My story - 5

Glad to be back, in one piece. I've been out for the last few days. I almost didn't make it back. I woke up hungry for a kill and decided to go out for a hunt. Since the vultures have been excited over something big, I decided to go have a look. I loaded up the SRT vehicle and went over my map. I knew that I was going to have to go out of my safety zone. Well, I went a lot further than I thought I was. About 36 miles North/West of my camp. On my way out, while prepping the SRT, the radio started picking up a transmission. It was two males taking about a place they called Ground Z. It was hard to make out what exactly they were talking about. It had been awhile since I was able to pick up any sort of radio transmission. Someone was near. I had to be on my guard. I headed North through the roads I knew were relatively safe for the most part. When I passed my safe zone I ran into a large group of zombies. They didn't even bother to look my way. They were after something else. The were heading in the same direction as the vultures. It was during this time that the smell of rotting flesh filled the air. It's not to uncommon for that to happen during this time of year. When the cold fronts come in they bring the smell of death from up north down here. This was different. The smell was thick. This made me paranoid. As I continued North I passed parts of the city I hadn't seen since before the outbreak. It's amazing what in just a few years without human intervention can do to the landscape. The streets were still full of abandoned vehicles, I had to try not to get stuck. Some homes were reduced to ashes, others were being taken back by nature. By this time the Sun was starting to get it's hottest and more groups of zombies joined the dead parade. I wonder what could get them so hungry that they wouldn't even try to attack me. I followed just a few yards behind the horde. I started going through possibilities of what could be out there, none of which were even possible. We continued North and started to leave the city and into the wooded area that surrounded us. This was very dangerous. I didn't know the area very well, but I was prepared for almost anything. But not this. When the vultures stop flying, the zombies in front of me looked like the fell off the edge of the earth. I stopped to park the vehicle and loaded up my gear. What I found next was....well....intense. The zombies that I was following went down into a massive hole that was filled of bodies. Thousands of bodies were in there. Thousand more zombies where in there feeding. Not since my first kill did my hands shake so much. When I say massive hole, I mean fucking massive. It looked like a god damn crater. Whoever did this, had a lot of resources. They must of been the people that were on the radio. I decided to head back to my SRT and go back to camp. Then out of now where I heard a plane. Before I could spot it in the sky a huge explosion came from inside the whole followed by a wall of flames. I was thrown several feet and hit my head on the back of a large tree. I don't know how long I was knocked out, but when I woke up everything around my was on fire. I had this ringing in my hear that couldn't let me focus. When everything came back to me I ran towards my SRT. It was banged up but still there. I left back to camp. On my way back I saw zombies on fire running in the woods heading into the city. I had to shoot as many as I could. Last thing I need is for a massive city fire. After killing about 30 of them, they stopped coming out. On the ride back to camp I kept wondering who had access to a plane and equipment to dig a crater. Who else is out there? The sun was starting to go down and night fall was setting in. I wasn't going to make it back to base. I was going to have to find shelter and camp for the night. So I did. The night was pretty quiet. I could hear the burning trees and smoke. That night I slept with one eye open with my finger on the trigger. When I woke up I noticed I was burnt on my right leg and was bleeding from the top of my head, but at least I was still breathing. On my ride back to base I didn't run into any zombies. When I got to base I could still see the massive smoke plume dancing in the sky. Now I'm here, making some tea and bandaging my leg. Even though the zombie count is low in my area, I feel that I'm in more danger now. I have to hurry and finish my project, but I need to rest for the next few days and heal.