ENTRY #26

I flopped down against the wall. I felt so hopeless. What was the point? I pushed those thoughts aside, and got up. There was no room for thoughts like those now. Jack and Kelly stood by the window looking out to see if there were any more zombies coming to the scene we had just made. I guess it was just a few wandering zombies. I stood up and apologized to everyone.

“hey guys. I’m really sorry about all of that. I thought it would be alright to just sit outside for a minute but I guess its not really safe anymore. I think that now more than ever we need to all watch each others backs, someone should stay up for watch duties.”

Everyone agreed without question and jack elected to take first watch. Everyone was getting ready to sleep, they all had gathered sleeping bags and I went to look for one. I now had a second wind and I walked down the aisles looking for some food to snack on. I found a bag of freeze dried ice cream and grabbed it off of the shelf. I sat down and opened it, with my back against the shelf. It was a little uncomfortable but I didn’t mind. I let each piece sit on my tongue and dissolve, bite after bite. I watched everyone walking around, they were all a little uneasy. I savored every bite.

ENTRY #25

I put my elbow in front of me to catch my fall. I landed on the zombie’s throat crushing it. I felt it stop writhing under me and I quickly got to my feet. I looked around for somewhere to escape. I could hear the footsteps of everyone getting closer to me. I unlatched the hatchet I now remembered was on my hip. I inched backwards preparing to defend myself. Ronnie was outside by now and he joined me near the car. Nat, Liz, Tabitha, along with Jack, and Kelly, ran out and made quick work of the slowest zombie at the back of the pack. The next closest zombie was within arms reach of Ronnie and I. He put the nail gun right up to the zombie’s head. He fired nail after nail into the zombie’s head until eventually the last one fell to the ground. Everyone was talking to me at once and I couldn’t hear them at all. I slowly made my way into the warehouse.

ENTRY #24

I didn’t fall asleep; I sort of just lay there with my eyes closed. I heard the wind past my ears along with another noise. I heard a rustling n the distance, but I didn’t worry about it. I let my thoughts take me away but the rustling got louder and louder. I finally looked up to see maybe three or four zombies. The adrenaline pumped through me so fast as my fight or flight instincts kicked in. The closest one was maybe two or three feet away from me. It tried to grab my leg and I rolled off of the opposite side of the car. I hit the ground and called out for help. I jumped to my feet and turned to run to look right into the face of yet another zombie. It tried to grab me by the shirt and I parried its arm with mine and then pushed it to the ground. It grabbed my hand as I did so and pulled me with it.

ENTRY# 23

Everyone’s phone was either dead or they had left them in their rooms, with the exception of Nat who was currently calling his family as well. I walked outside for a bit of fresh air. For the first time I actually appreciated something simple in life other than sitting in front of an Xbox or TV screen. I stood next to an old red Honda civic and looked to the sky. The air was cold yet the sky was marvelous. The few clouds slowly rolled by in front of the light blue backdrop, it was almost unreal. The winds caressed my cheeks and I tried to forget where I was. I sat down in the hood of the car and leaned back on it to soak up some of the suns warmth. I attempted to think of only good things like how nice the weather was. It was impossible, I settled for trying to sleep outside. Maybe my dreams would bring me solace. I closed my eyes.

ENTRY#22

I tried to call for about an hour and then my phone battery finally gave out. I put my phone back into my pocket and dried all of the tears from my face. I rejoined the group back at the circle of chairs. They were talking to the two men, hearing the same things I had heard not to long ago. I finally introduced myself to them and found out that their names were Jack and Kelly. They agreed to let us hangout there with them for as long as we needed. We all immediately agreed that although the safety of the store was solid, it could use a little bit more. We went through the back door where the trucks unload products. Not to far away we found about ten or so palates along with a power drill. Unfortunately we didn’t have any screws or nails. For now we propped them all up in front of the door. My brother still on my mind I went to see if anyone else had a phone.

ENTRY# 21

You have one new message.. Message one..

            “Hey Sam it’s Liam. Uh, you told me to call you when I was safe, and I’ve locked myself and ten other people in the schools cafeteria. We’ve been hanging out in here waiting for everything to chill out. We’ve actually been here for three or four hours, but I just got around to calling now because I think I might be getting the flu. I’ve been sick all morning….”

His voice sounded awful, he sounded like Dill had, when I walked into my room the other day. I could feel tears welling in my eyes, but I continued to listen.

            “…We’re okay for right now. The kitchen is filled with non-perishable foods. Call me back when you get the chance.” *Click* No new messages

            I couldn’t hold it anymore. I put the phone on speaker, replayed the message for everyone and I started sobbing. Everyone tried to console me, but nothing helped. I got up, walked over to the window, and just listened to the message over and over again on repeat.

ENTRY #20

I didn’t want to believe my ears. The words were unthinkable. A conspiracy? The government wouldn’t do that… Would they? How could it have been kept secret for two days? People didn’t get sick and become monsters the other day. It started three or four days ago. I sat there in disbelief as he told Ronnie and me that three days ago it was all over the news. My school didn’t have any news channels for the last week. Everyone thought it was just because of the recent storm. My brother had thought the same thing as me; did his school shield them too? The man in the bass pro uniform said that he had been stuck in here for two days. My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took my phone out and I had a missed call as well as a voicemail from 2:30 last night. It was from my brother and I decided to just call him up rather than listen to the voicemail.  The phone rang again and again, no answer. I tried to call my parents again. They didn’t pick up either. I settled for my voicemail, still concerned that I hadn’t heard from my parents yet.

ENTRY#19

When I woke, not much time had passed. The ground was cold and I lay on my side. My elbow dug into my ribcage. Maybe ten minutes had passed, I wasn’t sure. The sun had set but I could tell from the light that it early into the night. I looked to Ronnie who was also awake. We didn’t talk; there was really no point. Liz lay with her back to the both of us. He saw my gaze turn to her and we exchanged similar looks. Nat and Tabitha were asleep, they looked uncomfortable and tossed and turned. Sleep slowly came to me yet again. I tried to fight it off but I was so tired. I awoke some time later; the tape had been cut from my feet and wrists. I looked to Liz immediately and her wrist was cut loose as well. I let out a sigh of relief. I stood up and stretched a bit. My back and neck was extensively sore. I heard some shuffling and began heading in that direction. Ronnie was sitting in a chair talking to the men. I found myself a collapsible chair and sat down with them.

ENTRY #18

Immediately, the one in the Bass Pro uniform started screaming at the other.

            “Why would you do that? You’re such an idiot!”

            “He was coming at me! What if he was going to try something?”

            “Wow, just shut up. Tie them up. If you guys aren’t zombies in the morning ill untie you. I just need to make sure,” the one in the Bass Pro uniform said.

The one that had hit Nat left and soon came back with some rope. We all looked at each other but we really didn’t have an option at this point. He came and tied me up first: my hands and then my feet. I sat down against a palate with boxes of barbeque grills on it. I watched and he carefully tied everyone up, making sure not to tie the knots too tight or too loose. Everyone lay on the ground now mumbling how much this situation sucked. I had to go to the bathroom, which really didn’t help the situation at all. Within an hour or so of just sitting there, I began to fade into sleep.