Prologue

I guess I should back up a little bit. Explain what's going on. There's so much to tell, yet it all sounds crazy, like some story out of a book or a horror movie.

But it isn't.

It isn't at all. It's something like the world has never seen before. They're everywhere. They kill and kill and make everyone else their own. They are without reason, Without care, and without mercy. Who are they?

They're zombies.

It started small. People who were dead would come back to life, come back from the dead. But they weren't really alive...they would attack anything living, bite and chew and claw until they could eat their prey. In turn, their prey would become one of them. Killing their prey just made it happen faster. No one knew where they came from, or why. But before anyone could really ask...there wasn't much of anyone left.

It's only been a few weeks...maybe a month since this all started. I'm not really all that sure how long it's been. I do know one thing though: We are out numbered.

Chapter 1

Salone Valonte

The radio was nothing but static as I drove along the empty viaduct. In the passenger seat, orange-yellow dusk attempted to shine off the barrel of a handgun. The label "GLOCK 17 AUSTRIA 9X19" seemed to gleam off the light. I didn't really know that much about guns, but I knew enough that when you pulled the trigger, the bullet went where you pointed it. I snapped my eyes back up to the windshield...I was careless to take my eyes away from the outside. I peered around as I passed under a stoplight, the signal seemingly stuck on red. I shivered...every time I came into a town, it felt like I was being watched, like there were eyes watching me where I couldn't look. Hopefully, I wouldn't be here long. I was just raiding for supplies, to get some gas and other stuff, then get back on the road. I was on my way up north. To Canada, further if I could. Maybe there weren't any zombies there. Maybe they were all frozen.

I pulled into convenience store parking lot and killed the engine. I opened the door and got out of the car, stretching. It was a Geo Metro, found with the keys still in it, something I had trouble finding. It's body was dented and scratched, used on occasion as a battering ram to drive through the more stubborn of the zombie kind...I shivered again as I dropped my hands to my sides. My breath blew out in clouds in front of my face in the cold winter air, icy dry wind chilling me even deeper. I looked around before ducking my head back into the car, picking up my gun and closing the door. I'd only shot it once before, but I hoped I wouldn't have to again. Besides, noise attracted them...

I opened the door as quietly as I could, wincing when it made a routine "Ding!". I looked outside the windows to see if I was being watched. Nothing moved...yet I still felt like prey to someone's eyes. I scurried through the aisles, grabbing a plastic shopping basket and piling cans of soup and beef stew into it. Moldy dougnuts sat in a display case at the counter, where dried blood and a bit of tissue accompanied them. In the beginning, it would have made me gag, but now...it was different.

The cheery "Ding!" sound played again as I made my way out the door. I tried sneaking to my car, opening the door. I threw the basket into the back of the car, next to a small Coleman butane lighter, and a salvaged George Foreman grill, for whenever I could find a plug. I jumped into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind me. I heard a faint "pop" noise as I reached for the keys. I looked around, wondering what had happened. The popping noise came again, three times this time. Then it hit me: gun fire.

The little car screeched as I pulled out of the parking lot. Zombies didn't shoot guns, people did. It had been what seemed like an eternity since I had found another person. I flew through an intersection, begging the little thing to move faster. I barely made it around a corner as I turned, trying to follow the popping sounds. They were growing more frequent now, and louder. Apparently the noise had attracted even more zombies. I crossed another intersection, looking over out the passenger window as I did. What I saw horrified me: zombies, an entire mass of them, swarming around a large building. It was surrounded by a fence with barbed-wire on top, the structure itself painted an army-green. What looked like people were on the roof of the building laying down, or crouching. I hit the brakes, sliding pass the second intersection and more or less hitting the steering wheel. I reversed and turned the car around, going back the way I had came. Turning at the intersection, I sped down the street, barreling my way to the building. It took me a second to register that it was an Armory. I slowed down as I looked up to the top of it. There were two figures. One standing, the other crouched over, a large machine gun chattering away in his hands. Zombies fell left and right as he fired. I blinked when the gun moved, spraying bullets into the road in front of my car. I yelled and ducked, letting go of the steering wheel as bullets shattered my windshield, the car crashing into a fence on the sidewalk.

I tried to gather my breath as I huddled in the driver's seat. He'd shot at me...he had shot at me! Idiot!. What the hell was he trying to do?

I groaned as I sat up. My head ached, and my neck wasn't feeling too pretty either. Out the broken windshield, I could see the mass of zombies clambering around the fence. The machine gun still spit bullets, sending lead and fire into the undead corpses. Green and grey and dark purple flesh flew into the air, bodies literally being torn apart by the thing the man held. I sank back down into the seat. I figured I'd have to deal with whoever it was after this was all over. Besides, he had that big gun. I say let him handle those things...right?