We cruised back down the street we had come from in silence. The only sounds were that of the static from the radio, which we had left on in hopes that we would hear some kind of news or a call for help or something, and the quiet crunching of the cats as they nibbled on some cat food underneath my seat. My experience in the Walgreens had left me shaken. I always considered myself to be a kind person. I always thought of myself as being very humane. Hell I was taking my cats along for this crazy ride, risking life and limb for cat food. I'd call that pretty conscientious, but I couldn't stop thinking about that woman we left in the store. She was scared to death, and we just left her there. Maybe we could have found a doctor to help her before she turned. Maybe we could have burned the infection out or something and saved her life if nothing else. But we just left her there, meat for the dead. Jeff and I didn't say anything to the others as we drove along, and we couldn't really even look each other in the eyes.

The streets were all messed up. Some places we could squeeze through, some we couldn't. Our plan to make our way east out of the city was quickly being derailed by the maze of streets, abandoned cars, and large packs of the undead. That last bit was becoming more and more of a factor as time wore on. I checked the watch on Jeff's left arm. It read 5:30 a.m. Dawn would be coming soon. Something in me longed for the coming of day to end this nightmare, but the rest of me knew it would only be shedding more light on the horror that was creeping in all around us. Darrell veered around another crashed car. Our course was taking us more north than east, but we were unwilling to abandon our ride just yet.

"So uh, what are we gonna do about gas?" Braddly asked, finally breaking the silence.

Jeff and I craned our necks to look at the gas gauge. We were currently sitting at half a tank.

"This will last us awhile." Darrell said.

"Yeah... but we don't know what's gonna happen. We might want to fill up the tank and a gas can, if we can." I replied.

"Well, how bout there?" Brad was pointing to a filling station about a block ahead. From here we could see a couple of the walking dead shuffling around. The building wasn't large though... couldn't be many more inside.

"Think we can find one in the clear?" Darrell asked hesitantly

"From the looks of things isn't much "clear" right now." I sighed.

"Let's do it then." Jeff said, clicking the hammer back on his pistol to accent the comment.

Darrell stopped the police cruiser about 10 yards away from the pumps and popped the trunk open. Jeff and I piled out of the car. Braddly held onto the cats, making sure they didn't bolt out of the car and into danger. Jeff grabbed a red five gallon plastic gas can from the back and followed just behind me. Clicking the safety off my shotgun my heart raced as we neared the filling station. Four of the walking dead turned their attention to us. It was obvious these zombies were only recently deceased. Except for the blood their clothes were pristine. One looked like he might have worked here before. His name tag read "Harry."

The front-most zombie used to be a woman. She was dressed in a baby blue dress with white lace on the fringe and sleeves. He hair was caked with blackish ichor. Her eyes were almost completely rolled back into her head. He motions were stiff, and I could hear a cracking noise with each step she took. A quick glance down revealed her leg resting at an odd angle... obviously broken. The dead woman moaned pathetically as she reached out for me. I raised my shotgun and pulled the trigger. The back of the woman's head exploded, and the front of it didn't fare much better. The kick was substantial. I staggered a step back. The zombie collapsed to the ground, twitching just slightly. It's companions were undaunted, however, and continued their approach.

Jeff stepped up next to me, pistol raised. He fired two shots at the next nearest zombie, the report of his pistol was sharp and piercing compared to the deep –boom- produced by the shotgun. The first shot struck the zombie in its shoulder. It twisted and staggered from the force of the impact. Black blood and bits of flesh sprayed from the exit wound behind it. The second shot hit its mark, putting a hole in the zombie's forehead. The corpse staggered back a couple of steps then fell backwards. I took a step forward, and aimed left at another of the dead. This one was once a rather portly man. I pumped the shotgun, expelling the spent shell and fired. My aim was slightly off. I blew a hole in the man's stomach, gobs of rotfat flying causing the remaining viscera to fall out. I was caught off guard by the grisly display. The zombie didn't even seem to notice and kept coming towards me. I was busy trying not to throw up when Jeff stepped around me and placed a bullet between the monster's eyes. It shuffled a step more then fell to the ground, still trailing it's intestines behind it.

In my nausea I had almost forgotten the fourth zombie. A shout from Darrell snapped me from my reverie before it got too close. I kicked the corpse in the stomach and it shuffled back a few paces. Another pump and fire of the shotgun took its chest apart. It didn't go down immediately, but enough of the zombie was destroyed to make it harmless. It collapsed a few disturbing seconds later on top of one of its former companions.

Jeff wiped his brow and turned, looking back at the police cruiser. A smirk crept across his face and he tapped me on the shoulder.

"Lookit them," he giggled.

I turned and looked back at the police cruiser, Darrell and Brad were staring at us through the windows, eyes wide.

I chuckled.

"Let's get the gas and bail man."

Jeff nodded.

'Hey brad," I yelled, "You okay to pump?"

Brad nodded and Darell eased the car up to the pumps, taking a few moments to steer around the four dead... well dead-er zombies. Brad eased out and removed to nozzle, waiting for us to ready the pump from inside.

Jeff and I moved to the main building. The lights were still on inside. I could feel a hard knot of fear well up inside me as we approached the door. It looked like there was blood spattered everywhere. We opened the door and Jeff took a step back.

"Aw geezus!" he groaned.

Inside the small convenience store were several unmoving bodies. Their heads were torn open, not shot or bashed, but torn. Blood was splattered everywhere. I swallowed my disgust and moved to activate the gas pumps.

"What the hell happened here? This doesn't look like what we've seen before" Jeff asked.

"I dunno. Don't wanna know. Just fill that can up and lets get outta here." I replied, pressing several buttons on the console next to the cash register. The thought crossed my mind to take the contents of the register... but I quickly tossed that idea aside. Money wasn't worth much in this sort of situation. Instead I snagged all the beef jerky from the counter and a 6 pack of bottled water on the way out.

I couldn't help but wonder... what could do that kind of damage to those people?