Chronicles of the Z.R.T.

The Begining

It’s been three weeks and I have not seen any live game in the area at all. My supplies are gone and I need food. I have one can of spam left and that won’t last long at all. I have to go back into to town. I should have know better, I thought my cabin in the mountains would be the best place to ride this epidemic out. Boy was I wrong. When I left to the mountains, all I concentrated on was weaponry to protect myself and a means to hunt for food. Who would have thought all the game would disappear.

Anyways, I could not prolong the inevitable any longer, so I loaded up all my remaining supplies and weapons into my Ford F-250 and headed down the mountain. My drive was uneventful and I hadn’t encountered any zombies on the way down. It gave me a small glimmer of hope that the epidemic was over. That was until I made the final turn into Canon City. The sight made me stop the truck and all I could do was stare in disbelief. The streets looked like a Los Angels city traffic jam during rush hour.

It was a nightmare, there were cars everywhere, and nobody was insight. I surveyed the scene one last time and decided that I had come to far to go back. Besides, I needed gas. My Ford F-250 was a monster of a truck and it lived up to it’s “Ford Tough” heritage, but it ran through gas like a hog eaten slop. So I pushed in the clutch, slammed the transmission into gear and slowly inched the big truck forward.

I was barely able to maneuver the truck through the traffic but I was making progress. My goal was to get to the nearest grocery store and stock up if there was anything left. I was still about a mile away when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I quickly jerked my head around and I saw a zombie making its way up the street in my direction. The sound of the Ford’s engine was drawing to much attention. I had to hurry and get to the store. I gave the Ford’s engine some more gas to put as much distance between me and that zombie as I could. It was slow going but the deeper I got into town the clearer the roads became. I guess everyone was caught trying to get out of town when the epidemic hit.

After what seemed an eternity, the shopping center intersection came into view. I let out a sigh and I began to feel a little relieved. That was until I got a little closer and I got a decent look at the parking lot. I stopped the truck and immediately killed the engine. My jaw hit the floor. The shopping center parking lot was filled with zombies. It was like a scene out of a Romero movie.

My mind began to race. I hadn’t planned on this and I didn’t have a back up plan. The next closest grocery store was on the other side of town. I would never make it there without bringing every zombie in that parking lot with me. I had no where to go and I still needed food. I quickly scanned the front of the grocery store and I could see the front doors were closed. If the doors were locked there was a good chance there might not be any zombies or a few at the most in the store. Of course that was just wishful thinking. The problem was how to get in.

I did a quick perimeter scan around that truck and I about screamed out loud when my eyes caught an outline of a body next to the building across the street from the shopping center. It wasn’t so much that it was a body, the body had an assault rifle! From where I was, I could tell it was a man dressed in black tactical gear and he was crouched down looking at me through the scope on his rifle. I froze, I couldn’t catch my breath and my mind was racing. After what seemed like hours the man lowered his rifle signaled to me be quiet and stay put. I nodded and the man turned and moved back behind the building out of sight. After a couple of minutes I saw the man making his way to me through the right side rearview mirror. I leaned over, unlocked the door and waited anxiously for the man to get to me.

When he had reached the truck, the man quietly opened the passenger side door and got in. “Does this thing still run?” he asked and I shook my head yes. “Then start it and back up as quickly as you can to the street right behind us and take a right. No time to talk. We’ve been spotted.” The man raised his hand and pointed to the shopping center parking lot. I had been so excited about seeing another living human that I forgot all about the zombies and when I looked back towards the parking lot they were all headed our direction. “Damn it.” I yelled as I brought the Ford’s engine to life and slammed the transmission into reverse. The Ford ‘s rear tires screamed as they pulled the truck away from the oncoming zombie mob. When I reached the road my new friend had indicated, I quickly worked the clutch and got us going on the road away from the shopping center. The road was fairly clear and I was able to get the Ford up to 60 before my copilot told me to hang a left into some warehouses. I slowed down just enough to make the turn and drove through the warehouse gates which closed as soon as we entered. “Pull into that open bay and kill the engine quickly.” I brought the Ford to a screeching halt and killed the engine. “Good Job. My name is Tony. What’s yours?” I was breathing heavy and my hands were shaking but I managed to reply, “Musashi.”


To be continued....