Chapter 15: Open my Eyes

I opened my eyes... I was lying on my back staring in the orange sky. The sun was setting. My mouth was dry and my body felt stiff, I tried to rise to my feet, but I was too tired to move.

"Where am I?" I thought. "How did I get here..." I managed to find the strength to sit up. Looking around the field, I saw that there were dozens of bodies all around me, I couldn't tell if they were alive or dead, and there was also a large yellow machine was crashed into a tree behind me. I sat there for what seemed like an eternity until my stomach began to ache. There was a house not too far in front of me. I decided I would head that way in search of food, but with my stiff legs and arms I had a difficult time getting to my feet; finally, I was successful and began my trek. As I slowly shuffled to the front porch of the house, the stiffness in my arms and legs began to loosen up. I was almost walking normally or what I thought to be normal.

I reached the porch and placed my hand on the cold, brass knob. The door opened up to a dark, silent room. My stomach began to grumble cutting through the silence like a knife. I continued to walk inside the house, tripping over some boxes and knocking over a small table.

A voice shot out through the darkness. "Who's there?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

"Hello?" the voice called again again, this time it was closer. A light came on in the hallway in front of me and footsteps followed shortly after. I began to walk through the now barely lit living room towards the hallway. A face and the barrel of a pistol met my gaze as I reached the doorway to the hall.

"Jared? Is that you? You look like shit." He said lowering his gun.

I just stared into his eyes. Speechless.

"Jared," he said this name again. "Jared, you better say something or I am going to shoot you."

I tried to speak, but the words would not come.

"JARED! I'm sorry..." He raised his gun again and aimed it at my head.

"Hu... hun...hungry." I managed to whisper before the hammer crashed into the bullet. This man in front of me sighed in relief

"Thank God! Come on, let's get you something to eat."

Chapter 14: Life Among Them

I burst into the house looking through every room as quickly as possible. As I ran into the bedroom I had slept in, I tripped over something. It was cold and hard. I picked myself up and looked to see my bat on the floor. "Great... Now the keys." I glanced around the room and spotted the keys on the bedside table. "Really?" I thought to myself. I grabbed the bat and keys and ran out the door.

Adam was still on top of my car trying to keep the zombies off of the bulldozer. I couldn't see Jade on the machine. I began to panic.

"Jared, we have to get out of here!" Adam started yelling at me. I knew it was smart to leave, but I couldn't leave Jade behind.

"If you want to leave, then go Adam. I have to help her." I handed him the keys and walked away towards the horde. Once I had reached the horde, I just started swinging the bat, taking them out one at a time. "Jade! Where are you?" I couldn't hear anything over the low drone of the zombies. There was no way I could kill all of them, but I fought on. The horde began to swarm around me until I was completely surrounded. With no escape in sight, hopelessness began to set in.

I was going to die.

The horde grew closer to me, hands reached out towards me, and mouths were drooling waiting to take a bite out of my flesh. I continued to swing, trying to think of some desperate way to escape, but there was nothing I could do. Finally, something grabbed onto my arm and sunk its teeth into my flesh.

"AHHHH! NO!" I screamed as my flesh ripped off my arm and blood began to pour out of it. I pushed the zombie off of me. It had taken a chunk out of my left arm....

I was infected.

Chapter 13: The Battle Begins

"Be strong." I kept telling myself as I walked away from Jade, "You have to be strong." I knew if I froze up in this moment, I would die. But even with the horde standing in front of me waiting to tear me apart, she was on my mind.

I was shortly thereafter brought back to the situation at hand by Adam's first shot from his perch. He fired his shot, then another, and another.

"Alright Jared." I was talking to myself again,"You can do this." I raised the shotgun and pumped a shell into the chamber. The horde started to break up a little as it spread out into the field. I was close now and they were coming towards me. Five zombies were reaching out, ready to embrace me. Terror began to rise inside me and my body began to lock up. I was going to become one of them, to die...

"No, I have a reason to live." I lifted the shotgun and blasted the first corpse I saw in the head. The skull exploded and a shower of brains and blood filled the air. I ran out of the middle of the four that were left. "Man, that was close." I pumped another shell into the chamber and took out the four with my remaining shells. That's when I realized I was out of ammunition and that I was unarmed. "Shit. now what?"

Adam was still shooting on top of my car and Jade was..."Where is Jade?" I looked around, but I couldn't see her. "JADE!!!" I yelled out hoping for a response. "JA..."

My last out burst was muffled by the roar of my grandfather's old yellow bulldozer coming to life. Jade was on top of the machine, driving full speed towards the horde.

"What the hell?!" I yelled out.

"Jared!" Adam was yelling at me now. "Duck!" I dropped to the ground followed by the sound of Adam's rifle.

"Thanks dude." I started to run towards Jade and her bulldozer.

"Go get the keys! We've got to get out of here. Jade will be fine." Adam yelled as he reloaded his rifle.

I ran towards the house to look for my keys, not knowing what would come next.

Chapter 12: Preparation

"Adam!" I yelled as I rose to my feet,"Get out here now." I ran to my car and tried to open the door in an attempt to obtain my bat. "Locked." I checked my pockets searching frantically for my keys.

"Jared, whatever you're doing, you need to hurry." Jade shouted. I was about to panic until I saw Adam burst out the front door of the cabin with a shotgun in one arm and a rifle in the other.

"I thought you could use this." He handed me the weapon. "How many?" He paused and looked towards the oncoming horde. "Oh shit."

"Too many to count." Jade was standing ahead of us, waiting to attack. "Everyone ready?" she asked.

"Yeah" Adam and I said in unison. Adam climbed on top of my car and prepared the rifle for his first shot. I ran over to Jade who was standing there staring back into the faces of the horde. She was holding on to the paddle. "Are you going to be okay with that thing?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm not good with a gun."

"Guys, come on." Adam yelled over.

"Don't get to close. If you need help, yell." I said. Jade nodded and flashed a smile at me. She set my heart on fire.

I tightened my grip on the shotgun and walked towards the horde.

Chapter 11: The Horde

Something was touching my back.

I turned my head around slowly to see Jade standing behind me with her hand resting on my shoulder.

"Jared?" She looked worried, concerned. I tried to wipe away my tears, but there was no way I could hide that I was upset. "What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm scared, Jade. We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, God only knows whether our families are dead or alive, and I can't even bring myself to kill a zombie until it's too late. I'm dead weight, useless. I'm only going to slow you and Adam down and get myself or all of us killed...." What the hell was wrong with me? I was pathetic and I knew it. I had to get a hold of myself.

Silence.

"Jared..." Jade's voice trailed off. I looked up at her. Her worried expression had faded and all that was left was a very grim glare.

"What?" She was unresponsive. "Jade?" She pointed towards the road. My eyes followed her hand until my gaze met the horde of the decomposing faces.

Chapter 10: Let it All Out

Jade gripped the paddle as the zombie was still trying to grab onto me. She swung down hitting the zombie's skull and cracking it wide open. I stared at the zombie's skull seeing its exposed brain and its blood slowly oozing out. My gaze moved up to Jade who was also looking down at her first zombie kill. She was covered in the coagulated blood. "Jade?" I said. Her beautiful eyes met mine and a smile slowly appeared on her face.

"Ew." She started laughing and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I don't know what happened. After I hit the ground, I... I just froze." I stood up and looked around. Adam was running into the house. "He's after that bacon," I thought to myself.

"Come on, kid. Let's go get cleaned up." Jade said as she made her way towards the house. I just stood there looking down at the creature that had almost claimed my life. "Are you coming?" She asked again.

"I'll be there in a second." Standing there alone for the first time in these few, short days of this zombie apocalypse, I let all my emotions out. Tears filled my eyes and I fell to my knees and cried. I kept asking myself, "how many more would come before we would have to leave this place?" "how many more near death experiences would we have?" And most importantly "which one of us would die first?"

Something touched my back.

Chapter 9: The Warrior Awakens

As I made my way across the field towards the zombie, my mind began to wonder. "Who was this person? How did they become like this?" It didn't matter now. All that mattered was that this person was a zombie and there was nothing we could do, but destroy it. I was close to him now. This zombie was less human looking than the first I had encountered, but he could actually walk better than the other one. Lifting the paddle, I summoned my strength, closed my eyes, and swung. I waited for the jolt that would shoot down the paddle confirming contact, but it never came. The morning dew was freshly laid on the grass that morning and as I swung, I spun and fell onto the grass, losing my grip on the paddle. I missed. When I opened my eyes, I could see the zombie was standing over me now, bending over with his arms outstretched to give me a deadly embrace.

"Oh shit, I'm screwed."

"Get up, Jared!" Adam screamed "What are you doing?!"

I was terrified. Yet again, I was locked up and overcome with fear. Out of no where, Jade ran up, grabbed the paddle and swung. She made contact to the neck and the zombie toppled over. I stood watching in awe as Jade brought the paddle down on the zombie over and over again.

"Head..." I managed to mumble. "Hit it in the head"

Chapter 8: Bacon

We ended up staying another night in the cabin because we didn't want to risk running into any of the zombies. After talking more to our guest we discovered her name was Jade. She was about average height and weight, and she was blonde. She told us that she was a student at the local college in our town, and that was all. She was still exhausted from running and seemed to be in shock. As night fell, Jade passed out in one of the bedrooms in our cabin, and Adam and I had a talk that I wanted to avoid.

"She can't stay with us."

"We can't just abandon her. She needs our help, dude. I'm not going to leave her behind." I got up and began to walk away. "I'm going to bed."

"Don't let her looks fool you, Jared. I know you may like her, but I don't trust her."

"Goodnight Adam."

Morning

I awoke the next morning, hungry. I got out of bed and checked around the inside of the house to be sure everything was alright. Adam was asleep on the couch and Jade was asleep in the other bedroom. Seeing that everything was in order, I walked into the kitchen to cure my hunger. It was quiet. My stomach began to rumble. Food. I opened the refrigerator looking for something to eat. That's when I saw it.... The most delicious food. "Bacon!" I said to myself. "Hmm... what else?" I found some eggs and started cooking breakfast.

After the food was cooked, I started cleaning up and washing some of pans I had used. I looked out the window to see that it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was so beautiful I almost ignored the fact that there were three zombies in the field.

And then I saw them. "Oh shit." My heart began to race. I scrambled around looking for my baseball bat. I ran into the living room to the sleeping Adam. "Adam, get up. We've got a problem." Adam shot up off the couch. "Grab your rifle and let's take care of them."

He began sniffing. "Do I smell bacon?"

"Yes, I made some. That's not important, right now. We need to get out there. Do you know where my bat is?"

"Uhhh, I think you left it in your car." Adam grabbed his rile and began to walk to the door. "How many are there?"

"Three. They're in the front." I began frantically looking around the living room for a replacement weapon as Adam walked out the door. Finally, I found my Uncle's fraternity paddles mounted on the wall. "Thank you, God." I ran out the door and slammed it shut. Adam was beginning to take aim on the closest one. This was his first zombie kill and I was so proud. He fired the gun.

The back of the zombie's head exploded as the bullet exited its skull. "Haha! Headshot!" Adam was beeming. He was a natural. He fired again. The second zombie stood there for a moment, and then dropped to the ground. "Double kill" he attempted to mimic the voice from Halo. Just one more now. I stood on the porch watching and waiting for the shot. "Crap!"

"What is it?"

"Gun is jammed. You're gonna have to take this one out."

I started walking off the porch towards the zombie.

"Be careful." Jade had woken up from the gun shots and come outside.

"I'll be fine. This will only take a second."

I tightened my grip on the paddle and headed for the zombie.

My stomach rumbled.

"Man, I can't wait to eat that bacon."

Chapter 7: Her

Looking down the dirt road, I saw her. She was running towards us, dirty and terrified by the look of it. She continued to get closer until finally reaching me and collapsing in my arms.

"Its okay. We're not going to hurt you." Looking down, I realized that she was unconscious. I picked her up and carried her towards the house. "Adam! Get out here we need your help." Adam burst out the car with a eager smile on his face and a rifle in his arms.

"Still want to go on that mission?" he asked.

"Shut up, you ass. I'm taking her into the house. Shoot anything that moves. Holler if you need me." He smiled again and prepared himself for some 'fun.'

I carried our unexpected guest into the house and laid her on the couch. She was still unconscious. I found a rag, put in under some cool water, and placed it on her forehead. She seemed to be stable for the moment so, I walked to the window to check on Adam. From inside he seemed pretty bored, but I knew he'd be able to hold his own if any undead guests should happen to show up.

After what seemed like an eternity had passed, she awoke. She looked around, saw me, and was suddenly startled.

"It's okay." I said.

"Where am I? What happened?" She was beginning to panic.

"Calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. Are you injured?"

"N..no... I don't think so. Those things. They... they chased me." She paused. I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "They attacked her. They attacked my friend."

"You're safe now. Do you remember anything? How many were there?"

"I..I can't remember. It all happened so fast. I heard my friend scream. They bit her. I started to run and then.... then I found you."

Her eyes met mine.

She was beautiful.

Chapter 6: Realization Sets in

As night fell on us we decided to take turns sleeping, although neither of us could sleep much. We were both worried about what we had seen, worried about our friends and family, and worried about what would come.

"What are we going to do?" I kept asking myself. We couldn't stay in one place too long. We have to keep moving... I thought as I dosed off.

My eyes opened. It was daylight. I had fallen asleep . Cursing myself, I glanced around the room looking for Adam. He was sitting in front of the tv when I found him.

"Are you alright?" I asked coming closer into the living room. Silence. "Dude, are you alright?" Nothing. I made my way closer to him, barely able to make out a low grunt. "Oh shit, Adam has been turned into a zombie," I tried to keep my composure. "ADAM!" His head popped up and he was drooling. He'd fallen asleep. "Come on. We need to get out of here." Adam nodded and got up. We attempted to prepare ourselves for whatever we were about to see. I readied my bat, resting it on my shoulder and feeling the cold metal on my neck, put my hand on the door knob and opened. We began our short trek to the trusted vehicle.

"What should we do?" Adam asked me through a yawn.

"I don't know. Part of me wants to go back to town and part of me wants to just kill myself now and be done with it." We reached the car and climbed in. "Our friends and family are there, Adam. We've got to help them. If we just stay here and do nothing they'll die!"

"Do I believe what I'm hearing?!" Adam interrupted. "If we leave here and go back we'll die. You know that."

Silence.

"I just don't want to think we didn't at least try to save them." I sounded stupid. I was no hero.

"Jared, just stop man. This wasn't part of our plan. We have to look out for ourselves now."

Silence again.... and then, we heard it.

"What was tha..." Adam began.

"Shh!" I looked around searching for the source. "I'm getting out." I reached for the handle and slowly walked away from the car. There it was again. "What is that noise? Where is it coming from?"

Again, this time it was louder and more discernable.

A scream.