Ratifying Ray

Wow... well... where to begin. It's a little hard to type this while listening to that girl scream. Angela... I love you... but people from Riverside are starting to notice. More and more zombies are finding their way into the front gates. I have to get that girl to shut up. I'm currently working up the courage to get over there and get our heads together.

As for now, I have to get this out of me.

Yesterday started out a little awkward. I woke up to James in the bed with me, which is not unusual, but I woke up with this terrible gut wrenching feeling. I shrugged it off.

I thought, "I just had a bad dream and this is left over from that."

James went home and I decided to venture over to Christina's. That was about 4 o'clock August 8th, 2008. When I get outside, I see a few people just standing around... not abnormal for this crackhead neighborhood... but I couldn't help but stare as I walked by.

Monday's are for drinkin'... So, by about 7pm I'm pretty drunk. It's me, Christina, Ray and Loki. We're being loud and stupid and I decide to go out on the balcony. I lean on the railing and light a cigarette and watch some people in the parking lot making out. I start sulking about my lack of a job, my obsesssive boyfriend, my alcoholism... when one of the make out buddies collapses.

At first I think they're drunk. So, I laugh a little but the laugh is short lived because something just isn't right about that guy. He doesn't help his friend up. As a matter of fact he seems to be confused. He keeps running into the body then backing up, like his trying to walk through it.

My heart is pounding. It's dawning on me that I may have been right all this fucking time.

I back inside the door and turn out the balcony light. With no expression on my face I turn off the radio and stand in the sparsely furnished appartment a little in shock.

Someone is telling me to go fuck myself for turing off the radio. Someone is screaming in my ear and all I can think is..."I was fucking right."

I don't know for sure how long I stood there before I went to the fridge and got the bottle of Captain Morgan's from the freezer. I chug it for a good ten seconds. Swallow. Chase with beer. Tell your friends the world is over.

Christina is asking me whats wrong. Loki is bitching about me drinking too much of the rum. Ray is in the other room. I shake myself a little and drag Christina and Loki to the balcony door.

I open the blinds.

The guy is gone, but the body's still on the ground.

"That guy... on the ground.... he's dead," I say and shudder.

"No he's fuckin' not," Loki says and before I can stop him he's outside.

Christina doesn't say anything. She just stares at me, then the body.

"Someone was eating him," I say. I can't bring myself to say what's really happening. I'm trying not to think it.

By the time Loki is at the body, I tell Christina to stand by the front door. I tell her get ready. I'm really just making sure she won't see it if Loki gets... caught up.

I watch him kick the body a little. Then he bends down and I watch him check for a pulse... then he's running... and the body's moving.

I tell Christina not to open the door until he says something.

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"There was no pulse," he says. We're all sitting in the bedroom. All the lights are out. Loki passes me the rum, "He... it... barely had a face left."

We spend a lot of time in silence before Ray gets his bright fucking idea.

"If you're right... then what if there are other people out there? It can't be that bad."

The ensueing conversation was a lot of desperate pleas... but the only thing they're pleading with is reality. All three of them are talking about family and friends. I stay quiet because we can't panic and they might if I tell them that they're better off not knowing how their families are right now...that Mommy's probably bent over Daddy's rotting flesh devouring his vital organs.

"We should go see if we can find anyone. Loki and I will go. You guys stay here. We'll make a quick circle of the complex, pick up anyone who's alive and then come back here," Ray says with a fierce determination in his eyes.

Before I say anything, I know this won't be good. So, I just say, "I think that's a really bad idea."

They left anyway... and while they're gone I refuse to look at the clock. I close the rum and start thinking of it as a weapon. I lay next to the balcony door so I'm able to see under the vertical blinds.

After my eyes adjust, and I get into a good position I start to see the magnitude of our situation. From where I am I see about five or six of them. It's not long before I see 6 ft Ray hobbling on 4 ft Loki's shoulder. It would be funny... it almost is... until I see Ray's arm covered in bite marks.

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Turns out they only found "zombies," Ray says, and then to the shocked look on Christina's face he says, "LOOK at my fucking arm. What else could they be?"

At this point, I'm just happy I didn't have to say it.

They tell us they counted about forty, but that it was too dark to see all of them. They tell us they've been inside Bldg 8 and 5. They say they tried to go to my appartmen building but the doors were stuck. From that point on they were fighting and hiding. The details are pointless.

By the time they've explained, Ray has lost a lot of blood. I keep telling myself he'll last long enough for me to explain to them what has to happen, but he doesn't. Five minutes later I hear that death rattle and Christina's burying her head in Ray's chest. She's screaming but it's muffled. So, I let her.

I look around the room. There's a sturdy looking angel statue on the table. I go and pick it up. Loki is in the other room. I think he may be crying. I hope he stays in there. I tell Christina to get up. She looks up at me and I can barely see her face, but I know she won't move. So, I just say it.

"We have to kill him," I say without emotion.

"He's already dead Aubrey. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

What happened next was a little confusing in the dark. I hear a groan from Ray and hear Christina scurry away from him. I can see him well against the white wall behind him. I take aim and slam the bottom of the statue into his skull. There's a sickeng crunch, but he's still moving. So, I slam it in again.. and again... Blood is splattering all over my arms and face. I don't stop until I can feel his brain on my hands.

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Christina hasn't really stopped staring at the blood stains for hours now. Ray's body is on the balcony. Loki still hasn't shone any real reaction.

Fuck, that girl is still screaming. I guess it's a little comforting when I think about it. At least I know she's alive.


Alright.... the sun is up. It's August the 9th. The world is over.

Vive La Resistance.