5 Weeks After the Knox Event, 2 weeks after Global Outbreak was declared.

“We have multiple contacts in the east of the Mississippi River, we are need of immediate air assistan-”

“Their breaching! I repeat! The infected are breaching the perim!-”

“Light those motherfuckers up!-”

“GET OFF ME! GET THE FUCK OFF ME-”

“There are multiple fires raging through the ci-”

“We are at full capacity! We can’t take any mor-

“HELP, OH GOD HELP M-”

The military grade radio was promptly shut off as the American Veteran stopped going through the military channels as he simply sat in his vehicle taking a deep breath as the raindrops hit the windshield.

. . .

. . .

It was worse than he was led to believe.

The veteran simply looked at his bloody hands before looking out from inside the car to see multiple corpses that he had to put down laying all over the highway as the rain was sweeping the blood away.

Seeing the rain as a form of cleaning his hands from the filth, he slowly pressed a button on the car’s side and the window began to go down before releasing his finger from the button and laid both his hands for the rain as it casted out the blood that remained on his hands and red blew out and was replaced with freshness of his skin.

Now feeling that his wet hands were now clean from the recent bloodbath, he pressed the button for the car's window to roll up again before he laid his hands firmly on the steering wheel as he looked at the clear path ahead.

Barret David’s tired eyes looked straight ahead to see if any creature decided to peek its form onto its sights in the vast empty road that laid ahead of him in his Ford Maverick. As his fingers tapped around the wheel, he looked back to his cup holder where his radio was completely shut off.

David was tempted to use the radio once more to see how it was going.

But just hearing what was happening in Saint Louis. . .

. . .

It was probably best to not check the radio from here on out.

Seeing how there were no contacts in sight within the confinements of the road and seeing how there wasn’t any kind of road block or some kind of crash for a long while, the veteran stepped onto the pedal.

The Vehicle moved slowly forward as the tires went over the deceased as the sounds of bone crushing could be heard as the vehicle went over them, as the vehicle got out of the corpse and vehicle infested highway, veteran simply floored it as the truck was now picking up speed as it went down the quiet road.

And the rest of the way was quiet, hell it could’ve been said that it was calm in some distorted way if one were to ignore either the raging fires in the distances of towns or the crashed cars in the side of the road or in the road. But it was just that, calm.

As the Veteran drove his vehicle down the road, he came to a stop when an intersection presented itself in front of him. The sign to the left indicated towards Saint Louis while the other. . well he wasn’t sure as blood covered the sign with a torn corpse to the side of it. And while his mind was already straight on going to Saint Louis, he couldn't.

So he turned his wheel to the left and stepped on the gas once more as his vehicle drifted away from Saint Louis as the Veteran rode on.

And so he drove.

And drove.

And drove. .

And drove. . .

And drove. . . .

Until. . from the corner of David's eye he spotted something he was eerily familiar with when he was in Iraq.

A Military Checkpoint.

One that looked completely abandoned, and knowing that there at least should be one soldier on guard, he already had a good guess on what happened.

The veteran stopped his vehicle in an acceptable distance away from the checkpoint in order to not attract any inconveniences as the rain has already went through the area., he then turned back in his truck as he went through his only two ranged weapons: A USMC M40A1 Sniper Rifle and a M9 Pistol with a silencer attached to it. One didn’t have bullets at all, while the other only had one and half mags left.

Barret took a moment on what action he wanted to take, he could be wise and just turn around and not take any chances on the checkpoint with the scarce hope that there was someplace that followed the general direction, maybe a dirt road? He didn’t see any on the road.

Not that he could remember seeing any through the way. .

Which meant taking the other logical route,

Taking a deep breather, he opened the truck's door and got out in the pouring rain. As the water hit his skin he turned around and shut the door behind him, he looked forward and simply drew out his combat knife as he slowly approached the checkpoint with him making sure not to make too much noise.

As he approached the side of sandbags, he turned his head and it practically confirmed it straight to his face. There lay a dead soldier, but oddly enough. . there weren’t any bites or scratches, no. Only his head was gone, or well gone in the sense that there were practically multiple hotels on the head, most likely a shotgun blast if anything. So there lay the possibility of the checkpoint getting raided by gangbangers or simply an extremely violent case of survivors.

Not that he was concerned about. Well, they had guns which already was a concern itself but it just meant a quicker death than anything, probably better than being slowly torned from the insides.

Seeing that the soldier still had it’s M4 Carbine with him and seeing that the corpse wasn’t going to use it anytime soon, The veteran placed his combat knife onto his belt and picked up the M4 rifle, he examined it if it was still in working condition and seeing that it was, he simply picked 1 extra mag from the dead soldier and moved onward into the checkpoint.

He went through the first tent and. There were more bodies that belonged to the soldiers but. They were all in their beds with their necks slit open with their heads in deformed states of being ripped off or forcibly opened. Which. . didn’t make any sense whatsoever,

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These were soldiers, and while he already knew that no soldier was invincible or that was perfect in any sense. Them just dying in their sleep? And looking like they haven’t even struggled or even woke up in any commotion was whatsoever?

Something was wrong, and the feeling was already eating up his insides as his mind was war- no, begging to get the hell out of there, but he wasn’t sure why his instincts were this god damn admitted but he only moved near the exit of the tent with the M4 now completely raised instead of being in a neutral stance.

The veteran took a peek out of the tent and he saw two soldiers looking the other direction as they made small groans of pain or just making gurgling noises. Not wanting to make too much noise within the small checkpoint, he simply pulled the carbine his back as he pulled out his combat knife as slowly crouched down as he slowly made his way towards the two undead soldiers.

One of the soldiers began to shuffle forwards as the other remained idle just making the Veterans job a bit more easier, the veteran went forward as he grabbed the zombie from its vest and pulled it towards his knife which made easy contact with the zombies head which immediately put it down as he removed the knife from the head as the corpse fell limp as it collapsed towards the ground with a loud thud, which caused the other undead soldier that had moved forward initially turned around with a low audibly growl as it’s hand shakingly wend down sluggishly into its holster and it pulled out-

Wait, it's pulling out a-. .

. . .

SHIT

David upon realizing what the undead soldier was going to do, he hastily threw the knife directly towards the corpses head which well, didn’t do jack shit as it bounced of easily but it was enough to momentarily distract it just enough for the Veteran to pull out his own silenced sidearm only in to see the corpse already aiming its M18 at him.

Both fired their sidearms at the exact same time. One was silent, the other was loud. One scraped the Veteran's head while the other made direct contact with the corpse's head causing the body to fall down. The veteran had placed his right hand over the scrapped wound as the ringing were hitting his ears loudly before finally being able to hear loud footsteps coming approaching from either the tents or stationary vehicles.

Placing both of his hands on the M9 his eyes were directed towards the fast approaching footsteps as he spotted the undead corpse leaving a tent with it running towards him with its distorted jaw. Not wanting the thing to get any closer, the veteran placed two bullets into the undead’s head causing it to drop into the ground as it convulse all over the ground giving him enough time to spot another runner sprinter coming from the side which was seen wearing a full set of riot gear, including one that covered the entire head.

Knowing there was no chance in hell that his M9 was penetrating through that, he quickly returned the sidearm back into his holster following with him pulling the M4 Carbine from his back and taking quick aim and opening direct fire onto the armored zombie. While it was louder than he had liked, it was still worth the trouble as the zombie went down with its head being obliterated as the last shot came out of the M4 Carbine.

David went to replace the magazine as the empty mag ejected from the Carbine and he went down into his pouch and pulled out a fresh magazine with him slowly looking around his surroundings to which he could now see the first runner almost desperately trying to crawl towards him. Calmly but cautiously, he walked up to the crawling corpse before making it meet the bottom of his boot as he smashed the rotting corpse's head until it didn’t move anymore.

Taking quick breaths in and out, he then approached the rotting corpse that had his combat knife right under it. He sighed as he placed the rifle on his back as he moved the heavy corpse to the side as he grabbed the knife. He inspected the melee weapon for a bit before placing it back into his belt before the sounds of clicking had entered his eardrums, he was confused at first at the sudden sound before his eyes went completely wide upon the realization of what those sounds were.

Turning around with his M9 quickly being unholstered and aimed at the direction where the source was located. The first thing he was able to see was a zombified soldier aiming a XM7 Assault Rifle at him and its finger kept pressing on the trigger, but the gun wouldn’t fire whatsoever. Taking the immediate advantage of his situation he unloaded his sidearm directly towards the bloodied soldier to which while the helmet blocked some of the bullets, it still found the flesh and brain to an extent causing the soldier to fall flat into the ground.

The Veteran's sidearm was still trained toward the corpse before he eventually had his cool returned until he got up and walked up to the corpse with him taking a glimpse on the XM7. David wearily picked it up before as he inspected the weapon to see any courses of why it didn’t fire, and he found out that the safety was still on.

The Veteran simply stared at the weapon before dropping it onto the ground and walking into the other side of the checkpoint. As he reached the other side, he just saw a crossing preventing anyone from going through. So the only thing he did was to move it up and stick it up there before cautiously moving back into his truck.

He opened the truck's door and sat inside on the wet driver's seat as he put on his seatbelt and his hands landed on the wheel. Within a few seconds his hands began to shake violently as it gripped tightly around the wheel as he slightly yelled as he punched the steering wheel a couple times before the veteran got around to taking deep breaths before he was no longer shaking. As he then placed the Carbine in the backseat of the truck alongside

Mapping out the pathway of the checkpoint from the top of his head, he turned the key as the engine came to life. Barret took the time to carefully maneuver over the checkpoint in order to not get stuck or stay in the checkpoint any longer, he knew that the gunshots from the M4 Carbine would attract some stranglers, while not a herd per say, but it would attract some still. and the spot that this was in would be considered a hot spot so it was asking to be attacked, and while he could take the time to savage any ammo but he was already losing sleep as it is.

As David was able to get through the other exit and down the road, The Veteran took a look at the Military Grade Radio once more. Taking a quick stop on the side of the road, he pulled it up once more and turned it on to only receive. .static?

Confused, the Veteran began to change the channels on the radio only to receive static in each military channel. Irritation now began to break the stoic facade at the lack of communication despite it working a while ago, as he switch it one more time-

W̷̦͚̎̂̌͗̀͜E̵̡̛͎͆̐͘͜.̶̪̥͔̺̥̅͗̇̚̕ ̶̡͕̮͖̦̎F̸̱̩̫̊͗͜Ǫ̶̻̳̬̊Ṷ̶͔̆̽͌̎Ň̷̻̼̇̇̿̚D̴̞͋́̈́͛͝.̴̫̘̱́ ̵͖̠͈̆̀͐͠Ỳ̸̰Ò̵̰̪̦͙́͛͜͝U̸̢̨͗͜͠.̷̞̹̹͚̄̾̉̎̕ ̸̡̭̖̼̰͑͘

The Veteran could only freeze at the sudden distorted voice that spoke through the radio. That voice was not natural in the slightest as the voice began to speak in some language he couldn’t understand but he suddenly felt panic increased as his hands began to shake violently as he also began to rapidly breath for no apparent reason.

Looking at the radio as his vision began to blur in and out, he looked at the radio and he went and shut it off in a haste with both of his hands on the radio. Almost quickly did the panic flood his mind, did it also quickly dissipate back to the Veteran being more in control of his emotions once more.

His eyes remained staring at the radio as he remained wide almost as if he was in momentary shock as he sat there his hands slightly shaking as his mind was trying to comprehend what just happened to him. It didn’t take long for their message to become true.

As almost in a split second, he heard what could be described as a loud set of footsteps that felt like it was a mixture of heavy gear and flesh. Then, his side window was smashed as an abomination-like creature tried to bite him.

The abomination could only be explained as a creature that had no skin whatsoever and only had a skull as a head with its pale white eyes as it was extremely erratic. The first instinct that David did was to step the pedal in a vain attempt for the creature to get off only for it to grab onto him and try to pull him out of the now moving vehicle. His hands were no longer in the wheel as his hands tried to get the creature off of him by trying to push it off, it didn’t help that the vehicle was now off the road as the bumps made his attempts of getting the creature more difficult than he wanted.

The creature snarled at him as one of its skinless arms reached out and scratched on his exposed neck following with the attempt of pulling him out of the moving vehicle. David quickly pulled out his combat knife with his right hand and tried to stab the abomination in the head only to hear a crash with him suddenly shifting forward and everything going blank for the Veteran.

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The living corpse was having a treat within the deep depths of the forest once more. A treat that was in the process of having its intenses ripped out one by one.

The procedure of acquiring the meal wasn’t too difficult for the living corpse. He was simply roaming endlessly in the forest looking for his next course of action, resulting in him being spotted by another prey wielding what could be described as a sharp weapon. And while the corpse was ever slightly confused on why a prey of all things was coming out its way to attack him, he didn’t mind as it was going directly for his own bloody arms.

To which was enough time for the living pile of moving flesh to realize that it had noticed his presence and not being amused or afraid to him as the living corpse attempt to grab ahold on the enclosed flesh only for it to be met with the flesh hitting him directly in the side of his neck and the sharp weapon being stuck there.

As the prey attempted to yank the weapon out of its neck, the corpse used the opportunity to use the shovel it had on its hands to slam it onto the preys stomach to which with the force he had on the swing, the shovel was then stuck inside of the fleshes stomach for it to completely drop to the floor screaming in pain while the corpse began its feast on its prey on the floor with it immediately for the prized possession that was in the head.

The eyes did not have a favorable taste, but it was still part of a good meal.

And while the corpse was busy pulling out most of the intestine into its mouth. There was a flash of light that encompassed into the north of his direction, away from the trees of the long forest as it reached the corpses ears for it to momentarily stop eating when the sound of a horn was heard.

The creature momentarily stood still hearing the direction of the horn until it moaned as the intestines in its mouth were ripped away from being connected to the pile of flesh as it moved to pick the shovel that was laying the ground until he heard movement in the bushes.

Out came two piles of enclosed flesh that were wearing similar clothing to that of the living being he had just feasted upon. Both looked smug when they first saw him, most likely under the impression that they would most likely do the same thing like the last one. Except this time both living creatures recoiled back in utter fear and terror upon looking at what exactly they were looking at and what the state of the corpses previous prey looked like.

Now having the corpses full attention, the sound was now in a complete abyss as it was now ignored with the now two fresh enclosed meat now within reaching distance. The two preys now fully seeing its face and appearance of the corpse took two feet back as they raised up their weapons of defense yelling out something that the corpse didn’t understand. Not that it mattered.

As far as the corpse was concerned. It was hungry.

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Everything was red.

The blaring sound of a car horn met the ear drums of the Veteran, his vision could only entail redness as he could barely feel his own body.

The dizziness that was felt recourse throughout its own body as he felt that he couldn’t even lift up his left arm, so in its stead was it’s right arm as it shakishly moved himself up from the wheel stopping the horn altogether. The right hand was directed towards the truck's handle as it pushed it open. David then unbuckled his seat belt and let himself fall into the grass below.

The pain was unimaginable, he felt like every part of his body was killing him from the inside, but he needed to move. To move away from the danger. To get f̸̙̜̝̃͘ȏ̸̤͖ó̷͉̦̹̞̅̍͠ḍ̵̿͐̏̕

And so the Veteran slowly got up from the ground and began to walk sluggishly.

And He walked.

And He walked. .

And walked. . .

W̴̠̽͗̓͠a̵̬͊̆͐̀l̵͈̞̬̹̎́̊̚k̷̯̞̄̈́̐̌.̷̧̪̬̯̌̑̒̓ ̶̥̯̓̋͂ͅ.̸̻̔̅ ̴͕̜͉̅͋̑̒.̶̭͗̌ ̷̞͓̙̈́.̵͇̀̀̀