Oh my Lord. What a day yesterday. So much happened it feels like it was a week all jammed into a single day. I woke up relatively early and started getting everything packed up. I’m afraid that I might be getting a little too comfortable here. I hit a army surplus store toward the beginning of things and should be able to camp out pretty much anywhere. It’s been nice sleeping in a comfortable bed but I’m just wondering if I’m getting careless. Why? Because when I went downstairs today I found two zombies roaming around the coffee shop. I used my katana to behead them both (thankfully that does work) to avoid making too much noise but I saw a few more out on the street. I realized that I might be leaving a trail. So I bolted back upstairs and started packing.
The H3 was in the garage and it might be swarming with the undead. I grabbed my gear and headed out to the parking garage level (top floor, outside). I could hear some shuffling and gurgling noises from the lower levels but didn’t see anyone on the upper floors. There was a light dusting last night and I almost chuckled to think what it would be like to be a zombie in really cold temperatures - this could all be over by February if we got a good freeze. I sprinted for the H3 and then saw the tracks in the snow - at least three or four had been up here. I dropped my bag and unslung my M-16. I had taped two clips together for a faster reload but hoped I wouldn’t need more than a couple of shots.
I began to circle the Hummer and then I saw the first of them on the far side. He was slumped down next to the passenger wheel well and looked pretty bad - someone had smacked him with a baseball or something. One arm was broken badly and it looked like he was missing some teeth. I couldn’t see any others, so I took a chance at drawing them out. I lifted the rifle to my shoulder, sighted down on the zombie’s head, and tightened on the trigger.
The shot rang out and the report seemed louder than usual in the cold, crisp air. It was clean shot and he slumped over away from me onto the ground. That was when the other three made themselves known. One crawled out from under the H3 (nice trick, that - I’ll have to remember to check next time) and the other two from the back. I also heard some increased activity behind me down the exit ramp. I began thinking this might get tricky.
I was about fifteen yards away when I took down the first one. I quickly changed targets to the slowest of the targets - the zombie crawling from under the truck. I took aim and popped him, but it took two rounds to get a clean shot - the first hit his shoulder. The other zombies were now about five to ten yards away when I lifted the rifle and fired two quick shots into each of them, dropping them quickly. I could hear a lot of commotion behind me and turned to see about twenty zombies within about twenty yards coming toward me. I could see a large group behind that one and figured that yeah, this was going to be tricky.
I dropped to one knee and started shooting into the crowd carefully, trying to drop as many as I could as quickly as I could. I’d taken down about eight or nine when I heard the ominous click of an empty chamber. I reloaded as quickly as I could and realized that my bag was between me and them and they were closing quickly. I moved toward the bag, shooting as accurately as I could while sprinting. I slid on the ground into the bag as if it were home plate, fired an extended burst into the oncoming undead mob, and grabbed the bag, trying to get back to the Hummer. I didn’t realize, of course, that with the fresh snow I wouldn’t have a lot of traction. I slipped a lot and the remaining zombies got closer and closer. There were only a few left at this point, but I’d spent all my ammo.
I dropped on the ground on my back, pulled out my .45 and from only five to six feet away began taking pot shots at the closest ones. I nailed two in the head right away, shot another in the neck (he may actually bleed out before the coagulation kicks in fully - I just don’t know), and another two in the chest. I think those two were dead before they hit the asphalt. With the immediate threat taken care of (and very close for comfort), I grabbed the bag and bolted for the Hummer.
I fumbled with the keys a little trying to unlock it, but got it sorted out before the next group finally reached the vehicle. They began pounding on it, howling in frustration. I started up the truck and put it into gear. There was a bump followed by a sickening crunch. It was only later I realized that I must have driven over the one I killed under the truck.
I find myself, now in retrospect, berating myself. It took me over sixty-five rounds to kill twenty or so zombies. Those are bad numbers for my ammo. I may need to start looking at learning how to do my own reloads or something if I’m going to be chewing up ammunition that quickly. I made some mistakes, mistakes I can’t afford to make these days. I did get too comfy in that room, too complacent. And, worst of all, I’ve lost all of the security equipment that I had. It looks like it’s going to be empty cans and marbles until I can get some more stuff.
The rest of the parking garage was relatively empty. Looks like my gunfire had drawn them all to the roof, but the group that attacked the H3 was pretty big - at least fifty strong. I wondered if it was the pack from the residential area I stumbled onto yesterday following me back downtown. There was only one way to find out, so I started driving out to the suburbs to see what could be seen.
I found a church several blocks from where I’d seen the large pack yesterday and parked the Hummer outside. I spent a few minutes with the vehicle locked reloading the two clips I had. Then I grabbed another pair of clips and put them in my jacket. I opened the door, grabbed my binoculars and rifle, and stepped out into the cold air.
The ground around the church was relatively undisturbed. That likely meant that nothing had been wandering around, but it could still mean something was inside. I walked up the short flight of stairs to the open doors and peeked inside. I couldn’t see anything immediately in the pews in the main chapel, so I stepped in out of the open air and into the closed space.
Some snow had drifted inside, but I wasn’t able to see any disturbance, so it looked safe enough. I walked around the pews and found a few corpses laying on the ground or on the pews. Looks like they’d been here praying when they were attacked or died. The altar at the front had a still-open book upon it and Jesus looked down forlornly from the cross. If you only knew what had happened to your children, I thought. Maybe he did.
I found a door on the side that opened into the back area where the pastor or priest had his offices. I found a staircase going up - just what I’d been looking for. I decided to check the rest of the building before isolating myself on the roof. I checked through the offices and didn’t find anything beyond messy desks, a broken coffee pot that someone had left on the burner too long, and some ransacked drawers in a desk. I guessed that someone had been looking for the petty cash before they skipped town. Hunters didn’t care about cash - our currency was a whole lot different.
The rest of the building checked out. There was a door leading to a basement of some kind, but I didn’t venture downstairs. I slid the deadbolt on the door and then trekked back to the stairs. Going up into the steeple was a little tight with my gear, but I made up to a ladder that led to the roof. I slung my rifle and climbed the ladder, popped the roof cover, and climbed out next to the steeple.
The roof was covered in a dusting of snow and the gravel crunched under my boots as I got out and checked around. I could see quite a distance from up here, but the clouds of steam from my breath could potentially give me away to any errant zombies wandering the area. I puled my scarf up over my mouth and scanned the area. I couldn’t see anything moving other than a small pack of dogs, probably former house pets that had managed to avoid the zombies, and a few birds wheeling in the crisp air. I moved to the corner of the roof to get a good view of the neighborhood I’d been to earlier and brought the binoculars up.
I scanned the area and saw what looked like a growing pack of zombies. There were more there than yesterday. I couldn’t tell, but it looked like it had increased almost by half. There were a good seventy to eighty down there and those were the ones I could see. The houses blocking my view meant there could be another twenty to thirty more that I couldn’t see. Plus whatever might be in the houses out there.
I tried to see what might be causing them to congregate in the area but couldn’t really divine what was drawing and keeping them there. They weren’t going into the surrounding houses that I could see and they were moving a little slower due to the cold, but otherwise seemed to be ignoring the weather. Several of them clumped together, perhaps for warmth. They looked like they had fed recently but on what I couldn’t tell. Some had a few nasty wounds from something. Maybe a machete or even katana - I couldn’t really tell.
I dropped the binoculars and rechecked the street - everything seemed calm and quiet. I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the Hummer - right where I’d left it and the only footprints in the snow were mine. I looked back at the neighborhood and saw a little commotion. I brought up the binoculars to get a closer look and saw someone - yes someone! - walking through the midst of them. The zombies were interested but not doing anything. It was a bizarre sight. I couldn’t really make out much but the person was white, had long dreads, and was wearing what looked like a BDU (battle dress uniform - military fatigues). He seemed to be dragging something very heavy which I couldn’t make out through the crowd surrounding him. Some of the zombies were clutching at his jacket and whatever it was he was dragging. He stopped, wiped his brow, and then walked away. The zombies moved closer, almost in a frenzy, and attacked whatever was on the ground. I saw flashes of blood and it looked like they were eating. I could see one of them tear something away and saw, clear as day, a foot. They were eating people! I don’t know if they were alive or dead when they were brought out, but it was definitely at least one person in that mass. Then I saw an arm - a too small arm. I about threw up then and there. I dropped the binoculars, dropped to my knees, and breathed in deeply, trying to clear the image from my mind. Whoever this sick fuck was was feeding the zombies. I didn’t know who he was or what he was doing, but I was going to make it my mission in life to make him the most miserable human being who ever walked the face of the earth. Compared to him, the zombies were compassionate. This bastard had to die. But I had to be careful. Here was someone who was apparently still in control of his faculties. Someone who could reason. And someone who was feeding people to the zombies.
I collected my gear and started back to the ladder. I opened the cover and looked down and saw them - four zombies milling around the base of the ladder, looking confused. Three men and a woman, the zombies were dressed up as if they’d been at a wedding. Maybe the men were groomsmen and the woman a bridesmaid, but all four looked up at me with a hunger in their eyes that shook me to the bone.
I pulled out my .45 and quickly sighted down on the first of them. BLAM! The report echoed and the zombie fell dead, most of the back of his head shattered on the floor. The other three looked startled by the shot and I took the opportunity to quickly fire three more times, dispatching all three in quick order. I stuck my head in the opening to see if there were any more in the hallway and felt more than heard the bullet pass where my head was a second before. Some son-of-a-bitch was shooting at me!
Realizing there wasn’t an option to do much from my vantage point - he had the bead on me and I had no idea where he was shooting from, I grabbed the inside and slipped the rest of my body inside.
I dropped to the floor and fell to a crouch, scanning the hallway quickly. I didn’t see anything else, so I bolted down the stairs, the M-16 bumping along the walls as I made my way down. I reached the main floor and stopped, listening for noises in the chapel. I didn’t hear anything, which made me wonder where the wedding party had originated. I surmised they must have been locked in the basement and worked their way up when they heard me walking around upstairs.
I slipped into the chapel and made my way to the door. The snow at the entrance was undisturbed except for my footprints from earlier. I looked out to see if anyone was coming but the street looked clear. I took a deep breath and bolted for the Hummer.
I heard some bullets smashing into the pillars behind me as I sprinted for the truck. Based on the number of rounds being fired it must have been a semi-automatic. I heard the reports almost a half-second after the bullets hit, marking the guy as about two hundred yards away. I slid down the last few steps, falling on my ass, and into the wheel on the Hummer. I think that might have saved my life as it seemed like he might have been getting closer with each shot.
But who was it? It couldn’t be a hunter - they wouldn’t shoot at another hunter, would they? And I moved too quickly to be a zombie, so it wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. Maybe it was dreadlock boy? Had he seen me on the roof? I couldn’t tell but knew that I was going to have to get away as quickly as possible.
I opened the door and reached inside, starting the vehicle. Bullets shattered the passenger window and I felt the safety glass bouncing off my jacket. There was a brief pause that I thought might be a reload. I hopped into the cab as quickly as possible and put the H3 in reverse. More bullets began pounding the back of the truck as I slipped it into drive as fast as I could and hit the accelerator. The Hummer’s wheels spun in the snow but it grabbed purchase after a second and took off. I was hunkered down in the seat as far as I could get but now sat up a little as I raced back to Denver.
I stayed on the main roads which were mostly clear and came up to Speer. I turned left and headed northwest past the performing arts complex. I saw the turnoff for I-25 but kept straight until I hit Federal. I turned right and went north until I came to the Highlands Masonic hall. I pulled up onto the grass in front of the building and hopped out.
I had been out here earlier, after the outbreak. Most everyone had cleared out and the snow was pristine - no one had been here since last night at least. I grabbed my gear from the back seat and ran up to the front door. I used a key I’d found and unlocked the door, pulling the giant door outward so I could get inside. I dropped my duffel, closed the door, and pushed turned the deadbolt. Then I collapsed on the floor.
When I woke up it was almost dark. I grabbed my stuff and did a quick once-through of the main floor. Kitchen, library, main room - all secured. There were too many windows on the main floor but the lodge upstairs had a couple of stout doors I would be able to barricade. They weren’t too terribly strong if it came to it, but they’d hold a while.
I went upstairs and set everything down. I barricaded the northern pair of doors and then sat down so I had a clear view of the southern set. The tiles downstairs would give me some warning if someone came in (and a breaking window would echo around so I could hear it). I pulled out my electric lantern and turned it up to a low light. The windows had thick coverings so no light would escape from here. I had planned on using this place as a refuge if I needed it - and apparently I needed it now.
I pulled out my pistols and ejected the clip on the .45. I dug in my bag, pulled out a box of ammo, and reloaded the clip. I put one in the chamber, giving me eight total. I checked all of my other weapons and things seemed in good order. Then I thought back to the events of the day.
I needed to find out who that guy was who was feeding the zombies and why they let him live. He didn’t seem to be a zombie himself nor did he seem to be in charge - just a caretaker of sorts. And he was sick. And he had to die. But he might be working for someone else who was even sicker and needed a bullet worse than dreadlocked boy.
And who was shooting at me? Someone with a rifle with a good scope. I managed to escape by the skin of my teeth on that one. He must have been south of me on Broadway. That could mean almost anything - there were a lot of businesses that lined that street and he could have been camping in any of them. I wouldn’t be able to go back there safely now. I’d need to find a new source of guns and ammo.
And why was he targeting me? I wasn’t much of a threat to anything but zombies. I hadn’t met many hunters, but the ones I had met seemed likable enough. At least they didn’t seem like they were trying to kill me. I had met a father-daughter team that worked really well together. I really hoped that they were still alive and had gone somewhere safe. She reminded me of my daughter. Or who my daughter might be in a few years when she was older.
As for today, I spent the day just hunkered down, getting some rest, and cleaning my weapons. I’m going to need to do some more reconnaissance of the area, but I think I’m going to need go in on foot rather than driving in. Or maybe I’ll pick up a Prius so I can avoid making too much noise. I’m not looking forward to it. The undead are one thing - the living are something else entirely.
Good night and stay safe out there.
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