Chapter 4

I sat down there for hours eating pickles with the dog and reading old hot rod magazines I found in one of the boxes. Every once in a while I would wind up the radio and listen for any new news. There wasn't any. I could hear outside the whale of a siren or gun shots in the distance. And then I heard the back door open and somebody come in. the dogs hackles came up and it did a low growl. I stop ed reading the magazine and put my hand on its head to quite it down and sat there as quite as I could with a pickle hanging out of my mouth. I'm sure I looked quite funny kind of like one of those Norman Rockwell pictures my wife loves so much. I could see the heading now. Caught in the pickle jar or something like that.

The foot steps creaked across the floor above me. I could tell where they were by the sound. Was it an infected or maybe someone here to rescue me. I dropped the magazine and picked up the rifle hugging it to me. It dawned on me I never loaded it. Looking around I spied the box a ammo across the room. I slowly got up and started to make my way over to it trying to stay as quite as possible. I heard the sound of cupboards opening and closing above me. Looking up trying to figure why someone would be going threw my cupboards I didn't see the dog move in front of my feet and promptly tripped and fell over it crashing into a pile of boxes. I let out a yell that ended with a yelp of pain as my hand in a last ditch attempt to stop my fall grabbed for one of the support post that had a nail in it. Cutting my hand and ripping a gash across it. The dog scampered to the other side of the basement.

I covered my mouth and looked up. All sound upstairs stop. After about a minute I heard movement across the floor coming for the back door. Sitting up I reach over a box and snagged the box of ammo and opened it up. 3 rounds. Crap! What do I do now. I cold hear whoever was up their taking the stairs slowly one at a time. I did the only thing I could think of.

"Whoever s in my fucking house better get the fuck out now. I have a gun!" I yelled trying to sound as tough as possible. The dog barked once. I looked at it and said "A dog to!"

Their was silence for a second and then a voice on the other side of the door. "Dude! Shut up! You'll bring some of those freaks here."

I stared at the door dumbfounded. It sounded like that Kid down the street who was always stoned. I stood up and started to move toward the door. "What are you doing in my house?"

"getting munches!" came the reply.

I shook my head "What do you mean getting munches? Don't you have some at your house?"

"yea I do but theirs a bunch of those dead freaks there now and I was hungry you know." there was a pause and then "your door was open and I figured you wouldn't mind."

Standing by the pile of boxes blocking the door now I tried to think of something to say.

Then I heard him say "Hey dude! Do think you could let me in?"

"Why should I? You were just trying to still my food." I said.

There was a long pause then "I'm sorry dude! I'll give it back but right now I need a place to hide from those freaks and you seem to have a good place." another pause "please dude."

I thought about it and it would be good to have someone to talk to if if it was someone not of the most intellective mind on the street. "Give me a minute I have to unbar the door.

"you got a bar man! Cool! Can I have a drink?"

This gave me second thoughts about letting him in and then with a shrug I started to move boxes. As I moved boxes it I started to ask questions.

"Do you know whats going on out there?"

"Ya! Its the end of the world and we all got the end of the short stick dude."

I decided to just shut up and wait until he was inside before asking to many more questions. I lifted the last box and saw that a piece of lumber had fallen in my hurry to barricade the door and wedged its self between a support beam and the door. I couldn't budge it so I sat down and started to kick it out. It was jammed pretty good.

"What are you doing dude?" he said "Your making a lot of noise."

I stop ed and looked at the door. "Why don't you go back up stairs and get some more food for us?"

After a pause "Alright dude. But hurry and get this door open!" I heard him going up the stairs.

That was what I was doing I thought to myself. Why wasn't this board budging. I looked at it and realized the way it was wedged I would have to hit it from the other side and not on the side I was on. I got up and moved to the other side and sat down again. With one kick it came free and the door swung open. I got up and peeked around the door jamb and up the stairs. I could here him digging in the cupboards. I grabbed my rifle and loaded it. I took one step out of the door way when the dog started to growl again I heard some one come threw the ruble of the front door. Or more precise a lot of somebody's.

"Hey kid! Get down here now!" I yelled. But it was to late. I heard them come into the kitchen and and the kid yelling "dude get off me!" and "don't eat me man!" several times. Then someone appeared at the top of the stairs they had large chunks of skin missing or hanging from his body and half of his face was missing. I pulled the trigger of the rifle and nothing.

With a inhuman growl the guy jumped from the top of the stairs down to me. I had stepped back in the doorway and he went sailing past me into the support beam behind me bashing his head and cracking it wide open. He landed with a dull thud. I slammed the door shut and this time bolted it. I looked at the guy the dog was now barking at him. He wasn't moving so I grabbed for the wood I had kicked out and jammed it back into place. I could hear what sounded like a pack of animals up stairs tearing into the kid. It sounded a lot like those nature shows on TV showing a bunch of lions eating some helpless animal they had caught.

I knelled down next to the guy putting my hand on the dog who stopped barking but continued to growl and could see that his head was cracked open and his brains were flowing out. I turned around and puked. I tell you what pickles coming back up are pretty nasty. When I was done with the dry heaves I turned to examine the body again. I turned it over and saw that the head wound was not the only thing wrong with him. At first I thought the chunks of meat hanging off him were from some sort of car crash now I was pretty sure that wasn't it. It looked like he was being eating alive. There was no way this guy was alive before he came at me. Then something the kid said came back to me. Those dead freaks is what he said. I sat back stunned. Walking dead was just story's and good movies they couldn't be true could they.

I sat down their next to the dead guy with the sound of the chomping meat up stairs for I don't know for how long. I was in a trance trying to make sense of the whole thing when I noticed the sounds upstairs stop ed and I could hear the sound of shuffling feet coming to the stairs. And then something tumbling down stairs and banging against the door. It was one of them. I could hear it getting up and then it started to pound on the door. The dog went nuts barking at the door.