How it started for me

God i should of gotten cable or at least an antenna. No warning. I'm folding clothes in my bedroom when jack starts barking. That dog never barks unless he wants to play. I'm alone. Eric is at work and the kids are at grandmas. I go outside to see the source of jacks irritation. i step out the back door and call to him. He is not listening instead he is focused on something unseen. There is something strange in the way it feels outside not scary just strange. Jacks barking turns to growling which i have never heard him do. I shiver even though its 90 degrees outside. I call him inside but as he gets to the door he hesitates. i hurry him in. I feel its time for some outside interaction. i head to my room to flip on the radio. I turn it to an fm station and hear music. Nothing strange there. Jack runs out of the room and straight to the front door where he starts to whine again. Now i'm getting irritated with him. I head over to him to scold him when there is a noise against the front door. Not a knock but there is someone there. I hurry to my room to grab my gun. Someone is trying to break into my house. well did they pick the wrong house. I kneel in front of my arsenal of weapons in my closet and quickly choose my shotgun. this outta get the point across. just as i'm leaving the room i hear the front window in the livingroom break. Cursing loudly i step into the livingroom and gasp at what looks like arms coming in through the window. Three of them. Its a huge window from ceiling to floor but is filled with wooden squares not big enough for anyone but a very small child to fit through. but someone is trying. Trying hard. I try to get a good look at the arms but the stupid curtain is in the way. I yell for someone to say something before i start shooting and thats when i hear the ghastly moans start up. i'm done. its time to go. I race back to my room to grab the rest of my gear, throw my pack over my back which stores my sniper rifle and my shotgun. grab my ammo pack, my desert eagle, slip my machete into its holder, and grab my iron war dagger. its too late to grab anything else. My house is strong made of brick, but i dont know how many are out there and i dont want to be trapped. Besides i got to get to eric and the kids. The kids! i stop dead as terror takes ahold of my heart. I gotta get to the kids. They have no idea. My knees start to get weak at the thought of them at grandmas unprotected I take a deep breath grab my phone and my keys and head for the back door. i step out the door and look past the gate to my car in the car port. Holy crap theres like 15 of those things surrounding my car! i quickly think of my choices here. i could fight my way through to the car or.. ilook to the right at the back gate seperating my back yard from the alley behind it. Jack is already there sniffing around. I cant see any heads of anything back there. i look back to the left. they have noticed me and are limbering towards the gate. thank god its dark and i can barely see them. cuz i do not want to actually see a detailed version of the horror thats already in my mind. This decides it. i head to the back gate and quickly peek over. i see nothing back there. I start to hear distant screams of people in my neighborhood. Not too distant. they chill my blood. Lost in my thoughts i barely hear my neighbor troy yelling at me. "whats going on?" hes in his backyard as well. When they built these houses they seem to all have come equipped with strong gates leading to the backyards. He mumbles something about his partner not making it home from work. No wonder, he rides a bicycle. I tell him to get the hell outta here and find safety. I open the strong gate, the only opening in the bricked up backyard and close it securely behind. Quickly i look down both ways in the alley. Nothing. I lean against the brick wall for a quick second to breathe and plot my next course of action. Jack looks up at me as if to inquire whats next. I pull out my phone which still has a signal so im hoping it will work. I hit grandma on the list and eagerly await for it to ring. Relief washes over me as it rings. and rings. Then the familiar sound of my 6 yr old say that grandmas not there and to leave a message. I fight a wave of nausea as it rises in my throat. Its time to go. I head down the alley in the direction of erics work. its only a couple blocks away i just gotta make it there. Someone will have a car. Hope is all i have right now. and jack. he stays close to me stopping occasionally only to sniff the air. i'm paying close attention to him for he was my only warning tonight. i'm not running but kind of jogging as not to tire myself. this wasnt supposed to happen like this. eric was supposed to be there to help me carry this load. which seems to get heavier with every step. i finally make it out of the alley and quickly look around. the neighborhood has become eriely silent. that cant mean anything good. the main street is just a few blocks away and then one block down to the pool hall eric manages. We used to joke that it would be the perfect place to hold up. only two doors. one solid metal back door and a front door that had a metal shutter for when it was closed. two windows in the whole place. both small and high up. plenty of wood around to board them up. and they have a full kitchen so enough food for awhile. and of course pool tables and dart boards to distract from the ever psychological wearing of the moaning and scraping. and liquer. plenty of it too. it was always a point of discussion between us and our friends that came in there. but its in the heart of the city and probably would just end up being our final resting place. so to me was always just a joke. it sounded like heaven at the moment tho. if only to catch my breathe for a minute. I finally came out on the main road. strange you couldn't tell anything wasn't business as usual. true there weren't too many cars on the road for a friday night. but at my first glance nothing seemed out of place. Even jack seemed to shrug as if the past hour was simply a dream. but then came the distant screams. i shivered as reality hit me hard. this was really happening and i had to keep moving. I could see it from where i stood and knew it was only a matter of minutes before i arrived. but still too far to see how many cars were there. i had tried to call there after i had tried to call the kids (numerous times with the same recording) and it had been busy. tried erics cell and was busy. everything was busy except for the same recording from grandmas with christophers innocent 6 yr old voice telling me grandma wasnt there. damn. i had never felt so fucking useless. sorry for the language but right now with everything going on.... yeah a little emotional. interrupting my thoughts jack starts barking wildly. i swing around iron dagger at the ready (keep in mind this is not a conventional dagger, its a war dagger about 2 feet long and laser sharpened) to face one of these undead monsters staggering right at me. i gasp aloud at the sight of it. i cant tell if its a man or woman. half its face is missing and its torso looks like quite a few have had its fill from it. its too close to swing at and i have no choice but to push it back with my arm. thank god i am quicker then it. it stumbles back and i bring my blade in direct contact with its skull (its harder then it looks to take a clean swipe at its neck even with training) i take off half its skull and it falls back on the ground. thats when i go for the decapitation. jack lunges at it once it hits the ground teeth bared. i kick him back. he yelps at me but i hope he understands. i love this dog and in no way want to see him die from infection. once the zed is no longer moving jack comes up behind me tail between his legs. i grab his collar and allow him to sniff the corpse. he jumps back as if bitten. he doesnt like what he smells. i hope thats enough to keep him from trying to bite in the future. life feels empty right now with nothing but hope to go on. i look around in all directions before starting back on my way. I can see the building i'm heading for and a few cars in the parking lot. but erics isn't there. i start to panic. where is he? god if hes anywhere i hope its on his way to the kids. i try my cell again, still busy. i cautiously approach the parking lot. making sure nothing is lurking behind any cars. the metal shutter is down over the front door. thats a good sign. and the light are on which means they will be able to see me on the camera at the back door. i go to the front door and pound lightly. then turn and wave my arms at the camera. Jack starts up again and i look to the left at a bunch of zeds staggering towards me. i pound again, this time way more insistantly. jack is barking at them but staying back this time. i'm yelling now for someone to let me in. my voice on the verge of hysteria as they are getting closer to me. i pull up my war dagger and my gun ready to take out as many as i can. someone please open the.. the door opens and someone grabs my arm to pull me in. they try to close the door but i fight them back whistling for jack to follow. he does quickly and i slam the door locking it quickly. "you knocked me down for a dog!?" i swing around at the voice behind me. he is on he ground where i must have knocked him down in my fight to keep the door open. "this dog has saved my life probably more then once tonight i would have shot you had you fought me more than you did, be happy you are on the ground" my voice was shaky but had a definite edge to it. "hey bobby its me, calm down your safe for now" i look closer and see it is one of the regulars, jake. my knees finally give out and i crumble to the ground. before i can get ahold of myself i start crying. now i'm not one for such emotions, but well this hasn't been a normal evening. jack comes over and nuzzles my face. i grab ahold of him as for dear life. Jake looks a little shocked to see me in such a state but says nothing. finally i calm myself and take a few breaths. then i notice how sore i am. he gives me a hand to stand up for i dont trust my legs right now. "wheres eric?" " i dont know bobby he was gone when i got here" I walk past him through the kitchen area to the bar. There are about 20 people in here and as i'm looking to see who i recognize my friend, tiffany, comes around the bar towards me. "bobbby thank god you are ok, tho i kinda knew you would be." she is an employee as well as a friend. i had gotten her the job here. she has never believed in anything supernatural, though i'm kinda sure she does now. She gives me a hug and looks behind me, "wheres eric?" "i thought he would be here" i said my heart sinking. "no he left about 30 minutes ago to find you" "oh why would he do that? he knows i would come straight here if anything was to happen." she shakes her head, "i dont know, he was worried about you. as soon as he figured what was going on he bolted out of here." I sigh and try to figure out what to do next. i know i should wait here for him to get back, but time is ticking away and i have to get to the kids. They dont know to come here they would probably go home. I never told grandma the plan. didn't want her to think i was crazy. she already said that i watched too many horror movies and didn't approve that i let the boys watch them. thank god the boys know what to do. but i don't know if they ever actually believed it would happen, they are after all, kids. Their fear may have led them to not think rationally. I got to get to them. i stand up, "anyone here got a car out back?" "you cant possibly be thinking about going back out there?" tiffany looks appalled, "eric said to make you stay here" "oh yeah?" i say, " did he say he was going to get the kids?" she shakes her head, "no nothing about it" "well i'm going to get my kids. Anyone? i need a car and i need it now!" i put my hand on my gun as to really drive the point home. "here catch!" i turn to see carrie throw her keys to me, "be careful," she says. Jake turns to her angrily, "what are you doing? you cant let her go! there are too many back there and eric is gonna be pissed that we didn't keep her here!" she shrugs, " you try to get between a mother and her kids, i sure as hell ain't gonna. eric will understand." Jake moves to get between me and the back door. "There are too many back there i am not letting you open that door." Jack is beside me and starts to growl at him. i smile at Jake, "yeah you dont really have a choice. i have never seen him attack anyone, but there's no doubt in my mind that he would love to attack you right now. now move, you are in my way." A couple other people let out feeble attempts to dissuade me. but i ignore them. i pull out my shot gun and look at the cameras. There are about 7 or 8 back there. God i must be crazy. i tell tiff to come to the back door and hold on to jack while io dispose of them. i swing open the back door and take aim. blam! at this close range one shot takes out two of em. tiff yells " bobby right!" i turn to my right and take out another one (littleclose for comfort that one) 3 more come staggering and i kick one back while taking a shot at the other two. 2 more coming closer and i need to reload, dont have time to tho. i pull out my machette, this is gonna get messy. the one on the ground is struggling to its feet. one goes down in front of me, silently. then the other. i look around to see eric strolling up with his bow. i quickly run my blade through the last ones neck. thrust in and turn out severing his head from his neck. i look around and see no more for now. but that doesn't mean they aren't close. eric looks like hell and is covered in blood. i gasp and grab him, frantically start examining every exposed inch of him. "This isn't my blood, dont worry they didn't get me, calm down its ok." he puts his arms around me and i collapse into them. "i was so worriedm, i went to the house. i knew you would have no warning." "but i did, " i say and whistle for jack. eric reaches down and scratches the dogs head. "good boy, i was hoping you were safe too." "i saw your car still there and knew you had to be on foot so i started looking for you and when i couldn't find you i knew you had to be here. But where are you going?" "you know where i'm going, i cant get grandma on the line. we have to get to the kids." "you should of waited for me bobby." "i'm sorry i couldn't wait, They need me, " my voice unsteady. he holds me tighter, " i had to get weapons too, i couldn't be unarmed." i pull back, "there were alot of those things at the house." "i know, but they hadn't gotten through the gate yet. getting out tho, there was alot more of them waiting for me." "well, " i say loading back up the shotgun and putting it away, " lets get you cleaned up quickly, then lets get out of here." I stay at the back door keeping a watch with jack. Tiff pops her head out the back door. "Any signs of them?" she looks around. "no, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. You know tiff, you should really get out of here while you can. Once this hits hard it's gonna be pretty hard to get out." She looks at me thoughtfully, "i feel safe here, with other people." I shake my head, " You guys are gonna be trapped eventually." "Are you guys not coming back here after you find the boys?" "Hell no, we are getting as far away from the city as possible, you should do the same. "You ready?" Eric steps out looking alot less gruesome. "Yeah lets get out of here." I give Tiff one last look, "You sure you dont want to come with us? Or at least let us drop you somewhere?" She shakes her head," No i'm gonna stay, i would probably just slow you down anyways and your gonna have enough on your hands as is once you guys get the kids." I give her a tight hug with a tear in my eye. I know i am never gonna see my friend again. Jack starts to growl once again and i look up to see about 5 of em staggering across the parking lot. Time to go. Me and Eric hurry to the car with jack right at our heels. We get in and start her up. I grip my cross that's always around my neck and bring it to my lips. I kiss it and say a silent prayer in my head for my kids. We start down the road and i take the opportunity now that i'm safe in the car to look around. Nothing looks really different. besides not too many cars out. almost none in fact. Thank god for that. Real soon this place is gonna be filled with them. trying to get away from the horrors that are going to be taking over. I'm surprised, given how many i have already seen, that more people have not been alerted. i shiver as i see a group of them huddled around something on the sidewalk. i'm thankful i cannot see what they are eating. Eric is silent and so am i. we are being very observant to our surroundings. the last thing we need right now is to lose the safety of our vehicle because we were not looking. it's a little ways to grandmas house and i'm fearful of how our surroundings will change once we hit her side of town. There are a lot more people in that part. its about 45 minutes from the border. Eric seems to read my mind, "Dont worry they are fine. We dont even know if anything has even happened over there yet." "She wont answer the phone." "You worry too much." "I don't worry enough, " i look out the window, not being able to help the feeling of dread that has come over me.