Its not a flu. The government fed us lies about how it was just a harmless flu and it would all blow over.
They neglected to mention how it turned people into bloodthirsty, rage filled monsters whose only intention was
to continue spreading the infection and killing anyone immune. It spread so quickly no-one saw it coming, one minute
it was across state,then across town, then it was outside your window,it was coming in and smashing down the
neighbors door and all you could do was sit in the closet, hoping those awful screams would go away and they wouldn't
find you.
This is the story of how me and my fellow survivors ended up fighting this infection, and the horrible monsters
already consumed by it. It tells how we survived long enough to get out and for me to write of our impossible
situation.
For us it was a regular day at school. I was sat in another boring science lesson with Mr. Trubshore and as usual was
staring lazily out of the window. let me tell you a bit about me and my friends. My names Sam. I'm 16, have brown hair,
average height. My best friend Johnny, He's quite tall, also has brown hair, 17. Rachel, brown hair with blond
highlights, 16 and a half and a bit on the short side. There's kyle, he's 17, average height blond hair and goes
to a shooting range with his dad sometimes.
We never expected our lives to change as quickly as they did. One minute the teachers droning on about chemicals and
then the next someone had smashed through the window, screeching and covered in blood. He looked up and his teeth
were bared, his skin was a sickly grey and his eyes had a dull lifeless look in them. Straight away Mr Trubshore was up shouting "What the hell do you think you're doing young man?"
What we thought he'd do was say "sorry I fell." what we didn't expect was for him to rush over to the teacher and sink
his teeth into his throat. The girls all screamed and started to panic and some of the boys pulled the maniac off
the teacher, whose neck was now spurting blood and whose eyes had started to turn glassy. My friends and I watched in horror as the man now spun around and threw off the people holding him and started beating and scratching the people who got too near him.
I watched in terror as the man turned his attention to us and the people he had scratched started to snarl and cough
blood. Kyle picked up a chair and threw it at the man who stumbled back and fell. "Run or were going to
die!" I shouted at my friends and remaining classmates. We all dropped our books and pencils and ran for our lives.
We ended up in the technology block.
Kyle turned to us and said "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know, but its not good!" I shouted."we should find something to defend ourselves with or were going to end
up like the rest of our class."
I heard sobbing and saw Rachel curled up in the corner hugging herself tightly.
"Don't worry Rachel, it's going to be fine." Johnny said reassuringly
"But what if one of those things gets in here and we end up like them?" she whimpered " I..I..I don't want to
be like that!" she suddenly burst into tears again and Johnny stood up, looking at me and Kyle.
"Well what now?" he asked."We've got to get out of here and find our parents."
Kyle suddenly looked at me in horror. "What if this is happening everywhere else?" he almost shouted." We have to find our families!" he winced as someone in the corridor screamed.
"Come on then." I said "Find anything you can use as a weapon and well go find our families." I picked up a
large hammer, Kyle found a signed baseball bat in the teachers closet, Johnny had an emergency fire axe and Rachel
had a frying pan from the food technology rooms next door. "Everyone ready? Kyle asked quietly.
"Not really." replied Rachel, she was still silently crying, tears slowly trickling down her face.
Johnny helped me move the desks blocking the door and we both kicked it open, the few people in our vicinity
immediately snapped their heads up to look at us, blood trailing from their mouths as they snarled. "Everyone
aim for the head!" I yelled, lifting my hammer and swinging at the nearest infected man's head. It connected with a
sickening crunch and the man dropped to the floor lifeless, blood seeping from his crushed skull.
I watched horrified as Johnny swung his axe at a girls neck and almost severed her head. I gasped in horror as my other best friend, Cole, ran up to me and started trying to bite my neck. I gulped, hating myself for what I was about to do and swung my hammer at his skull, crushing his head as he dropped to the floor, lifeless
Rachel was busy screaming and battering any infected that got near with her frying pan while Kyle guarded her back with his mallet which was quite damaging to any infected that attacked.
After a few minutes no-one besides us was still alive so we started heading towards Johnny's house, intent on seeing
if his family were alive. We encountered very few infected on the streets toward his house,I thought they had run off
to where the fire alarm was wailing in the distance. We ran into his house and started immediately piling up
furniture against the doors and windows to stop anything getting in. I stumbled to the sink and emptied my stomach,
disgusted by the fact I had just killed human beings.
"You okay man?" asked Kyle, patting my shoulder while I rinsed
my mouth with water.
"We just killed people, innocent people, and I just killed one of my best friends, I'm damn well sick." I replied weakly.
"Me too, but think of it like this, if we don't kill them they're gonna kill us."he replied, patting my back.
"Yeah, yeah i guess you're right. thanks." I walked out of the room to find Rachel curled up on the chair and Johnny
looking carefully out between the barricades in front of the window.
"There are quite a few out there now." He whispered, he stepped away from the window and sat on the sofa with his head in his hands.
Suddenly we heard a commotion on the streets and a boy shouting "For god's sake someone help me!"
We all grabbed our weapons and started pulling apart the barricade in front of the door, seeing a boy about our age trying to fend off
the infected with a baseball bat and a kitchen knife. He was slowly being dragged to the floor so we ran from our
safe house towards him, me shouting "Oi you pricks! try us on for size!" The majority of the infected looked at us
before screeching and sprinting at us. We raised our weapons and started bludgeoning them to death, Johnny slicing
any that got near. I ran to the boy when it was clear and said "Come on get in the house its safe there."
We all got in the house and rebuilt the barricades and made sure they were secure before helping the boy on to the
sofa where he sat down heavily and sighed "I hate those things." He wore a black sweatshirt, some blue jeans with
rips in them and some blue vans on his feet.
"So whats your name and how did you get here?" I asked him. He looked at me and I took in his features, short brown hair, blue eyes and the hint of shadows under his eyes.
"The names Brad, I came from my friends house, we were running away from those things when he...he uh.." he looked
down, a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"What happened?" asked Rachel quietly, avoiding eye contact.
"He got infected and I bashed in his skull with this bat." Brad said bluntly, holding up said object. He sighed and leant back into the sofa, rubbing his face in an effort to get rid of the dirt and blood on it.
"So does anyone know what we should do now?" I asked the room full of people.
"I heard there was an evacuation further across town in the mall." said Brad, using his sleeve to wipe blood off
his baseball bat.
"OK then, I think we should stay here tonight and then head there tomorrow." I said "We'll have to take turns watching the door though." I sighed heavily, "I'll go first, you guys get some rest." I slumped into the chair nearest the door holding my new found shovel from the cupboard under the stairs. I sat there, wondering what was happening elsewhere, who else was surviving and most importantly what was happening to my family? After three hours of watching an unmoving door, I got up and woke Kyle for a shift. I plodded to the spare bedroom and laid down, my head hit the pillow and I was asleep in seconds.
When I woke in the morning I smelt bacon and eggs and thought, I wonder what else mums cooking? then I realised where
I was and sighed, yawned and stretched. I went through to the kitchen and saw Kyle and Rachel cooking while Brad and
Johnny were discussing what our plan of action was to get to the mall across town. After breakfast we wrote messages on the walls in case our families saw them. Then we all picked up some first aid kits from the closet and some medicine along with some kitchen knives to use as weapons or tools.
"Well then, lets go kick some zombie ass!"
I said, kicking the door open and lifting my shovel up. The infected all along the street snapped their heads up
to see who was making the noise, seeing survivors they screamed and ran mindlessly towards us, only to be beaten to
death or sliced by Johnny's axe.
We dispatched them all and came out with only a few scratches, silently thankful that we all appeared to be immune. We headed north across town, dispatching any infected that appeared. Halfway there we saw a figure walking toward us, he didn't appear to be infected as he wasn't charging at us, limbs flailing and shouting gibberish.
"Hey there!" he shouted "Are you survivors?"
"Yeah we are, we're heading to the evac center at the mall!" I shouted back. We walked up to him and I shook his hand
noticing he had lots of weapons.
"Names Ted, glad to meet ya." he spoke in a gruff voice, he sounded like a soldier
or something. "If none of you mind Ive got a couple extra weapons I can't carry, you can have 'em." he handed me a
long case and when I pulled the handle a shiny katana blade came out, glistening in the glare of the sun. He handed
both Kyle and Rachel axes and finally handed Johnny a colt M1911 pistol along with some clips.
"Thanks man these will really come in handy" said Johnny. he put the safety on the gun and slipped it into his pocket.
"So why are you out here and not going for evac?" I asked.
"Well I'm trying to find as many survivors as I can before the choppers get here." he replied, looking us all up and down, he said "How long have you been in those clothes?"
"Since yesterday." said Kyle, looking in disgust at the blood all over his sweatshirt.
"Well come on, there's tons of clothes at the mall." Laughed Ted, walking and slinging a shotgun over his shoulder. We got to the mall and it was full of survivors and people with guns, swords and axes. "see that big red door over there?" inquired Ted, pointing off to our left, at a big steel door completely covered in red.
"Yeah what about it?" I asked back.
"That's a safe house. there are lots in all the countries now since the government thought they would keep us safe, they do bloody well though, they'll even keep out a tank."
"Whats a tank?" asked Kyle, he looked perplexed.
"You'll find out soon enough kid." replied Ted, he then walked off to talk to some man with a sniper rifle.
As I was walking towards a sign that said toilets, Noticed some people gathered around a large notebook and mumbling to each other. I picked it up and read the cover, Special Infected. Intrigued, I opened it and was met with a picture of an obese man labeled, the Boomer. This strain of the virus affects anyone not immune who has a weight problem. This infected has been mutated by the virus to produce green bile which when in contact with survivors, will attract any infected within a mile to attack. He is easy to spot due to the large boils and pustules covering his body, he also gurgles and belches due to the bile his body is producing. However, they are extremely weak and anything sharp enough, even hard rain, will kill them, causing them to explode, do not attack from up close.
The next page had a picture of a man with tumors and massive appendages on his face. He appeared to be emitting smoke. The Smoker. This strain of the virus affects people who have nicotine in their blood. This infected has been mutated so that his intestines hang from his mouth, which he uses like a tongue to ensnare survivors and drag them through obstacles or back to himself where he will proceed to claw them to death until he dies or the survivor is released or dead. He makes telltale coughing noises when near survivors and is quite hard to find usually. He gets his name from the fact that he releases a cloud of smoke upon death and because of the small spores on his body that emit smoke as he moves around.
The next picture was a man crouched down in a blue hoodie, snarling. The Hunter. Anyone healthy enough to be a runner or athlete can be affected by this strain. A very athletic infected, the hunter can jump up to 30 feet in the air and not be injured. He uses his immense speed and agility to pounce survivors and rip them to shreds with his razor sharp claws. He/she appears to have clawed their own eyes out when infected, preferring to screech and use echo location to find prey. They growl when preparing to pounce, making their presence known as soon as they are close.
The next was a massive thing covered in muscle, only the upper part of his face was not immersed in muscle. The Tank. Bodybuilders and muscular people are affected by this strain. It is possibly the most dangerous infected and the strongest, he will charge survivors until he is killed, his muscles make him almost bullet proof and able to kill untrained survivors instantly. Because his arms and torso have enlarged but his legs haven't, he walks on his knuckles like a gorilla. If you encounter one, split up and fire at it continuously, be careful as he can and will throw anything he can get his hands on at survivors. He roars and the ground will shake when he is near, making it impossible not to know where he is.
The last picture was a girl with gray skin sitting on the floor, with hands like knives. The Witch. DO NOT STARTLE HER. Girls or women (no male cases have been seen) who are affected by this strain, will retain their memories of the past and cry remorsefully for the deaths of everyone she knew and the death happening around her. she is unbelievably fast and strong and is capable of killing a person in seconds, she is startled by light, loud noises and people getting too close to her. Some cases have been reported of the witch walking around and crying, try to avoid one as much as possible.
I showed the notebook to my friends who all decided to remember these infected in case we ran into any. We found out there were showers and fresh clothes for all of us, so after we all got cleaned up we were blood and dirt free. I was dressed in black jeans, an AC/DC t-shirt and a black hoodie along with some black vans. I like black, but I'm not some emo kid or anything.
Johnny was wearing: blue jeans, a red t-shirt and a dark blue jumper. He also had a holster on his thigh for the pistol Ted gave him.
Kyle came out wearing a camo army type suit saying it was "quite comfortable on certain areas". Johnny rolled his eyes while I laughed.
Rachel appeared and all the men turned to look at her, she had her long hair tied up in a ponytail, wore a black tank top, some jeans and a pink zip up hoodie.
"Wow someone call the fire brigade cos girl you look hot!" Kyle whistled and looked her up and down appreciatively.
Rachel blushed and looked at her feet, giggling as she did. "thank you very much." she smiled at Kyle brightly.
We all picked our weapons back up and were walking over to Ted when a woman screamed "Get off! someone help! hes trying to bite..." then we heard a loud snarl and everyone panicked, trying to get away from the now infected man and woman. As we stood there shocked we saw them both start attacking people. within a minute or so, half the place was infected.
"I guess not many people are immune then!" I shouted at my teammates. the rest of the survivors rushed to the safe house and slammed the door right before the first infected slammed into it, screeching and snarling, trying to reach through the bars.
I looked around and saw all my friends, including Brad and Ted, as well as about 35 other survivors.
"OK everyone listen up!" shouted Ted. "Everyone get a weapon, because were gonna have to fight our way out of here!" Immediately all the remaining survivors grabbed guns, bats, swords, axes and whatever weapons they could find.
As for my team, I was equipped with: an M-16 assault rifle, two p220 pistols, a pipe bomb and the katana Ted gave me.
Rachel held an m4a1 rifle and two Beretta m9 pistols along with a Molotov.
Kyle had a Dragunov sniper rifle, two USP pistols, a pipe bomb and somehow he had found a flamethrower!
Johnny was equipped with a fire axe, a sawn off shotgun, a Single action army revolver and a bottle of green fluid.
"Right then!" shouted Ted, everyone turning to face him. "We need to call a chopper, and we can do that by going to the music stores and playing the loudest thing you can find! The noise will attract zombies, but also the chopper!"
"Lets do this thing!" I yelled, eager to kill some zombies. Ted unhooked the bar from the safe room door and started firing at the infected outside. we all charged outside, firing and slashing, or in Kyles case, burning any infected in our path. Me and Johnny Sprinted to the CD store and I grabbed the first album I could reach. It was AC/DC Power-age. "Alright! lets fucking do this!" I yelled, placing the CD in a disc player and turning the volume right up.
The first song wasn't my favourite so I skipped to Riff Raff and started singing along while firing at the infected. One of the people next to me was grabbed by what could only be a smokers tongue and was dragged into the middle of the horde, screaming as he was torn apart. I heard a screech and a hunter jumped on a woman trying to run away, tearing out her throat and seeming to relish in the blood. A boomer waddled into the middle and threw up all over a man with an axe, immediately, all the infected peoples attention was diverted to him and they proceeded to tear him apart, blood and internal organs flying everywhere.
I heard a thunderous roar and turned to see a tank smash through the doors of the mall, crushing anything in his way, immune and infected alike. "Guys run!" I shouted to my friends, unloading my M-16 into the tank and pulling out my katana.
"Don't worry I got it!" shouted Brad running toward the tank, when a hunter pounced and knocked him sideways, slicing him open from ribs to waist. The tank smashed him against the wall as the chopper arrived and quickly the rest of the survivors ran straight to it and jumped in, there were only about 20 of us left now. I watched through the window as Brad pulled the pin off a grenade and ran into the tank and the middle of the horde.
"NO!" screamed Rachel, shooting into the horde from the chopper.
"Forget it kid, he's gone." said Ted, we heard the explosion and watched bodies and bits of tank fly everywhere.
Rachel began to sob as we flew further away from the mall, further away from my home. I still wanted to know what happened to my parents, but if I allowed the thoughts to consume me, I would die very quickly.