Survival

August 6, 1999 8:49 P.M.
They were running. They heard it breathing in large, shallow, gasps, chasing them. They were so close to the door. They knew they’d only get a few more steps before they escaped this thing for now. The survivor in front of the other two reached for the door. His eyes gleamed with excitement when he found that it was unlocked. He flung the door open and launched himself in. the other two followed. The last survivor in slammed the door closed before that thing had a chance of getting in. Fortunately, the door closed just in time and a big thump was heard as the thing that had chased them hit the door and went sprawling on the ground with a low groan. They all looked closely at the area they had wondered into. It was a big warehouse that had been abandoned for some time. There were still empty boxes sorted throughout the building. There were few windows in the warehouse. The three of them all realized that they’d only be safe for a certain period of time. It depended on how many of those things were out there.                                                                                                                                                                                       They all turned towards each other and formed a small circle. The man who came in first cleared his throat before he started to speak. The other two men watched as he did this. He was scrawny, had a pale white complexion, and was about six feet tall. He had black hair with tints of gray throughout it. His hair was put in a rat tail. The two men who watched him both thought he looked about fifty years old. He yelled, “What was that thing!?” The man to his right started speaking.           “I don’t know, but we should first introduce ourselves. I’ll start. I’m Richard I work- worked at a factory before this happened. Who wants to go next?” The two other men stared at him. Richard was a man with chocolate brown skin and fire red curly hair that came down to his shoulders. To the other two he looked about five foot eight and a little bit on the overweight side with his blue jeans and white tank top. He also looked about twenty years old.                                                                                                                                                             It was silent until finally the man who spoke before went next.          “I’m Mark,” he said, “and I’m a war veteran. Used to work before the war.”                                                                                                                                                                     “What war?” Richard asked.                                                                                                                                                               “I’d rather not speak of it. It’s still too terrible to think about it.” Mark replied.                                                      Richard scanned him over to see if he was telling the truth. Richard saw that he had fear in his eyes as he was talking, so he thought Mark was telling the truth.          “With that out of the way,” Richard declared, “There’s only one person left to be introduced.”                                                                                                                                                    He nodded his head toward the man on the right of Mark. The man had tan khaki pants with a white dress shirt and a black tie. His skin was a shade darker than Richard’s and he was very muscular. He looked to be about six and a half feet tall. His smooth, black hair looked like it had recently gotten a buzz cut. He also had black sunglasses on. The man came closer to the circle.          “I’m Matthew. I work with… Government issues,” he announced.                         “What kind?” Richard asked.                                                                                                                                                       “That’s not important now. Right now we need to figure out what to do next,” Matthew replied.                                 “Well, I’m not going anywhere ‘til you tell me what you really do,” Richard stated.                                                     Matthew groaned,”Fine, I’ll tell you, as long as we can continue afterwards, okay?” Richard nodded to this and Matthew continued. “I work for the FBI. Now with that out of the way can-                                                                         “You must know what happened then,” Mark interrupted, and then added, “Please tell me if you do.”                                             “I’d rather not, but you probably won’t get off my back about it ‘til I do. So I guess I might as well say what it is,” Matthew grunted. Richard and Mark stared eagerly as they waited for him to start. “First off, that thing you were asking about earlier? That was a zombie. I know it sounds insane, but you’ll understand in a moment. But before that, I need to ask, you did see more than just that one that chased us, I’m correct, right?” he asked. They both nodded to this. “Just as I thought. Now to continue. The zombies were a complete accident. We were testing lab rats when it happened. We were testing how we could lengthen the life span of rats, and then try the same tactic on people. One of the tests involved a drug called Cartex. We thought it would improve the strength of the heart. This never would have happened if that rat didn’t turn against us. One of the researchers went to grab the rat, but it bit him. We immediately euthanized the rat, but the damage was done. We didn’t know it but that researcher was slowly turning into a zombie. Five hours after this occurred; the researcher suddenly lunged out at another researcher. I didn’t know what to do, so I ran. I didn’t want to see what would happen. I think I’m the only one who got out of there alive. The others probably tried to help the man that was being attacked. Eventually I came to your little town. That test area was only a mile away from here. I don’t know exactly how the zombies got here. I think they got here when some of the infected people came to the hospital to get help. They must have attacked while they were in the hospital. I’m just surprised the zombies got here so fast. When I came here most of the zombies were just standing in groups with their jaws hanging down to their chest. They didn’t even notice me. Eventually I found you two and… here we are. Now what should we do?”                                                                           Richard spoke up. “I say we try to get out of here,” he said.                                                                                                                               “But that could get us killed,” Matthew argued.                                                                                                                           “But it’s the only thing left to do,” Richard replied, “and besides, do you want to sit here ‘til we starve to death?”                                                                                                                                                                                                 “He’s right,” Mark whispered, “We have no other choice”                                                                                                             “I don’t like it,” Matthew moaned, “but it’s the only thing we thought of. So what’s the plan?”                                             “All right, here’s how it goes,” Richard stated, “I have a car key for my pickup truck. It’s only a block from here, where the factory is. Just follow me ‘til we get there. Should we start tomorrow?”                                                                   “I agree,” Mark replied.                                                                                                                                                              “I guess so,” Matthew grunted.                                                                                                                                                     “Now we should get sleep,” Richard said. Matthew and Mark both nodded their heads to this idea and went to sleep on the cool floor of the warehouse. It was hard to for them, but they eventually fell asleep. They knew they needed all the sleep they could get to be ready for tomorrow.                                                                                                 Mark heard scuffling sounds as he woke up. Something felt wrong to him. When he opened his eyes he knew why. He must have slept too much for this to happen. His two survival buddies-Mark liked to think of them as that-were gone. Suddenly he saw something and was relieved by the sight of it. It was Richard. “Oh, you’re finally up,” he said, “We thought we’d have to wake you up or something. Now hurry up and follow me.” Mark slowly got up and stretched his back, gave the thumbs-up sign to Richard, then followed him.                                       “What time’s it?” Mark slurred as he followed Richard.                                                                                                                                                 “Don’t know the exact time,” Richard replied, “but I do know that it’s morning. Anyways, I want you to follow me because we want to make sure we’re ready for this.” Nothing else was said until Mark was led to their makeshift planning area. Mark looked closely at the planning area. Only four boxes were used for it. Three were on the outside of the one in the center. Mark figured the center one was the table and the outside ones were the chairs. He thought he must have been right, because Matthew sat on one of the outside boxes.          “So, we ready for this?” He asked Richard and Mark. They both nodded to this. “Well, sorry to discourage you a little bit, but there are a lot of zombies out there, definitely more than before. So we got to be quick with the running.” Neither Richard nor Mark was fazed by what Matthew had said. They both wanted to get out of here. And tell the truth of what happened here. “It looks like you two don’t even care about that fact, so I suggest we go.” Matthew stated. All three of them looked at each other and nodded. As they walked to the door, their steps were perfectly in-sync with each other. They, of course, knew they had to work together if they even wanted a chance to get past those zombies. They all stopped as they reached the door that only hours they had entered from before. “You all sure we ready?” Matthew asked.                                                                                                                                                                 “Yeah, now let’s go,” Richard replied. Matthew thought this over for a second then nodded.                                                                                                                                                                                                 They opened the door and looked around. What they saw was hundreds of zombies standing all together. So far they hadn’t been spotted yet. They all walked very slowly to the huge crowd that was in the way of their escape route. Out of nowhere they heard a moan from behind them. They quickly turned and saw a zombie staring at them. Other ones started to take notice of this. Then the zombies who noticed started coming towards them. Some shuffled along slowly while others were running at a sluggish pace. As they watched the zombies, they realized they were struck with fear and awe. They couldn’t move. They couldn’t believe this was happening. They didn’t want it to end like this. It was finally Mark who broke the fear.          “COME ON,” Mark shrieked at his survivor buddies, “DO YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF HERE OR DIE!?” That got Richard and Matthew moving. Mark, Richard, and Matthew turned around back towards the factory and ran as fast as they could through the huge obstruction of zombies. They huddled together right before they hit the crowd.                                                                                                                                                                   Many of the zombies tried to lunge at them, but since they were in such a huge group, they attacked each other instead. They never looked back after they had tackled through the crowd of zombies. There was still more zombies, but in groups only of two and three. The survivors easily passed these groups of zombies. As they ran farther, they saw the factory that Richard was talking about earlier. The yellow logo on top of the gray factory read G & R manufacturing. As he glanced around Richard saw what he was looking for. In the parking lot of the factory was the blue pickup truck that he had owned for the past five years. He pointed at this as they were running. Matthew and Mark saw what he was pointing at and nodded in a gesture of understanding. Richard already had his car key out before they were even there. They rushed at the car, knowing they had to be quick at getting in the car. Richard unlocked the driver side door. He ripped it open and hit the button on the inside of the door that unlocked all the other doors. Once the other doors were unlocked, both Matthew and Mark did exactly the same thing as Richard did. Then they all immediately got in and slammed their doors shut.           “Hurry and start this thing, will ya!?” Mark shouted. Richard plugged his key into the ignition and turned it. Richard was relieved to hear the engine turn over and start.          Richard yelled, “Hang on!” Then he floored the gas and peeled out of the parking lot where zombies were slowly gathering. Richard hit a few of them, but otherwise the car was untouched. Richard weaved in and out of the crowds that had gathered in the street. Finally he found a route that led out of the city. As he drove on he read a green road sign with the words You are leaving Otonowa, Wisconsin. As they, left Mark and Matthew looked back on what they had left. They realized this would probably be the last they’d see of the city they had lived in for most of their life. They also realized that this may not be the last they would see of those zombies.
August 7, 1999 12:37 P.M.