MY STORY

Call me crazy, but I always had trouble sleeping and out of boredom I would imagine different things. I imagined America being invaded by another country and what would I do. People often never stop to think about the very real possibilities like that. But being a loner growing up being highly intelligent and a fearless leader, I would see a tragedy like that as an opportunity. My life has always been about survival and I always liked to be prepared so I always tried to learn everything that I could to prepare myself for any situation. Despite all this, I was caught unprepared.

Me and my girlfriend were living in an apartment (A building of four apt.s and two stories).She had two sons, Daniel, and Donivan. We called Daniel, "Little Daniel" because my name too was Daniel. I was referred to as, "Big Daniel". I had a daughter, she would be turning two here on Oct. 25. She lived with her mother. It tore me apart knowing that her mother took her from me and the damn government wouldn't let me fight for her because I owed a damn bill. But that's all over now. I Don't know if her or the boys are still alive, they were in Tulare, (The neighboring town) when the outbreak began here.

It was late at night and I was up as usual after having too much caffeine, and ironically a friend on Myspace tried to warn me about what was going on. Naturally I didn't believe him. I rolled up a cigarette, (Ah, what I wouldn't do for a cigarette right now.) and I walked outside. We often had crackheads trying to rip us off so we had a motion sensor set up near the front of the building right where the carport began. When the sensor was set off, you heard a *ding, dong!* that let you know that someone was coming or near the cars. As I smoked I paced and thought about how I was going to get a job and get my daughter back when I heard, *ding, dong!*. I quickly, but cautiously walked out to the carport and stuck my head out. There was this guy, he looked like he was drunk or something. He was slowly walking around my girlfriends car which was parked farthest away from the sidewalk entrance. I honestly didn't expect to actually catch somebody out there, so it caught me off guard. I took a minute to get a clear look at him. Maybe I could identify him? Maybe he was mental? What was he doing, and did he have a weapon? He looked to be in bad shape. he looked like he just crawled out of a bad car accident that might have occurred at the intersection nearby. But I didn't hear anything.

I shouted "Hey!", "Can I help you with something?" He let out a creepy moan and began dragging his feet towards me. I shouted again "If you need help stay where you are and sit on the ground I'll go grab a first-aid kit and call nine-one-one, but if you come any closer I will treat it as a threat!" He moaned and continued. As I approached him slowly I said again "This is your last chance to sit on the ground or I will drop you to the ground!" He raised his arms as if he intended to grab me. I then grabbed his left wrist and put my other hand to his shoulder. I pulled his wrist and pushed his shoulder slamming him to the ground. I brought my knee down to his neck pushing his jaw down. Damn I'm glad I didn't try to punch him. Now that I had a clear look I could tell that this man was, not alive. I didn't believe it, but he was cold to the touch, and you could already start to smell the death on him. His wounds didn't even bleed. Terrified of zombies, I got shaky and he almost bit me. I am no coward, but I got up and ran! I didn't even warn the neighbors. I still feel terrible about that. I got inside of my apartment and locked the door.

Once inside my apartment my first thought was "I need a damn cigarette!" I was still in shock and I didn't know what to do. I stood by the door. I could hear his movement coming towards my apartment somehow he tracked me. He began to bang on the door. My neighbor, who lived above the apartment in front of mine, came out with his gun. He shouted "hey you need to leave!" But the man simply turned and began to walk towards him while I watched out of the peep hole. I heard three shots. Then there was a pause. I heard "What the!" Then three more shots. This time I heard the body fall.

I came out and saw the zombie finally still. My neighbor came down and said "Quick, help me pull him into my apartment and then we will call the cops!" I told him "There is no way I am picking that thing up, it was dead!" He replied "Yeah I know it's dead I shot it!" I looked at him wide eyed and dead serious. "It was dead before you shot it!" He looked at me like I was crazy, but before he could say another word *Ding-Dong!* He turned around and there was another. He started to fire shots. I yelled get inside your apartment and lock the door quick!" But he didn't listen. I ran inside my apartment and locked the door again this time I heard him scream in pain. Shortly after I'm sure my neighbors came out hearing all the noise. It wasn't long, and now I am haunted by their screams as well. My girlfriend had been stressed from the day prior, and decided to drown her sorrows in my beer. Luckily she slept through the whole ordeal.

I was freaking out I didn't know what to do but stay quiet and stay still. I didn't realize how long I was like that until I heard my girlfriends alarm go off. She normally woke up around two-thirty to get ready for work. I ran inside our bedroom and quickly shut the alarm off, but she was already awake. I tried to convince her to not leave but the harder I tried the more she fought me. She became terrified of me thinking that I had gone crazy. I tried to wrestle her to the ground and pin her down but she kneed me in the crotch and ran out the door. I don't know how far she got but she came back to me.

A Zombie.