Legal Note: I do not own any of the characters associated with Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead or any other zombie related movie, book, TV show or any other media format. I do not have any legal right to use them. This story was done just for the fun of it. Not for profit. If you like it please tell me. If you don't like it please tell me why with particulars but not excessive detail. Any one who wants to rip on my style or me just to make them self feel better is really only polishing their wand and their statements will receive the due amount of interest (i.e. NONE). And finally before any one brings it up: I do know my punctuation stinks. I just don't care.

Summary: The introduction to a post Z-Day soldier and the events surrounding him. The story will be updated periodically. Chapters will be records of events normally in chronological order.

Humanitarian Note: No zombies were injured during the writing of this story.

Rifleman Parker: A Soldier of the Reconquista

"Rifleman Parker, are you ready?"

"No, sergeant."

"NO?" Sergeant Cobb turned on his side to look at the rifleman. "You got something wrong with your weapon?"

"No, sergeant." Parker was leaning into his sight a bit but his finger was not on his trigger. The stock of the old FN FAL was snugged up but his posture was wrong to take a shot.

"What the fuck is it then? The others are set to go."

"One of the targets in my section is acting funny." Parker was still straining through his scope to see whatever it was he was looking at.

"Which target?" The scorn was gone from Sgt. Cobb's voice now. He turned back to his own weapon and panned his scope over to Parker's section of the field. They were on a low hill overlooking a sapling covered slope. Moving through the brush and tall grass were thirty-eight infected. The infected were spread out making their way up the slope towards the territory that the Fourth Kentucky Volunteers had just spent the last two months clearing. The infected were not welcome and Sgt Cobbs' squad was here to let them know it.

"It's the female there on the far left in the blue striped shirt." Parker said.

"She looks fresh. What's special about... Never mind. I saw it." The woman had tripped and looked down instinctively. The zombies hadn't taken notice. It was also clear from her path in the grass that she was gradually moving farther and farther away from the others.

"Figure she's one of us?"

"I'd say so, Parker."

"She's down wind of them." Parker was judging distances and doing some math in his head. "At the rate she's moving they'll be on top of us before she's clear."

"Yep. If she makes it that long. The wind is bound to shift sooner or later."

"Why doesn't she just run now?" Parker adjusted his weapon and settled a little more to steady his aim.

"The terrain is bad here. She might make it but she could trip, get tangled up or even twist an ankle. Parker, we have to fire. You take out the ones that are in her path first. Then get those that are closest to her. If she's got any sense she'll bolt right for us." Cobb turned to his right. "Grayson, pass the word. Don't shoot the blonde in the striped shirt. Got that? Good. Pass it on."

A moment later Cobb fired the first shot. An instant later Parker dropped the big fella directly in the woman's path and then two more behind it. She had snapped her head up the instant Cobb had fired and when Parker started picking off her neighbors she gave a quick glance over her shoulder and sprinted up hill waving her arms but not saying anything.

"Smart girl." Cobb muttered. The infected always zeroed in on sound. They couldn't see worth shit but their hearing seemed acute and their sense of smell was insane. The infected were moaning now. They were shuffling faster but the slope was tough for them to negotiate. Five riflemen and the sergeant laid waist to the group in under a minute. Riflemen were not snipers. They were trained to be superior shots and trained to operate in squads, platoons and companies. Snipers were trained to an almost inhuman accuracy. They were trained in two man teams for independent infiltration operations. That sort of thing had very limited use in a fight with the infected.

"Don't shoot! Please! I'm alive!" The woman was almost sobbing as she ran waving her arms. She lurched up the hill and just short of Parker's position she fell to her knees crying and gasping. "I'm alive."

"It's all right now, ma'am." Parker rose up from the grass. He stayed in a crouch as he moved down to her. "We got 'em."

The woman looked up at him. She saw a dark complected youngish man. He wore a camouflaged slouched hat and a camouflaged poncho. In his hand was a big gun and most reassuring of all he was smiling.

"I'm alive." The words slipped from her mouth as if she could not quite believe it.

"Yes, ma'am." Parker reached her and took her by the arm. "I'm alive too."

She smiled at that and the tears started from her eyes again. "I didn't know what else to do."

"You did great, ma'am." Parker said pulling her to her feet. He continued to scan the slope but there was nothing moving. "What's your name, ma'am?"

"Shauna." She gulped air trying to get control of herself. "I'm Shauna Bailey."

"Nice to meet you, Miss Bailey. I'm Jim Parker."

"Are you with the army?"

"Sort of. We're the Fourth Kentucky Volunteer Regiment operating out of Ft. Knox. Are you all right? Hurt anywhere?"

"I'm not bit!" She said it quick, scared eyes going wide.

"I didn't figure you were, Miss Bailey." Parker said reassuringly but he had been wondering. These days you didn't meet anyone outside of a community without making sure they had not been infected.

"Missis. Mrs. Bailey." Her eyes went out of focus and her voice softened to a whisper."The Widow Bailey. Widows and orphans."

"Mrs. Bailey we need you to hold it together until we can get you back to our camp." Parker had seen more than a few people make it out of bad situations only to lose it when the shooting stopped. "Do you think you can walk?"

She turned a sudden and very engaging smile on him. "I'll bloody well walk out a' here." Parker thought she was doing some accent or other but wasn't sure.

"Rifleman Parker," Sgt. Cobb called. "Let's get moving. We'll debrief the lady on the way back."

The squad moved out at an energy conserving walk. They were following the same path that they had used on the way out because they had already cleared it of crawlers which were infected that had lost the use of their legs and there were no close spots that the infected could trap them in. The sun was high and the wind low but still cool. Early May was a comfortable if rainy month in Kentucky. Today was a good day for a walk in the country with a pretty lady. It was a good day to be alive.