Home Front USA

Hamilton, New Zealand

[Rugby player Monique Skia is sitting in the The Brian Perry Stand at the Waikato Stadium. She takes a moment to look away from the New Zealand All Blacks practicing in the field. When I get close enough, I see the double-edged battle axe in the holster on her hip. She seems to notice the wary look on my face, and tells me to sit next to her; she doesn't bite.]

This axe saved my ass a couple of times during the war. Usually, I would stick to the rules, and use my gun and what not, but there were a few unpredictable moments

What do you mean?

In Wellington, we were given word that there were still some Maori stuck in the city. There were also a few American soldiers there, too; they were the ones that managed to contact us before, I'm assuming, their battery died or the signal was lost. And who else would go but us? We took a helicopter there, me, Jake, Lucius, Adam, Gaz, Cassie and Ben-Jamin. Looking below, it looked like there weren't nearly as many zombies as we thought there would be. Barry, the helicopter driver for Jake and Adam, went to the top of the Wellington Free Ambulance building; Diane, Cassie and Ben-Jamin's heli-driver, took them off on top of the Majestic Centre. They watched as Zatch took Lucius, Gaz and I down below. There were two more helicopters, Jesse and Theo, who were around for if we did get some survivors.

Why did they take only you three down? Wouldn't it have been better of all of you were together?

Ben, Adam, Cassie and Jake didn't have nearly as much training as us, so they weren't as experienced. Gaz, Lucas and I have been at the academy for years, since we were in diapers. We were practically raised there. Training started for Lucas and I at 4, Gaz at 5. Since Adam, Ben Cassie and Jake weren't as experienced as us, it was decided that they would go in groups of two and scope from a safe distance, their heli-drivers with them; they would radio us to tell us if danger was near while we fought below. What the heke they were thinking sending them with us at a time like this, I don't fucking know. I guess they were some of the only ones left to help, and Lucas and I trained them, so I guess that seemed to make sense in their eyes.

So we all had radios, and tried using them to see of any of the Maori would answer. The city was a disaster, cars flipped over, the beautiful Old St. Paul was destroyed. I was a huge fan of Gothic Revival architecture and the country of New Zealand itself.

You mean you aren't from here?

No, I'm from Greece, But back to the story. Me and Lucas walked to a building with closed doors; it looked stable, so we figured that some of the Maori and maybe to American troops were in there. "Hello? Is anyone in there?" asked Lucas, getting closer to the door. From behind the curtains, a green eye peeked out. Then, the person, a female, opened the window more. She had an alarmed face. Before she could even mouth out what was wrong, I saw Zack's reflection in the window.

Yeah, I had a gun, but I panicked for a second, and instead of reaching for my gun, I went straight for Beatrice¹, my baby. It's practically instinct for me to grab her; I'm so used to using her! I turned around and swung at its head. I sliced it clean off. The body fell, but the head started growling and groaning.

"Holy shit, Shadow," said Lucas. "Holy shit is right, Brightness," I said, shoving my axe through the head.

You didn't panic?

I had a mini heart-attack when I saw it behind me, but other than that moment, no.

You weren't scared of having to take on the zombie had-on?

No. I actually liked it. Sure, I'm good with guns, but hand-to-hand combat is my strength. While we were there, I sometimes put the gun down and got my baby out. Yeah, I know I sound like a dumbass, taking on the Zack head-on, but I loved the feeling of the blood pumping through my body. Plus, there weren't a lot of Zack at first.

"Ah, I love the adrenaline rushing through my veins," I told Lucas when we came to a small hoard of those flesh-munching fuckers. "Of course you do, ya adrenaline junkie" he replied.

You said that there was a girl near the window of the building.

Oh, yeah. They had the door boarded up to the store – it was a corner store they were in. There were about ten of them in there. They were lucky they got stuck in that building; besides being covered in dirt and such, they were okay. They had plenty of food and water, it seemed. I radioed Zatch and Diane and told them the street we were at so they could get them.

"What are you all doing here?" asked one of the three American troops, Tom I think his name was.

"I came here to kick ass and chew bubble gum," I replied, shooting the head of a Zack that was about 5 meters away. I looked around; it was SO FREAKING EMPTY! No Zack were anywhere! I was expecting a hell of a fight, not this cake walk!

"Aww, shit. And I'm all out of asses to kick," I said. I was just warming up! Lucas shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"You're crazy," said a 10-year old boy

"Naw, kid. I'm insane. There's a difference." I said, Lucas smiling and shaking his head.

"We're responding to the radio message we got yesterday. That was you all, right?" asked Lucas

"Yes, it was," said another man, a Latino, holding up a head radio. Just then, Diane and Zatch were landing the helicopters.

"You all be careful," said Tom. They all thanked us as Diane and Zatch left to take them to safety.

Did you all see if there were any other survivors?

But of course. However, the longer we stayed there, the more Zack that showed up. There were a few close calls, and soon, Barry radioed us to get outa there; there was a huge hoard coming from the west. Even if I used my axe, I guess we were still making too much noise. The three of us rushed back to the ambulance building. Gaz was just running up when a Zack came out of the bushes and ran to her. I thought 'Holy shit!' and without thinking, just threw Beatrice at the thing. She went through the Zack's head and it went to the wall, ricocheted off of it.

"But that throw, though," Ben-Jamin radioed me. I smirked and got my baby out of the decaying head, wiping it off with a pretty much useless cloth I had.

I've heard that just touching the blood could begin to turn a human.

Who hadn't by this time? We were smart enough to wear rubber gloves and equipment. What, you thought we just touched the stuff like it was nothing? Hell no! We wore protection from head to toe, wore goggles and all that fancy stuff. I almost thought that I wouldn't be able to grab Betty; we probably looked like brown and yellow Teletubbies from a distance. Lucky for us, this was nothing compared to years of training.

[She smile with pride]

I'm pretty proud of what I did, even if it was reckless.

¹: The nickname that Monique gave the diamond battle axe.