In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak (13 page)

Then
just as I reached the stairs I felt a hand grab me by the shoulder and suddenly
I felt myself being pulled to the ground. Then they were all around me while I
lay on the ground unable to move, their faces looking down at me, faces of
those I knew and of those who I had never seen, all coming for me. I started to
scream for help but I wasn’t making a sound.

That’s
when I woke up to see Paul shaking me. He told me I had been making a lot of
noise in my sleep and he was worried. He thought that something was wrong.
Nothing wrong, just the usual nightmare and another night of broken sleep.

Why
write about a nightmare you might ask? Why even bother to share such a thing? I
guess because I never told anyone about it before. Even when the others shared
their nightmares and worst fears with me, I just never felt comfortable talking
about it. Just writing it down here is very difficult for me. It was the same
nightmare almost every night. Sure the building changed, the faces changed, but
the one thing that was always the same was that I was running. It was what I
had to look forward to every time I closed my eyes and went to bed. There was
never a break from the outbreak, not even in sleep.

Writing
this story isn’t easy. In truth writing down the adrenaline filled scenarios
that were a matter of life and death for my friends and I is far easier for me
then I thought it would be. Where I struggle is trying to put into words the
moments in between and just how difficult they were. As strange as it might
sound the down time, the hours that made up most of the day were the worst.
They felt like a relentless, energy-draining, test of willpower that dragged on
for what seemed like an eternity. I am just not sure how to properly put that
into words.

The
morning of that sixth day was my first turn on watch. I was tired, but there
was something about being up on the roof that I had come to love. It became an
escape from me, a chance to be alone and away from the others.
 
It wasn’t that I had become anti-social
or anything like that. I just enjoyed the peace and quiet that came with being
alone.

One
of the other benefits of being on the roof was the scenery that surrounded us.
I would look through binoculars or through the scope of the rifle and survey
the landscape. I would spend a ridiculous amount of time just studying abandon
buildings and military vehicles. I could see a M2 Bradley fighting vehicle that
had been left on a corner just a few blocks away. I could see assorted personal
carriers and trucks littered throughout the streets just sitting there,
obviously left during the military pull out.

From
the west side of the building down one of the main roads I could see what
looked liked the main gun of an Abrams Tank just sticking out past one of the
buildings. I had always been interested in military technology and I wish I
could have seen all of these things under different circumstances but at least
it was something that would help pass the time.

There
was just so much to see from up there. It was amazing to see the damage done to
the buildings that I used to drive past almost every day back before all of
this began. It was crazy looking at the amount of cars and trucks that had been
piled up in the streets that I used to walk down. Even the vast emptiness of
the city that used to be so brimming with every day life was astounding to me.

Then
there were the Zeds themselves roaming the city, the parking lot, well pretty
much everywhere and I used to watch them the most. I would search through the
crowds looking for faces of people I used to know. Luckily for me I never found
any, but I always looked and as long as I couldn’t find any visual confirmation
it was enough to have a little bit of hope they were somewhere safe.

It
was that morning while I was looking out across the city just trying to take it
all in that I found him. Across the street and in front of this small corner
store I saw this one zombie that for one reason or another stood out to me. He
looked like someone I might have known, but deep down I knew that I had never
met him before. I am still not exactly what it was that drew me to him. He was
in terrible shape, much worse then some of the other Zeds out there. His skin
was dry and gray, his hair was thinning, and his face and arms were covered in
a wide variety of cuts and gashes.

He
wasn’t anything to look at trust me on that. His jeans were worn and ripped, he
was missing one of his shoes, and he wore a white t-shirt that was incredibly
dirty and stained that read “ Green Energy?” in simple black letters. I still
don’t get it. But it made me laugh the first time I saw it anyway.

After
I saw him out there, I found myself constantly making excuses to go to the roof
just so I could check on him. I would watch him for hours and try and figure
out what he was up to over there. Maybe it was because he was all alone,
separated from the huge group that had surrounded our building or the others
that wondered around in the parking lot. He was the only one in front of that
store and he never left for some bizarre reason.

After
I watched him for a while, I started thinking to myself about how he got there
and what he was doing and eventually I even gave him a name. Don’t ask me why
but I decided to call him Hal.

The
store he was hanging out in front of looked empty. But honestly I really
couldn’t tell from my vantage point on the roof. All of the windows and doors
had been boarded up which I guessed the owner had done before he or she
evacuated the city. Sometimes I wondered if it had been Hal’s store and he
couldn’t find himself to leave it even after turning into a zombie. I know it
sounds strange, but those were the type of things that used to run through my
mind while I was up on the roof watching him. Maybe it was a product of boredom
or sleep deprivation, but I would waste hours creating a story for him and how
he ended up where he did.

The
story I would create would change almost every time. I would add just a little
or change a small thing of the little biography I was writing for him in my
mind. How he had fought to survive before he ended up infected, his last days
before he turned, and how he got to where he was. I had a little story for
almost every little aspect of this fictitious life I was creating for him. I
know it may seem a little dramatic but it kept me busy. The more I watch the
more the story grew and as the story grew the more I watched. It might seem
sick or an early sign that my mind was starting to slip. But I found it
entertaining and it was far less depressing then watching the news all day.

You
have to understand that he was just alone over there. None of the other Zeds
ever approached him or hung around that store like he was. I almost felt sorry
for him and his situation. Feared by survivors and outcast by his own kind, he
appeared to be out there by himself, unwanted and isolated. Plus I couldn’t tell
if he was just lost out there or if he knew something that the others didn’t.
Either way, I was hooked and as sad as it seems, Hal became very important to
me.

It
was around that same time that I had also noticed that the group was having a
hard time holding it together. Don’t get me wrong we weren’t fighting with each
other, not at that point. People were just starting to feel beaten and broken
and like any group of strangers locked together under strenuous circumstances,
conflict was inevitable. But all things considered I had always believed that
we were doing the best that we could with what we had.

But
I could see that Ray was watching the news more often then ever before. The
great conversations we had shared became less and less frequent. He would just
spend most of his time starring at the television taking it all in. At first I
understood why he was spending so much time watching. It was an ever-changing
situation out there and if we weren’t living through it I would have considered
it to be incredibly fascinating as well.

Paul
and I always seemed to get along pretty well but I could tell that his demeanor
had changed after he had shot that child. He was still easy to talk too for the
most part, and he was still enjoying his leadership role within the group, but
there was just something different about him. Once and a while he would say
something that I just found out of character for him. Things about everyone
being doomed without him or that without his leadership we would all end up
like those things out there. I just chalked it up to lack of sleep and stress.
But it was obvious that he was having a hard time with everything.

But
mostly I just noticed that a few of the others were talking a little bit less,
saying things that seemed a little more odd or just spending more and more time
alone.
 
Not that I was the picture
of mental health either. Instead of trying to talk to the others or offering to
help them work their way through things, I would vanish to the roof to be alone
or just engage in small talk to pass the time.

Luckily
I had a few things to distract me from the growing depression that was
circulating through the building. I had Hal, and I had my gun training with
Anne. I had another session with Anne on that day and I would like to think
that I was at least improving a little. I managed to kill two Zeds or zombies
or whatever the hell you want to call them that time. Then we were forced to
call it a day so that we could conserve ammo.

But
really other then finding Hal and a little time practicing shooting the day was
pretty much uneventful. Even while watching the news there didn’t appear to be
any new developments other then the Navy setting up along the eastern
coastline. Carrier groups were gathering just off the coast and nobody had any
idea why.

The
first cases were reported in Colorado and Arizona that day. It wasn’t hard to
predict what was going to happen. Once the virus arrived in any state the
outcome always seemed to be the same. So with nothing really going on I
volunteered to take Ray’s turn on watch and retreated back up to the roof for
the evening. I took the opportunity to watch Hal again and see if I could
discover what he was up to. So I grabbed a bottle of whiskey on my way up and
shared a drink with my new friend Hal.

That
seventh day. To be honest when I woke up that morning I had no idea what we
were in for. The day started out just like every other day had since the
outbreak had begun. I went up to the roof for a smoke and to have a cup of
coffee and then returned downstairs to check and see if Ray had seen anything
new on television. That morning the national news was showing clips from some
presidential speech that he had delivered from some secure bunker in an
undisclosed location. He was telling the American people to hold on and that
the country would find a way to persevere. I guess it was supposed to be
inspiring. Maybe it resonated better with those out west, but around here we
really didn’t give a damn.

I
know he was trying to be a symbol that we still had stable government. I know
that he wanted to discourage people from plunging further into anarchy and was
trying to get people to pull together and save what was left of our nation. But
the dead were walking and this plague had consumed more then half of the country.
Unfortunately for me it was the half I happened to be in.

But
none of that was what I was talking about. What I was referring to earlier
happened in the middle of that afternoon while we were all just minding our own
business and killing time. Cody had just relieved Sandy on watch and only a few
minutes later he called down to all of us to come and have a look at something
unusual he had spotted. I think we were all filled with mixed emotions as we
made our way up there that afternoon. I don’t remember what I thought I was
going to see when I got up there, but I still remembering thinking that it
wasn’t going to be anything good.

When
I arrived on the roof most of the others were standing at the front ledge of
the building and looking out across the parking lot. Cody pointed out at the
store’s gas station that was in the far corner of the lot and to my surprise
there was a car parked there.
 
I
couldn’t see anybody in the car and there was nobody around it except for a
handful of Zeds that seemed to be lurking around the area. So that left us
trying to figure out where it had come from and when it had got there.

Anne
and Tanya walked up and down the roof with binoculars trying to get a better
look to see if they could find any sign of the driver. But all that they could
confirm was that the car was empty. We stood there puzzled trying to remember
if that car had always been there or if had shown up recently. I had spent more
time on that roof then anybody and I knew that it hadn’t been there before. But
when you’re as tired as I was your mind starts to play tricks on you and you
start to doubt what you know is right.

The
easy thing to do would have been too just ignore it and believe me Trevor was
on board for that. He thought that we were all getting our hopes up over
nothing and that we were setting ourselves up for disappointment. But as it
turns out our curiosity would get the better of us. I knew I wanted to
investigate the matter further. The possibility of other survivors nearby
wasn’t something we could just ignore. There was a chance they could have
information on what was happening in the city, if there were parts that were
safe or other survivors out there. So we looked around the building trying to
see if someone might be hiding nearby in the surrounding areas but our search
came up empty.

Now
you would think that finding an answer would have been easy. You would think
that with somebody always on the roof keeping watch that someone would have
seen a car pull into the parking lot. Believe me, we thought of that as well.
Problem was that Adam, who was supposed to be on watch last night admitted that
he had been exhausted and had fallen asleep until Sandy relieved him in the
morning. Sandy, well she said that she never really paid close attention to
anything when she was up there. She used her time on watch to read.

So
we weren’t going to get our answer from either one of them. But there was one
obvious possibility that was starring us right in the face the entire time.
What if the person or persons in that car were still hiding in that gas
station? It was small, designed for a cashier and a few aisles of snack food
and self-serve coffee but a person could have easily still been hiding
somewhere inside. But without a clear angle to see inside, and the glare of the
afternoon sun on the windows we had no way of knowing for sure.

That
was until Kerri came up with an idea. She knew that there was a phone in that
station behind the cashier’s counter. Now the phones had been down for days but
that phone was connected to the store’s intercom system so there was still a
chance that we could call that extension from inside the store. So we tried.

Kerri
and Cody were downstairs in the break room calling out on the phone while the
rest of us stayed up on the roof to keep an eye out for any sign of life from
inside. Kerri dialed the extension and we all waited quietly. We could tell
that phone was ringing because a few of the nearby Zeds started moving closer
to the station as soon as Kerri dialed. The sound of the ringing phone was
drawing them in but still nobody had answered.

She
let the phone ring and ring even after most of us had given up hope. Then out
of the blue someone picked up. That I could tell because I could hear the
excitement in Kerri’s voice even from where I was up on the roof. There was
someone in that gas station hiding behind the counter and they weren’t alone.
There were three of them in there actually, two men and a woman and they had
pulled in to try and get gas sometime in the middle of the night. That was when
they realized that they had to activate the pump from inside the station. They
couldn’t figure out how to do it and after making too much noise, they were
forced to seek shelter inside. They told Kerri everything and Cody passed it
along to those of us on the roof and suddenly it seemed like we had hope again.

I
would love to say that we were all eager to let them inside and that all we
thought about was helping them. But that’s not exactly true. We debated letting
them in at all for various reasons. Some thought it was too dangerous to try
and get them inside. Others feared that they would strain our resources or that
they might be infected and not even know it yet. But one of the biggest
concerns we had was that we didn’t know what kind of people they were.

 
We had seen what was happening out west,
what people were doing to each other in the name of survival. We had no way of
knowing if these people would come in and cause trouble or steal from us or
worse.
 
So we talked it through.
What was right and what was wrong, the pros and cons of letting them in or not.
We talked about it for several minutes but in the end despite our newly forming
paranoia, we decided to help them and find a way to get them inside the store.

We
discussed several options. Some of which seemed like they had a chance of
working and others that were borderline insane. We knew that we couldn’t just
shoot every Zed that was in the way. We could use some of the ammo for covering
fire like we had before and at least eliminate a few of them as they made there
way to us. We knew that we had to use the back doors again because there was no
getting through the massive wall of infected that had gathered at the front
entrance.
 
But even at the back of
the building there were still too many Zeds for them to risk just running for
the doors. We needed a way to clear them out of there and give the three of
them some running room.

We
couldn’t think of anything for longest time. Kerri actually had to call them
back and tell them that we hadn’t forgotten about them. But finally it was Adam
who came up with an idea to draw them away from the back doors. The kid who
rarely ever spoke had come up with an idea that I would have never thought of.
I don’t think that any of us would have actually.

We
were going to lower a remote control monster truck down to the pavement below
using some well tied fishing line. Taped to that RC truck would be a
walkie-talkie.
 
Tanya would talk
through our end of the walkie-talkie while Adam slowly drove the truck away,
hopefully luring most of the Zeds from the area around the back door. Once we
had the idea Kerri called them back and told them what the plan was and to wait
for the signal.

Trevor,
Cody and Shannon went downstairs to open the doors for them once they got
close. This time Trevor and Cody would be armed with the fire axe and a
baseball bat to take care of any stragglers that were left out there. Anne and
Paul got into position to provide covering fire and once again Ray and I would
act as spotters. Apparently Anne thought we had done a good enough job the last
time and preferred that we do it again.

So
Adam, Ray and I started to lower the RC truck down with the fishing line. Well,
that was a lot easier said then done. We actually dropped the first truck about
half way down and it smashed into pieces on impact. So we rigged up another
truck and were fortunate to have success the second time around. At first none
of the Zeds even acknowledged that it was there. At that point I seriously
doubted that it was going to work. But once it was in position and Adam slowly
started to drive it away and they didn’t follow I thought for sure that it had
failed. Then as Tanya started talking into her walkie-talkie something started to
happen. She spoke softly at first and then louder until finally a couple of the
Zeds nearby took notice.

It
was strange watching them lower their heads and investigate the truck. They
looked almost confused as they tried to understand where the voices were coming
from. But as it turns out the noise was too interesting to ignore and as the
truck slowly started moving a few of them started to follow.

Adam did a great job of keeping
the truck just ahead of them and slowly moving it away as they got closer.
After one of them started to follow it seemed like another and then another and
soon most of the group was in pursuit. Adam had expressed concerns about the RC
truck getting out of range if he moved it too far away from the building so he
kept it close and drove it parallel to the stores outer wall as he walked along
the ledge of the roof.
 
He kept the
RC truck reasonably close as he moved it along the back of the building and a
few minutes later most of the Zeds had followed it away from the back receiving
doors.

Once
we had drawn them away, Kerri called the three people at the station to let
them know that it was time. I ran to the front of the store and saw three
people slowly emerge from the small gas station. They moved cautiously at first
trying to hide from the few Zeds that were standing on the other side of their
car. They ducked along the side of the car to stay out of view and once they
had made their way around the back bumper they broke into a sprint across the
back part of the lot. I pointed out a Zed that appeared to be moving in their
direction from across the street but Anne didn’t shoot. Ray pointed out a
target for Paul and he held his fire as well. They kept saying they would only
shoot if they really needed too.

The
runners stuck to the far end of the parking lot trying to keep as much distance
as possible between them and the largest concentration of Zeds that was near
the front entrance. Out there in the open they had the space to maneuver around
the Zeds that were mostly spread out or at least in smaller groups. They
zigzagged their way across the lot moving just fast enough to avoid any contact
with the slow moving zombies. At one point I saw one of them almost get pulled
back as a Zed grabbed a hold of the younger looking man’s shirt. He pulled away
quickly and the three of them just kept on running.

Many
of the Zeds in the area were well aware of them and they were all starting to
move in their direction. The group of three stopped for one reason or another
behind a car and I remember thinking that they had made a fatal mistake. As the
three of them hid, more and more Zeds started to make their way for the car and
they were coming from all directions. Anne fired a shot and dropped a lanky
looking zombie that was closing in from behind them. Paul fired a shot that
missed whatever target he was aiming for and I was starting to believe that
this wasn’t going to end well again.

Then,
as if they realized their mistake they appeared from behind the car and I saw
one of the men smash the closest zombie in the head with some kind of blunt
object just before the three of them starting running again.

When
they finally made it to the far side of the parking lot they started running
for the side of the building. I could see a Zed that was moving between two
cars and from what I could tell the three survivors hadn’t seen it. It was
going to pop out from between the two cars and end up right in front of them if
we didn’t do something. Luckily, Anne fired a shot before I even had a chance
to open my mouth. Her shot hit the Zed in the shoulder, but it was enough to
knock it off balance and it fell to the ground between the two cars and the
three survivors ran right bye without incident.

I
could see from the roof that all three of the runners were holding what looked
like small camping hatchets, which was a good thing because as they made it to
the side of the building there was a small group of Zeds that we hadn’t seen.
We ran over to the side of the building to provide cover for them as they
headed for the back. We arrived just in time to see one of the men, the bigger
guy, smashing his hatchet through the side of one their heads. As that Zed
collapsed to the ground he pulled the hatchet free and swung it overhead into
the skull of another. With the hatchet firmly lodged in that Zed’s skull he
kicked the third Zed in the stomach knocking it to the ground. Then he reached
down and pulled his hatchet free from the zombie’s skull and the three of them
started to run again.