Dawn of the Dead 1. Copyright and AN

Copyright 

This story is a creation of my own imagination. No characters weapons or plots are taken from any single source. I own this story and DO NOT give permission to anyone else to use any of the characters, ideas, or storylines. Any familiarity with the names of characters in the book are completely coincidental and should not be taken as anything more than that. Once again DO NOT STEAL THIS MATERIAL. Thank you.

A/N: 

I do accept custom characters. If you would like your custom character used I will be willing to try and fit them into the story. If you want to be in the story than fill out the application and mail it if you have several characters you would like to add repeat with each one and send it as a single e-mail. Finally include everything. That includes the release form attached.

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Prelude: 

The story of people surviving the zombie onslaught has been told many times in several different forms. Every time you hear one it's the same thing. John Doe down the road who was unprepared for the attack miraculously survived. Survival through simple willpower was the common theme. We were different though, we did survive through willpower we were also prepared. We had made plans for several different scenarios. When the attacks started though not very many people thought of zombies. People tried to rationalize what was going on by claiming it was rioters, people crazed by a new drug, a new up and coming cult, even terrorism was listed as a possibility. Anything other than the truth that it was the dead coming back to life. We knew the truth. Well I should say we suspected the truth. Had you asked me then I would have told you there wasn't a doubt in my mind that it was zombies, but now I look back and know the truth of it. I did doubt it. I suspected that zombies were attacking but I wasn't positive. I quietly hoped that I was overreacting. I hoped I was overreacting so quietly though that not even I knew that was what I was hoping. I knew that if I was right and that zombies had become a reality then everything would fall apart. I knew the military would try to destroy the infection and maintain order. I knew once that failed they would attempt to contain it. I also knew that if I was right and that everything happened as I thought it would then mean many people would die. They would die and everything would change. I was right though. I was right and because I was right many people lived to see another day. They lived to see another day and find meaning in life. Now we wonder this land that has become hell on earth. No longer are we given anything, but instead we fight for everything. We must fight to simply take a breath. We wonder through this land because we are motivated to do so. We are motivated to get to a better place, a safer place, and a place where for the first time in a long time we can take it easy. This is our story. The story of the people that were labeled as freaks, weirdoes, and crazies by the society that was. We are the survivors of hell. The one's who fight the zombie menace. Put simply we are the Z Fighters.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Attack of the undead 

Mat woke to a bright and sunny Saturday. It was refreshing to have such a nice April morning. He stretched as a yawn escaped from his lips. Slowly he threw his legs over the bed. He walked over to his dresser which was cluttered with all sorts of electronics. The dresser had a large mirror attached to it. He pulled out a casual short sleeve shirt and some blue jeans out. He took a quick glance at himself in the mirror. His muscular biceps and chiseled abs suggested a man who either hit the gym on a regular basis or did something physical for a job. His short buzz cut hair always seemed to give people the impression that he was some sort of military man. True his parents had both been in the military and that was part of the reason why he kept his hair short. The other though was just because he didn't want to spend time having to deal with it in the mornings. Heck his roommate, who had hair much to long in Mat's opinion, would spend about fifteen to thirty minutes every evening just fixing his hair before he would head to work. Mat sighed and ran his hand over his freshly cut hair grinning with approval at the very short hair. He then turned and left his room heading out to take his morning shower. As he passed his roommates room he opened the door just to make sure Levioth had made it in okay. As he saw the sleeping half dressed man in the queen sized bed he had the all to familiar urge to grab his shaver and shave off those long strands of hair. It was odd how even in sleep the man's hair covered his eyes. Mat had never even seen the man's eyes, not that it really bothered him though. Mat had to remind himself though that the attempt to shave his roommate's head would be more dangerous than rewarding. The room would be the easy part. In complete contrast to Mat's perfectly organized room, Levioth's floor was littered with books, video games, and movies ranging from simple Disney shows (which Levioth always swore were around do to his mother's demands) all the way to the ever-increasing supply of Horror flicks. The most dangerous part would be the broad sword that almost never left Levioth's side. Mat slowly closed the door and finally made it to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and check to see if perhaps today would be that one day every other week he would have to shave. No such luck. Mat never could seem to grow facial hair and he had just shaved a few days ago. So he pulled off his boxers and climbed into the shower. The sound of the water pinging off of the side's of the tub and shower curtain perfectly covered the siren of the ambulance that was passing the apartment complex. Fifteen minutes later Mat was dressed and had started on his usual breakfast burrito. Just as Mat added the eggs to the frying pan the phone rang. Mat lowered the heat and walked over to the cordless phone. He plugged his headset in and placed it on his ear before turning on the phone and clipping it to his western style belt. "Hello, Mat speaking." Mat said out of habit.

"Yeah, is Levioth there" A feminine voice said from the other end.

"Yeah, He's still asleep though." Mat said as he started to scramble the eggs.

"Well will you tell him I called."

"Who should I tell him called?" Mat said in a bored tone as he added a tortilla to a separate pan to start warming.

"Oh come on, I'm dating the guy. I would think you should know my voice by now

"Oh right, its Sara then." Mat said with the well-practiced joke.

"Don't give me that. You know clear and well it's Shana." The now known voice of Shana said with annoyance clear.

"I know. Well I'll let him know you called, Shana" Mat said turning the heat off of the tortilla and finishing up the scrambling of the eggs.

"Thank you. Bye." Shana said hanging up without waiting for a response from Mat, who hit the off button of the phone still attached to his belt. He then turned off the fire below the eggs and took them to the small dining table and started to fix his burrito with the eggs and salsa. Just as he finished wrapping his burrito he heard a door open down the hall, which would mean Levioth up for some reason. Sure enough not to long later Levioth came into view.

"What you doing up? Didn't you just get home from work?" Mat asked just before he took a small bite of his breakfast.

"I smelt some breakfast. Speaking of which where's mine?" Levioth asked as a small curl appeared at the edge of his lip.

"It's still in the fridge. If your hungry make something yourself." Mat said grinning back as he then took another bite.

"Some friend you are." Levioth said calmly as he walked to the fridge and opened it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know you really should cut your hair, one of these days those bangs in front of your eyes are going to blind you." Mat said picking up the ongoing joke between the two.

"Yeah, well you know just because you can't grow any hair on your face doesn't mean you got to take it off of your head too." Levioth answered with the normal response as he closed the fridge now holding a beer and made his way to the table making sure to grab a Granola bar.

"You know, Your still only 18. Your not really supposed to be drinking my beers." Mat said starting yet another lost cause.

"Hey I'm old enough to walk so I'm plenty old enough to drink." Levioth responded popping the top of a long neck.

"Yeah, well your girlfriend called."

"Which one?

"Shana."

"Right, okay."

"You know you really should grow up and settle down with just one chick." Mat replied setting down his half eaten burrito.

"Hey. You know that old saying, There's plenty of fish in the sea. So why should I fry just one?"

"Uhm, I don't think that's exactly how it was meant to be interpreted."

"Fuck that besides when's the last time you saw me read a dictionary?"

"I haven't but…"

"Exactly" Levioth said. Mat sighed and shook his head then started back on his burrito. Soon they were finished with their breakfast, and as Mat was placing his plate and the pans in the dishwasher, they heard an ambulance siren blaring by their apartment complex. "Wonder who died this time." Levioth said without any hint of emotion.

"Oh come on. Who ever it is may not be dead. Could be just a high fever." Mat said positively but not really caring either way.

"Or it could be some delinquent drug addicted kid. You remember that twelve year old from a couple days ago." Levioth responded tossing the now empty beer bottle and granola package in the garbage. Mat just shook his head as he watched Levioth walk back down the hall to his room and listened to the door close. Mat had the day off and decided to go get a carton of cigarettes for him and Levioth. So he grabbed his set of keys and clipped them to their place on his belt loop then headed out the door. He decided to walk since the store was barely a mile away. He approached the sidewalk that ran along the side of the street. He was surprised to see another ambulance blare past him on the way to the store but assumed it to be some sort of shooting or something. Neither of them had what one would call high class jobs so they could only afford an apartment in the "Bad" neighborhood. He reached the store and bought a two-liter of soda and the carton of Cigarettes then headed back towards the apartment. Once again another ambulance blasted past him on the road, which really got Mat worried. Even for the "bad" neighborhood this was something to worry about. He quickly made his way back home and got inside. He set down the cig's and unopened soda and flipped on the T.V. to the local news station. Another one of the Saturday morning kiddy shows was one so Mat assumed that he was just getting worked up over nothing. He turned off the T.V. and headed back to his room, taking a pack of smokes and the soda. He flipped on his video game system and put in one of his war DVD's. He would have preferred to have gone out with his girlfriend or some friends than sit alone in his room watching movies but since his friends were all busy and he didn't have a girlfriend he was stuck with nothing to do. So he sipped his soda and watched the movie quoting most of the lines since he had seen it so many times. An hour later the movie came to a close with the far outnumbered soldiers pulling out another victory thru team work and superior training. Mat sighed as he kicked the DVD out of the system and plugged in one of his first person shooter games. He wasn't good enough to play against other people online but he did okay against the AI in the story/campaign mode. He started up the story mode and got underway…..

Levioth woke from his short nap hearing the sounds of gun shots. He figured that Mat was playing one of his games so he decided to go and give him a hard time. As he walked out of his room he made sure to grab his bottle of whisky, thinking that he could even the odds with Mat by getting at least a little tipsy.

"ahh, playin the game on easy again I see." Levioth said in his usual sarcastic voice.

"Actually it's on normal, and I'm doing decent for your information." Mat said as he blew off yet another enemy's head.

"Na, your doing it wrong dude. You get up and personal. Use the shotgun, sword, or knife. That really shows the enemy whose boss." he replied taking another swing from the bottle.

"For you maybe," Mat said as he zoomed in with the sniper rifle and blew away another one, "But I don't plan on offering them a target if I don't have to."

"Yeah, well that's why I beat you so bad all the time. Can't hit me with that thing when a swords thru your chest."

"True, I wouldn't be able to snipe you with a sword thru my chest. If I recall though you have only gotten close enough to use those methods, what, ten times in the past year?"

"Well if I played this game as much as you then I would never lose. Then again I would end up like you. No girlfriend and only my hand to keep me company at night

"Go screw yourself Levioth." Mat said getting annoyed and missing an easy shot in the game. He made up for it with a quick second shot but he couldn't change the fact that he had just wasted one of his limited rounds.

"No need, I had Krystle screw me last night." He responded with an obvious grin knowing he had won yet another argument. Mat shook his head and let out a sigh as he started the boss battle for like the fifth level. "So you going to beat this guy like a real man, or are you going to use your coward method?" Mat took aim and fired three rounds at the boss. One thru each lung and then a finishing shot to the head.

"That answer your question Levioth?" Mat replied as he saved his progress and sat the controller down turning off the video game system.

"Yeah, you're a coward, big surprise." Levioth said with a grin. Sirens blared past the apartment yet again. "Man, there's an unusual amount of ambulances out today isn't there?"

"Yeah, I saw several on my way to and from the store earlier. I think I'm going to go check channel three and see if they have interrupted any programming yet."

"Yeah, I think I'll go get some more sleep." Levioth turned and left the room with Mat right behind him. He heard the bedroom door click shut and he walked into his room shutting the door behind himself. He sat his whiskey in its usual position. He then picked up his sword and drew it out of its sheath. He spent the next five minutes sharpening it again. Sure it didn't need it but still he wanted to make sure the blade was razor sharp, just in case…

Mat was slightly unsettled by all the Ambulances that kept blaring up and down the road. He clicked on the T.V. and a children's program flashed into view. The news hadn't yet interrupted any of the regularly scheduled programming. He sighed and walked to the kitchen to busy himself doing something. He wasn't sure if no news meant that there was no need to worry, that news didn't have anything about the "incidents" so far, or (in worse case scenario) they were already gone. Mat didn't want to jump to any conclusions just yet though. He also didn't want to get Levioth all riled up over what could simply be a terrible accident; still the fact that the sirens were becoming more and more frequent was pushing even Mat's firm attempts to stay calm to the brink. As if written in some script for a horror movie, the local news theme song came from the T.V. in the other room. Mat quickly made his way back to the T.V. and sat down watching it. The local news anchorman popped onto the television screen. His voice came thru the television speakers in the usual calm and professional tone. His starting sentence was the same one that was used whenever a program was interrupted. "We interrupt the regular scheduled programming to bring you this channel three breaking news." He tapped his paper on the extra large desk in front him. Usually there would be another spokesperson sitting next to him behind the desk. His backup spokesperson was nowhere to be seen though. After making sure his papers were straight he continued, "Disaster has struck our early morning routines. There have been many injuries caused by what this news station believes to be some sort of Riot. This is not yet confirmed but the injuries known so far have been a mix between scratches and bites. Though the reasoning for these kinds of attacks is still unknown it appears to be that these are the majority of the intentional injuries. There have also been several very large car accidents. We ask the public to please stay calm and do not leave your homes. The police are currently addressing this matter. We ask that nobody use cell phones or call 911 unless it is life threatening. The authorities need the airways to communicate with each other. The 911 emergency lines are currently flooded. If you are involved in an accident that is not life threatening please exchange information and contact your respective agencies. If you are injured take yourself to the nearest hospital. We also ask that everyone lock their doors and stay inside. Though the police do not suggest you take any matters into your own hands the individuals that are causing these problems have not been co-operative in any way. They appear to only wish to kill as many people as possible. If you should find an assailants in your home the police force has given a rare order that your are allowed to defend both your home and your lives with any means necessary. They urge you to lock all doors and windows and do not let anybody inside. The attackers have been seen killing even their closest friends and families…" the reporter went on with his broadcast about the rioters and actions to take and who knows what else. Mat though had heard all he needed. He and Levioth had watched many zombie movies. They had even came up with a what if plan. In Mat's opinion this wasn't a revolt or any other logical event. The worst thing for humanity had become a reality, zombies were now real. Mat started putting his and Levioth's plan into action. A plan that had always received raised eyebrows, snickers, and even open scorn and abuse when it was revealed to people. Mat shook the memories of all those degrading looks from his mind. No, he had to concentrate on the task at hand. He picked up the phone in the kitchen and opened the cabinet under the sink. He pulled out the nine mm pistol that was taped to the under side of the sink. He then removed that ammo clip that had been tapped beside it. He loaded the pistol and cocked the round into the chamber. He clipped the cordless phone to his belt and steadied the pistol as he advanced toward the front door with the gun pointing lethally at it. He reached the door and shifted the weapon so that it was held in his right hand as he slowly reached out with his left. He opened the door and in a flash stepped outside aiming the pistol first to the right and then to the left. This was one of the few times he was glad that he lived in an apartment on the third story almost exactly halfway between the two staircases at each end of the building. He quickly stepped back inside, then shut and locked the door. Without missing a beat he turned on his heel and moved the pistol into his left hand and unclipped the phone with his right. He quickly dialed a few numbers and returned the phone to his belt. He pushed the earpiece with his index finger to make sure it was firmly in place. As he started pulling the blinds on the windows the phone started buzz indicating he received a connection. Ring…Ring…First window covered…Ring…Ring…Mat was just pulling the blinds on the kitchen window…Ring…

"Hello?" Came a voice from the other end.

"Hey, Josh?" Mat said as he finished pulling the curtains shut.

"HEY, MAT! What's up man? Haven't heard from you in a while."

"Yeah, I know. Been busy working…"

"Your always working."

"Yeah sure. Look, Josh, remember when I talked to you a while back about if something happened would I be able to count on you?"

"Yeah. Hey man, what's going on?"

"Well, have you heard of the "rioters" yet?"

"No. There's a riot?"

"No, there's not."

"Then why would I hear about rioters?"

"Would you just shut up and let me finish."

"Uh, sure."

"Thank you. The news is claiming that there are tons of rioters on the streets attacking people. The thing is the only intentional injuries seem to be bite marks and scratches. I think its Zombies." Mat said. A silence followed Mat's statement. "Well?"

"You told me not to say anything."

"Now isn't the time for you to be a pain Josh."

"Look man. There are no such things as Zombies."

"There WERE no such things as zombies."

"Whatever. Look dude I'm not against helping you in any way I can. We are friends after all, but if you want me to run around the city shooting anyone we come across, you can count me out."

"What if I could prove it to you?"

"If you can prove that the dead have come back to life and are attacking the living then I will go wherever and help you do whatever you need to do."

"Right, see you soon then. Just do me one favor, don't open the door to anybody that has any blood on them at all."

"Sure no problem Mat."

"Right, later then."

"Later." With that Mat hung up the phone and began dialing another number. The second call went about the same as the first. His third and final call was different only in the way that the third person had already made the same conclusion as Mat and had started putting the plans into motion himself. As soon as Mat and hung up on his last call he headed down the hall. He flung the door to Levioth's room open and had to spin out of the doorway and against the hall's wall to keep from becoming impaled by several kunai (small metallic knife like objects).

"What was that for?" Mat shouted around the corner.

"You surprised me is all. I've told you to not burst thru the door like that."

"Well is it safe now?"

"Yeah." With that Mat turned and looked into the room. Levioth must have had the same idea as Mat as far as what was going on. Mat came to this conclusion because Levioth sat on his bed in the black cargo pants and matching black shirt with his broad sword fastened to its belt, which was already attached to Levioth's hip. His duel .45 caliber pistols were hanging over his shoulders. Finally his LBV (Load Bearing Vest) was strapped on around his chest and back with what appeared to be several clips of ammo in the pockets.

"You know what's going on I take it?" Mat asked

"I guessed."

"Need to call anyone?"

"Yeah."

"Right." Mat said finishing the conversation as he unclipped the earpiece and phone then tossed the phone to Levioth. "I'll be getting ready in my room if you need me." Levioth just nodded to signal he understood and Mat turned on his heel and walked to his room to get ready…

Levioth finished sharpening the sword and sheathed it. He then thought of all the sirens that had been blaring all day. They still wailed up and down the street in front of the apartment complex. Now Levioth prided himself on the fact that he didn't jump to conclusions. He never assumed something was going on when things were just a little… out of the ordinary. This was different though. Something in the pit of his stomach wasn't just telling him there was something wrong, it was screaming about something not right. Screaming about something that should be feared. He stood and walked to his radio and flipped it on. The usual rock music played softly as he made sure the volume was down. Nothing unusual so far, still the odd knot in his stomach wouldn't go away. So he went thru his room and started grabbing the equipment that he had been collecting for years. First he grabbed the belt that his sword attached to and clipped it into place, next were the two .45 caliber Desert Eagles he had worked so hard to get. He placed both into their custom made holsters that he then draped over his shoulders and clipped in the front. Finally he found his LBV and slung it on over the pistols and their holsters. He had cut the LBV so that the pistols could be reached both quickly and easily. Finally he gathered up all the ammo clips he had and over loaded his LBV. It was around the time he was gathering up the clips that his gut feeling was proved true. The news station interrupted one of his favorite songs on the radio to give a report on some rioters and the reason for all the medical crews blaring around. All he had to hear was that the majority of injuries had been bites and scratches for him to click the radio off and finish up with his preparations. As he packed his last clip of ammo into the vest he noticed his Kunai that were in the top draw of his dresser. He had bought them oh so long ago. Before he had the money to get the treasured sword that now hung at his hip. He picked up the razor sharp Kunai and balanced it perfectly on his finger. There were six in all and he picked up each one inspecting them carefully. As he was examining the last one a loud thud came from his door and without even thinking, without any hesitation, out of pure instinct he tossed all six with lightening fast reflexes at the now open door. Mat had moved like lightening as the Kunai soared thru the air. Had it been anyone else all six of the Ninjitsu artifacts would have plunged deep into the person's body. Mat though had not only seen the Kunai but had also spun out of the way and was around the corner as the Kunai plunged into the hall's wall and stuck. Levioth slowly loosened his grip on the swords hilt. He didn't even remember reaching for the sword but wasn't surprised by the act. He had been training with this sword for over a year and had become so adept at using it that it was as if it were merely and extension of his own body.

"What was that for?" Mat shouted around the corner.

"You surprised me is all, I've told you to not burst thru the door like that."

"Well is it safe now?"

"Yeah." With that Mat turned and looked into the room. Mat must have come to same conclusion as he had for his standard 9 mm pistol was gripped loosely in his left hand with the phone clipped to his western style belt on the right side of his body. The earpiece was dangling from the phone up to his ear. Levioth assumed that meant Mat had called up the people he wanted to keep alive.

"You know what's going on I take it?" Mat asked

"I guessed."

"Need to call anyone?"

"Yeah."

"Right." Mat said finishing the conversation as he unclipped the earpiece and phone then tossed the phone to Levioth. "I'll be getting ready in my room if you need me." Levioth just nodded to signal he understood and Mat turned on his heel and walked to his room to get ready. Levioth watched without saying a word as Mat turned and walked down the hall. He knew Mat preferred the M4 rifle that he had used during his short enlistment in the Army. Originally this unsettled him because Levioth had never known a decent military man. Most of them were full of themselves as if they were some great being that should be worshipped for their "sacrifice". If they weren't that kind then they were the kind that gave him sideways glances of disapproval for the way he kept his hair long. Not only long though but in front of his eyes. Just like Mat's reason for no longer being in the military his reason for long hair was his own secret and he would never let anyone find it out. Levioth shook his head. He was wasting precious time. He quickly dialed ten digits that belonged to those that would be the closest thing to friends that he had. He didn't really have friends. Most people he viewed as tools. Connections he could use to help himself and then let them go when they were no longer any use, like the girls that called themselves his girlfriends. He never once claimed them to be his girlfriends. He just used them for nighttime activities, trophies to show off to those well behaved and well groomed pricks that roamed everywhere, or for, put simply, money. No the people he was calling now were those that could fight and that he could trust. Well trust more than most people. For you couldn't trust any person in this world. Only one person had ever made him question this philosophy and that was Mat. Mat had nothing to gain from knowing him. If anything he had tons to gain from not knowing him. Mat always stood by him though. The first time they had met was in a Mall. Six guys had thought it would be fun to pick on the "freak with long hair". Levioth could have taken them all on and hardly break a sweat. Mat had stepped in out of nowhere though. He had defended what appeared to be an unfair fight for him. The six morons had still attacked feeling safe in all their stupid muscles and numbers. Muscles and Numbers though didn't win a fight. If you didn't have any brains or tactics then you were just barely surviving. That had been the first time Mat and him had met and they had always stood by each other from that day on. Mat made him wonder if there were actually people in the world you could trust, but he never opened up to Mat because it wasn't his style and it was safer to stand on your own two feet than rely on the help of others.

"Hello?" The words of Marshall Ramone brought Levioth from his thoughts.

"You good?"

"Yeah"

"Z time"

"I'm game."

"Notify the others and hold ground at the preferred site. If that's not possible take up position at site two."

"Right. How long?"

"Unknown, if no contact in 3 then move on and try to link up at point A."

"Hold position at point A?"

"For only 24."

"Okay. Stay safe."

"Whatever." Levioth said in reply to the last comment and hung up. He never did enjoy casual, that is to say normal, conversations. He then sat the phone down and started to pack a small duffle bag with the assorted liquors he had stashed thru out the room. He quickly finished then sat back down on the bed. He took a quick glance around his room to make sure he hadn't forgot anything. He then realized he had the essentials but didn't have any extra clothing. So he grabbed another small duffle bag and packed in two sets of clothing. He even threw in a couple of boxes of his nighttime protection and quickly zipped up the bag. Deciding to not wait any longer he picked up the two duffle bags and headed into the living room and sat the bags down as he turned to hang up the phone. Just as he was about to put it onto its charger it rang. He stared at it for a moment before answering it.

"Speak"

"Levioth!?" Said the panicked voice of Shana.

"Yeah."

"Baby, there's somebody outside my house. He's covered in blood and banging on the back glass."

"So?"

"SO! So come over here and tell him to go away!"

"You do it."

"I did but all he did was moan and snarl at me. Levioth, I think he is one of those rioters the news was talking about!"

"He didn't say anything at all? Just moaned?"

"Yeah."

"Shoot him in the face or stab him in the face or something. You must destroy the brain."

"WHAT!?"

"You heard me. Destroy the brain."

"I'm not going to kill him!"

"If you don't he will kill you. Don't waste your time on body shots or trying to hurt him. He's already dead and can't feel pain. Just destroy the brain."

"Levioth, your crazy!"

"Then die for all I care." With that Levioth hung up the phone and placed it back on the charger. It was true. He didn't care if she lived or died. He had no intention of even attempting to save any of those women that had proclaimed themselves his girlfriends. Plenty of fish in the sea so why fry just one…

Mat turned and walked down the hall to his room. He looked around and pulled out a medium sized duffle bag and packed it with gear. He had cold weather, warm weather, desert camouflage, forest camo, urban, night vision goggles, binoculars, and all sorts of other military grade equipment. He probably owned over several hundred thousand dollars worth of equipment that he was now packing into this duffle bag. He had spent most of his life either collecting or buying these items. Most for training for that day that he would be required to wear it. Those dreams had been shattered but he still owned it all, just in case. Now the camo portion of it wouldn't do him any good but there were plenty of pockets and just in case they had to fight humans it would be of some use. He glanced at the gas mask and decided to leave it behind. It had once belonged to his father and had been given to him. It was the first piece of all that gear he had ever owned and now he had to leave it behind. It may come in handy eventually but he didn't have the room to deal with a maybe. He stood there staring at it though as if silently speaking to it. His father was dead. He would never forget that day. The day his father had called him to see how he was doing. See if he needed anything. His father had never been like that when he lived with his parents but the man changed the day he moved out. Calling everyday to see if he was okay, to see if he needed anything. He lived an hour's drive from where he had grown up. One hour's drive from his parents home. He had always thought it too long to drive for casual visits. He regretted that now. If he could go back he would make that trip every day. To spend as much time with the man he had looked up to for so long. His father had died while in the service. He was cop for the military and was on patrol. The story that was told to him and his family was that his father had responded to a silent alarm in one of the storage facilities. When his dad arrived he ran across an unknown number of men. The men had automatic weapons and opened up on his fathers' cruiser. Of course his dad called for backup but it was a very large military base. The report said that his dad had died due to small arms fire that had gone off close to his head. It pained Mat to this day to think that he couldn't even see his father at the funeral due to what had happened to his face. His siblings had of course been upset. Mat still doubted that any of them was as hurt as he was. His sister was always the preppy one. Always looking out for herself. His closest brother who was nine and a half years younger than him had looked up more to him than their father for some reason. The voice of his youngest sibling though, the youngest boy would never leave his mind. He could still hear the question as it rang thru his skull. "Mommy, where's daddy? Why is everyone crying? It's okay Mommy don't cry." Mat shook his head and whipped the tears from his eyes. It wasn't too long after that his mother had been driving the rest of Mat's family to see their grandmother when a drunken trucker had slammed into their vehicle. His mom had begged him to come along for the trip, to spend some time with the family. Mat had been a slave to his job at the time though and had said he had to work. He knew he could have gotten off but wanted the money. So he stayed behind. He had earned the money. That winter he earned enough to give his whole family a decent funeral. Father, Mother, Sister, and two brothers, he buried every one of them. In the same year he had lost everything he had ever known. That was also the same day he turned his back on his religion. He lived for three months feeling worse and worse everyday. Finally he couldn't take it anymore and stopped going to military duties. He turned in all his gear and told the supply sergeant to let everyone know he was now AWOL. The whole unit had been good men. The sergeant had said if anyone ever wanted to go AWOL at least save him the trouble of hunting them down and to just turn in their equipment and let him know. So he took his dishonorable discharge and moved on. He sighed and softly laid a hand on the gas mask.

"Goodbye" he said to it so soft that it was just at the edge of hearing. He then turned and continued to pack. He put one pair of clothes, toiletries, flashlights, and matches along with other necessities into a rucksack he had bought with his own money. He packed all the MREs (Meal Ready to Eat) that he could into a second duffle bag. He then shouldered the rucksack. Clipped on the pistol holster onto his western style belt and picked up the two duffle bags. He stepped thru his open door just as the phone started to ring. He made his way down the hall and glanced into Levioth's room that was empty. He entered the living room just in time to see Levioth rounding the corner of the kitchen and heading into living room.

"Who was that?"

"Just some dead chick."

"What? I didn't think Zombies could use phones."

"They can't."

"Then how did…"

"Well the chick isn't dead right now but she will be soon enough."

"Shouldn't we do something?"

"No, we can't save everyone. I thought we understood that when we made the plans. We are in a major city and we need to get out of here fast. Therefore we can't waste any time."

"Your call. Lets go." Mat said as he swallowed his regret for not trying to force Levioth to save whoever it was. He knew that Levioth was right. That they couldn't save everyone and that if they tried to they would end up dead. Knowing that fact though didn't make it any easier to live with. Mat picked up his two duffle bags and headed to the door. He sat them down next to it and unlocked the door. He glanced at Levioth who hadn't even bothered to touch his duffle bags and was holding a D. Eagle in each hand. "Ready?" He asked. Levioth just nodded so Mat twisted the handle and yanked the door open and stepped outside facing to the right as Levioth stepped out after him turning to the left. "CLEAR!" Mat shouted out of habit. He glanced over his shoulder when Levioth didn't reply but could only see his ruck. "Is it clear?"

"Do you hear me shooting?"

"I'll take that as a yes." Mat replied as he lowered his pistol. He would have given just about anything to have an M4 right now. "So am I getting the van or you?"

"I was going to get the truck. You can put more in it."

"Yeah well the van can hold more people and we do have people to pick up. Besides, it's all I have left of my family." He added with a hint of sadness.

"Your sentimentality will get you killed."

"I don't want to hear it Levioth. Either get the van or I'll go get them."

"Fine, I'll bring the truck around and we can load it up and then I'll take you around to get your van."

"Thanks."

"Whatever." With that last word Mat heard Levioth's footsteps take off as he was left alone. He dropped his ruck and then pulled the duffle bags outside. He rolled his eyes when he heard the chinking of glass against glass from one of Levioth's bags but just set it down carefully and waited with his pistol at the ready just in case…..

Levioth took off towards the stairs after he finished the conversation with Mat. He reached the stairwell and was down it in no time flat. He hadn't seen so much as a smear of blood, which meant that things weren't too bad. He had to stay on guard though. He moved quickly but carefully down the next flight of stairs and then made his way towards the parking area. He gave it a quick high, low scan to be sure it was clear and then made his way to his full sized truck. The truck had been expensively remodeled. It hat large high beam lights mounted in the back over looking the cab. He had fog lights mounted on the underside with a pure still ram guard mounted on the front. He had even recently had a wench system welded into place. The whole truck was one monstrous beast of a vehicle. If there was so much a wide path this truck could make the trip. He climbed into the cab and slid the key into the ignition. The truck started up no problem and he gassed it around the side of the building. Mat would expect him to park near on of stairwells and then climb back up to the third story just to haul everything back down again. He had a better plan though. This truck was four-wheel drive with large wheels and heightened suspension. The little curb and saplings the apartment complex had would be no match. So he pulled around to their side of the building, backed up, and then slammed on the gas making the whole vehicle jump forward. It climbed over the curb with a slight bump and the steal ramming bars snapped the saplings without so much as a scratch. He didn't even have to worry about anything catching any lines on the underside of the truck due to the steel plating he had mounted on the underside. It did make changing the oil filter a real hassle but now that zombies were around he was glad for the extra protection. He skidded to a stop right in front of their room, which was three stories up. He stepped out and gave a wide smile to the frustrated looking Mat who was gazing off the balcony.

"What in the name of…alcoholic drinks are you doing!?" Mat shouted down to him making sure to mention something that was of value to Levioth.

"Bringing the truck around!" Levioth hollered back.

"You were supposed to park it and come up here and help with this stuff!"

"Yeah, Well this is quicker. Just start tossing down the nonessentials."

"You mean the anything that doesn't have an alcohol content!?"

"Exactly, non-essentials!" Levioth said as his smile widened again. Mat just shook his head but started grabbing the gear that didn't have anything breakable in it and tossing it over the edge. Levioth caught each item gently and placed it in the bed of the truck just as gently. They were quickly finished and had but just three bags that Mat hadn't tossed over the liquor, the military gear, and his rucksack. He didn't want to risk damaging the military gear, he wasn't going to tick off Levioth by tossing down the liquor, and he wasn't comfortable with removing the rucksack just yet. "Is that all of it!?" Levioth called up to Mat.

"No, I need you to get up here and carry down your essentials!"

"Bring it down yourself!"

"I've got one bag for on hand and a gun for the other. So unless you want me to toss down your "essentials" then you get up here and bring it down yourself!"

"Fine I'm coming!" Levioth shouted back. He lifted the tailgate back into place and made sure the netting was in place so if they had to leave in a hurry nothing would fly out. He then upholstered his eagles and charged back up the steps. In no time flat he was back with Mat. He grabbed his duffle as Mat lifted his own and drew his 9 mil. The two made their way back down to the truck without incident and quickly loaded their gear. One quick trip to where Mat's van was parked and a quick transfer of personal gear and they were on their way.

"Snake Charmer this is Night Wolf do you copy?" Came the voice of Mat from the CB radio they had installed in case something like this had ever happened. Levioth reached over and picked up his receiver.

"Yeah I'm here…Mat" Levioth said as he added Mat's name knowing how much Mat hated it.

"Fine, don't use protocol"

"Never do."

"Well back to business. You're in the lead of course but still I would like to know, are we going to be taking the back streets or highways?"

"Let's take the highways. Things don't seem too bad yet and time is of the essence."

"Roger that. Just remember were picking up Josh first."

"Josh? That's the Asian one right?"

"Yes, the Asian one."

"Okay than." Mat sighed as he and Levioth ended their conversation. Josh of course wasn't Asian at all. He just had the last name Fam and so Levioth always called him Asian. It didn't really bother any of them but still Levioth had referred to Josh as the Asian dude every time he spoke about him to somebody. Nobody really cared it was just…different. Then again that was Levioth for you. Mat shook his head and concentrated on the task at hang though. They made the left turn at the light and then immediately veered right onto the highway heading west by northwest. It took them thirty minutes to get to Josh's house. By the time the reached Josh's things had already gotten much worse. They started seeing people's cars wrecked along the road with lots of blood and yet no bodies. A black before they reached Josh's they saw a person with lots of blood all over them. Wobbling slowly down the street. At first glance one could think it was simply and injured person. As they passed the person the characterized zombie twist where they instead of turning their head the person twisted their waste and faced them. As mat passed the zombie he saw the cold dead eyes that sent shivers down his spine. As they drove past it the zombie stopped it's usual aimless wobbling and started to limp in the direction they were heading. Obviously determined to make them it's next meal. Two minutes later they were sliding into the small parking area in front of Josh's house. Mat turned off the engine and hopped out holding his 9mm with both hands ready in case anything jumped out. Levioth had left his truck running and was now stepping out of the driver side door.

"We going to wait around all day or you going to pick this dude up?" Levioth asked as he looked over the roof of his truck.

"I'll go get him. Just watch our backs would you?"

"Normally I would tell you to watch your own back. But since I might get lucky and pop a few of these stinkers then sure I'll watch your back this time."

"Thanks man."

"Just don't take too long." Mat smiled as he took off through the large gate that led to the front door. Levioth may say the only reason he would watch their backs is so that he would get some target practice. Mat knew the truth of it was that Levioth actually cared about him. In his own weird way Levioth needed him. On that fact alone Mat would always stand by Levioth. Even when all judgment and reason would tell him to leave and not look back, Mat would still stand beside Levioth. He would stand by his friend. Mat banged on the front door and waited a moment. There was no answer so he banged again. Silence was all that met Mat's continued knocks. "YO! What's taking so long!?" Levioth's voice yelled from around the corner.

"I don't know! He isn't answering the door!" Mat yelled back.

"Well check and see if there's another way in!" Mat sighed and drew his 9 mm pistol back out of its holster and steadied it in front of him. He slowly started down the narrow path that lead to the very large back yard. He rounded the corner and saw that the large window that lead to the main bedroom had been broken and there was a lot of blood around that area. "Oh no, Josh." Mat said silently to himself. "LEVIOTH GET BACK HERE NOW!" He called to Levioth. A second or so later Levioth rounded the back corner with both his pistols drawn.

"What's wrong?"

"I think we may have a problem, check out the window."

"Aw crap. Think he made it?"

"No idea, I haven't gone in yet."

"Don't bother you two!" A voice said from above them. The two guys instantly had their weapons pointing straight up towards the roof top. There just above them was Josh.

"What are you doing up there? I thought I told you to stay inside."

"With those things crashing thru the window. That's okay I'll pass."

"Well where are they?"

"Not sure. Last I saw they were between here and the clinic. That's how we got up here and I guess they're too stupid to figure out how to climb up here."

"Well their zombies…wait, we? What do you mean we?"

"We, as in not just me but another person. You sure your not one of them Mat?" With this Josh chuckled and then turned and hollered to someone that Mat couldn't see. "Hey Roger they still back there?"

"Yeah, clawing at the wall and moaning." The voice answered from on the roof. Mat wouldn't have needed to hear Rogers name to know who was up there. The high-pitched squeaky voice of the video game nerd would have told Mat who it was instantly. Roger Schoonover was slender black kid that Mat had gone to school with in his junior and senior years of high school. He didn't really get to know the kid until his senior year. The boy was about average height and really skinny. He was perhaps one of the best video game players Mat had ever met. He had never seen anyone beat him in a first person shooter. He could out shoot, out maneuver, and out run anyone Mat had ever seen him play. Mat had never seen Roger play in a video game tournament but he had always made it at least the semi finals in each one he entered. His skill wasn't just in first person shooters though. He was an all around expert. Mat had watched in aw as Levioth had gone against him in a fighting game. They both pulled off moves Mat had never even seen the computer use and Levioth pulled out a win just barely. Levioth's talent in multiplayer games was highest at the fighting games. Levioth had attended a few tournaments himself and had always taken first place but had never gone any higher than state tournaments. Not because he lost but because, as he put it, he didn't want the attention. Mat smiled as the dark thin face of Roger peered over the edge of the roof. "Hey Mat. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just thought I would stop by and save you two."

"Well I certainly appreciate it, and it's nice to see you as well Levioth. I would challenge you another round at MFF but I don't think we can spare the time can we?"

"Not really. Let me take care of the stenches so you two can get down from there." With that Levioth stepped thru the broken window and into the house. Half a minute later the sounds of gunshots echoed from the back. Mat counted eight quick shots, which would mean both the pistols were now on half ammo.

"Well guess that means he cleared your way. So why don't you two get down from there so we can get out of here."

"Sounds good."

"Love to" Josh replied. He turned and disappeared to the other side of the roof where Mat was sure he was helping Roger down, as Levioth would be watching the area. Mat turned his back to the broken window and steadied his pistol towards the crowded yard. There were all sorts of different thing in the large backyard that a zombie could be concealed behind. The soft crackling of glass told Mat that they other three were making their way back to him.

"Took you long enough." Mat teased as he lowered his pistol with a smile and turned around. He didn't even have time to react, as a zombie was now inches from him. Mat stepped back from surprise when the zombies' head exploded sending coagulated blood all over him. Mat fell to the ground quickly wiping the blood off of him. Just behind the zombies now headless corpse was Levioth with a single D. Eagle pointed in the exact direction where two seconds ago a zombie's head had been. "Thanks…" Mat was able to stammer as he slowly regained composer of himself.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it. I wont always be here to watch your back so stop being an idiot and start taking this seriously." Levioth said in a very annoyed tone.

"I though it was clear. I mean you went thru the house and nothing happened so I figured it was clear and thought I would watch the rest of the yard."

"Well it wasn't clear. I thought the military would have taught you that a combat environment could change in seconds. This is a combat environment, so watch your backside!"

"Don't worry I will."

"Good" with that Levioth marched around the building and back out to the vehicles.

"What was his problem?" Josh asked with a hint of attitude.

"Don't worry about it. I bet that he was just worried about what might have happened if you guys had been a second slower."

"Well he has a hell of a way of showing it."

"You just got to know him like I do. By the way have you been working out? Your arms are like twice as large as the last time I saw you."

"Yeah I have been. Then again you should know I'm always working out and don't act so surprised because you haven't seen me for almost six months now."

"Geez, has it really been that long?"

"Yeah, man. Nobody other than Axel has really even heard from you since…" Roger started.

"Since your family died." Josh finished what Roger had been unable to.

"That's not true. I've talked to you guys since then." Mat said feeling a pang of grief at the thought of his family again and that he had blown them off for so long.

"No, your right you have talked to us since then. About six months ago you phoned us all to tell us your discharge papers went thru. That was the last anyone heard of you. Well minus the casual e-mail you would send to Axel who would then forward to us." Josh replied.

"Look it was nothing personal, but you got to…" Mat stopped short when the sound of gunshots rang from the other side of the building. Mat charged toward the front. He burst thru the iron fence just as Levioth fired his seventh round. That last one in those clips. Mat spun around the front of the truck, which was closer to the gate then his van. As he rounded the corner he saw Levioth on one knee moving as fast as he could to put another clip into his Pistol. Without thinking or hesitating Mat leveled his nine mil. At the closest zombie, which was now a foot from Levioth, and pulled the trigger…

Levioth sat on the roof of the truck with an eagle resting in each hand sitting lightly between his legs. The vibrations from the rock music reverberated thru the roof as he scanned the roads. Every now and then an emergency vehicle would speed by but for the most part there was no movement to be seen.

"LEVIOTH, GET BACK HERE NOW!" Mat's voice came yelling from behind the house. Levioth quickly hopped into the bed of the truck and jumped over the side. He quickly ran down the pathway between Josh's house and the neighboring building. He rounded the corner with both eagles pointing towards the back of the yard.

"What's wrong?" he asked Mat as he scanned the backyard.

"I think we may have a problem, check out the window."

"Aw crap. Think he made it?"

"No idea, I haven't gone in yet."

"Don't bother you two!" A voice said from above them. The two guys instantly had their weapons pointing straight up towards the rooftop. There just above them was Josh. Soon Mat and Josh were holding a quick conversation about what happened. He wasn't paying much attention until he heard his name.

…Levioth. I would challenge you another round at MFF but I don't think we can spare the time can we?"

"Not really. Let me take care of the stenches so you two can get down from there." With that Levioth stepped thru the broken window and into the house. He quickly made his way thru the bedroom, which he had just stepped into and headed thru the door on the left into the dining room/ kitchen. He took a right into Joshes bedroom. He then turned left and looked at the door that lead to the little garden like area where the stenches waited. He stepped up to the door and peered out. Sure enough six to ten stenches were clawing at the wall staring at the room like a pack dogs growling at the location where an intruder had disappeared. He took a deep breath and then kicked the partially open door out of his way. Time seemed to slow before him as he raised his right hand first and let the first shot fly straight into the head of one of the zombies. He continued to pull the trigger of each one in an alternating fashion. First the right one then the left, he could hardly believe how slow everything seemed to be moving. He could almost see the bullets flying thru the air. Each round drilled into the head of the intended zombie victim. Within seconds zombies were laying on the ground missing large chunks of their heads. He quickly calculated how many rounds he had used and how many he had left. He had used eight rounds so with eight rounds in each pistol he was left with four rounds in each one, which meant he had eight more shots until he would be forced to reload. He could spend to the time to transfer rounds later but in this environment it was best to leave the clips in for now. He looked over his shoulder to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him and then let out a soft sigh of relief. His first encounter with the zombies and it had gone perfectly. It also appeared that the rule of shooting them in the head to make them stay down was accurate. For once Hollywood had actually come thru with something true. He heard rustling above him and quickly spun on his heel dropping to a knee as he lifted his eagles at the roof. There, on the roof, Roger and Josh were staring down at him with fear in their eyes. "It's alright. Come on down." He said with a smile. The two men slowly lowered themselves six feet down onto the five-foot wall. One last drop from the wall to the ground and they were all standing together.

"Thanks for the help man." Roger stated as he brushed himself off.

"Yeah thanks. Nice shooting by the way."

"No problem. You could say I've been training for something like this for a long time."

"You mean you have been training for the day the dead come back to life?" Josh asked.

"No, but I have been training just in case I ever had to fight for my life."

"Fair enough."

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt you two but can we get out of here. I'm not comfortable with standing in the middle of large number of dead bodies." Roger said as he twisted at the waist staring at all the bodies around him.

"Good idea. Stay behind me. The sooner we get moving the better." Levioth replied. He quickly turned and walked back towards the way he had come in with both his eagles raised just in case. It was a good thing too because as he turned the corner to where the broken window was he saw a zombie just inches from Mat. Without even thinking he pulled the trigger and watch as if in slow motion as the bullet exited the gun and spun towards the zombie. The zombie slowly started to turn to see what the loud noise had been; its movements were as if he was watching a film frame by frame. Slowly the bullet crossed the room and finally touched the backside of the zombie's head. In an instant everything sped back up to real time as blood and skull fragments erupted form the zombie's head and it fell flat onto the ground.

"Thanks…" Mat stammered.

"Yeah, well don't get used to it. I wont always be here to watch your back so stop being an idiot and start taking this seriously." He was really annoyed that Mat had let his guard down. Annoyed and scared that perhaps his best weapon for survival almost became his first friendly casualty.

"I though it was clear. I mean you went thru the house and nothing happened so I figured it was clear and thought I would watch the rest of the yard."

"Well it wasn't clear. I thought the military would have taught you that a combat environment could change in seconds. This is a combat environment, so watch your backside!"

"Don't worry I will."

"Good" with that Levioth marched around the building leaving the three to them selves and headed back to the vehicles. He passed thru the gates with his thoughts on what had just happened. He made his way towards his truck and reached the drivers side door. Just as he reached for handle he heard the characteristic moan of a zombie. "Shit!" he said as he quickly leveled his eagles at both ends of the truck. He didn't see it but he could hear it all right. He was mentally kicking himself for forgetting about where he was only seconds after he had yelled at Mat for doing just that. He looked at his surroundings and decided his best bet would be to go around the front of the truck. So he headed towards the hood with both his eagles pointed at the corner of it then over it. He side stepped around the hood and headed for the passengers side. He was getting closer but he still didn't see the stinker. He went over the conditions in his head and realized that if he didn't see it by now it must be crawling on the ground for some reason. He stepped away from the truck and fully rounded the passengers side, there he saw the stinker clawing at the ground towards him with its shirt stuck on the metal stepping he had on either side. He leveled his pistol at its head and pulled the trigger. The body fell limp as the coagulating blood slowly leaked out of the hole in its head onto the ground. He smiled at himself for a job well done then he heard the sound of several moans. Sounded like a crowd of them and sure enough zombies started pouring at him thru the tree's that had been set up for decoration and along the street. He leveled his pistols and let the rounds fly. His six remaining rounds quickly disappeared into the heads of seven stenches (he got lucky and was able to nail two with one). He dropped to one knee and ejected both clips into one hand and shoving them in an empty pouch in his vest. He quickly pulled out two more clips that were placed in a single pouch. There had to be about fifteen left and they were moving in fast. Much faster than he would have thought possible from all the games and movies. He started to panic and rush and ended up completely missing the second clip. Now the closest zombie was just over a foot away. Suddenly a gun shot rang out from behind him and the closest zombie dropped. He knew it was Mat and was relieved. Seven more shots from Mat and five more zombies dropped. He missed a headshot on the last two, only hitting them in the chest knocking them down, and had to fire a second round to get the head shots. Levioth stood up flicked both hammers forward loading the first rounds and let loose on the triggers from his knee. Ten rounds later he was holding two very warm eagles and was looking a bloody parking lot. He quickly ejected the two half empty clips and slammed two full ones into place he now had nine shots in each eagle and placed them in their holsters. He turned and faced Mat. "Thanks for the backup."

"No problem. Looks like I need more practice though since I had to waist two rounds."

"Don't worry about it. Before too long we'll have plenty of targets for you to practice on."

"Yeah…" Mat said sadly.

"Hey man. It's them or us."

"I know, It's just I wish there was more we could do than just survive."

"There is. We can make sure the poor people that have turned get to rest in piece."

"Yeah, well we better get going. Let's take the back roads to Axel's place."

"Axel? I thought we were picking him up after Steve."

"We were but since things seem to be moving faster than I expected I think we should head to Axel's. He was going on about something he just made and that if I was right it would come in handy or some such."

"Right, you remember the last thing he "invented"? That damn self repairing motor almost killed us all when it decided it was more "efficient" to spark the whole gas tank instead of just pistons."

"Your right Levioth but all the same perhaps he learned from his last mistake and what he has will come in handy."

"Yeah and perhaps pigs will grow wings and fly us to Canada."

"Look if you don't want to go then fine I'll go it alone."

"The hell you will. You know you need me."

"Um, guys, I hate to break up this whole debate but can we get to moving before these guys friends decide to show up and pick us as the main course?" Interrupted the squeaky voice of roger.  
"Right well he's right. We don't have time to argue so fine. We will go and pick up axel first. Oh and you two, would you reload these for me?" Levioth said as he tossed the two clips with a single round each in them to Roger and then removed the two empty ones and tossed them to Josh.

"Hey man, First off I'm not your servant. Second off, Load them with what?" Levioth reached into the back of his truck and pulled out a large ammo box full of ammo.

"First off, Your not my servant but you also have no weapons so try pulling some weight. Second off load them with these." Levioth responded as he walked toward Josh and forced the ammo into his arms. "Your riding with Mat, so use that large interior to be constructive. And don't lose any I have them counted and expect to be able to use each and every one of the now 732 rounds I have. Okay? Good." Without waiting for a response from Josh Levioth turned and climbed in his still running truck. He checked the clock and was surprised to find that from arrival to departure they had only spent about 15 minutes in this one location. Not too bad. He heard the doors to the van close and the engine start up…

Levioth turned and climbed into his still running truck closing the door with a loud thud.

"What a jerk." Josh said staring at Levioth.

"Hey man, don't judge him too much. He might be giving out a lot of orders but he is trying to just keep us alive."

"Correction, he is trying to keep YOU alive. He couldn't care less if Roger and I died. Besides I thought you would be leading us, not that pompous asshole."

"Come on let's get in the van. We can continue this in there."

"Fine." So with that they made their way to the van. Mat put the key into the ignition and started the van. Levioth started the movement by backing up smashing several of the zombie bodies and then pulling forward and making a left turn back towards the interstate. Mat put the van into drive and followed him down the bare road passing a few zombies as they drove.

"So why do we have to load his ammo?" Josh asked holding up the box of ammo with the two clips he had been given sitting in his lap. "Why doesn't he just do it himself? Also why are you taking orders from him? You were always our leader. You lead us thru high school. You taught us teamwork. YOU did all that and now you want to be a follower? Why?"

"I'm not following him. Just like he isn't following me. He has the choice to go alone just like I do. The fact is we need each other. I need his skills and his knowledge just as he needs my organization skills."

"Skills? What his shooting ability? You're as good as he is Mat."

"No, I'm not. I fired eight rounds and took down six zombies, that's two wasted rounds."

"Two rounds. What's…"

"What are two rounds going to do? I'll tell you. Two rounds alone wont do much. Imagine for a second though that if we have even a dozen engagements with just two wasted rounds each. No matter how many we kill if we waste two rounds by the thirteenth engagement that's already twenty-four rounds wasted. I have a limited supply of nine-ml. ammo. I had a total of 100 rounds before this started. I never stocked up like Levioth because, one, guns were never really my thing, and two, I didn't ever think something like this would actually happen. I was ready just in case but I didn't stock pile. Levioth did so therefore he has more ammo and his skills are better. My final reason for staying with him is that he is a friend. Just like you two. I would never hang you two out to dry, so why would I treat him any different?"

"Because, he's a jerk and thinks about nobody but himself!"

"Really? Let me tell you something Josh. I met him at the mall. He was about to be ganged up on and I jumped in to help him. It's who I am. Levioth could have taken all those guys by himself and still he could survive by himself. He doesn't need me, or you, or Axel. He doesn't need any of us, yet he is driving to Axel's. He is driving there and why? He is driving there because even though he can survive on his own he knows that he wont be able to always watch his own back. That he may need help. He may need help and he knows that I have his back. If he left us now he would have to wait and see if somebody else would back him up when he needed it and by then it may be to late for it to mean anything. I'm not asking you to like him Josh. I am asking you to accept him and accept my views of him. If you don't want to listen to him or me then fine. We will drop you off at the first safe location we can find. Is that what you want?"

"No, it's just. Mat you earned my trust and this guy demands it."

"No, he doesn't demand your trust. Just respect. Give him time Josh and you may find your view of him changing."

"Fine. Not for him though. I'll do it for you. You're my friend. You've been thru rough times and I know you. I also know you may need me. So I'll hang around for you Mat."

"Thanks."

"Besides, there may be a couple damsels in distress that I can save." The whole van broke out with laughter at the last remark.

"Well lets get started on these ammo clips." Roger said with a large smile. For the next twenty minutes they talked about old times and what the plans were and even idea's about what Axel's new invention might be which ranged from a new type of scissor to the most extreme being that he built a twenty story robot that they would ride around inside squishing zombies. As they pulled in the dirt driveway that was half a mile long and led to Axel's house they were laughing again. Slowly they pulled up in front of the small stone house. The only unusual thing about the house, from the outside, was that it was made up stone in a time where thing's were made cheap instead of sturdy. Mat smiled as he looked at the rather simple appearance of the house. What lay under the house a person wouldn't believe. The house sat on a plot of land on the outskirts of the city. The whole area was rather unmodernized in the aspect that most of the time you couldn't see houses just trees. Most of the homes were on plots of land that on most of the occasions was no more than a couple acres. Axel though lived on a plot a land that was just under a square mile. In comparison to property it sat on the house was very small. The unusual thing about Axel's home was not what was on the land but under it. Axel had hired and paid cash many workers to build a vast underground bunker of sorts. There was no record of the place existing. Axel had covered his tracks well, for the whole complex under his very feet at that exact moment was powered by solar panels that had been strategically placed and camouflaged, generators, and even drew power from miniature water mills he had built utilizing the high water level that was natural to this location. There, underground, this truly weird man spent hours tweaking with all sorts of things trying to invent something new or more efficient. Mat was sure that would be where he would find Axel right now. He smiled at the others, as he knew they were all feeling just like him. A slight feeling of surprise at what was underground and yet seemed to not be possible.

"Right, lets go then we are in a bit of a rush." Mat said to jump-start their footsteps. They walked the short distance from the gravel driveway to the front door. Just as Mat knocked on the door it flew open. He heard the rustling of a cloak and instinctively stuck his hand in the air palm open, in their don't shoot sign. He smiled at his closest and most trust friend. Who had the look of a man that hadn't shaved in about a week and had the smell of a man who hadn't bathed in at least a couple of days. "Hey man. How you doing?"

"Good! Real good! I've been working on my latest idea for two weeks now. I finally perfected it! I was going to sell it to the military but by the way you sounded on the phone and the reports on the radio I don't think money will be much good any longer." Axel gave a short laugh. Mat almost couldn't keep up with all that Axel had said. He was speaking really fast. Between the excitement in his eyes and speed and manner of which he was talking Mat could only guess he had been drinking a lot of caffeine in the last couple of days.

"Hey man. I don't mean to sound rude or anything but, have you been hitting the soda's lately?"

"What? Me? Oh, Yeah. I've been drinking all different kinds to help keep me motivated. I tell you what that stuff will keep you going. I feel great like I stole a battery out of a jet plane and was redesigned so that I drew energy straight from it. It's like your about ready to burst you know!?"

"Five bucks say's he has already tried that." Mat heard Josh whisper Roger. It appeared though that Axel hadn't heard it judging on how positive he still looked.

"Uhm, Yeah. Well why don't you get your stuff show us this new thing of yours and we can get on our way."

"Oh yeah totally come in. Come in."

"I think I should stay here and watch our exit just in case some stenches show up." Levioth said in a tone suggesting he wasn't at all interested in going inside.

"None sense, you can come too Levioth. I just installed a new security grid around the whole perimeter. Granted it took some tweaking but nothing will get onto this property without me knowing it, and having the choice to blast holes in it." Levioth looked as if he would rather eat worms and was even possibly rolling his eyes. With his hair in front of his eyes like it was there was now way to know for sure though.

"Right, well lead the way Axel." Mat said with a smile. Axel returned the smile and turned on his heel and quickly walked back into the house with Mat and the other three following. Mat waited at the door as his three friends passed him and then shut the door behind them. Axel had already led the way thru the living room and into the kitchen. Mat followed Levioth who was in the rear apparently taking his time until they rounded the corner into the kitchen and stood by the water heater that sat tucked into a corner of the kitchen. After making sure everyone was in the room Axel reached up to the top of the water heater and spun the water in line. He turned it clockwise then counter-clockwise then clockwise again like a combination lock. There was hissing sound of pressurized air being released and then the whole water heater lowered into the floor and backed up underneath the floor. A solid metallic lift rose up even with the floor. It was just large enough for the five of them to stand on. Once everybody was on the lift Axel pressed a button hidden into the wall that would have been behind the water heater had it still been in its usual spot. Slowly the lift lowered itself down its narrow hole, dropping a good thirty feet before finally entering the hidden facility under this house. As soon as everyone had stepped off the lift I moved back up towards the ceiling so if anyone were to enter they wouldn't see the entrance to the secret facility. Mat followed Axel as they walked between all the crates of who knows what. Mat followed Axel with Josh behind him, then Roger, and Levioth bringing up the rear. Axel placed his hand on a bare stretch of wall and then removed it. A small square piece of the wall rotated showing a hidden keypad. Axel quickly punched in the code and there was a hiss of pressurized air escaping and another segment of the wall lift up to reveal a passageway. It was a small stretch of tunnel and the walls had square lines all throughout it. Mat knew that behind each square sat a fully armed machine gun. Axel had always been obsessed with technology, weapons, and security. So once this place had been built it was no surprise to Mat that he had installed so many weapons. It would take a very large attack force to even get to the first checkpoint. Everything was hard wired so even an EMP grenade wouldn't take these guns offline. They finally wound their way through all the checkpoints and weapon tunnels entering the actual facility. There were three halls leading from the junction they were currently in. The one directly ahead of them lead to the armory with some truly awesome toys but it was also the most secured. To the left was the firing and driving range. The firing range was where Axel had most of his newer weapons tested before he offered them to the military and then there was the driving range. He had yet to make a design the military had viewed as cost effective but still he had made a few truly awesome machines. To the right were the operations room, medical room, and the lift that lowered to the lower floors. Alex turned down the right hall and everyone followed him the short distance. He turned into the first door on the right with Mat on his heels. As Mat entered the room he stopped suddenly as he saw the person sitting in front of the monitors.

"I take it your surprised to see me?" The young man sitting at the desk said with a smile.

"How did you…"

"Get here?" The young man interrupted. "I drove. The way I figured it, you would pick up Josh first since he would be the least likely to protect himself. Next you would pick up Axel because you would need to re-supply with the infection level getting higher. That suggested that you would pick me up last. I wasn't going to wait so I grabbed my knife and headed this way. Axel was able to hook me up with a shotgun at least."

"Well it's nice to see you safe Darrel." Mat said with a smile and stepped out of the doorway for everyone else to follow him in. Josh, Roger, and Darrel all smiled and said their hellos as Axel took his seat in the chair in front of all the monitors.

"Well before we head out I'm going to show you guys some things. First off is the video of me testing my new weapon, and I think your going to really enjoy it." Axel hit a couple buttons on one of the six keyboards and all the monitors flipped to create a large picture of what appeared to be your standard 50 cal. Machine gun. There was one vision difference and that was that this weapon had several cords attached to it. Suddenly targets at varying distances started to pop up. The machine gun shot automatically at the moving targets knocking them down so fast that the rounds being fired blended together giving the illusion it wasn't even aiming. Just hosing the entire area with rounds. The targets topped popping up just as quickly as they had begun and the machine gun stopped firing. "The guns fire a total of three to five rounds per target and have a consistency of being able to hit a baseball each time." Axel smiled at everyone and then sighed at the slightly confused faces. "That means that if I set them to just target the head they can drop around 50 zombies in a matter of seconds."

"Ah, I see. You keep saying they though, so how many of these do you actually have?" Mat asked.

"I only have four, and that's counting the one you just saw. They also have a large flaw in that they don't discriminate between friendly and hostile. They just shoot at whatever moves. Add to the fact that they can pick up movement as small as a squirrel they will fire and kill just about anything."

"What use do we have for them? If we would get shot by standing in front of them what's the point in even bringing them?" Levioth said in a very bored tone as he leaned against the wall next to the door.

"Well when we stop to camp or when we reach our final destination we can use them to create a defensive barrier. If we park all the vehicles close together and stay near them we can set the guns to a 2700 scanning. That way we can all rest and still be protected without one person having to stay up all the time."

"How much sleep are we seriously going to get if they fire at even a squirrel?"

"Well I'm guessing that they should remove all the immediate wildlife and the rest would stay away because of the noise."

The room went quite for a second as everyone thought about the idea of taking the guns with them. Roger broke the silence timidly. "uhm, they seem to have a lot of cords attached to them. I'm guessing their run by a computer program to help them accurately target and to automatically fire them without having to actually have the trigger pulled?"

"That's right."

"Well then…how do you plan on controlling them while in the field?"

"Oh, yeah. That was another drawback. I was able to configure a van to hold the computer and everything but in actual battle you can't really be driving a van everywhere you need them and it takes about 45 minutes to set up. So the military didn't like it too much but for us since we will be on the road anyway it should work out fine." Axel said in a tone as if he was trying to comfort their thoughts. Mat didn't much like the idea of another vehicle having to come along but the weapons would be a real help in the time to come.

"Alright, How long will it take you to load up the ammo and weapons in your van?" Mat asked assessing the situation.

"Well if Darrel, Roger, and Josh all help me we should be ready to go in about 15 minutes. That gives you and Levioth plenty of time to gather up some ammo and place it on the lift."

Mat turned to Levioth in a questioning look. Levioth simply nodded and mat sighed. This was placing them way behind schedule. Levioth's friends still had to be picked up and that meant that by the time they actually started towards their first stop the infections would have spread to around 70-85 of the population. He turned to Axel and heavy heartedly said, "Go." With that Axel and the other three took off through the doors and were starting the load up process. Mat turned to Levioth and softly asked, "What about your friends?"

"They'll make it."

"Were getting pushed way behind preferred schedule. How long do you think they will hold out?"

"Not long."

"So you don't think they will make it through?"

"They will."

"Then how…"

"In about an hour an a half they will head out and wait for us in Colorado. They will wait there only for a day. After that they will head off and we will be lucky to see them again."

"Ah, so I guess were going to Colorado first?"

"We should."

"But what about…"

"If she lives long enough for us to get from here to there she will last another couple days for us to get from Colorado to her."

"Dude I don't like this. I know it's a slim chance of her surviving till we get there from here but every second we wait she could die."

"Are you suggesting we leave the guns?"

" No we could really use them but I don't think we should go to Colorado first"

"Fine after u leave here meet me in Flagstaff Arizona, don't wait more than 12 hours."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well just like we could really use the rifles, we could really use my guys. If nothing else they offer more targets for the zombies to chase. So I'll go pick them up and meet you."

"I still don't like it. You do have a point though. So lets load up and we will separate from here and meet up in Arizona."

"Yeah."

"Oh, and one more thing, avoid the interstates whenever possible."

"You don't have to tell me that…you just make sure you remember that" Levioth said turning to the door and heading out. With that the two left and fifteen minutes later they were standing on a large metal lift with a van sitting exactly in the middle. They were off to the side of the house in comparison to the ground above them. Mat could feel the butterflies in his stomach again. It was truly happening. For the first time since it all started he actually realized what was in store for them. He glanced around at everyone, all his friends. Counting him there were six people. Which of them would be the first to go. He was sure Levioth wouldn't be it and he had the military training so him ending up first wasn't likely. That meant he would have to watch one of his friends die. He would have to put a bullet in the head of a friend. The loud thudding of the lift starting pulled Mat from his thoughts. "Well whoever it was going to be, he would just worry about that when it happened." He thought to himself. He tightened the butt of the M4 rifle against his shoulder and prepared himself. The large steel platting that rested under the ground slid apart and daylight shot into the deep opening of the facility. The moans could be heard as the lift made it's way upwards. As soon as Mat could see over the edge of the ground he pointed his rifle and started firing. There were around 15 zombies dispersed around them. Mat sent round after round into the heads of the living dead. He hardly knew what was going on. His training kicked in as he moved forward targeting the head, pulling the trigger, switch targets, repeat. A couple minutes later all the zombies were dead, for good. He looked around and sighed in relief at the fact that they all made it through their first encounter together. "MOVE OUT!" Levioth hopped into his truck and took off to meet up with his team while everyone else loaded up the different vehicles. Axel and Roger rode in the newly dubbed tech-mobile while Mat and Josh got into Mat's van. Mat started his van and led the way out onto the street with the tech-mobile in the right behind him. Mat sighed softly as he thought "It had started; they were truly on their way to surviving."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Gathering 

The scenery blew by in an array of colors. Levioth was pushing his supped up truck to even its limit. He glanced down at the speedometer and saw he was pushing 120 miles an hour. He sighed with a slight smile. If Mat had been with him right now Levioth was sure Mat would be chewing him out. His hand reached down to the stereo and flipped it on to play one of his rock cd's. "Yeah. Upside number one to traveling alone, I don't have to listen to Mat's crappy country." He said to himself as he spun the wheel and hit the pedals just right to spin his truck around the turn without loosing control in the slightest. He sped down the long stretch of road avoiding a wrecked police car on the outskirts of some tiny town that would have been lucky to make it on any map. "Up side number two, Drinking and driving is now available." He said with a large smile as he reached behind him and pulled out a bottle of hard liquor. He glanced at this clock and saw he had 20 minutes until they would leave. "You bastards better wait." He said flooring the gas again. 15 minutes later Levioth was fish tailing into a gravel parking lot of a tin building that looks liked it was used for some sort of manual labor work. His truck slid to a stop peppering the metallic exterior with small rocks. He sat in the cab of his truck for a couple minutes before deciding to kill the engine and head in. He stepped out holstering one eagle and keeping the other ready. He didn't see any vehicles and sighed. "Well hopefully they at least left a pack of smokes." He said softly to himself as he approached the door. He pushed it open and stepped inside looking around to make sure it was clear. He didn't see anything so he turned and headed up the steps to where the office was. As he opened the door he heard a round go off and the wooden doorframe next to his head splintered. He quickly moved back out of the doorway and withdrew his second D. Eagle. "I'm supposed to meet people here and I'm not a Zombie so why the FUCK are you shooting at ME!" He yelled around the corner his voice carrying into the room.

"Levioth?" The voice of Marshal echoed around the corner.

"Marshal I swear, I'm going to rip your heart right out of your chest for being a complete moron!" Levioth yelled heatedly into the room.

"It's Levioth all right. It's clear guys." Marshal said softly. Levioth turned around the corner scanning everyone in the room with his pistols. Marshal was behind a large desk; Jason and Shawn silver was the closest, kneeling behind an overturned filing cabinet; Carlos was in a corner of the room though Levioth was sure he had actually been somewhere else and had just recently moved; finally James was standing next to Marshal. "We were beginning to wonder if you would show in time." Marshal said in a very nervous tone. Levioth almost smiled at this. He was glad that even after all this time he still struck fear into even the most iron nerved person of the "team".

"First off your shots suck. And second off, why the hell were you shooting at me?" Levioth almost growled still debating whether or not he should just shoot one of them right now.

"Well we weren't sure if you were a zombie or what and figured it would be better to shoot first and apologize later." Carlos said calmly answering for marshal. Carlos had what could best be described as a normal accent. His father had been military Special Forces before he finally retired and move the entire family to this small town in the middle of nowhere. Levioth looked right at Carlos. He was a short and fairly skinny man in his mid twenties. He kept his hair short for god knows what reason, since he wasn't under his fathers control anymore, and he didn't have the mentality to be in charge of a retard, but he is an excellent shot. He was grasping his dinky little 6-shooter that he got from his grandfather.

Levioth rescanned the room to make sure everyone was ready to leave out. He noticed that Jacen was holding nothing but a bible and a backpack full of, what Levioth presumed was, clothes and other religious articles. Jacen is a 21-year-old religious fool whose only desire was to be a preacher and die.

He then walked over to Shawn who, like his brother Jacen, was holding a backpack and no weapon. He then hugged the young man who was like a brother to him, and probably the only person Levioth would give a shit about if he died. Shawn was only 16 making him the youngest in the group.

Finally he looked at James and Marshal. James in a lot of ways looks like the older version of Shawn, tall, skinny, long hair, and to much makeup. Levioth knew the difference especially since he saw the joint he placed behind his ear and the tattoo that made his arm look like it was always covered in blood. He is a pinpoint shot, with his bolt action .22, but it takes him a long time to take a shot, it always had.

Marshal stepped forward slinging his 30-06 over his shoulder. Marshal was the only one in the group that shaved his head, because he says he hates how curly it is. He was the most intelligent person there too, with his brilliant computer and hacking knowledge, which was only topped by his love for explosives. It was no wonder that he had a dozen grenades around his waist like a belt.

"So what took you so long Levi." Marshal piped in finally breaking the silent.

"Had to stop to pick up some booze and smokes, which the store was out of. Damn vultures." Out of the corner of his eye he caught the faint twitch of a smirk flash across James's face before disappearing. Levioth didn't need to ask. He already knew what James found funny about his last comment. They had both broke into an old abandoned convenient store one night just to steal whatever was inside not need any of it. Basically, just because they could.

"Oh, right" Marshal said at a loss for words. Levioth knew instantly that he was worried about how hurt they would get when he started getting hit with his nicotine cravings. He had always been a bit "rash", and he even prided himself on that, but without nicotine in his system, well that's when he became a real beast.

"Here you go." Carlos said as he tossed a pack towards Levioth who caught it without even turning his head. Levioth didn't show it but he was slightly confused at this gesture since Carlos himself didn't smoke, or at least hadn't ever smoked while he lived in this sad excuse of a town. Levioth simply opened the pack and pulled out a cigarette lighting the end of it and taking a long drag. He smiled softly as he felt the comforting effects of smoke filling his lungs pumping his system full of nicotine. "So where to now?" who the hell asked this

"Cottonwood" Levioth replied paying little attention to the group but instead staring at the end of his smoke, which was almost gone already.

"Cottonwood?" Marshal asked with a raised eyebrow.

"An out of the way town in Arizona." Levioth said answering the question.

"Ah, Arizona, so uhm…what about…" Marshall began but was cut off by Levioth.

"We're heading to California first. We have some people we need to pick up there and your friends can hold their own. No since for us to go north, then south, then north again. We will move to Cali. Where we will pick up a couple people if they are still alive and then move through Colorado on our way to Canada." Nobody spoke as Levioth told them what was going to happen. A few appeared to not agree with this plan of action but nobody spoke. They had all learned to not back talk Levioth or else risk, at the best of times, him leaving them behind. Worst-case scenario, he would have beaten them all to a fine pulp. Levioth finished his smoke and tossed it to the floor placing his foot over it and grinding it out. "So if there is nothing else lets get moving." Levioth suddenly realized he hadn't seen any vehicles on his way and wasn't exactly sure where they were. "Where's the cars?" He asked simply looking around the all but empty building. For the first time since he had arrived Jason stood and spoke.

"Well we didn't know what would be in here and so I thought it would be wise to park down the road and sneak here so we could see what we were up against." He said in his holier than now tone. Levioth stood there for a second simply looking at Jason and then in a flash had spun and gripped the side of Jason's head slamming it against the wall. Not enough to cause much damage but enough to give him one hell of a headache. Jason in turn stumbled backwards tripping over the filing cabinet and falling to the ground. "What was that for?" Jason asked obviously still trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. Nobody else in the room though seemed to surprise. In fact Shawn was smiling at the sight of Levioth humiliating his foolish older brother.

"THAT, was for you being a complete and total moron. We will need to move fast, to get places in a hurry and move out at a moments notice. We're not against thinking humans where a strategy like this might be wise…we're against zombies. You park where you're staying in case you need to run." Levioth said casually as he pulled out another cigarette and lit it.

"If it's God's will then it will not matter where we park for he will protect us." Jason said boldly to Levioth who just smiled.

"Well then if I were you I'd start worrying seeing as how well he just protected your head from that wall. Either way we need to be moving. You can all climb in the back of my truck and I'll drive you to your vehicles. Let's go." And without a second glance Levioth turned and walked out of the room heading for his truck. He heard everyone rushing to grab their gear and follow him in fear of being left behind, which he would do without a second thought if they slowed him down. He casually puffed on his cigarette as he reached the door and pushed it open, he was halfway to his truck when he realized that there was a soft moaning sound coming from behind him. He pulled out his pistols and turned scanning the area. He didn't see anything but slowly inched to his right so he could see around the corner. As he moved he slowly began to make out the form of a female covered in blood. Had she still been alive she would be very good looking. Even in death her face was soft and had a strange elegance about it. Still, she wasn't alive and without a single emotional drawback Levioth fired his weapon sending a round through the head of the girl turning the once beautiful face into a gaping hole. He listened softly but didn't hear anything else. Still if one had found them here it wouldn't be long for others to follow. Everyone came storming out of the building weapons at the ready (except for Jason and Shawn) as Levioth made his way back towards the truck smiling slightly. "Ah, nice of you all to join me. Hope in we're leaving," He said as casually as he could as he began climbing into his truck. The rest of his "team" seemed too surprised to move until he started the engine at which point everyone rushed to toss their gear into the back and climb in. Shawn made it to the cab first forcing everyone else to take the bed of the truck. As soon as everyone was in Levioth floored the gas pedal as Shawn directed him towards where they had parked. It took only a couple minutes to navigate the back roads to where they had parked. It wasn't a bad spot to park either, a grassy meadow without much coverage for zombies to be lurking behind. Levioth threw the car into park but didn't turn it off as he climbed out. Helping them move the equipment. It seemed everyone had grabbed only what they could carry and what would personally use. That had to be the biggest difference between Levioth friends and Mat's. Where Mat would stock up and make several trips to have more than enough ammo and weapons, planning and stocking up for several people, Levioth's friends worried about themselves. It was such a small thing but revealed the major strategic difference. Mat's team was just that, a team. They worked together and watched each other's backs. They were efficient and determined. As a group mat's team was a force to be feared but they had one large weakness. They had trouble watching their own backs. If separated they would be in major trouble. Though as a team they were more effective than any single member of Levioth's group alone, one on one could not only handle but also excel by themselves. Levioth was sure that if they even tried to work as a team it would just lower their combat abilities. After a few minutes the supplies had been moved into the two other trucks and Levioth was ready to move out. Six people for three vehicles, that meant two per truck, which was just fine. One could sleep and the other could drive, it would work well enough. The problem was deciding who traveled with whom. "Alright, Shawn your with me. Jason you ride with James. That leaves Carlos and Marshall together. So let's get in and get going." Levioth finished. Everyone started to move except Jason who decided to once again open his mouth in protest.

"Why do you get to choose who travels with whom? Why not let us decide who to go with?" Levioth sighed softly but waved for Jason to follow him. Jason walked a couple paces behind Levioth as he approached his truck. Levioth walked up to his door and leaned against the truck urging Jason a little closer. Just as he came within a few feet of Levioth he threw the door open slamming it into Jason's head knocking him out cold.

"That is why." Levioth said to the unconscious Jason. "Because you're a moron and I'm not." Levioth then waved at Marshal and Carlos to move Jason to James's truck and after tossing the unconscious Jason not so tenderly into the passenger side of the cab they all started up their vehicles and pulled off on their way to Cottonwood.

After 10 hours of driving and a few stops for "Supplies" they were rolling into Clovis New Mexico. Shawn and Levioth had worn out just about every topic they could think of and were now on their fifth CD. They were making decent time though Levioth was slightly annoyed knowing he could be going faster. He was a very good driver and could take these back roads at near suicidal speeds without much thought. The others though weren't that good so he was forced to travel slower in order to keep the group moving forward. They had gone through several towns not once seeing anything that suggested life whether that be alive or just undead. Levioth wasn't sure if this was a comforting fact or something to be worried about. Either way the end was the same they had to push forward. As they entered the city limits Levioth tensed again as he had done every other time they had entered a populated area. With each town that just meant that there was that much more that could go wrong. He check his fuel gauge and though it said he had half a tank he didn't know where the next station would be so once again he signaled a stop and they all pulled into the station at the edge of town. Levioth was the first to get out already holding both Eagles dangerously in front of him. He didn't see any movement and let a sigh of relief escape him. He wanted to get into some sort of engagement but he also needed to get to Mat. He was sure mat and the others could handle themselves but the thought of having to make his way with just these morons would be too much for even him to deal with. Levioth holstered one eagle as he opened the gas tank and placed the nozzle into his tank and pushed the button. Once again nothing happened so he signaled for everyone to wait and he headed inside to turn the pumps on. He heard them all start talking again and grunting as they stretched from the long drive. He was glad they hadn't begun complaining yet because THAT was something he really wasn't going to put up with. We except for Jason anyway who bitched about being attached with a door every chance he got. Levioth entered the store with one eagle held loosely in his hand and made his way behind the counter. As he turned around the edge he stopped cold. This was something he hadn't seen yet and was, to be perfectly honest, surprised. There behind the counter was an older man a girl about 16-17 years old and a nine-year-old girl. All huddled together staring at him terrified. The two girls appeared fine though they had a little blood on them. The old man though was looking slightly pale. Levioth thought about just playing it safe and shooting them all right now but then he would have to explain that move to the others and he really didn't feel like it right now. He decided to call the only person they had who could pass as a medic and that was James. "JAMES! GET YOUR SORRY ASS IN HERE!" He shouted. He saw through the window everyone's heads lift and weapons tense as James rushed into the store. His reaction was like that of Levioth's, one of complete surprise.

"Wha…What do you need." James stuttered softly not taking his eyes off the people.

"I'll cover you, check them out." Levioth said removing his second eagle and pointing it at them.

"Please…..please don't hurt us. We wont stop you. Take whatever you want just don't hurt them." The old man said weakly. His skin color, weak voice, and the amount of sweat on his brow were all bad signs. Either the man was having a heart attack or he had been bit.

"Don't be a fool old man. I don't want to hurt you. Well I do, but they wont let me. We just want to see if you're hurt. You're not looking too well." Levioth said. He hadn't exactly lied. They did need to see if he was hurt, by a bite. He just had…forgot to add that if the old man was infected they were going to pepper the room with his brain matter.

"We're fine. Just leave us alone!" the older girl said to Levioth who for the first time actually looked at her. She wasn't ugly but he had defiantly done better.

"Hey, it's okay. We just want to help. If you haven't noticed things are going kind of crazy and those few who aren't total 'nutters need to stick together you know?" James said softly to her. Levioth was suddenly very glad that James was here. If it had been just him he would have said screw them all with that last comment and started shooting. In fact he still wanted to but watching James work his brain on these people was just too juicy to pass up. Besides, the older one might be a good lay. He smiled at his last thought.

"It's granddad. They hurt him when he was trying to help us. They were bad people." The little girl said to James who just smiled reassuringly at her.

"Yes, I bet they were. Did they hurt you though? Did they scratch or, uh, bite you?" he asked in a very soft voice but the little girl shook her head hard.

"Nope. They tried but granddad stopped them. He was a soldier you know!?" the little girl replied.

"You don't say. Well, are you hungry or thirsty? I've got a friend outside that has some water and snickers you can have. Why don't you go outside and ask for Carlos." James replied trying to get the little girl out of the way with a reassuring smile. The little girl looked up at the old man who gave a soft nod with a smile and she ran outside. Levioth saw the others look a bit surprised but Carlos did really well by lifting her into one of the trucks and handing her the water and candy.

"And what about you miss? Are you hurt?" James said to the older girl. Levioth kept his pistols down but was ready. The old man wasn't looking much better and the older girl didn't seem to be liking them very much.

"You know, we heard about the riots and attacks on the radio. We didn't have any problems though until some strangers came driving through here and crashed a short distance up the road. The kids jumped out and started attacking everyone in site. They brought this problem. Outsiders not much different than yourselves." At this Levioth felt his heart skip a beat. Had Mat's team been infected already, and here he was trying to reach them. It seemed Mat wasn't as ready as he had thought.

"The others? How many were there?" Levioth asked carefully trying not to give away too much by his tone.

"Three. There were three of them packed into a tiny mustang." Levioth ignored the rest. It wasn't Mat and so he must still be okay or had come through before the infected others. "I'm not stupid. I've seen movies. I know what you are doing. You want to kill my Grandfather because he has been bit. Well those are movies. This is real life. Zombies don't exist. This is just some sort of new drug that's making people go crazy." Levioth couldn't help himself. He burst out laughing, a cold ruthless laugh.

"Drugs? You actually believe that?" He continued to laugh. "Hunny, I've been through Oklahoma, Texas, small towns and big cities. It's the same everywhere. Once bit you turn into a zombie. This isn't a drug, or some other normal and simple thing to explain away. It's zombies. The dead are coming back to life and feeding off the living. Your grandfather appears to have been infected so of course we need to get rid of him before he becomes a risk to us all." The girl suddenly reached up and hit a button and the beeping of the gas tanks stopped and Levioth noticed that those outside noticed and began pumping the fuel into the vehicles.

"There. Get your gas and leave so you wont have to worry about it." The girl spat at him angrily. It was James's turn to talk though as he piped in stopping Levioth from replying.

"What about the girl? That little girl outside, what if were right. Are you willing to risk her life on the idea that we are wrong? What if your Grandfather does turn into a zombie and gets to her first. Do you want to be the reason that she gets ripped apart and experiences that kind of pain? Can you afford to risk it?" He said calmly and simply. But this time the girl didn't reply it was the old man who spoke next.

"Go. Meagan, they may be right. It's only been a few hours and I'm already feeling too weak to move. You and your sister need to save yourselves."

"But grandfather, What if their wrong. What if they are wrong and the radio is right? What if this is just some new drug and in a few days everything is back to normal? We don't even know these people how can you just tell us to go with them?" She said softly turning to her grandfather speaking in an almost pleading tone.

"Because, I've seen all sorts of things hunny. I've fought on islands here all the way to Japan. I've lived through the 60's when drugs were everywhere and not once have I ever seen anything that causes people to so much as bite another person much less eat them raw. And if this is just some sort of drug or whatever and I recover and everything goes back to normal I'm sure this fine young man will bring you straight back here. Wont you lad?" The old man asked James with a weak smile.

"That's right sir. You have my word. If were wrong we will bring them straight back here. But, with all do respect, were not wrong."

"So your going to shoot him and then if you are wrong we don't have anything to come back too. I'd rather die then be left alone." She said as tears started to fill her eyes.

"Look I swear we wont kill him" James said. Levioth turned his head so quick he was sure he had almost gave himself whiplash "We'll leave him here and if he gets better and everything gets better we will drop you back off here." James said more to Levioth than to the girl. Levioth just shrugged but didn't put away his pistols. The girl looked from Levioth to James and finally to her grandfather who just smiled and nodded gently. The girls gave him a soft kiss on the forehead and joined her sister outside. They all sat there quite for a second until the old man finally spoke.

"Take care of them would you? Protect them where I couldn't. Their parents…they rushed those outsiders to our medical station and we didn't see them again. Next thing we knew people were covered in blood and attacking everything in site. I was bit when I got between our neighbor and little destiny there. Just, take care of them." He coughed a little as he finished but Levioth didn't care. The nine year old was going to be a pain but maybe her older sister would make up for it in other ways.

"We will do what we can, but your not going to get better. You're going to turn into one of them and then if others come through your going to attack and kill and cause more pain yourself. Why don't you just let us end it now?" James asked politely

"No, I've never asked another to take care of my responsibilities before and I'm not going to start now. I've got a shotgun under the counter here. I'll let you leave and after your gone I'll take of it myself." He said pulling down the weapon weakly. James nodded and looked at Levioth as if asking what to do.

"Grab some food and other supplies and we will leave. Make it quick though." Levioth said turning his back to the old man and heading out the door. He approached Carlos and motioned for him to move away from the group. When they were out of ear shot Levioth began speaking. "The old man's infected. Were taking the girl and her little sister with us. You take the little girl I'll take the older one in mine. We have some things to discuss." He said with a sly smile.

"You know people are dieing all around us and the first one's we try and save is so you can get laid…why am I not at all surprised." Carlos said with a slight smile as well. James made his way out of the little gas station and began splitting up the snacks putting the largest amount in Carlos's truck for the little girl. Carlos and Levioth made their way back to the vehicles where the older girl was talking softly to her little sister.

"It's okay Destiny, were just going on a little road trip and Granddad said he would try and meet us when he started feeling better." Meagan told her little sister who had tears in her eyes.

"But I don't want to go. I want Granddad. If he doesn't come who will stop the mean people?" She asked roughly through little sobs. At this point Carlos knelt in front of her.

"We will keep them away. We got somebody who even the mean people are afraid of…see the guy with his hair covering his eyes…scary isn't he? He'll make sure the mean people stay away. Wont you Levioth?" Carlos said looking at Levioth in a pleading sort of expression. Levioth simply stared back at him then said.

"Let's get going. Meagan you're riding with Shawn and me. Hey Shawn," Levioth tossed him the keys "your driving." Meagan didn't look too happy about the seating arrangement but smiled softly at destiny as she buckled her in and shut the door. Levioth waited in the passenger seat as Shawn held open the door for Meagan to get into. Once she was in he closed the door and jumped in himself. "Go to US 60 west and follow it for a while." Levioth told Shawn who nodded and started the car and spun the tires heading down the road on the way to the highway. There were a few zombies in the street but thanks to the crash guards Shawn just slammed right through them and once again they were on their way. Levioth turned around in his seat and looked at Meagan. She just glared at him and he gave her a quick glance over. She had a decent body with dirty blond hair. She was petite with a cup size that fit her frame just fine. She had a nice tan and her ears were pierced. Over all she was the type a normal guy would marry, one that was a "good" girl. Finally Meagan couldn't ignore Levioth's wondering eye's anymore.

"Can I help you?" she said clearly frustrated and insulted.

"Oh I'm sure you could." Levioth said with a coy smile.

Meagan scuffed as she said "Pig."

"See, I knew it, even you country girls are all the same. Judging me before you even get to know me. All you see is shaggy hair and confidence in myself and you think I'm some sort of stuck up freak." He said turning away from her.

"I don't think that!" She said defensively.

"Oh sure you don't. That's why you've done nothing but look at me with disgust since you first saw me." Levioth said not even turning around. Shawn smiled to himself He had seen Levioth play this card so many times that he knew it was already over for her and she didn't even realize it.

"Well that's because you're a sexist pig who just wants to get in my pants." Meagan replied angrily.

"Really?" Levioth replied turning around again "And how do you know that? DO you know me? Do you know what my life was like growing up? I assume since you know so much about me that you know about how I've had to watch out for myself since I was 14, but since you know me so well you already knew all that." Levioth said turning his back to her again before grinning. So what if he lied to her, not like she was being fair herself. Well that's what he told himself anyway.

Meagan sat in the back seat thinking about what she had just been told staring at Levioth's back. He wasn't all that wrong. She had made up her mind about him the second she had seen the hair in his eyes and the baggy clothes. She didn't know anything about him. He had been looking her over but it could have just been because he was worried about her. Making sure she was fine looking her over to make sure there were no major cuts or bruises. Maybe she had been wrong about him. He had called the other guy in who was really nice. Maybe she had been all wrong about this guy. "I'm sorry. I've just had a really bad day is all." She said excusing herself.

"Yeah and mine has been dandy. Running from the dead is a great day, oh and my life has been perfect as well…yeah your bad day totally excuses the way you acted towards me." Levioth said smiling without even turning towards her. Sometimes he even surprised himself at how casual and convincing he made himself sound. Levioth leaned back in his seat watching the road ahead leaving Meagan to her thoughts.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Chapter 3 

As Mat led the way through the city trying to reach the back-road that led towards Cottonwood, Arizona where he was to meet up with Levioth. He didn't say much to Josh as they made their way through the city. Finally they entered the lonely state highway and Mat relaxed slightly. He looked over to Josh and smiled, "Want to listen to some music?" He asked reaching for the CD player.

"Sure, but does it have to be country?" Josh said in a tired pleading sort of tone.

"Everyone's a critic." Mat said sighing but smiling still, "Okay what did you have in mind?"

"Well, I did bring some of my rock." Josh said jumping into the back and digging through his bag for his CD's

"You know what…I should have sent you with Levioth. He might have enjoyed your tastes." Mat said smiling. Josh's head popped out from behind the seat.

"So is that a no?"

"Naa, bring on the Headache!"

"You're the best Mat." Josh said jumping back into the passenger seat buckling his seat belt and then sliding the disk into the player. The Bass began thumping almost instantly as Josh nodded to the beat. After a few songs mat found himself singing along with the music, well trying to sing along but not knowing the words made it difficult. Josh howled several times mocking Mat, at which point they would both share in a laugh. It was just after another laugh session that Mat heard Axel's voice on come over his CB.

"Stealth fox to Night Wolf. Do you copy Night Wolf?" Mat reached for his microphone and clicked it on.

"Roger that Stealth Fox. What's up?"

"When are we stopping for gas? Over."

"I wasn't planning on it for a while. Why? Over"

"Uhm, well you see, I wasn't planning on using this yet so I didn't have any gas put in it. Over…" Mat wanted to reach through the Mic and slap Axel but took a deep breath and then responded.

"Right, I'll stop at the next one then. Over"

"Thanks Wolf. Over"

"No problem, out" Mat hung the receiver up and sighed forcibly.

"For a tech genius he doesn't exactly plan well does he?" Josh said smiling.

"No, I guess not. But what can we do right? Oh well we will just need to make the most out of it. Lets see, I'll run in and turn the pumps on and grab some snacks. Why don't you go ahead and put as much gas in here as you can."

"Alright." Josh pulled out his pistol and pulled the upper reciever back making sure it was ready to go and then clicked the safety on and sat ready to jump out once they stopped.

"Uhm, Josh? Try to not fire that too close to the pump while your pumping. I'd like to not be blown to pieces."

"Oh yeah, alright." Josh said blushing slightly as he holstered the pistol. Mat saw a gas station coming up on his left and quickly swerved into it pulling up to one of the pumps as Axel pulled in behind him. Mat jumped out and looked back towards Axel's van where Axel was walking towards him and Darrell was jumping out making his way to the pump.

"Supplies?" Axel asked as he approached Mat.

"You read my mind." Mat said. Axel withdrew his 9 mm pistol and flipped it to armed.

"Ready when you are." Axel replied. Mat slid his rifle into position and headed for the building. He forced the front door open and slid inside with Axel on his six. He did a quick scan of the area but didn't see or hear anything so he slowly made his way behind the counter. The door was open and nobody was inside so he stepped in and flipped the tanks on. He then looked at Axel and pointed at one of the baskets and then waved at the non-perishables. Axel nodded and picked up a basket as Mat led the way down the Isle's weapon at the ready. Five extremely long minutes later they were hauling four baskets out of the shop and dropping them in the two vehicles. As Mat slid the Tech mobile's door shut he heard somebody yelling and turned dropping to one knee raising his rifle at the figure running towards him.

"HALT!" Mat yelled at the person. They kept running towards him shouting and he fired a single round just above the person's head as a warning shot. "HALT I SAID!" The person ducked and covered their head shaking. Mat lowered his weapon and shouted to everyone who was now looking confused at the gunshot and moving to get out of the vehicles. "WE GOT A LIVE ONE!" He made his way towards the person keeping his weapon trained on them. It was a young man. Not much older than Mat himself. He approached the person keeping them at a safe distance and then spoke clearly to the person still crouched and shivering. "On the ground! Lay flat on the ground!" The person complied but began speaking again with fear etched in every word.

"Please, Please help me." The person begged. Mat planted a knee between their shoulder blades and gave them a quick pat down as Axel showed up covering him with his Pistol trained on the person. Mat finally decided they weren't a threat and stood up lifting them as well and spun them around to face him. The mans front was covered in blood along with his hands.

"What happened? Are you hurt?" Mat asked afraid of the answer.

"Am I hurt? You think I got all this blood on me in some sort of sick lap dance! Some ass hole bit me! Please, can you just get me to a hospital?" The man asked. Mat was already backing away though.

"You were bit?"

"Yes! They took a good piece out of my arm too!" Mat glanced at his arm and sure enough a piece of the shirt was ripped with some cloth under it wrapped over the wound. He sighed softly and then without warning raised his rifle and shot the man in the head killing him permanently.

"I'm sorry, I wish there was another way. It's for the best." Mat said apologetically to the corpse and then waved the others back to the vehicles. They started up their rides and Mat sighed heavily as he put it in drive and stomped on the gas forcing the vehicle forward.

"You did the right thing Mat. He would have turned and possibly kill some others." Josh said trying to lift his spirits.

"Yeah, but still. He was begging for help and I killed him. Zombies are one thing, but when their talking to you, begging for help...it's…well it's just different." Mat said softly the man's face burned into his memory. How many more times must he be forced to do what he had just did without much thought. He sat in silence for half an hour before Axel's voice came over the CB yet again. This time sounding a bit worried.

"Stealth fox to Night wolf. Come in Night wolf"

"Yeah, Night wolf here. What's up Stealth Fox?"

"Just wondering how you're doing, you know. After back there?"

"I'll be fine."

"Okay, well in that case we got a bit of a problem." Mat sighed heavily scared to hear what was wrong this time.

"Okay, well give it to me."

"Well it appears that Darrell has gone through all the soda and needs to take a rest" Mat almost wanted to chuckle. And here he thought it was serious.

"Tell him to open the back and have at it."

"I already did Mat. He say's it's not that big." At this Mat did laugh

"Well good luck" He said chuckling softly "Wolf out." Mat clicked off the mic. And smiled at Josh. "Can you believe that? Poor guy isn't big enough." Mat chuckled some more now in a much better mood"

Axel hung up the mic and smiled at Darrel. "I think he's feeling better now."

"Yeah, but did you have to tell him I have a small pecker?"

"Did I have to? No, but it sure was funny."

"It's not true!"

"Suuuuure" axel said laughing as Darrell sat down huffing angrily.

They spent the next several hours traveling across the panhandle of Texas. They headed south taking a much longer route but avoided one of the larger cities and began traveling towards their first major stop again. At around eight hours driving Mat signals for them to pull into a small gas station. They fill up and take a quick break as Mat smokes a cigarette.

"So what's the plan?" Roger asked stretching lazily.

"Well I figured we would switch off drivers now and then try and make it the rest of the way to Cottonwood." Mat said taking a quick drag as he thought

"That means we would get there around 1300 if we drive all night" Axel said doing the math in his head.

"If were lucky." Mat replied taking another drag. Mat suddenly turned to look in the direction from which they had just came noticing a pair of headlights. The sound of the engine was loud and rhythmic suggesting a sports car of some kind. Everyone turned and watched as the sports car flashed by shattering the speed limit and turned just up the road heading in the same direction Mat's team would be going.

"Sort of drives like Levioth don't you think?" Axel asked with a hint of worry in his voice that Levioth was passing them.

"Naa, He spent way too much on the truck to give it up for some crappy sports car. If he had to rebuild it from scratch there is no way he would just change out vehicles. Besides…you can't carry as much booze in a sports car and you know that's Levioth's guiding star." Mat finished with a slight smile.

"Your wrong, "Nighttime exercises" is his guiding star" Axel said smiling mocking the way Levioth spoke. Mat smiled even wider.

"Too true, Too true." Mat finished his cigarette and then tossed the butt on the ground and stomped it out with the balls of his foot. "Well, should we get going?" He asked and everyone gave one final stretch and made their way back to their perspective vehicles. The vehicles started and they turned on their headlights and began driving. They hit the edge of Clovis and began driving through it. About halfway through town Mat noticed the sports car had crashed though it appeared as if nobody was around it. This made Him slightly nervous as he moved his rifle to a position that he could fire out the window if he had to. As they rounded a turn a short distance off Josh had to almost slam on the breaks to keep from hitting somebody who was standing in the middle of the road waving their hands around wildly. Both vehicles sat still with the headlights blaring into the face of the stranger and Mat quickly picked up the CB microphone and radioed to Axel "Be ready, just in case." He then stepped out and brought up his rifle pointing it at the persons head and began approaching them.

"Oh thank goodness! Please you must help, it looks like the rioters have made it here as well!" The man said obviously not yet realizing Mat had rifle in his hands and was pointing it straight at the mans head. It didn't take long for the man to realize what was going on though for he suddenly raised his hands in the air looking oddly confused. From what Mat could see there wasn't any blood on the man but he was still not willing to risk anything yet.

"Are you injured?" Mat asked trying to make it sound as if he wasn't worried about a single bit but his general well being.

"No, I'm fine. One of the rioters or druggies or whatever they are tried to bite me but I got away." Mat lowered his rifle just a bit but still kept it ready just in case.

"Are there others like you? I mean others that are still okay?" Mat said cautiously.

The man slowly lowered his hands and sighed. "Well there are some holed up in a church just up the road. I told them I would try and get help. My, my wife is with them. Please, will you help us?" Mat thought about the man's words for a second before responding.

"Wait there." He then turned and walked back to the van and looked at Josh. "you hear what he said?" Josh nodded slightly and Mat gave a heavy sigh. One of these days his kindness for these people would kill him. "Radio Axel, tell him were going to go check out that church." Mat then leaned out of the van and walked over to the Man and upholstered his pistol handing it to the man. "I can't let you ride with us so watch yourself and we will follow you there." The man looked nervously at the pistol and then to Mat.

"Can't I just…"

"No. It's either we follow you there or you can give me back my sidearm and the best of luck to you and your wife." Mat knew he was being a bit cruel but if the man had been infected then he wasn't about to risk his neck and Josh's for people he didn't know. He decided to add a false reason to help convince the man. "Besides if your part of that new cult I don't want you in our transport and I'm not willing to risk the lives of my men." He decided to make himself sound as if he was with the military because it sure couldn't hurt his chances. The man seemed to steel himself and nodded as he turned around and started walking along a side street. Mat made his way back to the van and closed the door pointing his rifle into the dimly lit night. He picked up the mic and radioed to axel. "Were going to go check on some survivors. Be ready." He motioned for Josh to follow the man and they pulled forward Mat keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of zombies. There wasn't much movement as they approached a small church about in the middle of town. Mat stepped out of the van and looked at Josh. "Radio Axel, I want him and Darrell to come back me up." Without giving Josh a moment to reply he turned and headed for the man who was now moving up the churches steps. The man stepped inside obviously in a hurry. Mat waited at the door for Axel and Darrell to reach him. Axel had his pistol and Darrell was holding a shotgun. Mat raised his eyebrow at josh looking at the shotgun. Darrell shrugged,

"Hey it's always the best choice in the movies." Mat smiled shaking his head slightly but led the way into the church carefully moving the door open and then stepping through with Darrell right behind him and Axel bringing up the rear. Mat looked around the church. The man he had handed his pistol too was kneeling next to a women who had a large amount of blood on her. There were several people huddled in the church some praying, some crying, but nearly all of them with some blood on them or distressed in some way, not that Mat could blame them.

"Stay here" Mat whispered out the corner of his mouth to Darrell who seemed to have passed the message to Axel as Mat walked towards the guy who had led them here. The man looked at him smiling slightly.

"My wife." He said giving a soft hug to the bloody shaking women next to him. Mat simply held out his hand.

"My side-arm if you please."

"Oh yes, of course." The man said quickly picking it up off the floor and handing it to Mat who flipped the safety on and holstered it. He then looked around the room again and turned his attention to the women.

"Did she get bit?" He asked casually

"What? Oh, no. Some kids were speeding through town and crashed. My wife and I helped them to the hospital. There were three of them. One died on the scene and the other two hopped out of their beds and started ripping people apart. My wife and I had to run for it. She just shaken up a bit especially since we haven't had the chance to find our daughters yet." The man finished looking sorrowfully at his wife and Mat sighed softly. He knew they were already dead. He turned and headed towards the doors where he stopped and turned to look at the crowd now looking intently at him and his friends. He took a deep breath and then spoke loudly to the crowd. "My name is Mathew Harris. I was stopped by that gentleman right there" Mat said pointing at the man, "who told me that there are those of you who have holed up here to try and survive. I'm here to tell you that you are wrong. This is not some radical new group, a drug, or anything else that you will tell yourself to keep from believing the truth. The truth is that they are zombies. The living dead who have come back and now wonder aimlessly searching for nothing more than to feed off the flesh of the living. Now you may think I'm crazy but I'm telling you the truth. I'm willing to bring you along with us. We have a plan as to how we are going to survive. That being said anyone that wishes to join us must submit to a complete search to make sure you have not been infected. I will not risk the lives of my men or the lives of those not yet infected by bringing along a person who has been bit or even scratched by the zombies since we are not yet sure exactly how infectious they are.

If you don't like my terms than by all means stay here and the best of luck to you." Mat finished wanting to kick himself. He hated having to be the bad guy and tell these men and especially women that each one would have to be individually strip searched if they wanted to come along with him. There wasn't a single word uttered from the crowd as Mat stood still rifle in hand with his friends behind him just slightly on either side.

"You actually expect us to believe that these maniacs are actually the dead and have come back to life to kill the living and that for us to go with you we need to strip down and let you look us over?" A man in his mid forties said obviously annoyed by Mat's words.

"Well, yeah. That of course is only if you want to travel with us. If you don't wish to move out with us then by all means do things your own way and more power to you. But in order to travel with us you must agree to our terms." Mat said not budging. The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves ranging from the general disbelief of what Mat was saying to the atrocity of him wanting them to remove their clothes. Finally another man piped up with something to say, he was in his mid twenties not much older than Mat.

"What's to keep us from just taking you vehicles and leaving ourselves?" He took a bold step forward as he said this and several people nodded in agreement.

"First off my friends and I are stopping you with our superior firepower. Secondly the same thing that is stopping you from using the perfectly good vehicles around town is what's stopping you from taking our vehicles. You don't know where to go. You haven't any idea where is safe and add to that you haven't a clue who will lead you."

"I'll lead them!"

"Whatever, you haven't got the skills to lead people to a bathroom much less against an organized group of cannibals. I'd do a much better job!"

"Neither of you would be any good because your both guys who think more with what's in your pants than what's on your shoulders. I would be the best. I am the manager of a store after all!"

"Yeah right, you wouldn't have a clue what to do if we had to fight these people. I served in Vietnam, therefore I'm the most qualified." Suddenly the entire room was filled with arguments and interjections. Mat was wasting precious time listening to their petty complaints and bickering.

"ENOUGH!" Mat shouted over the crowd who quickly turned to look at him. "I'm on a very short schedule here. Obviously none of you can lead the others because you wont listen to each other. You wont work together so you will stay here until your food runs out and the power stops at which point you wont even be able to see what's eating you. Believe what you want to believe about the origin of the Zombies, cannibals, druggies, whatever. In the end it doesn't matter because they will attack and eat and turn you all the same. Now if none of you wish to join us in a chance to survive then I'll excuse myself and get back on the road because every second of my time you waste is another second that somebody I care about has to fight alone and that means there's another second that I might not make it. So step forward if you will do as I say and are willing to be checked out. If your not willing, then stay where you stand. Also if you want to come with us make sure you place any weapons you have on the stairs here." Mat finished heatedly.

"You expect us to go up against what you believe are zombies without any weapons! Now I know your crazy!" the forty year old said speaking once again.

"No I expect you to drive and follow me without weapons. We will do most of the fighting for now. Also, to be perfectly honest, I don't trust a single one of you to not shoot my friends or me in the back in some sort of mutiny. Now, no more comments, no more questions, if your coming step forward if not the shut your oversized yaps and let the ones who do want to leave move forward!" Mat said now realizing why Levioth had originally told him to just screw anyone that wanted to tag along. The crowd though didn't say anything else. They stood around looking at each other either looking to see who would betray the others and leave or perhaps looking for somebody else to step forward first. After a couple seconds the man who had waved down Mat stood up supporting his wife and made his way towards Mat. The town watched him as they both slowly made their way to the front of the church.

"C.O.! What are you doing? You can't trust this maniac!" one person shouted.

"They want to look your wife over without any of her clothes on!"

"What about your daughters?" Several more people all spoke as they passed trying in vain to get them to change their minds. The man never stopped though. His wife even began supporting her wait more even though she kept her face down, both of them silently making their way towards Mat. As they stood in front of him the man softly whispered to Mat.

"Do we, do we have to strip here?" The man looked nervous, afraid of the answer, but he also seemed determined to save what was left of his family. Mat knew if he told the man yes that he wouldn't hesitate to take his clothes off right there. Mat smiled kindly and whispered back.

"No, step outside we have some other people out there that will check you over." He turned and spoke over his shoulder to Darrell "Inform the others of what they need to do."

"Right."

"Oh, and Darrell?"

"Yeah?"

"Help him with his wife."

"Yes, sir." Darrell said with a smile. Mat smiled as Darrell added the sir. It wasn't disrespectful or rude in any way. In fact he had added it in a sort of way to Honor and support Mat. In way that showed everyone who was boss and who he respected. It was a small gesture. One not asked for or really needed for them, but it was a move that made things very clear who was in charge. Mat made a mental note to thank him later. He heard the doors open as he turned back to the crowd who were all staring at him with varying expressions.

"I'll come!" A female voice spoke from within the crowd as she pushed forward. The girl had to be in her late teens. Mat would guess somewhere between 16-19 years old.

"NO YOU WILL NOT!" The older gentleman, who had been the first to speak, said grabbing the girl by the collar. "I will not have my daughter prance around for a bunch of horny young BOYS like a common slut!"

"But you will have me stay here and be ripped to pieces by lunatics?"

"Why you ungrateful little…" The man raised his hand to hit her but before he could, before even Mat could do anything a shot rang through the air and Mat spun to see Axel pointing his weapon in the air.

"I would appreciate it if you showed a little restraint and common respect, SIR." Axel said spitting the sir out as if it were venom. "Also, you've made me waste one round, the next will be lethal. If you get my drift?" He said coyly lowering his firearm to a low and ready position. The girl yanked herself free of the mans grip and started marching straight for Mat removing her jacket and shirt and even tube top as she approached him. She stopped in front of him and made to undo her pants when Mat stopped her.

"There are people outside that will look you over…in a more...private, manner." Mat said softly and she smiled at him going slightly pink in the cheeks but gathered up her clothes and stormed out the front door. It took a couple more minutes but the girl's mother, an elderly couple, the female store manager, the Vietnam veteran (who dropped two pistols and a large combat knife on the steps), and several other people including a family with several small children, all made their way up the steps depositing all sorts of weapons from kitchen knives to a sub machine-gun (mat didn't want to know how the person got a hold of THAT) on the steps. Finally it appeared that the 15-20 people remaining were not going to leave. Even the man whose wife and daughter had left still refused to move an inch and instead reverted to staring angrily at Mat. Mat sighed softly wishing that more would have come but perhaps these people would be lucky and somehow survive. Mat bent over and picked up most of the weapons kicking the SMG (Sub Machine-gun) to the side and gestured for Axel to gather the remaining weapons that he couldn't carry. They left the church leaving the people with whatever weapons they had on them and that SMG. Mat dropped the weapons in the back of his van and looked around. They still had about 6 people left to check. Some vehicles had obviously been found and pulled forward so that everyone could follow. Several people were sitting in the vehicles waiting; some stood to the side, and the rest waited to be check or were being checked. Mat saw Darrell scanning the area with a large spotlight and a pistol watching for zombies. He smiled softly at how well they were covering their bases and yet how quickly they were still managing to get everyone checked. Mat nodded at Axel to join the others checking people and he made his way from one vehicle to the next searching for the man named C.O. and his wife. He finally found them in the back seat of a little economy car. He was holding his wife as she sat curled in his arms. Mat leaned in and smiled at them softly.

"Thank you." C.O. said kindly.

"Why don't you two come and ride with me. There are only two of us in that van and I believe I can trust you two. Besides, you look a bit cramped in here."

"Oh, thank you very much sir. I'd really appreciate that."

"No problem. Just hop in the one I got out of when you flagged us down."

"That's the brownish one right?"

"Well since it's night it would appear black, but yeah the brown one." With that the man helped his wife out and moved her into Mat's van closing the door behind him. Mat smiled softly at himself and began walking back towards the main doors to watch the progress when he heard the girl who had tried to strip in front of everyone.

"Uhm, sir?" Mat turned and smiled kindly at her.

"Yes?"

"Uhm, well I didn't see my father in line. Was he already seated in a vehicle? I mean he wasn't standing over there with my mother." Mat felt his heart drop for the girl. Her mother had been infected or at least was suspected of infection. He decided to just answer her question though and not yet reveal the fate of her mother to her.

"He decided to not come. I am only to assume that he believes he stands a better chance on his own barricaded in the church."

"Oh, well, do you think, well that is to say, from what you seem to know, can he survive here?" Again Mat didn't want to answer but she asked a question and who was he to decide what was okay for her to know and not know.

"To be completely honest, I doubt it. The zombies will gather around the church attempting to get in. If they are able to fortify the church and keep the zombies out then the next problem would be their mental well being. The constant moans all the time will likely drive them crazy. Assuming they can keep the one's that loose it from leaving and sabotaging all their efforts, they will then simply end up dieing from starvation. I believe the hunger will become too great and it will be too late for them to leave when they try and escape to gather food and water. If by some miracle help arrives we will never know because we won't come back through here. Also since this is so far out of the way the chance of any other survivor's coming through here are slim. I'm afraid he has chosen his fate. I'm sorry."

"Oh, I see. Well thank you." The girl said turning and slowly walking back towards a truck she had been assigned.

"Miss?" Mat called after her. The girl stopped and turned around looking at him obviously upset.

"Why don't you ride with that other couple with me. My van can seat 7 and just like C.O. and his wife I don't think you will be one who will try and stop us from reaching our destination." The girl smiled softly and nodded turning towards his van and opening to the door. He heard her say a simple hello to C.O. before climbing in. Axel approached Mat and smiled slightly.

"Most of them weren't infected. Only one had been bit but quite a few had scratches ranging from really severe to just slightly noticeable. What do you want me to tell them?" Mat sighed softly.

"Nothing. I'll speak with them. You get in the tech van and tell josh to start mine. Have Darrell tell the drivers of the other vehicles to start them up as well and follow our lead. Warn them to not pick anybody up."

"Alright…" Axel said heavily as he started for the cars. There was only a handful that had been able to come along. Mat was sure that a few would probably still be infected and that meant they would have the messier job and finishing them. Still the few they could save was better than abandoning them all. He made his way over to the group as the engines all began turning over.

"They told us to wait over here. Are we going to be split into the remaining spaces or what?" The man who had been (what mat assumed) the father of all those young children asked. Mat hated having to tell them this. If the one's that had been scratched weren't actually infected then he was signing their death certificates, but he couldn't risk the lives of the many for that of the few.

"No. I'm sorry but you all have either been bitten or scratched and could all be infected. Like I said before. I can't risk anybody else being killed and if you are infected and I let you come along all those that you kill when you turn will have died because of me. I'm not willing to take that risk."

"But, my daughter. She is in one of the cars." The mother of the girl who Mat had sat in his van said.

"She will be taken care of to the best of our abilities. Along with the rest of your families that do not have much risk of infection."

"So just like that you split our families up without even telling them what happened to us? Just like that your tossing us all to the side because we MIGHT be infected. Because we scratched by a thorn bush and therefore you think we may have been infected? You have no right!" The man said again.

"True, if you were scratched by a thorn bush there isn't a risk of infection, but not everyone can be trusted to reveal the true nature of their wounds and for that reason we must take every precaution to save those that remain at lowest risk. As for splitting your families up without a word from all of you I would never dream of it. I have lost both my parents and never got to tell them how much I loved them. My entire family has died and I couldn't take you all away without at least giving you the chance to speak with your loved ones. For that reason we are going to wait only for a minute and let you speak with them. Please do not try to get on or in any of the vehicles. If we find any of you hiding among the cars we will have to take a more direct approach of making sure everyone is safe. Well I guess that's it." Mat said sadly. He hated it. He despised himself for what he was doing. In fact he wanted to puke at just the thought of his actions. Yet he knew there was no other choice. He looked at the women who had betrayed her own husband in hopes of survival. He saw why she had been denied. The scratch was clearly made by human nails. They ran across the back of her hand. He sighed softly and then said to her. "Your daughter is this way." He led her to the van and opened the sliding door where the daughter instantly moved over to let her mother climb in. The women looked at Mat who could only shake his head.

"Come on mom. I heard them on the CB radio. They're getting ready to leave."

End of preview! Did you like what you read? Did you not like what you read? Do you have a comment or even perhaps a character suggestion? If so please send me a message at 

If you have a character suggestion I am attaching a release form that is required to be attached to the e-mail. I would also like to say that I have my own plot set up so there is no need for you to make suggestions on an ending. Thank you

Author:

Robert O. Black


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