel their fingers dig into my back when I jumped for the window. 

I leaped as hard as I could leading with my right foot. Most of the window was already broken but as I came through I kicked what was left. I fell fast into the bush below, breaking my fall as a paler landed on its head right in front of me. It snapped its neck on impact and was out of the fight. I stood up, mentally checking myself for any damage, but I seemed to be good.

“Come on ass holes! Easy target out here!” I yelled trying to draw them away. Another paler jumped from the window, landing hard to my left. It was on all fours when I came down with my M-4 on the back of its neck. It fell forward but tried again. I brought the heel of my boot down on the back of its head. Its body went limp. 

    I could see a female paler turn the corner and look at me. It yelled out with a shriek and then another turned the corner. Before I knew it I was running in the opposite direction of the river which is the exact opposite of what I wanted to do. I push into the woods to the east of the house but struggle to see anything in front of me. 

    I could hear the palers behind me, moving in fast. I keep my left hand out in front of me for an early detection system. If I run into a tree and trip its game over and the palers will be right on top of me. 

    Feeling a tree I push to the left and avoid it but I stumble on a rock or a root or something and it cause me to fall down. I recovered quickly but I lost precious feet and could feel the eyes of the palers behind me boring holes into my back. 

    The ground dropped out from beneath me and I started to fall. I hit the ground hard and I started to roll forward. I reached out trying to grab anything I could to stop myself but to no avail. My body stopped rolling but I slid for a couple more feet. I don’t know how far I fell, but it couldn’t have been very far. I didn’t have time to lay around, I rolled to my right side placing my hand on the ground to stand but felt a pain in my left foot. I tried to put some weight on it but the pain shot up my leg and I almost fell again. 

    I look around but could barely see anything. I could hear them just above me which lets me know that I don’t have long to make my decision. My fight or flight reflexes are screaming at me to run, but my foot disagrees. Looks like I’ll have to go for the former instead of the latter. Limping my way over to a tree I brace myself thinking that I would supply some sort of cover to the rear and allow me to only have to watch my front. 

    I look down and look at what’s left of my M-4 and ready it in my hand. I could hear the palers from around me and could hear thuds from in front of me. The sound must be that of the palers jumping down. What a way to go down. This isn’t how I wanted to die. I want to watch Madelyn grow up and learn to play the guitar. I have so much more I wanted to tell Mary, but I’m out of time. The best I can do is take out as many of these bastards as I can before they take me out. 

    Palers are all around me as I could only make out shadows. I wish I could just close my eyes and use my senses to depict where they are and when they will strike but I know that’s just a fantasy. With my hearing being shit, it was hard for me to use that in my favor. 

    A shadow lunges at me from the left. I dipped down and as the paler was above my I came up hard sending it past me into another paler on my right. As I was coming up I brought my club up and swung catching another paler in front of me in the jaw. It spun in a circle to the ground. I could hear it try to shriek out but it was muffled down. 

    One leaped off the body of its fallen friend in front of me slamming into my chest. It had my left hand pinned upward and my right, which held the club pinned downward. It bit down hard on my shoulder but couldn’t break through the Kevlar I hard on. Still hurt like hell though and I’m sure I’ll have a nasty discolored bruise.

    It was focused on my shoulder, which was good with me because only a couple inches away it could reach my neck easily. It had my head pushed to the right and I could see another paler charging from the other side. Using all the strength I have left and was able to break my right army free as I shoved the barrel of my M-4 into the open mouth of the one charging. It was moving with such force that it still knocked both of us over. 

    The paler that I jabbed in the mouth lay on its side flailing around. I’m happy it was down and no longer in the fight, but it still had my barrel jammed down its throat. The first one that had me pinned is now trying to get at my face. I was pushing up with my forearm on its chest. I couldn’t get good leverage though to push it off of me because of my foot. Every time I tried it flared up in a red hot fire of a pain.

    It kept pushing down and I would lift back up. Although my arms ached I was still able to hold the paler off, but each time it pushed down and I pushed back it got a little bit closer. I looked around trying to find anything I could to use. The paler with my barrel was rolling around getting closer to me. I reached out with my free hand and sought purchase for it and was reward as my hand gripped the medal. I ripped it most of the way out but the front sights got stuck at the back of its throat. 

The paler was just about to rip into my neck as I was able to pull it free. I took the barrel in both hands and used it to put in the jaws of the paler to push back. I was able to get on top of it, pinning it to the ground similar to how it had me. I brought the barrel up and down right on the bridge of the nose. Its body went still underneath me.

I pushed off the creature and back up against the tree when something struck me on the side of the head. I fell and the last thought that entered my head was about Mary and Madison. Hitting the ground was an afterthought as I sank into oblivion. 

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #23

I fell in and out of consciousness as I was drug through the woods. It all felt like a dream, I couldn’t figure out what was real or a figment of my imagination. Although I saw a tree sprout a face and then arms as it bent over and looked at me through the night sky and told me “It’s always greener on the other side” in a gravelly voice that seemed to whisk away. 

Waking up, I hear a conversation being held. 

    “I know, I Know, I see them opening.” Several seconds later. “Good, we didn’t want to wait around much longer.” I look around quickly, trying to figure out what is going on or figure out where I am. The first thing I notice is that my wrists are tied up above my head. I try to pull them down but they don’t move. Looking around all I see is darkness, except a faint candle light sitting on a desk. My legs are tied up as well out in front of me so I’m sitting directly straight up. I try to orient myself and understand what’s going on. I figured that if this man wanted me dead he could have left me for the palers or killed me in the woods.

    “I didn’t want us to meet like this, but it can’t be helped. I have been keeping an eye on you for some time now.” The man said

    I could hear him shuffling around just out a view. I know he’s in front of me but the faint glow of the candle isn’t enough to do anything with. I know it should be daylight right now, maybe I was out longer then I thought. 

    “Do you understand why you are here in front of us?” The man asked.

    “Us, who else is in here, who are you?” I asked

    “Who we are doesn’t matter. Or at least not yet.” A short silence happened for a moment before he spoke again.  “Would you shut up, I didn’t say anything to important.” 

    “I was…. an experiment in a place similar to this. But Jack helped me set myself free.” He said

    “Is jack here now?” I asked trying to stall for more time, but I don’t know why. If he wanted me dead he could have done it already. 

    “Jack is. I mean, not literally he’s in my head, but.”

    “He’s in your head?” I asked

    “Don’t ever interrupt me, whatever you do, never interrupt me, you can be important, but sometimes Jack can be a bit unstable if people are rude. He doesn’t like rude people.”

    “I’m sorry.” I said

    “Don’t worry about it.” More silence for a few moments. “Jack never used to be real. He was a figment, something that I created to help.” Silence again “I know, and I thank you for that. My brain works differently than normal people. It’s like it flips from channel to channel on a TV, but each channel is the same thing.” “………..” “I’m getting there. I don’t like to hurt people, so I created jack in my head as the figure that kept changing the channel. The figure couldn’t touch me, he just had control over my thoughts, but not my actions. He tried for a long time to get me to hurt others, but I didn’t.” “………..” “Yeah, and you tried like hell too. All the things he tried to get me to do in real life, I would do to him in my head. I would spend countless hours gutting him, cutting, decapitating, and flat out just punching him until my metaphorical knuckles would bleed.” “…………” “They were good times. They were. Eventually the thoughts stopped for a long time and I was normal for a few years. See I was still young when this first started. Do you know what that’s like?” he asked

    “I don’t”. I answered his questions. My eyes are getting a little bit more used to being in the dark and I could see the outline of the man in front of me and he was fidgeting with something in his hands. 

    “Of course you wouldn’t, nobody does. Several years later my channel started flipping again and I forgot about Jack. Several months went by and I was able to ward off the channels, but my dreams were filled with hellish things that I had done to people and at the center stood Jack, still a dark figure at this point.” “………….” “Not your skin, you looked like a shadow.” “………” “Would you shut up, I’m not racist. Sorry, jack has a morbid sense of humor. When Jack appeared I was able to shut him down rather quickly, learning from the last time. It wasn’t until they picked me up from prison for the experiment earlier. My last attack was when I was 15 and now I’m 27 so I forgot all about jack again. He wasn’t too happy to be forgotten. He didn’t come back for some time until the doctor promised me an early parole.” “…….” “Yes, I know. I’m telling you this, so you know that I chose you.” He said

    He stood up from where he was sitting and leaned forward so I could see his face. He looked like a paler. His black hair ran down his face down past his chin. He had a long with a point chin. His eyes were glossy and his pupils were tiny. 

    “What do you mean?” I ask

    “They did things to me. They are not important at the moment but you could say they used me, and others, to create the plague. But you’ll be different.” He said  

The more he talked the less sense he made. I couldn’t tell when he was talking to me or his imaginary friend named Jack. The more I kept him talking though the better as long as I didn’t upset him again. I need to keep him talking to get more information from him. 

“Different, you mean like Garrison? I won’t lead a cult for you!” I said

    “Garrison was a means to an end. But you. You have the resources.” He said

    “Does it have to do with the vile?” I asked

    “You know of that? It does not matter.” The man said.

He came up to me without saying a work. He reached behind his back and grabbed a knife. He toyed with it for a minute before grabbing the blade in his and pulling downward with it cutting his hand. 

“What are you doing?” I ask

    He spent some time looking at his hand with the cut on it and then looking at me, he walked over and stood above me. I looked up at him watching the blood drip from his hand. He grabbed my right hand and held it open bent backwards so I couldn’t close it. He pulled the same knife up and held it to my palm. 

    “No, please don’t.” I yelled and tried to kick at him

    “Don’t worry, you will be fine.” He said

He drug the blade deep across the palm of my hand. I could feel it slice my skin as my palm got wet with blood. I could feel it working its way down my wrist and onto the rope. He reached for my hand with his and clasped them shut like we were shaking hands.

“NO!” I yelled trying to kick away at him. Doing anything I could to get away. 

Placing the knife down on the ground next to us, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. I couldn’t not tell what it was but he gripped my hand harder with his right forcing my blood out as well as his own. With his other hand he held out a syringe. He heled up in front of his face and pushed the hand up letting the air out and a little bit of the liquid as well. 

I kept kicking around, pleading with the man to stop and let me know. Deep down I already knew it was too late and if he was a paler the infection was already in my veins. 

“Please stop!” I yelled.

He moved his hand holding the syringe to my neck and pushed the needle deep into me. It stung but not as bad as when he pushed the liquid in. It fell like my next was on fire and I could feel as it spread over my entire body. I could feel it moving down into my chest and out to my finger tips and then slowly spread down to my toes. Everything burned with a feeling I never felt before. I could feel the sweat drip from my scalp down the front of my face. A drip pushed down the side of my face.

My head shot back, straight up into the air almost like my body did it itself, I had no control. 

“What’s happening to me?” I yelled

“You know, I’m not entirely sure.” “……..” “……” It seems to affect everyone differently. But you were almost dead and I have an idea of what it will do.” “………” “I had partial immunity, and it did this to me. Not human, not, what did you call it? Paler? Not quite paler, but something else.” He said

“It burns, make it stop. PLEASE!” I yelled as loud as I could. My vision started to get clouded as my head felt like it was reaching its boiling point. I could feel all my limbs start to shake and the tiny needle like pricks that let me know they were also going numb. I thrash around but I could feel myself get weaker. 

Hours and hours go by with my agony only getting worse. No pain I have ever felt before has been this intense. I always thought that if the pain was strong enough the person would lose consciousness. I was awake the entire fucking time. At one point my muscles felt like they were being manipulated by an outside source. Although my vision was blurry, I know the man left a long time ago. Control was completely out of my reach as my body would spasm one direction and then the next. 

My screams would echo in the room I was in. I screamed for so long my throat felt like it had shards of glass mixed with gravel glued to the edges lining my esophagus. I couldn’t imagine sound of any kind was coming out after about the first couple of hours. Everything started to swirl into one, as the only thing that surfaced in my thoughts was pain. 

My arms were positioned above my head for so long that I forgot what it was like to move them around. I forgot about anything that wasn’t this complete and utter agony that I was faced with. 

    Everything in the room got bright, to the point I had to shut my eyes. Voices were in the room now that were not mine. I thought that this could be another hallucination and maybe my tree friend is coming back to say hello, but I couldn’t make out any words.

    My arms came down to my sides, as I fell over to my right shoulder. My body started to bounce around like I was being carried somewhere but again I was too fixated on my torment to understand what was going on. 

    “It’s going to be alright” I hear a voice say in the background.

Damien Cooper Journal Entry #24

    It’s been a couple of weeks sense my last entry but I feel that it is time for me to finish the journal. I’m running out of pages to write and do not want to give up on recording the events as I have seen them. 

    I don’t remember being brought to the hospital but I was told shortly after getting there I was sedated and strapped down. I was appearing to have the some of the same symptoms as a few others they brought in. Elevated temperature, paling skin, talking to myself and clawing at my skin. 

    Dr. Derooh explained to me that after I was brought here I was consistently talking to myself that he wrote off due to my state of mind. They also took the vial from me, and now that they know what it is, they will run more tests on it. Although my skin had an ashen look to it, I didn’t look much more pale them someone who would work a nightshift. The biggest concern was my temperature that would consistently reach 103 degrees. Every time my temperature was above 102 I would try and harm myself. Derooh told me it took three people to pry my right arm from my left. I was digging into my skin with my nails trying to rip it away. After that they kept my strapped down so it wouldn’t happen again. 

    They have ran so many tests on my blood trying to determine why I haven’t changed yet. I explained to them what I remember from being tied up in that dark room but I don’t think they believed me because they just wrote it off. I guess the idea of one of the palers being intelligent was out of the question. With what they told me all the tests came back normal except that I have a higher white blood cell count then average. 

    Maryann and Madison have visited me several times but were not allowed to stay very long. If it wasn’t a test the doctors didn’t really seem to care. They wanted a vaccine and I didn’t blame them. I also wanted to make sure that I wasn’t a risk to them. 

    Caroline was the first one to visit after I regained consciousness. 

    “You’re an asshole.” She spoke with anger but followed shortly after with “But thank you.” in a sincere voice. “After you left, most of the palers followed you out of the house. They completely forgot about me.” 

    “Good. I knew you would try and stop me if I told you.” I said

    “Probably a good thing. They would have eventually gotten in and killed us both.” Caroline said.

    “So what happened after I left?” I said

    “After you left, most of them followed you out. I was able to keep the rest out. When morning came around the couple that stayed behind went down stairs and I killed them. After that I made my way back to the compound to get help. What happened to you?” Caroline said

    “I was tied up while a man talked to me. He seemed to be crazy or have split personalities or something. He talked to another person named jack. He then injected me with something. He cut is palm and then mine, and he mixed our blood. Then the pain started. The next thing I remember is waking up here.” I said

    “Did he say anything to you?” she said

    “He said he chose me but wasn’t exactly sure what would happened, or whatever the hell that means.” I said.

    “What the hell. That’s messed up.” Caroline said

    “He didn’t want to kill me. I should have died after I left you. I was surrounded by palers and didn’t have much left. I was knocked out, and drug and chained up.” I said. 

        Prologue 1 

    Day 1:    Seems like my luck is finally changing for the better. They pulled me from my bay telling me if I cooperate that I can get an early parole. They didn’t tell me what they were going to do, just threw me in a new cell, and gave me this pen and paper to write what was happening down day by day. Didn’t really bother me much, I was getting sick of being in a bay with so many people anyway. The cell is brightly lit with florescent lights at least 12ft high which makes this room very bright because it reflects directly off the painted white cement walls in this windowless room. 

    Day 2:    Don’t know what time it is. I laid down late last night, or I think it was, there are no windows in here, just a bench in the back behind the bed and a table that is on hinges on the wall. I slept like shit because this room doesn’t have a light switch, it was on all night. I can put up with a little bit of light as long as I get that parole. Spent most of my time today working out, doing pushups, squats and whatever I could come up with. Not much different than the time I spent in the hole, except in there I could read. 

    Day 3:     I wish someone would come in here and tell me what the fuck is going on. It’s been 3 days now and the only person I have seen is the damn guard who brings me the food through the port. He doesn’t talk, won’t even tell me the damn time. I want to get medical down here, my arm is itchy and is starting to break out in a rash. It started yesterday but I thought it was just a small bug bit or something. This damn light is driving me crazy. 

    Day 4:     A doctor came in and talked to me. I have no idea what time it is but it feels late. I woke up to him looking at me. Scared the hell out of me too. He told me that they are running a test on my skin and needed to test it out on a live person, he also told me that’s what’s going on with my arm, and he even said that it might spread to the other arm. He gave me some ointment and left. This is getting fucking weird. I don’t like the idea of being experimented on, but if I can parole early it will all be worth it. 

    Day 6:     I think it’s been six days sense I’ve been in here. I’m only guessing, the light went out in the room last night, and it was the best sleep I got while being here. My arm is itching like hell and they didn’t lie, it spread to my right. I can’t tell but it also looks like my skin is slightly starting to change colors. I don’t know when this started. They need to let me out soon. I don’t like being locked in this small of a room this long with nothing to do. 

    Day 7:     Both of my arms stopped itching, but everything feels sore, like I just got my ass kicked. It’s all I can do to write in this down. It hurts to move my head around, the muscles in my neck are throbbing. I started yelling at the door in my room for someone to bring me some Ibuprofen, but sure shit, nobody listened. This is really starting to piss me off. The light is constantly flickering now and it’s giving me a bad headache. Drinking water is even starting to hurt like I have the starting’s of a sore throat.

    Day 8:    I’ve been laying in the bed tossing and turning all day. I don’t know if it happened or not, but I started to doze off. I swear I saw the doc come in with another or something. They were wearing white suites with a hood over their face. I only know it was the doc because of his voice. They left and the door disappeared, my head was spinning and I hit the pillow. Then I woke up. After that though I started feeling better and it had to be a dream because the door is here. 

    Day 10:      The only thing keeping me sane at the moment is looking out the window. Looks like we are on the third story and overlooking the ocean. I can’t see their faces but it looks like a lot of people are at the beach today. I wish I was out their having fun, and soon I will be. As long as I can get through this. I just don’t know what to do about jack though. He doesn’t seem to be doing as well as me. He paces around a lot which is really starting to piss me off because he does it when I’m sleeping. This headache is starting to turn into a migraine. 

    Day 11:      I tried talking to jack. He was screaming like crazy. Beating on the door, punching it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he broke his hand on the door. Just watching it made my hand hurt, which is weird because it really felt like it hurt me. I tried yelling at him but he looked right through me at the wall and then started to talk. At first I thought it was at me until he pushed me out of the way and swung at nothing. After about an hour of him yelling bats hit crazy things at nobody he finally got on the top bunk and fell asleep. The first bit of quiet I have had in a while. I stare out the window for a long time. It feels like it’s getting late and I’m starting to doze off while writing, I’m going to go to sleep. Most of my aches have left so I’ll sleep well tonight if Jack sleeps through the night. 

    Day something:     I don’t know what’s going on. I think I have been here longer then the days I have written down. Somethings isn’t feeling right. Jack is gone and the window is gone in my room. They must have moved me last night or something. What is going……

    Day:     I woke up to see jack staring over me and it scared the shit out of me. I asked him where he went but he didn’t answer. He just stared at me. I went to the front door and yelled out, that I didn’t want to be locked in here anymore and that I want to go back to the bay with the others. This is too much and not worth it. The aches started again, I feel like I’m burning up, it’s getting even harder to drink water now and I swear I was staring out the window when it disappeared. One second I could the pine trees in North Dakota where I grew up, and now it’s just brick. The same red brick that has been in the room the whole time. 

    Day: Clarity     I know what I must do. I see it now. I need to get out of this room. I will do it tonight. 

Prologue 2

    Jack Jefferson was a scientist, 

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