Chapter 2: Armageddon

Kyle stood frozen in place and stared for a few seconds in the direction of the gunfire. Someone had made it to the gun store before him. He regained his senses and started walking towards the gun store, axe ready for any other rotting shamblers. Kyle noticed one turn around and had spotted him. Kyle was waited for the zombie to come and get him, no need wasting energy that could very well be needed later. All of a sudden, it started to sprint at him. He was so shocked that he didn't swing his axe in time. The thing got on top of him and tried to tear into his throat with chipped teeth covered with the blood of previous victims. But because of superior strength, Kyle lifted the creature off of him and brought it down with full force, smacking its head on the concrete of the road. The contact between skull and asphalt made a sickening crunch noise.

"Never again." Was all he could manage to say. He would never be so off guard again, unless they learned how to fly, which is extremely doubtful. He picked up his axe that he dropped and swung it in a wide arc, bringing it down on a zombie looking for a feast. The shear force put into the swing cleaved the head completely in two down the centre and kept going into the upper torso, exposing everything inside. With almost as much force as he swung it, he pulled the axe free and started jogging toward the gun store to meet the other survivor, he hoped.

While Kyle walked, he noticed that there weren't many zombies on this side of town. Well, that made sense, this was the residential side. When this whole shit started, everyone would be at work, the mall, in school, and so on. That was good, he needed some rest. Once he found this person, he would get some guns and find a place to sleep.

Kyle was almost there. He felled two more zombies sense the runner and he was at the corner. He turned and almost got hit by two well aimed, consecutive shots.

"HOLY SHIT! IM ALIVE GOD DAMN IT!" Kyle yelled at the top of his lungs while diving to the ground.

A female voice said "Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I thought you were one of those-"

"-Zombies?" Kyle said looking up. The woman was about 26 with auburn, jaw length hair and around 5'4. But her most striking feature were her Brown eyes which had splashes of violet in them. Those eyes, Kyle could see, were they eyes of a stern, yet frightened person. She held a pistol up, smoke drifting lazily out of the barrel. Kyle also noticed there were quite a few brass casings and empty clips around her, with "dead" zombies around the entrance to the store.

"Zombies? Don't be ridiculous, there has to be some sort of answer to this, a disease or mental disorder or something." The girl said. "Hurry up and get in hear, it's safer." Kyle was reluctant to go in at first, considering this woman just shot at him, but he decided that it was for the best of his interests to go inside.

"My name's Kyle, its good to see a new living face around." Kyle said, usually when he met a new person, he would be offering his hand to them, but he was busy finding a gun to suit him.

"I'm Anna-Parker, sorry again for shooting at you, you are the first living person I've seen since I left my house." Kyle was listening, and remembering Eric, and Sarah, and even his old wife strangely. Then everything went blank in his mind when he spotted it. A Remington 870 shotgun. Kyle picked it up and stared intently at his new found tool. He dropped his axe, slung his new pump action, and went over to where the knives were kept. He still needed a back up weapon that didn't need ammo. Just in case he ran out or was wrestling with one of those ghouls, he needed a smaller weapon, but reliable. He picked the USMC issued K Bar. K Bar was a good knife company, very unswerving weapon which was trusted by armies and counter terror teams all over the world. Plus it had a nice balance between blade and grip. He attached the sheath to his belt. He also picked up a utility belt. Loading it with shells. Picking up and putting on a black baseball cap, he knew he was ready.

"So where are we going to go?" Anna-Parker's words brought him out of his state of oblivion.

"What do you mean?" Kyle responded.

"Well we can't stay here, there isn't enough food to support a mouse, let alone two people." Kyle knew Anna's logic this was true. He never thought about where he would go next.

"I don't know, out of town seems good, But it may take a while." Considering they were in the almost dead centre of the city, this was true. "Let's go to the convenience store a few blocks down and stay there until daylight then we can start moving."

"Ok, sounds like a plan."

"Ok, what do we have to eat?" Anna asked as she browsed through the shelves. Kyle went into the back room first and shut off the lights so they wouldn't attract attention. A.P. and he got to the store with little trouble. About six shamblers. Easily taken out by the pair's firearms. Kyle was surprised by how well she handled her Beretta 92fs pistol.

"Just grab some stuff and take them to the back room, we can stay in here. Looks like the TV still works too." Kyle said, with a little bit of enthusiasm. Television was good, maybe he could find out about what the fuck was going on.

A.P. walked in with a cart full of snacks, some deli meats left over and some drinks including juice, energy drinks and soda. Kyle was flipping through the stations, which were inactive, until he flicked over to a news channel that was still on and was commenting on the outbreak.

"-and the city of Los Angeles was lost to these monsters as well." The anchorman said. "We now bring you live to our reporter at a National Guard blockade."

"Thanks Jim." The live reporter said as the screen witched to him. There was the sounds of blood curdling screeching, moaning and gunfire. "It's a damned war zone out here. The things just keep coming and coming. It was discovered that only headshots can bring these things down. I repeat, only headshots, can kill these things. The National Guard seem to be holding them back, but just barely. I'm thinking I might get out of here, it's just not safe for me here." The sounds of screaming came and Gunfire was getting frantic. The soldiers in the background were swearing and walking backwards while shooting. "Oh god! The things have broken through the defenses. We've gotta go right the fu-" He was cut off when a zombie grabbed him and tore into his neck. Blood sprayed onto the camera and then it fell, with the sounds of feasting, running and screaming. The Camera lay there, broadcasting the reporter's grisly death on national television for 2 whole seconds before being switched to the anchorman again.

"Jesus fuck." Was all Kyle managed to say. He glanced at A.P. for a second to see her expression. It was one of mute horror with wide eyes and a sagging jaw. She noticed him and her eyes went normal and closed her mouth.

"I apologize for what you have just witnessed." A paper was flung onto the desk. "I have just been informed that we are going off the air for emergency reasons. If you need any more information, visit our website at w w w dot channel 9 news dot com." Then the screen just had those colour bars and said 'please stand by'.

"There's a computer over there." Anna said pointing to a desk in the corner of the room. "Maybe it still works and has internet connection." Anna then got up and turned on the computer. It was all ready to go in about 30 seconds. She found out it had high speed internet connection. "Fuck yeah! It has high speed!" Anna clapped her hands lightly with joy. She quickly got to a website showing all the information they needed to know, a map of the world showing areas of infestation. The areas marked were too big for comfort, almost covering the entire Earth.

"Holy shit…" Was all Kyle could spit up at seeing this dreadful sight. "It's fucking Armageddon."

"Look over near the mountains near this city, a safe spot with no infestation. If you ask me, that's our best bet." Anna reported.

"Yeah, easier said then done. But it beats sitting here waiting to die." Kyle responded. "We move in the morning."

The next morning, Anna woke up and looked at an ever awake Ryan swinging back a coffee, and looked at the clock.

"Holy shit, its 5:00 in the morning? How the hell are you so awake?" Anna asked with mild curiosity.

"I was awake sense 4:40 kid." Kyle said with a hint of humor.

"Don't call me 'kid' fuck head. I have a name" Anna shot back.

"Ok, ok. Just don't bite my head off." Kyle replied with a little more then a hint of humor.