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Description
Chapter 3
I awoke the next day to find Amanda still in my arms. I smiled as best I could with the memories of last night's newscast not yet setting in. She was sleeping silently and peacefully right next to me. I kissed her gently on the forehead to awaken her. She stretched a little bit and opened her eyes. He blinked trying to gain her vision, and once she saw me still with her she smiled as she pushed her head into my chest. I heard a muffled greeting come from her and I answered back. I was in a state of pure bliss before reality set in.

"This is fucking stupid! Why is this shit happening to us?" yelled out JJ as he burst into the room. Kate followed him closely and soon Travis entered as well. I sat up and held Amanda close to me. She sighed and I knew what she meant. JJ was pissed off.

"What is it, now?" I asked him.

"It's these things! I just don't get it...I hate anything I don't understand." he responded angrily.

Kate decided to sit down next to me where there was room. Travis and JJ discussed zombie matters, and she just sighed deeply and looked around. I turned to her. "How did you get here?" I asked.

She looked at the floor for a long time before answering. "Well...it starts out almost the same as everyone else. I woke up to the sound of my alarm and thought it was just a normal day. I was getting ready to go out when I heard this banging on my window. I opened the curtains wide and I saw a whole row of zombies with their faces pressed against the glass. They caught glimpse of me, and I guess that just set them off. I backed away in fear, but hey...who wouldn't?" She tried to laugh, but I could tell how forced it was. "They hit harder on the window and broke it in. I dashed from my room and out of the house to my car. I started it up, and sped off as fast as I could. I remember hitting something when I backed out of my driveway. I'm not sure if it was a zombie or a human. I didn't care. That's when I went around picking up the rest of you guys...you know it from there I suppose."

I didn't know the story from there, but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she didn't to talk about it. JJ was listening in and he bragged about his story. "I had been up the whole night partying. For some reason I didn't have any drinks, and I'm glad as hell that I didn't. As soon as dawn hit, one of these things showed up at the party. The guys were too drunk to think it was dangerous so they started to play with it. Eventually it attacked one of them. It bit him right in the throat. I ran inside and busted through the glass of the case holding the shotguns. I snagged one and loaded seven shells into it. I ran back outside to see that the monster had already bitten anther of my friends, and everyone else had run for their lives. It turned on me. It moved slowly, and as soon as it's chest was right up against the barrel of the shotgun, I pulled the trigger. It went flying backwards, but got up quickly and came at me again. I ran right up to it, and as it opened it's mouth to sink it's teeth into me, I put the barrel right in it's mouth and pulled the trigger. The head blasted into many pieces, and some of it was dangling from my weapon. After going inside and hanging two more shotguns around my body as well as grabbing two pistols, I ran out into the street. That's when I saw the carnage...thank God Kate here was on the road. She stopped and pick me up."

After his speech we all looked to Travis. He was looking out the window. "I killed one as soon as I woke up. My eyes opened to see one of them standing above me and looking around. When it saw me move, it grabbed my throat. I pulled a .44 magnum out from under my pillow, which I always sleep with, and put it to his forehead. Funny thing is, as I pushed it to his skull, the gun sank in a little bit. Their bodies are so weak. Anyways I pulled the trigger and...well you can guess what that looked like. I rolled out of bed quickly, and I saw another at my bedroom door. I put one into his head as well. I didn't even think of shooting them in the chest when I saw that one bullet to the head was sufficient. I had heard much about zombies in the past, and I also read a few books about them. I don't know what it was, but these creatures have always facinated me. I never believe that I would be fighting them. As I walked out into the hall, I noticed two more. One was bending over the lifeless body of my sister and strands stretched from his mouth to her neck. I fired once at it, and his skull splattered all over. The second one still came for me, and I pulled the trigger, but the gun wouldn't fire." As he said this, he made the motion of firing an invisible gun in his hands. "I noticed that the gun wasn't fully loaded. I didn't have enough time to reload, so I just swung the pistol as hard as I could. It hit the zombie in the side of the head, and it fell to one knee. I swung downwards and felt it's skull cave in as the pistol crushed in. I took this time to reload the weapon from a box of ammo I had hiding on a nearby shelf. After loading up I had to shoot my sister in the head." Everyone looked akwardly at him. "I had to do it. She would have turned into one of them. Anyways...I managed to escape my house after grabbing a few of the other weapons I had hidden around my house. I ran out into the street and had to roll out of the way as I was almost hit by Kate and JJ."

Again the room fell silent. I was looking at the floor, knowing I'd have to tell my tale next. I looked up, and I was right. All eyes were on me. I sighed and put my hands together. "I was out in the woods hunting. I hadn't seen anything all day, until I thought I saw some sort of deer. I fired and heard it fall. When I went to check on it, I realized it was no animal at all. It was one of those zombies. I didn't know it at first. I thought I killed a fellow hunter, but a large group of these things came after me. I had a machete with me, and I knew it would take too long to reload the bolt action rifle over and over. I picked it up, slung the rifle around my back, and got into a defensive stance. I don't remember everything really. I just remember telling myself to just keep swinging. After I stopped hearing footsteps chasing after me, I saw tops of skulls and limbs covering the ground around me. I ran for the nearest exit of the woods, and I saw so many more of these things along the way. I stumbled out onto someone's backyard, and I remember that their backdoor was covered in blood. I carried the blade still in attack position. I remember one coming and grabbing me from behind. I spun quickly and the rifle knocked him back a little bit. I slashed at the thing and cut it into two. right through the torso. The bottom half would not move any longer, but the top half still crawled after me. I left it there, and I just decided to run out into the open. I didn't know there were so many. Several cars were piled up on the streets. They were covered in blood. I didn't know whether or not it was human blood or not. Most of all I could see the body of my mother not too far away from where I was standing." I felt Amanda run her hand into mine and lock fingers with me to show her sympathy. "I saw other familes run from their homes, only to either be struck by swerving cars or caught by the zombies that were in pursuit. The one thing I did notice was that nobody was fighting back. I didn't understand it. Anyways I saw you guys, but you didn't seem to notice me. I don't blame you because I bet I looked like one of those things with my blood-covered shirt. I swung my blade like a madman trying to get your attention, and finally you stopped."

***

We all thought back to how we got here after we all joined together as we moved to the roof. Kate drove as fast as she could towards a nearby hunting store. We all had to jump out and bust down the doors. We filled bags full of ammunition and handguns. Travis managed to grab an assault rifle from the wall, and I grabbed a more sturdy machete than the one I used to be carrying. I also grabbed a combat knife.

We had only been in there for a few moments, but when we turned to exit there was a group of zombies at the door. Three of them to be exact. JJ picked up my old machete and threw it at them. It lodged into the chest of the nearest one. I quickly kicked the handle of the blade into the zombie, and it knocked him backwards. I took one standing next to him and shoved him away. He grabbed my arm, but I swung my combat knife and cut of it's hand. I then slashed it's throat and impaled the zombie in the head. It made some strange gurgling noise before falling dead. When I turned around I saw that JJ had taken the zombie with the machete in it's chest, and stuck him to a wall with the blade. Travis went straight up to the last with an ax that he found. He quickly sliced the leg off to make it fall over, then he smashed the face in with the blunt end of the weapon. JJ was still toying with the one he was fighting. Kate eventually got sick of waiting. She walked up to the creature and put the barrel of her pistol right to it's eye. It fell limp against the wall when she pulled the trigger, and it slumped to the floor after JJ pulled the machete out of it's chest. He decided to leave the weapon behind.

Amanda was waving at us from the car to hurry up. The car was about to be overrun by the undead. We shot several of them off of the vehicle before diving in. I got into the back with Amanda and she immediatly threw her arms around me in fear. I thought my head was going to pop off. Kate hit the accelerator hard and used the bumper to it's full extent. Eventually she got onto smooth roads, but we still didn't know where we were going to go.

Travis told her to stay away from any police or emergency building because they were probably going to be crowded as hell. We all had the assumption that we would be defending ourselves for a very long time. JJ said we need a place with food and entertainment. Kate suggested the mall, and nobody had any objections to that. Of course the task was easier said than done. As soon as we got onto the street headed towards the mall, we were faced with a large mob of zombies that blocked the entire street. Kate swore loudly, as she was very prone to do, and pulled a quick 180. We drove only a tiny bit when we were once again blocked by another large crowd. She turned onto a nearby street, and right ahead of us was our new home to be. The theater hung over all the smaller buildings around it like a godsend.
When we reached the building it was completely deserted, but all the doors were locked. The theater was located in a bad neighborhood so they had bulletproof glass installed. Kate got into her car and rammed through a set of doors quickly. We needed to block the whole quickly, and I saw a large display stand for an upcoming movie in the corner. It was so heavy that it took all five of us to move the thing, and once we got it into place we move the car right up against it to block it furthur.

***

Since then we've wandered the building, trying to find every nook and cranny or possible fallback locations. The roof was by far everyone's favorite location. There was endless fresh air, and sunshine was never blocked by any other building. The only drawback of course was the constant drone of the walking dead. I always thought that you'd learn to ignore it, but everytime you opened the doors to the roof, the sound gave you chills all over.

As Travis, JJ, and Kate sat at one edge of the rooftop, I went to the opposite end and sat leaning against the ledge. I put my head into my hands and continued to try to think back to before all of this happened. Amanda came and sat right next to me. I grabbed her up in my arms and brought her to my lap. I just wanted to hold her near to me. The feeling I had whenever she was in my arms was indescribable. It was the best feeling in the world, yet at the same time it was the worst. With her I felt as if I was actually needed in this world, but she also made me think about the future, and what little left of it we may have.

Description
Chapter 3
I awoke the next day to find Amanda still in my arms. I smiled as best I could with the memories of last night's newscast not yet setting in. She was sleeping silently and peacefully right next to me. I kissed her gently on the forehead to awaken her. She stretched a little bit and opened her eyes. He blinked trying to gain her vision, and once she saw me still with her she smiled as she pushed her head into my chest. I heard a muffled greeting come from her and I answered back. I was in a state of pure bliss before reality set in.

"This is fucking stupid! Why is this shit happening to us?" yelled out JJ as he burst into the room. Kate followed him closely and soon Travis entered as well. I sat up and held Amanda close to me. She sighed and I knew what she meant. JJ was pissed off.

"What is it, now?" I asked him.

"It's these things! I just don't get it...I hate anything I don't understand." he responded angrily.

Kate decided to sit down next to me where there was room. Travis and JJ discussed zombie matters, and she just sighed deeply and looked around. I turned to her. "How did you get here?" I asked.

She looked at the floor for a long time before answering. "Well...it starts out almost the same as everyone else. I woke up to the sound of my alarm and thought it was just a normal day. I was getting ready to go out when I heard this banging on my window. I opened the curtains wide and I saw a whole row of zombies with their faces pressed against the glass. They caught glimpse of me, and I guess that just set them off. I backed away in fear, but hey...who wouldn't?" She tried to laugh, but I could tell how forced it was. "They hit harder on the window and broke it in. I dashed from my room and out of the house to my car. I started it up, and sped off as fast as I could. I remember hitting something when I backed out of my driveway. I'm not sure if it was a zombie or a human. I didn't care. That's when I went around picking up the rest of you guys...you know it from there I suppose."

I didn't know the story from there, but I could tell from the look in her eyes that she didn't to talk about it. JJ was listening in and he bragged about his story. "I had been up the whole night partying. For some reason I didn't have any drinks, and I'm glad as hell that I didn't. As soon as dawn hit, one of these things showed up at the party. The guys were too drunk to think it was dangerous so they started to play with it. Eventually it attacked one of them. It bit him right in the throat. I ran inside and busted through the glass of the case holding the shotguns. I snagged one and loaded seven shells into it. I ran back outside to see that the monster had already bitten anther of my friends, and everyone else had run for their lives. It turned on me. It moved slowly, and as soon as it's chest was right up against the barrel of the shotgun, I pulled the trigger. It went flying backwards, but got up quickly and came at me again. I ran right up to it, and as it opened it's mouth to sink it's teeth into me, I put the barrel right in it's mouth and pulled the trigger. The head blasted into many pieces, and some of it was dangling from my weapon. After going inside and hanging two more shotguns around my body as well as grabbing two pistols, I ran out into the street. That's when I saw the carnage...thank God Kate here was on the road. She stopped and pick me up."

After his speech we all looked to Travis. He was looking out the window. "I killed one as soon as I woke up. My eyes opened to see one of them standing above me and looking around. When it saw me move, it grabbed my throat. I pulled a .44 magnum out from under my pillow, which I always sleep with, and put it to his forehead. Funny thing is, as I pushed it to his skull, the gun sank in a little bit. Their bodies are so weak. Anyways I pulled the trigger and...well you can guess what that looked like. I rolled out of bed quickly, and I saw another at my bedroom door. I put one into his head as well. I didn't even think of shooting them in the chest when I saw that one bullet to the head was sufficient. I had heard much about zombies in the past, and I also read a few books about them. I don't know what it was, but these creatures have always facinated me. I never believe that I would be fighting them. As I walked out into the hall, I noticed two more. One was bending over the lifeless body of my sister and strands stretched from his mouth to her neck. I fired once at it, and his skull splattered all over. The second one still came for me, and I pulled the trigger, but the gun wouldn't fire." As he said this, he made the motion of firing an invisible gun in his hands. "I noticed that the gun wasn't fully loaded. I didn't have enough time to reload, so I just swung the pistol as hard as I could. It hit the zombie in the side of the head, and it fell to one knee. I swung downwards and felt it's skull cave in as the pistol crushed in. I took this time to reload the weapon from a box of ammo I had hiding on a nearby shelf. After loading up I had to shoot my sister in the head." Everyone looked akwardly at him. "I had to do it. She would have turned into one of them. Anyways...I managed to escape my house after grabbing a few of the other weapons I had hidden around my house. I ran out into the street and had to roll out of the way as I was almost hit by Kate and JJ."

Again the room fell silent. I was looking at the floor, knowing I'd have to tell my tale next. I looked up, and I was right. All eyes were on me. I sighed and put my hands together. "I was out in the woods hunting. I hadn't seen anything all day, until I thought I saw some sort of deer. I fired and heard it fall. When I went to check on it, I realized it was no animal at all. It was one of those zombies. I didn't know it at first. I thought I killed a fellow hunter, but a large group of these things came after me. I had a machete with me, and I knew it would take too long to reload the bolt action rifle over and over. I picked it up, slung the rifle around my back, and got into a defensive stance. I don't remember everything really. I just remember telling myself to just keep swinging. After I stopped hearing footsteps chasing after me, I saw tops of skulls and limbs covering the ground around me. I ran for the nearest exit of the woods, and I saw so many more of these things along the way. I stumbled out onto someone's backyard, and I remember that their backdoor was covered in blood. I carried the blade still in attack position. I remember one coming and grabbing me from behind. I spun quickly and the rifle knocked him back a little bit. I slashed at the thing and cut it into two. right through the torso. The bottom half would not move any longer, but the top half still crawled after me. I left it there, and I just decided to run out into the open. I didn't know there were so many. Several cars were piled up on the streets. They were covered in blood. I didn't know whether or not it was human blood or not. Most of all I could see the body of my mother not too far away from where I was standing." I felt Amanda run her hand into mine and lock fingers with me to show her sympathy. "I saw other familes run from their homes, only to either be struck by swerving cars or caught by the zombies that were in pursuit. The one thing I did notice was that nobody was fighting back. I didn't understand it. Anyways I saw you guys, but you didn't seem to notice me. I don't blame you because I bet I looked like one of those things with my blood-covered shirt. I swung my blade like a madman trying to get your attention, and finally you stopped."

***

We all thought back to how we got here after we all joined together as we moved to the roof. Kate drove as fast as she could towards a nearby hunting store. We all had to jump out and bust down the doors. We filled bags full of ammunition and handguns. Travis managed to grab an assault rifle from the wall, and I grabbed a more sturdy machete than the one I used to be carrying. I also grabbed a combat knife.

We had only been in there for a few moments, but when we turned to exit there was a group of zombies at the door. Three of them to be exact. JJ picked up my old machete and threw it at them. It lodged into the chest of the nearest one. I quickly kicked the handle of the blade into the zombie, and it knocked him backwards. I took one standing next to him and shoved him away. He grabbed my arm, but I swung my combat knife and cut of it's hand. I then slashed it's throat and impaled the zombie in the head. It made some strange gurgling noise before falling dead. When I turned around I saw that JJ had taken the zombie with the machete in it's chest, and stuck him to a wall with the blade. Travis went straight up to the last with an ax that he found. He quickly sliced the leg off to make it fall over, then he smashed the face in with the blunt end of the weapon. JJ was still toying with the one he was fighting. Kate eventually got sick of waiting. She walked up to the creature and put the barrel of her pistol right to it's eye. It fell limp against the wall when she pulled the trigger, and it slumped to the floor after JJ pulled the machete out of it's chest. He decided to leave the weapon behind.

Amanda was waving at us from the car to hurry up. The car was about to be overrun by the undead. We shot several of them off of the vehicle before diving in. I got into the back with Amanda and she immediatly threw her arms around me in fear. I thought my head was going to pop off. Kate hit the accelerator hard and used the bumper to it's full extent. Eventually she got onto smooth roads, but we still didn't know where we were going to go.

Travis told her to stay away from any police or emergency building because they were probably going to be crowded as hell. We all had the assumption that we would be defending ourselves for a very long time. JJ said we need a place with food and entertainment. Kate suggested the mall, and nobody had any objections to that. Of course the task was easier said than done. As soon as we got onto the street headed towards the mall, we were faced with a large mob of zombies that blocked the entire street. Kate swore loudly, as she was very prone to do, and pulled a quick 180. We drove only a tiny bit when we were once again blocked by another large crowd. She turned onto a nearby street, and right ahead of us was our new home to be. The theater hung over all the smaller buildings around it like a godsend.
When we reached the building it was completely deserted, but all the doors were locked. The theater was located in a bad neighborhood so they had bulletproof glass installed. Kate got into her car and rammed through a set of doors quickly. We needed to block the whole quickly, and I saw a large display stand for an upcoming movie in the corner. It was so heavy that it took all five of us to move the thing, and once we got it into place we move the car right up against it to block it furthur.

***

Since then we've wandered the building, trying to find every nook and cranny or possible fallback locations. The roof was by far everyone's favorite location. There was endless fresh air, and sunshine was never blocked by any other building. The only drawback of course was the constant drone of the walking dead. I always thought that you'd learn to ignore it, but everytime you opened the doors to the roof, the sound gave you chills all over.

As Travis, JJ, and Kate sat at one edge of the rooftop, I went to the opposite end and sat leaning against the ledge. I put my head into my hands and continued to try to think back to before all of this happened. Amanda came and sat right next to me. I grabbed her up in my arms and brought her to my lap. I just wanted to hold her near to me. The feeling I had whenever she was in my arms was indescribable. It was the best feeling in the world, yet at the same time it was the worst. With her I felt as if I was actually needed in this world, but she also made me think about the future, and what little left of it we may have.