Dawn of the Dead

Chapter 2

Dylan's Pov:

I was walking to my truck after grabbing some lunch with a couple of buddies of mine from College. I had just come back from being deployed to Afghanistan; I was out there for 3 years before finally being able to rotate back. I only wanted to go once; I don't plan on heading back. I wanted the Army to pay for my college tuition so I could get my degree in Biochemistry. I didn't have the funds to get myself through college, so I signed up, went to boot camp, went to school, then was deployed soon after I graduated. Hopefully now I could put my degree to good use and get a good paying job. I just had to figure out where I wanted to work... I had no clue where to start. I could try to get into touch with some of my old professors and see if they could suggest some things.

I put my hands in my pockets it was fall and was starting to get cold now that winter was right around the corner. Right as I reached my truck, I heard someone screaming, I turned my head quickly to see that a woman was being attacked. I started running towards her but got intercepted when some started running at me. I tried to back up and put my hands up showing that I wasn't going to fight. The person kept coming at me, I finally saw that it was an older woman. I defiantly didn't want to fight her; I refuse to put my hands on a woman let alone an elder. She looked sick, really pale and her eyes weren't a normal color... they were red. I kept my eye on her where trying to glance around the street to see if there was someone who could help me restrain her without hurting herself or me. She obviously needed to go to a doctor.

Except that I couldn't find anyone who wasn't running or in the same situation as me with others. What the f**k is going on!? I noticed fairly quickly that anyone who was being attacked or corned were being done so by others with the same red eyes as this elderly woman. I turned my full attention of the women in front of me to see that she was closer than before, I slowly pulled my gun out of the back of my jeans. It was a dumb place to put it but my gun holster that I ordered wouldn't been in till next week and it felt weird without carrying after doing so for so long. After seeing people being attacked same as I. I'm glad that my decision might save my life. She was snapping her teeth at my at this point, " Ma'am I'm going to ask that you step back please. I do not want to fight with you and I defiantly don’t want to have to use my firearm."

She acted like she couldn't hear me... or maybe she couldn't understand me? She continued to come closer snapping her teeth more, raised my gun and decided to give her one more warning. " Ma’am I will not ask again; I don't feel like explaining to the police that I injured an elderly woman." This didn't deter her at all, and she kept advancing. I aimed for her thigh and took a shot. Her body jerked at the impact of the bullet. She kept moving towards me completely ignoring the wound in her thigh. I took another shot at her right shoulder hoping that injury will stop her... it didn't. So finally having no choice as she back me into a wall of a building and continued advancing forward swiping at me I aimed at her forehead and shot.

She finally stopped and dropped; I breathed a sigh. I looked around the street again and saw that my shots were noticed by the others and they were slowly coming towards me. I quickly looked up and down the street and decided to run into the lobby of the building I was backed up against. They followed me inside and I decided to skip the elevator and aimed for the stairs. An alarm was going in the building, it was the fire alarm I think or sounded like it was. I manage to make it to the 5th floor before losing the herd behind me, I slammed into the door managing to open it and shut it just as quick. I was slightly out of breath from running all out up all those stairs, I took the moment to look at my surroundings.

This floor looked like it was currently under construction, everything was covered with plastic and there were tools on the floor. I straightened up and decided to check to see if any of those sick people made it to this floor. I slowly drew out my gun again and moved silently forward scanning the room to look for any threats. When I covered all the rooms on this floor proving that it was clear, it was only then that I finally relaxed and put my gun back behind my jeans. I pulled out my phone to see if I could get ahold of the police. I noticed a message across the screen, it was an alert from the state.

Warning! Citizens' are to remain inside and off the streets. Citizens' are to go on lockdown. If any are feeling ill, they are to isolate themselves from others. Do not approach sick individuals. Do not go to hospitals.  

The state knew what was happening which means that contacting the police department was out, they would be swamped with calls. I pulled up the contact list and sent a text to my buddies to make sure they got out safely and didn't run into those people like I did.... god I hoped they did. I'm not in a good spot to hold up, yes, this floor was clear of anyone else but what about the rest of this building?  What if those things manage to find their way in here? I had no food or water. I only had the one clip that was in my gun and didn't have any bullets after they were gone, I wasted 3 on the women that tried to attack me. I was in a shitty situation with no way of getting any sort of help from law enforcement or anyone else at the moment. I know that my army buddies would have their hands full as well, there’s no way that they would just bench them with something like this. They would be gearing up and waiting for the word to head out.

If I could make it to the base maybe I could hitch it with them, help out as much as I could. I'm not serving anymore but they could probably use all the hands they could get. What is wrong with those sick people? Is it just a bad case of the flu where everyone was hallucinating from a fever? Was it a new virus that attacks the brain? Drugs? In the warning message they didn't release a lot of information, I would image so it wouldn't spread mass panic which is ridiculous because people are attacking each other on the streets. They are going to get that mass panic to begin with. I decided that maybe one of my buddies would know what was going so I could try to call him but knew that there was no guarantee that he was going to answer. I pulled him up on my phone and hit call, the phone rang for a while before he finally answered.

" Dylan! Thank god your still alive. Where are you?" I sighed in relief. " Brandon, dude what the hell is going on? I was walking downtown heading to my truck and this old woman just started running at me and trying to attack me. I gave her multiple warnings and 2 warning shots before I had to finally kill her, everyone else was too busy being attacked by others acting the same way to notice. I headed into one of the buildings and right now I'm camped out on a floor that's under construction, so I have it to myself at the moment."  I heard him groan on the other end and curse. " There are reports of people like that all over man, it was only a few people here and there and then BAM! Cases were everywhere. We think that it's spreading from people who were originally sick and then they started attacking others. People who are bit or scratched were infected with whatever they had, and it spread like wildfire. The government aren't telling us s**t and just have the base on lockdown. I was hoping that maybe they would let us out to go get you but with you downtown I don't think that will be possible to many possibilities for an attack between here and there."

I curse, " Dammit, will they let me in if I find a way to base?" He didn't respond and there was some talking on the other end that was muffled. Brandon finally answered my question, " Nah man word is were moving to the base in the mountain and they won't be letting anyone else in. They were bringing the president and his vice president in last I heard." I shook my head. and scoffed. " Of f*****g course. Instead of trying to help the civilian population they wanna help themselves. Typical. " I heard someone yelling on Brandon's end, " s**t I got to go Dylan, please be careful. Hopefully I'll see you soon or find a way to help you out." Before I could say anything else, he hung up.

I sighed and put my phone away. I got up and walked to one of the windows to see what the damage was outside and if there was any way I could make it to my truck. When I looked out, I could see the street was crawling with people, most were attacking others and few left that were sane were trying to run or.... they were being. Eaten. I turned away from the window not being able to watch it, just because I’ve seen war doesn't mean I could watch cannibalism. If I didn't know any better zombies just came to life, and if that's what’s truly going on this whole world was f****d no matter how many zombie movies came out. There were going to be the people who thought they knew everything about zombies and got themselves killed trying to be the hero. The doomsday preppers were going to be set for maybe a year before they half to come out of their hidey holes.

It's going to be hell just trying to get supplies to make the trip to the base and get temporary shelter. Or I could try heading up to my parents’ cabin in Salida, there shouldn't be anyone around it. It was in a pretty remote spot, there were deer and rabbits that I could hunt for food. It's got running water and I could cut wood for the fireplace for heat. It had a couple guns up there already and if I could make it to my truck, I had one under my seat I could use. I just don't have a plan on how to get to my truck without getting attacked or attracting attention. I wasn't even sure how to get back down to the lobby or get passed it.

Before I could even think of how to get past the herd in the Lobby there was another alert echoing through the building.

Attention employees, we are on lock down. Doors on stairways will be locked. Elevators will no longer run until lockdown is lifted.

The message kept repeating itself and the fire alarm lights were blinking. Well I'm f****d.