I am ashamed to admit, but I needed one more day to rest. Yeap, that's truth, no denying. At least I somehow managed to search the rest of buildings and I even found few useful items, but I will talk about them later.

Probably the best hits from yesterday are not single items I found, but new building or structure, made by human hands. The thing I am talking about is basically a basement or underground storage. It may sound impressive, but it is only 1,5m wide and 4m longe room hidden under pile of dirt.

I am not even mad about fact I found that place so late, in three years mother nature made it almost invisible under the layer of tall grass and bushes.

To be honest I found it by accident, I was looting nearby shed, swearing loudly about my injured chest, when I noticed suspiciously looking mound in on the back of one house.

When I was walking around while investigating that anomaly, I basically fall inside the hole. Fortunately it was more like missing part of slope than hole, so I managed to land without hurting my chest again.

After few seconds of swinging my pick axe, lock in storage doors decided to surrender and I could take a look inside.

You are probably thinking, that I am so exited because I found secret stash of guns or something, you couldn't be more wrong.

Inside that little dugout, I think this is proper name for such a storage, I found a lot of glass jars filled with homemade preserves.

So, our menu is richer by jams and pickled vegetables. Oh, and I almost forgot, on the far end of dugout I found some funky looking machinery and dozen bottles of moonshine. Three years in dark basement made it taste like highest quality vodka.

When I finally was able to rest my sore body, my stomach was full annd warm from tasy food and strong booze.

Unfortunately, unpleasant events of yesterday, especially my little encounter with rotten shed, made my condition a little bit worse then it was before we entered this village. So, naturally I decided that I deserve one day off.

By day off, I mean that I gave rifle to Anna with order to keep the watch and I hit booze and painkillers early in the morning. Yep, let the world burn, I don't care.

When I woke up, it was already evening, seeing that everything was ok, I mean as ok as it could be in the middle of zombie apocalypse, I took another dose of best medicine available (moonshine) and went back to sleep.

***

You may think that hangover it's not the best way to start a new day and I have to agree. I feel like, there is wild barbarian inside my head, hitting me with giant hammer to the rhythm of my heartbeat.

With long and pathetic sounding moan, I make attempt to stand up, oh, barbarian doesn't like it. Opening my eyes is not making things aby better, I can see Anna with grumpy look on her face, you know that kind of look your mother made when you for the first time came back home drunk.

Besides all its drawbacks, my truly manly curation worked a little bit, full day of laying in bed made a difference to my chest.

As a proverb says, best cure for hangover is a hard work, I get my shit together and move my body in direction of doors. To be honest, I don't have luxury of slacking off anymore, there is some work that have to be done. Oh, and don't worry about me not having my breakfast, it's not like I could eat anything, not only my head feels wrong because of hangover.

Morning light is true misery to my eyes, remember kids don't you ever try to drink alcohol, you will end up like me, poor, injured zombie apocalypse survivor without any bright prognosis for future.

When my eyes finally started to work properly, my current objects of interest appear in my field of vision. Two bicycles which looks like they are older than me, standing next to wall.

My job is to make them battle ready or at least working properly. It shouldn't be much work, but who knows? After all, surviving in zombie apocalypse should be easy and guess what? It's not.

Main problem with my bicycles are flat tires but no worries I found air pump. Few minutes of pumping confirms my assumptions, Thatcher air pump is broken. That's pretty unfortunate but hopefully a lot of duct tape will make it work again, that's it mates, duct tape for glory.

You may wonder, why I pick this two bicycles. Well to be honest, I didn't have much choice. Basically they were only vehicles I found in village. It may look a little shabby, but hopefully they will work just well, if I put enough duct tape on them.

If you think about it, bicycle is not such a bad choice, it's quiet and light. Bicycle don't need any fuel and you can carry a lot of stuff on it. Of course there are drawbacks to, it won't protect you from weather, it's much slower than car and you won't be able to ram trough the crowd of zombies with it. Oh, one more thing, you want to have good condition, especially while running from zombies.

***

Anna isn't very happy about our little road trip, I don't blame her, she don't have strong legs trained in long marches like my own. From the other hand I really enjoy my bicycle, it's nice change from walking trough forest full of bugs.

Fortunately, old and totally broken road that started in village, changed into nice and flat one before our vehicles broke in one of holes, which literally filled our old path.

It's so refreshing to feel wind on my face, especially when is hot outside, seriously what is wrong with that weather, after all, our CO2 emission was reduced to almost 0 for last three years.

Lets talk about traveling under zombie apocalypse circumstances some more. As you already know, I prefer to travel on foot, it's safest and most flexible way. Obviously the most popular method is to travel by car, you can load a pile of useless stuff in it and you don't strain your ass.

Ok, that's two, but what about other stuff, motorcycles for example ? I don't want to hurt anyone feelings, but if you think that using bike, when zombies are around is good idea, you are definitely an idiot.

Loud, dangerous and you won'tA be able to carry lot of stuff on it, not enough ? Ok, lets imagine that you are riding on the bike and zombie appears on the road, what you do you do?

You could try to avoid it somehow, but you will probably end up dead in the process.

You could try to stop and turn back, but you will probably end up dead in the process.

You could try to ram… ok if you try to ram zombie with a bike I will buy you a beer. Of course if you survive.

List of possibilities is very long, but most of them end with your death. But what if you choose a car? As you probably understand, solid shell of glass and steel around you makes a huge difference in our scenario.

So, car is a best option? I disagree, maybe if there were only zombies out there, car would be best idea, but in situation when shoot first ask questions later, is preferable tactic, being stealthy is way to go. Even if undead are main threat, traveling on foot is advantageous, at least for me.

In the first place, number of encounters when zombies are blocking your path is way lower, than you would think. Why? I already unexplained it to you, my zombies are all about hearing. Their eyesight is bad, I don't really know if their sens of smell works or not, but one thing I am certain of, is that those fuckers will hear your car or bike from hundreds of meters.

Being quiet is such a crucial thing not only because of zombies, while driving a car or motorcycle you won't be able to hear gunfight, or you will, but form much shorter distance.

One more thing, you don't want to travel to fast, shoot first ask questions later, don't forget about it. Obviously, the best tactic to stay alive is to avoid any danger and driving fast, won't help you with spotting enemies.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

So, long story short, stay on your foot, keep quiet, look carefully around you and you will have no problem with staying alive.

Or ride a bicycle, it is a compromise between speed and safety. At least sometimes, I guess…

***

You may wander, why are we riding bicycles right now. I don't blame you, I made all that talk about safety and other stuff and now I am choosing not the safest option? Let me explain.

I will remind you, we are in middle of big operation, our goal is to find Anna a place to stay. First step was to find such a place, already done, I now exact location of such a place.

Step to, obtain goods that will help buy in and that is our current objective. Lets think about what will be a good choice, obviously pre-apocalypse money and valuables are out of question.

Guns! Yeah, guns and ammunition are surely a thing nowadays, but I am pretty sure that our shelter is well supplied with that, to be honest I personally took care about it.

Fuel, a lot of fuel will surely seal a deal. You may be right, but traveling with a cistern filled with fuel is not the best idea. Think harder.

Medicines? Bullseye! Even harder to obtain than military supplies, medicines and medical equipment are definitely most valuable stuff. You may ask why? I already told you that hospitals are definitely most dangerous places around, I guess it's time to explain.

***

Lets go three years back to the first day of apocalypse. Mysterious sickness, the weakest ones are getting ill faster. You all know that, so imagine yourself that you are a parent to the child. Your dear son or daughter, in few hours gets tremendous fever and something that was looking like a simple cold becomes way more serious.

What do you do? You grab your child and drive your way to thee nearest hospital, right ? At least this is what any normal parent would do.

So, you are driving trough the city and something unexpected happenes, about one kilometer form hospital, huge traffic jam begins, apparently something is happening, but you are not sure what.

You wait 10 minutes, but cars are not moving. Remember your child is not well, time is crucial when fever is so high. You are starting to panic, it's about your beloved child, the thing that you love most.

When you are about to break, you see that man in the car next to yours, he leaves his vehicle and with his kid in arms he goes on foot in direction of hospital, apparently his child is sick too.

Another five minutes pass and you are sure that somethig bad happened, people carrying children are appearing more often, in last act of desperation, you grab your own child, you can feel how hot his or her body is, it makes you almost run to the hospital.

When you arrive at the hospital, reality strikes you like a thunder, something is really wrong. Enormous crowd of people blocks your way and all off them have one goal, to get some help for their children.

Than comes the hope, there are people in white clothes, military helicopters and trucks. Someone gives your child an injection and fever goes down a little bit. You even find yourself a place in one of quickly raised rents.

Another few hours are true madness, more and more people are gathering seeking help, but even with help of army there is not enough meds or space.

You are so worried about your child that, you can't feel fever slowly taking your strength away. Than adults start to have strong fever too, not all of them but enough to make crowd panic even more.

Hours are passing when something even more terrible happens, childrens are starting to die. This is the point where army try to calm crowds with brutal force, it's working, at least for now.

You feel fever burning your body, when unavoidable happens, your beloved son dies, your beautiful daughter breathe her last.

You feel nothing, maybe because of fever, maybe it is exhoustion, but you can't feel anything, than someone tries to take dead body from your arms. There is no place for your child in the graveyard, there won't be funeral, cold pile of bodies in black plastic bags is its destination.

It is like waking up from a deep sleep, unstoppable rage of mourning parent, you throw yourself at the soldiers. Your fist are leaving bloody traces on their helmets, inhuman cry leaves your throat only to disappeared in sea of mayhem. It is not only you who lost your beloved one, it is not only you who had enough.

This is the moment when civilization collapses, moment without return, true world changer.

When morning comes, rising sun shows true nature of disaster thousands of bodies laying around, some died from fever, some were trampled to death, other killed by soldiers bullets, all united in one picture, announcing the end of civilization.

Then something changes and movement appears. Bodies of the fallen rise from dead, like a proof of a change that happened to the world, like a heralds of humanity's fall and apocalypse beginning.

***

Ups, it looks like I am a little melodramatic, sorry it happens sometimes, just ignore it.

So, my dear friends, hospitals and clinics are not only danger zones but monuments of civilization's collapse. You won't see many military outposts around cities, there won't be huge traffic jams on main arteries. Empty streets are definitely not a thing that we would expect after watching movies and tv series.

When first zombies were rising from dead, bigger part of people on earth were more or less sick and by bigger part I mean probably all of people who weren't resistant.

For first few days, zombies were staying in their places of death, which mostly were houses and apartments. Then survivors started to leave their hideouts. Lured by noise, dead walkers started to break windows and doors flooding streets of cities, at least bigger ones, where were more survivors.

The only thing, that is on your mind, is probably, if cities and hospitals are so dangerous why would I even thought about coming near to them?

I can't give you good answer, I just want to give it a try, that's why I am pedalling to the nearest town on a broken bicycle. We will get near, take a good look and if there will be a reasonable option we will try to get as much gear as possible. If it won't be enough, we will need to find ourselves nice cistern filled with fuel.

***

Using maps, we managed to safely avoid any small villages on our way, most them probably wasn't even worth stopping.

When evening came we were setting a cam near the outskirts of small town. In little ravine, hidden under thick cover of bushes and trees, I let Anna light up a little campfire. Apparently, brewing herself a "tea" became her new habit, I am guessing that large aumount of honey that we found in last village is main reason.

Imaging yourself living three years in shelter hidden deep in woods, besides of berries, there are no many sweet things out there.

I started explain to her about my plan, what kind of city we are heading to, what she should expect when we arrive, obvious thing that will help her survive. Like always, she is quiet, nods and short questions are her only response.

She doesn't look very excited about my plan, to be honest she is not showing much emotions at all, the night when she cried was only exception.

I don't know if it is a good thing, but at least I don't have any problems with her opposing my plans, silent agreements are much nicer than arguments.

When Anna falls asleep I stay awake to keep a watch, it's not like I expect any trouble but it's better to be safe than sorry. I have a feeling that Anna won't be happy about her keeping the watch for the second part of the night.

***

You know that something is wrong when you wake up, to smell so disgusting that it almost makes you throw up. I don't even know how to describe it to you, it's like a mix of everything you could find in town's sewer.

When I open my eyes, there is another surprise waiting for me, dark hole of strange looking barrel pointed directly on my head, from distance that is definitely to small for me to feel safe.

Covered with rust, and strange goo, it looks like a some flintlock rifle barrel, my further observation confirms that theory, but old-school firearms it's not what makes me surprised. There is some bizarre creature on the other end of rifle.

Covered from head to toes with dirty rags and mud, it has to be human, but that smell… Oh god…

"Get up!"

Definitely male voice came from place where head of our stinky friend should be.

I move slowly, delaying in order to have a look around me. There is another stinking fellow, about one meter to my right with an ax in his or hers hands. Few meters away I Anna, bounded and gagged with apologizing look I on her face.

Apparently fellow with rifle is not, satisfied with my pace, beacouse he tries to kick me. It looks like it's time to be awesome again.

Marking his kick, he moves his gun to the right, pointing it on the ground next to my head. With carefully timed movement I pull his leg and make him fall on me.

#BOOOM#

His rifle fires, sending dirt in the air, releasing large amount of smoke and making me deaf on the left ear. Terrible wave of stench fills my nostrils.

With my lover body locked, by weight of the opponent, I twist my torso to the left to grab my pick axe with my right hand. My injured chest is not very happy with my sharp movements, sending weaves of pain trough my body. Feeling familiar shape in my hand, I grab my pick axe handle and swing it to the right.

Still stunned and surprised by my actions, fellow with axe takes ugly strike of my pick axe to the center of his chest and falls on his back screaming in pain.

I let my pick axe fall with dying enemy, it won't be useful anymore. I feel another fellow trying to get up. I don't give him much chance, moving to sitting position I grab his head and try to strangle him with my forearm. When he feels my grip on him, he tries to free himself kicking wildly, he even manage to throw me on my back, but it is all a futile effort. I can feel him getting weaker and weaker, dying slowly.

When my opponent finally stops to struggle, I move his lifeless body to the side and stand up. The guy to my right is still screaming, with his hands gripping tightly on the head of my pick axe, trying to remove it from his chest.

I pull out my weapon with sharp movement, only to swing it down, but this time aiming for head. His screams stops rapidly, making our camp silent again. I turn around and swing my pick axe at already dead body of first guy, loud crack of breaking skull makes me sure that he won't rise again.

Well fuck.

I am sure about two things right now, we need to get away from this place as fast as we can and I desperately need to take a bath.