July 21st, 2009

It was 11:30 a.m. Girard was seated in his basement, which served as his game room. He was playing video games, which he did every morning. His mom, Mary, had made him breakfast and after he ate he immediately went downstairs and his friend arrived. He walked downstairs and sat besides Girard.

"Pretty early for games, isn't it Girard?" He asked.

"Not to us, Jordan." Jordan has been his best friend for 2 years. Girard trusted him immensely. Girard himself was a year younger than Jordan. Girard was 15, to be turning 16 next April. He realized that next month, he would have to call his cousin, Omar, for his 16th birthday. He played online video games with his cousin, and they were close. Have been since Girard was a year old.

"Girard, Jordan." His sister, Brianna, said coming down the stairs.

"What Bre?" He asked.

"Mom said to stop playing video games and clean up your room, upstairs."

"I'll take care of it."

"Mom said now."

"Give me a minute, Brianna!" Girard said.

"Girard, come on. Let's just go clean your room. I'll help you." Jordan said. Brianna smirked.

"Fine, I'm coming." Girard got up and went up the stairs, following his little sister. Brianna was only 12 years old, and somewhat of a pest. As they reached the top of the stairs there was a furious knock on the door. His mother walked up and opened it. His older brother, and idol, Alex stood there a worried look on his face.

"Has anyone else come here?" Alex asked them.

"What do you mean?"

"Anyone come here? Aside from the family?"

"Well Jordan came here about half-hour ago." Alex drew a pistol and aimed at Jordan.

"Did anyone strange bite you?" Alex asked.

"What? What do mean if-"

"Has anyone bitten you?!" Alex yelled.

"No. No one bit me." Alex turned to their mom.

"Mom, where's dad?" Brian was not Alex's real dad, but Alex still referred to him as such.

"He's upstairs. Why?"

"We have to leave. Right now. Something bad is going on. We're going to Omar's."

"Where?"

"To the Community Center near Omar's house. He sent me a text message to meet him there, and bring all of you."

"Alex, what's going on?"

"People are killing one another. They're eating each other. You get bit, and you turn into one, and you kill anything you see. They are eating one another. Killing each other, killing people. If you get infected you die. Then you come back as one of them."

"One of what?" Girard asked.

"No name. Omar calls them Walkers." His father walked down stairs.

"Alex. What are you doing here?"

"Dad, we need to go."

"Why?" Alex explained. "Have you lost your damn mind? People aren't eating each other."

"Yes they are. You haven't seen what I've seen dad. My friends, all eaten alive by these things."

"Alex, listen to yourself." His dad said.

"No, you listen to me. I have my armored truck outfront. Let's go dad. Please." Brian still looked questioningly at Alex. Suddenly there was pounding on the porch door. Girard turned around and saw someone there. He was a pale gray color, and his eyes were a yellow color, like sulfur. He had blood stained clothing, and unkempt hair. He growled at them.

"Who the hell is that?" Brian asked.

"Oh shit, they're here." Alex drew his gun and fired through the window. The man dropped like lead.

"Alex!" Mary just said.
"Mom, these things aren't human. They're the dead walking on earth." Alex said. "Jordan, can you shoot?" Alex asked. Jordan nodded. "Good, take this." Alex handed Jordan a pistol. He took off the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He pulled out a shotgun. "Dad." Another 2 pistols. "Bre, Mom." He pulled out an assault rifle. M4A1, military grade. A second followed. "Girard, you know how this works. Full-auto." Holy shit. Full-Auto. He thought.

"Alex, you're for real?" Brian said. "You're arming us?"

"I need to. You need to be able to defend yourselves. Come on." Alex said. "We're gonna take the truck to a military checkpoint. It only has enough gas for that. We swap out to a fully fueled truck waiting for us." Alex said.

"And then?" Mary asked.

"We meet Omar at the Community Center. We have soldiers there, evacuating people. Omar's meeting people there, and he's going to get armed by the soldiers there. Once that happens we go to the Target up the road. There will be an ammo drop."

"And after all that?"

"We find somewhere safe, with Omar and his people and as much more family of ours as we can, and we bunker down and wait for this to blow over." Girard noticed something on the right of Alex, next to his car. It turned and growled at Alex, not giving him enough time to react as it pounced onto him.

"Alex!" Girard yelled. He raised the rifle, and shot 3 rounds into the Walkers head. Alex nodded at him.

"Girard, that was a good shot. Now get in, dad in front. You guys get in the back." Alex said. They all complied, Girard sitting in the back. He sat where the roof opened up. They immediately began driving away, towards the checkpoint. Not many people were on the road, most were running around. They passed several of those creatures, most chasing after people. Girard didn't like the thought of those things running rampant. Suddenly bullets hit the back of the car.

"What the hell's that?!" Girard asked. He turned around and men on motorcycles were shooting at the car.

"Anarchists. Anti-American people who took the opportunity to attack any military vessel they can." Alex said. Girard looked back at where the people were shooting at them.

"How much farther?!" Girard yelled.
"About half a mile!" Alex yelled.

"We won't have enough time." Girard opened the roof overhead, using it as cover from the bullets. He raised the rifle and shot at the upcoming bikers. About 9 of them were advancing on the truck, and several more were lagging behind. He fired on the men and their tires, shooting out 2 mens tires. He hit another in the face and his bike flipped in the air, taking out one of the people lagging behind.

"Girard what are you doing?" His mom yelled.

"Defending us!" He yelled. He continued to fire and he heard a window roll down. He turned and saw his dad leaning out the window. He was shooting at the closer bikers with the shotgun he had received. He shot ones tires out from underneath him.

"Guys. This thing doesn't have bullet proof tires." Alex said.
"Oh no." Girard said. He continued to fire, trying to keep the bullets off of the car and his father. The bikers shot at him, trying to shoot through the roof. Girards bullets were managing to keep them off for now. Suddenly a bike with two men drove up. One pulled out a shotgun and aimed for the tires. He fired and Girard was thrown back inside the car.

"Girard!" His mom called.

"I'm fine!" He said. He got up and looked out the window. The bike driver went down from his dad, causing a spin out.

"Guys, hold on!" Alex said. The car spun out of control and hit a building. Girard got up. "Guys get out, get out!" Alex said. Girard got out of the car and kept fire on the Anarchists. The men parked their bikes and took cover behind it.
"Ah, crap." Girard said. His gun was nearly out of ammo. He aimed, and he shot the tires of the bikes until the clip was out. He reloaded his gun and prepared for what was to come. The Anarchists were still taking cover, his rifle keeping them at bay.

"Let's go!" Alex called. "The car's this way! Girard and I will cover you!" he said. One of the Anarchists got up and began to shoot at them with pistols. Girard shot him in the head, Alex managed to kill a hidden biker. Alex, during his time in the field, had been a sniper. Alex shot at the oncoming anarchists, keeping them at bay and killing a few of them.

"Alex, lets go! You know where the car is!" Girard said. Alex nodded and they retreated towards the others. They turned and ran, Girard running out of ammo meanwhile. He reloaded as he turned to run. They found the others, Jordan and Brian standing over three bodies.

"What happened?"

"A couple of those things attacked us." Jordan explained.

"But we put them down." Brian said. Girard was proud of his friend. He was a good help to them.

"Alright." Alex said. "The car's about a quarter of a mile away. We can make it, if we stick together. If one person breaks off, we could all die. Those things are slower and dumber than us. If we keep our distance, we should be able to get through. If you see an anarchist, shoot him. Don't hesitate." Girard nodded. Brianna looked scared.

"Don't worry. Just stay with us." Girard said. Brianna nodded and raised her pistol. They began to move, tightly together in a strong formation. Several of those things were eating people, while other people were panicking and running around. A family of 4 was trying to fend off those things.

"Alex, what about them?" Mary asked.

"We have to worry about our family."

"There's only 5." Girard said.

"Girard! Don't argue." Alex said. Girard walked another pace and shook his head.

"Fuck that." Girard fired his assault rifle at the creatures, saving the dad from a bite. He shot three of the others and someone else finished the last. He turned and saw Brianna standing there with her pistol raised.
"Girard, Brianna!" Alex said.

"I still have my morals." Girard said. They continued on and they reached the car. But that was when they came. The Anarchists arrived and began shooting at them. Girard returned their fire, pushing them back. Suddenly a wave of creatures streamed out of an alley towards them.

"Oh, shit!" Brian said. "Mary, kids, in the car." Everyone piled in and Alex kicked the car into drive. The Anarchists were swarmed over with the flood of creatures. Few managed to get away, from Girards perspective. Jordan looked at Girard and smiled. The drove for about 20 minutes when Alex spoke.

"Ok. I think we're almost there. See?" He said. "Maple Grove Junior High. Omar lived around here. The community center isn't too far away." Girard relaxed a bit. He hoped the military would be able to calm things down here. He could only hope. Girard saw car's crashed all around. He saw more of the creatures, few cars, and people now and then stumbling around. Several people were armed and robbing stores, others were yelling for lost family members.

"Alex, how much further?" Girard asked.

"I don't think very much." Alex said. Suddenly there was honking and Girard turned to his left and saw a semi-truck with Anarchists inside heading towards them at full speed.

"SHIT!" Girard yelled as the car hit them. Girard was knocked out. He couldn't see anything except for black.

"You thought you guys could lose us, did ya?" He heard someone say. He opened his eyes. He saw Alex's pistol beside him. He grabbed the pistol, checking the ammo. Fully loaded, 12 shots. Jordan and most of his family was tied up, guarded.

"Fuck you." He heard he turned and saw Alex.

"To bad your brother in there died. Such a shame. I woulda liked to torture him, after he killed so many of our men. But you'll do." Alex was held down on his knees. "You know what? I'm gonna let you defend yourself." The man said. Alex was let go. Girard quickly scanned. He counted 7 bikers. The man was armed with a bat and swung at Alex, who dodged his blow. Alex punched the biker in his side. He rolled away towards the car. Girard crawled out of the opposite side of the car.

Oh shit. He thought. There was another anarchist right there, guarding the area. Girard snuck up behind the man. He hit him in the back of the head. The man had an assault rifle. Girard picked it up. Alex got in another lucky punch, as Girard turned back to that scene. The bat then connected with his ribs. Alex crumpled. Jordan at that time noticed him. Girard raised his finger up to his lips to indicate not to speak.

"Hahahahaha." The bat man said. "Anything to say, before I bash your brains against the asphalt?"

"Fuck you..." Alex said. The man raised the bat and Girard stood up. He shot the man in the chest. Girard slid the assault rifle over to Alex and together they shot down the bikers. Alex reloaded his assault rifle. "Alright, our weapons are somewhere else. We'll have to stick with these for now." Alex said. Attracted by the noise, several walkers streamed into where they were.

"Run!" Girard said. Brian picked up Brianna, even though she was twelve and ran. Jordan and he also ran, Girard turned around quickly to shoot two walkers.

"We have to get to the community center. More military people will be there." Alex said. They entered a small shed, only two ways in and out. Alex locked the door behind them. They heard the Walkers slam against the door.

"What do we do?" his mom asked. Alex took a deep breath.

"Go."

"What?"

"GO! I'll keep them off of you as long as I can."

"Alex, that's crazy." his dad said.

"Dad, we can't discuss this. You need to go."

"But-"

"Go!" Alex yelled. They ran out of the shed and Alex went on his knees and waited. They ran for a few minutes and came up to an alley.

"We're here." Girard said, gloomily. "They're beyond here." Jordan nodded. It happened so fast. His father was shot in the chest, his mother in the head. Brianna was killed with a bullet to her stomach. Jordan disarmed him and kicked him to the ground.

"Girard, we don't have to do this. We'll join Omar and rob him and his people. To many people are a liability. Come with me, follow my lead." Girard shook his head.

"I'm not coming with you, Jordan. You killed my family!" He yelled.

"Them I'm sorry Girard." Jordan raised his gun and suddenly Jordan wasn't there anymore. He heard a scuffle and then someone went silent. Someone walked up to him. His cousin, Omar.

"Are you ok?"

"No... Jordan... he killed them. Mom... dad... Brianna."

"I'm sorry." Girard got up, and he followed him.

"We're the only family eachother has left. We need to stick together." Omar said. And Girard realized that he was right. His family was dead.