College Major

You're a twenty one year old college major who lives with your Parents is a series of CYOA topics created by RevolverSaro in mid-November 2008. It chronicles the survival of a zombie apocalypse.

Characters

WARNING: This section contains story spoilers for all characters with "finished" ends.

• College Major: The titular character. Prior to the outbreak, he was an electrical engineering major at an unnamed university. Dies after wrecking a car in a zombie infested town.
• College Major's Dad : A cop who was attacked. The first zombie College Major meets. Dispatched with hit to the head with a baseball bat.
• College Major's Mom : A highschool teacher. Killed by her husband while having sex. Eventually turned into a zombie but was killed before she could completely turn
• Scott Ferguson : A Youth Minister and one of College Major's neighbors. Presumably killed when zombies rush into the neighborhood.
• Vince Rhames: A cop and friend of College Major's dad. Eventually teams up with College Major to survive the onslaught. Named after Ving Rhames, an actor who has appeared in several zombie movies. Dies after accidentally setting himself on fire.
• Jeff Romero: A cop and friend of College Major's dad. Killed while trying to block off a crime scene. Named after George Romero, director of "Night of the Living Dead"
• Richard Lee: A man who was on vacation with his family when the infection began. Teams up with College Major at a gas station on day 1.
• Shannon Lee: Richard's wife. Was bit while saving Judith. Killed herself before she could turn into a zombie though.
• Joy Lee: Richard's 16 year old daughter. Spunky and cute.
• Rob Cummings: "A tough, thuggish" man who was rescued by Richard's family, prior to meeting College Major. Carries a bowie knife. Named after Rob Zombie.
• Simon: A half-crazed owner of a gunshop that the group visits while looking for supplies. Initially had a stand-off, but was convinced to join with our heroes. Carries a picture of his wife, Peggy, whom he believes is actually his wife. Takes vicodin. Named after Simon Pegg, the lead actor of "Shaun of the Dead". Apparently died during a purge of the psyche ward of the Swanson Lake Base hospital
• Judith O'Dea: A farmer. Her family was attacked by a zombie, though she thought was just an insane person. Met the group on the road and was forced into the group when a group of zombies attacked. Named after the actress who played the main character in "Night of the Living Dead".
• Douglas McCarthy: General and commanding officer of the Swanson Lake Military Base. A strict man. Named after General Douglas MacArthur and Senator Joesph McCarthy
• Maxwell Brooks: A doctor at the Swanson Lake Military base. Conducts a medical examination on College Major. Named after humorist Max Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide.
• Brian Russell: The head of the military police at Swanson Lake Military base. Helped CM escape from the base.

The College Major Chronicles

Inside College Major's House

You major in Electrical Engineering. Your father is a cop, and your mom is a high school history teacher.

Your last class of the day is Solid State Electronics. It gets out at 8 PM, so its always dark out when you get out. After class, you talk to your professor a little bit about an upcoming exam. After getting a study guide you head home.

Your house is in a nice quiet suburb. Your two-story house is at the end of a cul-de-sac. Your neighbors are douches, (they don't like your dog because it craps on their yard), but you keep to yourself for the most part. When you get inside, your mom and dad ask you how your day went. You say it went fine and ask how theirs were. Your mom says "It went well enough. My students had to give presentations today, so I didn't have to lecture. That was nice."

Your dad looks more tired than usual. He says "My day sucked. I was attacked by some crazy crack addict during a bust. He ****ing BIT me for christ's sake. He was uncontrollable,so we had to take him out. That's never any fun." You give him a hug to cheer him up. Then eat dinner while watching Chuck. Its a re-run (Chuck vs The Ex), but since you missed it the first time it was on, you're enjoying it. About halfway through, your dad has a coughing fit. Afterwords, he says he isn't feeling well and goes to bed. After Chuck ends, you go to your room and study for a little while. Then you go to bed.

Day 1: 3:25 AM

You wake up to screams coming from your parent's bedroom. It is your mother's voice. After a few moments, the screaming becomes more and more wet-sounding and muffled. Then it stops.

You go to your closet and find a baseball bat then cautiously creep towards your parent's room. The door is closed. You quietly open it. The lights are on inside.

The first thing you notice is heavy breathing. Then you notice that both your parents are naked and your dad is on top of your mom. Oh god. You didn't want to see that. You apologize profusely.

Your father suddenly looks up quickly when he hears your voice. Without warning, he lunges at you.

What they say about gaming IS true; it does improve your reflexes. Despite the suddenness of the attack, you respond quickly and nail your father in the head. Part of his skull caves in. However, that doesn't stop your father's attacks one bit. He is clawing wildly at you now and making bizarre noises.

After blocking for a moment, you find an unprotected area on his left hand side. Going off of pure adrenaline you swing, causing your father go totally off balance. Not hesitating you go in full strength and swing full power at your dad's head. It comes clear off.

Homerun.

The body drops to the ground instantly. Quickly glancing around the room, you see your mom. Half of the skin on her face is torn off and there are bite and nail marks all over her. The bed is covered in blood as well. The sight is so horrible that you throw up.

You don't know what the hell just happened, but you need relaxing. You grab your bat, sit down on the sofa and turn on the TV. Oddly enough, there is nothing on. You flip through a few channels and come to CNN, where their overnight correspondent looks panicked.

"These attacks started as isolated incidents early yesterday afternoon. Initially, people were reporting the attacks as random acts of violence by crazed individuals, but it is now apparent that this is an infectious disease. Though there has not been much time to analyze the symptoms yet, but we do know that the disease is spread by saliva. The incubation period is incredibly short and always fatal. It can be as quick as four hours.

However, the problem arises after death has occurred. The infected will re-animate. Be careful, especially when this occurs with a loved one. They have no memories of their past life and will attack you without remorse. They are no longer the person you once knew"

Sudden there is a loud noise inside the studio. The anchor starts shouting "THEY'RE HERE! THEY'RE HERE!" Then the feed dies.

You sit there, astonished. Then you remember what was just said "The infected will re-animate." You remember your mother. You quickly grab your dad's pistol, run upstairs. Your mom's body is twitching on the bed.

You aim the gun and fire. However, you can't get the image of your mother out of your head. Your shot goes astray. Now your mother is twitching violently. You fire again. This time, your shot connects. Her head explodes in a cloud of blood. Well that's taken care of.

You grab your backpack and start putting supplies in it: Some canned fruit and vegitables, a couple bottles of water a can of spray paint for signaling rescue copters, a zippo lighter, and a first aid kit. You also check the pistol's clip to see how many more shots you have: Just four more bullets. You rummage around and find an extra clip that has 12 shots in it. Feeling prudent, you also make a strap to carry your bat with. After double checking to make sure you have everything you need, you slowly open the door to check the street. It's still dark out.

Day 1: 3:55 AM

No sign of zombies, but twelve of your neighbors are standing outside your house. One of your neighbors, a youth minister named Matt Ferguson, sees you and says, "Hey! Is everything ok? Did someone break into your house? We all heard screams coming from your house, then gunshots a few moments ago. We called the cops and they are on their way..."

Realizing that there is safety in numbers, and thinking that your neighbors deserve to know what is going on, you try to explain what has happened to them. After telling them your story, they all laugh Then Scott says, "Don't be ridiculous. This isn't some movie..." Suddenly he tenses up. "Wait... where are your parents? Those gunshots just now.. were they from you?"

You try to convince them that you're telling the truth, but they aren't buying it. They are sure that you just murdered your parents. Now two of the larger men are starting to circle around you...

Feeling you have no other alternative, you draw your pistol and tell everyone to back off. They act shocked, but comply. You make your way towards your car, keeping your gun pointed at them them and continuing to warn them. When you get to your car, you go to open the door. It's locked. Then you remember you left your keys inside. ****.

Suddenly you hear police sirens. A patrol car winds down your cul-de-sac and stops in front of your house. Instinctively, you quickly hid the gun inside your pants before the cops can see it.

The crowd surrounds the officer, both of whom you've seen before when you visited your dad at work. One is a athletic black officer named Vince Rhames, the other is a skinny cop named Jeff Romero. Both are friends of your fathers.

"One at a time! One at a time!" Officer Romero shouts as he gets out of his car.

Scott steps forward. "About fifteen minutes ago, two gunshots were fired. Before that there was some bizarre screaming coming from Officer [your last name]'s house. Not long after, [your name], came walking out of his house. He pulled a gun on us!"

Vince and Jeff give each a look then pull out their sidearms. "Is this true, [your name]? Jeff, go check him out", Officer Rhames says.

You walk to them willingly and let them search you.

"Jesus christ, he IS packing." Rhames tells Romero. "Where is your dad at?"

You then try to explain everything to them. They don't buy it either. You're handcuffed and placed in the back of the car. They put your backpack in the trunk and they keep your pistol in the front with them.

Officer Rhames then sends Officer Romero to create a parameter, while he radios in dispatch telling them to send in an investigation unit.

"Sorry, Rhames, we can't do that. All personnel are being sent downtown. There is a riot going on down there. It was quick to start.... I think..."

"You think what, Bartowski?"

"I think its not really a riot, Rhames. I think it is whatever is that is attacking Atlanta and New York."

Rhames draws the transmitter upclose. "Goddamnit, Bartowski. You heard the orders. We aren't suppose to be talking about that, especially with a civillian nearby. Besides, we're in the middle of bum **** nowhere, miles away from that ****. No way in hell did it spread so quickily."

Just then, the people outside start screaming. You see a zombie on top of Officer Romero, tearing and biting at him. Everyone had been so distracted talking to one another that they hadn't seen it come running down the street. Officer Rhames quickly draws his gun and starts firing at the zombie. It is easily taken out. Officer Romero, however, isn't so lucky. His body remains motionless.

You begin shouting "NOW DO YOU BELIEVE ME!"

"What the hell was that!" Scott Ferguson says. Another neighbor, Mrs. Delores Fischer, tells him that it was Cindy Kim from one block over.

Officer Rhames begins telling everyone to get inside their houses and lock the door.

Just then, you see four human figures about 500 feet down the street. You yell to Rhames that 4 more are coming down the street and to get in the car.

That gets their attention though. The go from a shamble to a sprint in mere seconds. Rhames,fortunately is already near the car. He hops in as quick as possible and takes off. One of the zombies gets hit by the car, but the other 3 avoid getting hit and run after the people still outside. Just before you leave your neighborhood, you see Scott Ferguson get tackled.

Downtown

Officer Rhames drive on in silence for a short while. The whole time his radio is dead. He's neither getting a signal, nor being able to transmit one. After about five minutes, he pulls over, uncuffs and gives you your bag back. He doesn't give you your pistol though.

"I don't know what the hell those were back there, but I owe you an apology. If you hadn't warned me, I'd be dead back there. This gun, however, isn't yours. It belongs to my precinct. That is where I'm going. You can come if you want.

Not wanting to be separated and gunless, you stick with Officer Rhames. The precinct isn't too far from your house. It is another ten minute drive. As you get closer to town, you start seeing signs of violence: Bodies on the side of the road, smoke and fire off in the distance. You begin to regret your choice, but there is nothing you can do about that now. When you arrive at the precinct, it looks like it normally does.

Day 1: 4:22 AM

To your surprise, the precinct is not overrun. In fact, it is fairly busy. The phones are ringing off the hook. When you walk in, the police chief, a man named Sam Carlsbad, approaches you and Rhames. He isn't happy.

"Dammit, Rhames. Why haven't you been answering your radio?"

Rhames looks tired, but doesn't back down. "It's broken. I don't know how, anyway, we need to talk chief."

Rhames and the chief go into an office. The people that are there ignore you, being too busy to even notice you. You go over to your dad's desk. There is a picture of you, your mother and your dad on vacation when you were ten. It is then that you realize that they are both truly gone.

You don't know how much time has passed, but you are stirred by Rhames.

"Hey kid. The situation downtown is getting pretty bad. They're sending me down there to help contain the..things. We could use an extra gun. Wanna come?

Against your better judgement, you decide to go down with Rhames. In any case, you would have been the only one there: The rest of the precinct is going down too.

On the ride over, you ask Rhames why the National Guard hasn't been called in. He tells you that they sent a request, but they aren't able to come: They've been called into other cities. We're all alone.

Eventually you come to a line of cop cars. There is a large number of cops,all using their cars as a barrier. You see some cops laying on the ground, presumably dead.

Before you get out, Officer Rhames grabs your shoulder. "Here's your gun back, kid. Also I got you these". He hands you 3 clips. "Listen to me. If **** gets rough, get the hell out of here. No point dieing yet."

Outside the car, you hear near-continuous gun fire. You and Rhames walk over to a cop you've never seen before. "Ah, District 4 sent some re-enforcements. Great. Here's the situation. These freaks are out of control. Originally, it started around 4th and MLK, but we were pushed back here. These things don't quit. Now, if you are going to be down here, you're going to have to be a cold-blooded son of a *****. Show no mercy, or they'll tear your ass apart. Then you'll become one of them. If you get bit, you get shot. Understand me? Good now, we're getting ready to go raid an apartment complex and we are taking volunteers. You boys wanna come?"

You shake your head, indicating you don't want to want to join the raiding party. "Very well. Suit yourself. Take up a position and fire at anything that moves. No questions asked."

You find an opening and take it. The zombies are quick, but due to the line of cops, most are taken out as soon as they are spotted. In total, you spend fifteen bullets.

Things are going smoothly until you hear here someone shout "They're coming from behind us!" You look back and see a group of zombies rushing towards you. Worse yet, there is a group rushing on the other side. You're caught in the middle.

Knowing that your chances of survival are slim staying out in the open, you jump into the closest cop car. The keys aren't in the ignition though.

While you were fiddling with the care a zombie took notice of you and started charging towards you. You don't notice it until it is about 10 feet away. You pull up your gun, getting ready to shoot it, but you don't have to. Before you press the trigger, its head explodes.

Officer Rhames walks towards you, his gun drawn. "Hop over, kid. We need to get the **** out here."

He slams the door. Zombies begin pounding on the windows. He hits reverse. A few zombies are behind the car. They are ran over. When he has a bit more space, he rotates the car and starts driving forward.

You drive back to the precinct. When you get there, the door is smashed in. Rhames looks at you. "There are weapons and supplies in there...but god knows what else is inside..."

You take a good long look at the precinct. "No, let's just get out here."

Rhames hits the gas and you speed for city limits. On the way. Signs of the epidemic become more and more obvious: People running from their houses, fires, bodies on the side of the road.

Gathering Supplies

Out side of town is eerily empty. No cars on the highway. You drive on for an hour. The sun is starting to come up.

Day 1: 5:54 AM

Rhames suddenly says "Hey, we're running low on gas. Got any ideas?"

You get off at the next exit and find a gas station not to far by. It is isolated and there are no signs of zombies. However, it is unmanned. Vince gets out and goes to use the pump, but no gas is coming out.

You go inside to turn in the pump, in order to get inside, you have to smash the door open (it's glass, so it shatters relatively easy.

You go over to the register and flip the switch that turns on the pumps, Afterwards, you grab a plastic bag and begin loading up on food. While getting supplies, you see a large RV pull up. A man in his early 50s gets out of the car and him and Rhames start talking. Not alarmed, you go back to what you're doing.

When you gather all the food you can carry, you go back outside. You find out that the man is a lawyer named Richard Lee. He was on vacation with his wife Shannon and their 16 year old daughter Joy. They were in a nearby town, Willowspring, when they first noticed the attacks and got out of dodge. On the way, they met a man Rob Cummings, a tough thugish guy, but overall friendly. They grouped up with him. After a bit of talking, you all decide to team up. Safety in numbers. The problem is transportation:

You all agree that taking both is the best idea so you do. Now you have another problem: Where to go.

Richard suggests this: "On the radio, they are saying there is a camp set up for survivors at Swanson Lake Army Base. Maybe we should head there?"

Rhames shakes his head. "No, that is just going to be a magnet for people who are bitten, but not yet turned. We should stay mobile."

"You're right kid, we need more weapons if we're going to survive this. Richard, do you know any gun shops nearby?" Rhames says

"Sorry, Vince, I don't. My family isn't from around here."

Just then, Rob steps out of the RV. " I know where one is at. About ten miles south of here is a town called Wardlow. There is one there."

Richard looks nervous. "We drove through there on our way here, right? Its already been infected..."

Rhames puts his hand on Richard's shoulder. "That's what we're going to have to deal with from now on. We're gonna be lucky if we find any town that isn't infect, I think."

So you break off and get into your respective cars. You ride with Rhames in the cop car.

Day 1: 6:30 AM

The town isn't far at all. It is a small town. However, for a small town it is very active. People are running all over the streets from zombies.

The RV stops at the gun shop. Richard, Rob, you and Rhames get out and press up against the RV, on the side not facing the street. Rhames talks first. "Since we only have two guns right now, one of us needs to stay out here with the RV, who will it be?

You hand your gun and one of your clips to Richard and pull your bat out of its sheath. Rhames tells Richard to tell keep low and stay from the windows. Before you head in, Rob approaches you.

"Hey man, I'm going in there with you. Don't worry about me though, I got a knife so I'll be able to take care of myself."

The three of you walk over to the shop door, not surprisingly it is locked. However the door appears to be barricaded in. The barricade doesn't hold long behind the weight of three fully grown men though.

It is dark inside. The shop has a basic layout. In the back of the store is a staircase, presumably leading to the owner's apartment. The three of you go about gathering weapons and ammo. Just when you're getting ready to head back, there is a shotgun blast. It nearly hits Rob, but the shot is off. You, Rhames and Rob quickly dodge behind the shelves.

"You freaks aren't getting my family! I'll kill you all! Every last one of ya mother ****ers!" The owner is standing on the staircase. He's a small built white man. He's shaking violently.

Rhames is two aisles down, with his gun ready. Rob is sneaking around, trying to flank the owner. You motion for Rhames to stand down. You then try to tell the man that you're not infected, and that you're just trying to get supplies.

"So you're looters then? I'll have you know, this shop has been in my family's blood for 3 generations. No way am I going to let some snot nosed thieves ruin my store!"

You shout out to him. "You and your family can come with us! You aren't safe here anymore!".

The man is staunch in his position. "I can't leave. Three generations of my family have lived here! I can take care of yourself."

Rob laughes. "Look here, old man. If we could break through your barrier, what makes you think they can't. You're safer with us."

The man is silent. "Alright, alright. You're right. Let me go get my wife."

The three of you sigh in relief. It is bad enough you have to deal with zombies, but not humans as well. After a moment the man comes down. "It is ok, Peggy, these men won't hurt you." He's holding a picture of a woman in one hand, and his shot gun in the other. You don't have time to react to that though, since you hear zombies outside and gunshots coming from the RV.

You rush outside. Ten zombies are pounding on the van. Rhames takes out two instantly, the gun shop owner also takes out a zombie, and blasts the legs off another. Rob is loading shells into one of the shot guns you just got.

You stand back and let Rhames and the gunstore owner fire while you quickly load a rifle.

Rhames takes down another zombie, GS Owner also takes another. You fire off a shot taking down a zombie who was on the roof. Rob also takes down one. However, after his shotgun jams after firing. The way is now clear to the cars, but they are making a dash for Rob. One has tackled at him and is trying to bite him, thus making it difficult to fire at.

You rush over to where Rob is, and hit the zombie with your bat. It knocks the zombie back, but it recovers quickly and slashes your arm hard with its nails. You let out a scream and grab your arm. You can feel blood coming out.

Meanwhile, Rob is back up and has unjammed his gun. He fires off a shot, and the zombie drops to the ground, lifeless. Rhames and Gunshop Owner have taken out the other two.

Rhames walks over to Rob and asks him if he is ok. Other than being a little shaken up, he's fine. He then checks you. Your arm is hurting sharply and bleeding, but not overly bad. You go back and pick up your bundle of guns and supplies and put it in the cop car, Rob and Rhames put their bundles in the RV. Then Rhames hands Rob a walkie talkie. "I found this in the gunshop. I figure we can use this to communicate. Take it." Rhames then heads over to the cop car where your standing. The owner follows you. "Me and Peggy would like to ride with you. We'd feel safer riding with a police officer."

"Go ahead," Rhames says. "What is your name, anyway, old timer?"

The owner says his name is Simon. You all get in the car and leave. Just in time too. As you pull away, you notice a group of zombies rushing at you. They can't keep up with the vehicles though.

After driving on for a while, Rhames grabs his walkie talkie and calls the RV. Richard answers the radio. "Glad to see you're ok, Richard. We need to decide where to go to, now."

"Yeah, we can't keep putting this off. I still think we should head for the military base. It is about 100 miles away. We can get there in about an hour and a half, providing we don't run into any trouble."

Rhames is in disagreement and still thinks you all should stay mobile.

Day 1: 6:55 AM

You tell Rhames that you agree with Richard. Simon also agrees with Richard. Outnumbered, Rhames gives in. "Alright, but I have a bad feeling about this..." He says.

The Road to Swanson Lake Army Base

Your arm is still bleeding, so you go into your bag and pull out your first aid kit. You get some disinfectant and apply it. Then you wrap a bandage on the wound. Your arm is sore as hell.

Simon pulls a bottle of pills out of his pocket and takes two of them. Rhames sees this and becomes curious.

"What did you just take, old man?"

Its nothing. Just some aspirin. I have bad arthritis.

You saw what was written on the container before he put it away. It was vicodin. Whatever. You feel very tired right now. The night before, you only got a couple hours of sleep, and you've been pushing yourself hard the last couple hours.

You take out one of the cans of food out of your bad and eat it, then drink a little water. Feeling that everything is going to be ok, you doze off.

You dream of being back at home. Your mom and dad have chased you around your house. You are cornered in your bedroom. They pounce you and beginning biting into you.

You wake up sweaty. You're no longer on the highway, but are on a backroad in the middle of nowhere. It appears to be mid-afternoon . You ask Rhames why you left the highway. He explains that the road was being blocked by a car accident, and was impassable. You have been driving on the backroads for the last 4 hours. You're now lost, though you've been going generally south.

Rhames then asks if you could take over driving. You agree. The car pulls over and you switch seats.

You drive on for a little longer when you get a call from the walkie-talkie. It is Richard. "Hey, uh, it has been a while since we've eatten and were thinking of pulling over and making something real quick. We can try to get our bearings as well.

Despite the fact that you've already had a bit of food, you admit it is for the best if the others have a chance to eat. You find a place to pull over. You leave Rhames in the car to sleep

Day 1: 11:15 AM

This is the first time you've met Shannon and Joy. Shannon is a kind woman. Joy is a spunky, cute girl. The women tend to the kitchen, making hot dogs for everyone, while the men took inventory of their supplies, in addition to your backpack, you have a lot of food from the gas station...however, there isn't very much healthy food. Most of it is junk.

You made off very well at the gunstore however. There are enough handguns for everyone, plus three hunting rifles and one shotgun, as well as Simon's shotgun. You're well off on ammo now too, you take three more pistol clips, and enough ammo that you have 25 shots from your hunting rifle.

Next you check a map. After a few minutes, you discover you're about 5 miles from the nearest way back to the highway, and 50 miles too far southeast. How they let that happen, you have no idea, regardless, this is the situation you're in and now you have to deal with it.

After eatting, you all agree that it would be a good idea to get moving so you pack up.

The road is clear, until you find the entrance back to the highway. You see a woman run out onto the road. She is waving her arms, trying to signal you and is now in front of your car. There isn't enough room to avoid her.

You cautious slow down the car. When you realize she isn't infected, you roll down the window. She is a young woman, in her mid-twenties, blond.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she says, repeatedly. "You're the first car that's stopped all morning! I don't know what is wrong with this world. Thank god the one car that does stop is a police car."

You ask her what the problem is. She tells you that she lives in a farm not too far from here. This morning, someone broke into her house and attacked family. She managed to escape, but she is concerned about her dad, mom, brother and sisters.

You already know where this is heading though, and so does Simon. You explain to her what is happening. She begins to panic, begging you to go with her to her farm and help her family.

The RV, wanting to know what the problem is, calls in on the radio. You explain to them, and they tell you to ignore her and keep going.

You tell her that chances are, her family has already turned, and that going back to the farm would be a death trap. She starts crying and says you're a horrible person.

Perhaps you were a little harsh on her. Feeling guilty, you tell her there is a refugee camp set up at Swanson Lake, that you and your friends are heading there. You ask her if she wants to come along.

"Why would I want to go with a dick like you." Fair enough. You doubt she is going to come with you now though. You apologize once more, roll up your window and begin driving off.

You get 30 feet forward and are turning onto the highway, but notice about 10 zombies running towards you. They are a ways off still, but heading straight towards you. You reckon that you'll be able to drive past them, no problem, but that the woman will be dead if you leave her be. The RV is still right next to her.

You radio back to the van, telling her that there is a large group coming towards you and to force the woman into the RV. You see the RV stop, one of the back doors open. Someone, you can't make out who, jumps out and starts shouting at her. She pulls away. Just then another person gets out and helps the other drag her into the RV. She is putting up a struggle.

In the mean time, the zombies have reached the car. They are pounding on the windows, trying to break the glass and get to you. The windows are starting to crack. Rhames wakes up from all the commotion. Simon has his shotgun ready. You can grab one of your pistols. Luckily they are distracted by you that they aren't going after the RV, yet.

You hit the gas pedal as hard as you can. The car bolts forward. two zombies front of the car are hit. their bodies bounce onto the windshield. You hear a smack, and parts of the windshield cracks, but it holds. The zombies slid off and you move forward.

Some of the zombies give chase, but after you get out of range, they loose interest and run straight at the RV. You start to hear gunfire. After a while, you look in the rear view mirror. The RV is following.

Neither you, Rhames or Simon speak to each other for the next view minutes. After you're far down the road, you get a call over the walkie talkie. It is Richard. He doesn't sound happy at all. "Pull over." is all he says. You comply.

Everyone comes out of the RV. You, Rhames and Simon get out of the cop car.

Richard runs over to you and punches you hard in the face. You feel blood flowing from your nose. "You cowardess, selfish son of a *****. You tell her to force her on board, then you leave us for dead? What the ****ing hell is wrong with you?" He punches you again, this time in the gut. Rhames rushes over and pulls him off of you.

"You could have gotten us all killed. And then you just leave us there? You didn't even help us. You mother ****er. Its all your fault. You're lucky I don't kill you where you stand."

You begin apologizing for what happened. Richard isn't backing down though. "Apologizing isn't going to change anything. You should have been there with us. That is why we are travelling together, isn't it!"

Joy just then interjects. "Stop it, dad! We shouldn't be arguing amongst ourselves! That will only get us killed. We need to work together now! Stop fighting! I'm sure he's sorry!"

Rhames then cuts in. "The girls right, Lee. There wasn't much he could do. Its either we sit there, waiting for them to break in and kill us, or we move. You were in a better position than we were, that's all. The important thing is that we are all safe."

With that, you decide to take a five minute break, so that emotions cool down, then head back out. Everyone is ordered to keep close.

Rob walks up to you. "Hey man, when we set out, is it ok if I ride with you guys? I need a change of pace, if you know what I mean." You agree to let him ride with you.

You spend the five minutes talking to Rhames, filling him in on what he missed while he was asleep. You also give him the hamburger that was made for him at launch. He says he is still tired and asks you can still drive. You say sure.

You also spend the time checking out the damage to the police car and RV. The cop car's windshield is badly cracked, but you will be able to manage. The side windows also have quite a bit of damage. You hope you don't run into any more hordes. The RV is pretty badly dented.

Right before you set out again, the woman whom you just saved approaches you. "Hey... Um, I just wanted to say thanks for saving me back there. I know, I was acting like an idiot, but well. I owe you my life."

You talk for a little bit and find out her name is Judith O'Dea. After a moment of awkwardness, she says that she wouldn't feel comfortable riding in the RV and asks if she can ride with you.

With Simon and your guns and supplies in the backseat, there is only one more seat left.

You tell her that there isn't enough space. She looks sad, but nods and heads to the RV. Meanwhile Rob loads his stuff into the car and gets in. Soon after, everyone sets off once more.

Day 1: 12:45 PM

Once the car moves, Rhames positions himself to go to sleep, but Rob stops him. "There is a reason I want to ride here. I wanted to talk to all of you, without Richard nearby. I'm not sure about this, but I think something happened during the attack. You see, when you radioed us to grab the girl, Richard passed off the steering wheel to his wife, and came out back to help me load her in. We made it fine. However, the freaks broke the driver-side window. When we got back in side, she was grabbing her arm in... I don't know if she was bit or what, but I think this should be settled pretty quick, you catch my drift?"

Simon laughes. "I'd take that ***** out right now, idn't that right, Peggy? What, you don't want me talking about another man's wife like that? Hushup, woman."

Rob glares at the old man. "Geezer, shut the hell up and stop talking to some old photo." Simon looks away indignantly.

"The old man has a point," Rhames says. "If she is infected, this needs to be dealt with ASAP. "

Rhames is right. this needs to be dealt with now. You pick up the walkie talkie and are about to talk into it, but then Rhames grabs it from you. When you pass it off, there is a small jolt of pain that shoots up your arm, causing you to flinch. Rhames notices it, but doesn't say anything. Instead, he talks into the walkie. "Hey, uh, Richard. A bunch of us need to take a piss. Is it ok if we pull over soon?"

Richard said that you should have went while you were on break. Kind of hard to refute that logic >_>. Regardless, Rhames presses the issue harder and Richard gives in. A few minutes later the cop car and the RV pulls over. Rob and Simon pretend to go take a piss. You walk over to Shannon. She is standing next to Richard.

"Richard, is it ok if we talk to Shannon in private?" Rhames asks.

"No." Richard replies.

"Oh come on, sweetie. I'm sure it isn't anything that - " She is interrupted by Richard.

"You're not talking to them alone. Anything they can say, they can say in front of me."

Alright. You tell Richard that you have reason to believe that Shannon was bit when the RV was attacked and that she needs to be checked immediately. Richard laughs and says that if she was bit, it would be more obvious. You point out that your dad received his bite during the middle of the day, and he didn't show any symptoms until that night. Richard gets more and more abrasive.

You look directly at Shannon and talk to her directly. You tell her that if she is bit, everyone needs to know as soon as possible. She could get everyone killed, including her husband and daughter. Richard is screaming at her to not listen to you, but she is silent. After a moment, she says "My left arm..."

Rhames walks over and starts examining it. Sure enough, there are teeth marks. The whole area is red and there is some puss leaking from the wound. Richard is about to shove Rhames off her, but Shannon stops him. "It is for the best that they know. They deserve to know. Besides, think of Joy. I don't want to turn into one of those things. I don't want to kill my family..." Richard stops where he is standing and is now silent.

After a moment, she says "So...what are we going to do?"

Rhames offers a suggestion. "This doesn't have to be overly painful. Simon has some Vicodin. We can give you enough to overdose."

You say that that isn't a good idea. ODing isn't that quick, plus you don't know if she wouldn't turn. The only sure way is for her to shoot herself. Richard starts calling you a barbarian and a monster. Shannon says that you are right though.

The only problem now is who should take the shot. No one volunteers. Then, Shannon speaks "I'll do it myself. None of you should have to do this. This is my burden."

Rhames walks over to her and tells her to make sure she destroys the brain. If she screws up, she could end up turning.

Richard walks over to her and tries to talk her out of it, but she has made up her mind. They say goodbye to one another She walks to the other side of RV by herself. Moments later a gunshot is heard.

Joy and Judith, both of whom were in the RV come outside, demanding to know what just happened. Richard tells them and Joy bursts into tears. They cry together and then head into the RV, silently together. Just before they get in, you stop Richard and apologize for what has happened. His gaze is sharp and he says "Make no mistake. If I were alone, I would shoot you where you stand. But I have my daughter to consider. Her best chance of survival is if we stick together, at least as far as the military base. From there, I don't want to see you ever again."

Fair enough, you suppose. Just then, two jets fly overhead. They are going in the direction you just came from. You're not sure what that is about, but you figure that you'll find out soon enough, once you get to Swanson Lake.

Swanson Lake Army Base

Once again, you move out. Within the next hour, you arrive near the military base. You can see movement inside, though at this distance, you can't tell if they are all undead or not.

"Peggy thinks we should send scouts, and I agree with her for once. I don't want to pull in there, only to get mauled to death."

You volunteer to go. You radio the RV, telling them you're going to scout up ahead. Richard says he has a pair of binoculars, so you get them from him.

You go about 300 feet up ahead and use the binoculars. You see two soldiers approach the cars, as they drive in. They do a quick check of each vehicle. You notice that they confiscate any vehicle they find. Content with your findings, you head back to the cop car.

Once inside, you grab the walkie talkie and report your findings. You tell them that they are collecting weapons. Richard doesn't think it is too big of a problem, but Simon, Rhames and Rob don't particularly like the feeling of giving up their firearms.

Richard, knowing he is outnumber gives in. "Fine" he says "There is a cargo space in the RV. We can try hiding them in there." So everyone gathers together all the weapons and takes them to the RV. Afterwards you drive into the base.

You're greeted by one of the soldiers. "Good afternoon sir. Welcome to Swanson Lake Army Base."

They do a quick search of your car then come back and ask more questions. " Has anyone in your group been bitten, or received a similar wound?"

Rhames, Rob and Simon look uneasy.

You can tell these men mean business, so you quickly just say no. It isn't a lie. You WEREN'T bit, after all. No one else in the car says anything. The soldiers do a quick once-over and then let you in.

Day 1 : 2:00 PM

Your car is directed to a parking lot. It is nearly full. A large number of people are getting stuff out of their cars and moving around. Once you park, Rob grabs you on the shoulder. "Hey. We all know you weren't bit back there. Besides, you got that wound because you were saving me. If anyone gives you trouble, I got your back."

You thank Rob. He heads off. Rhames and Simon head off as well. You grab your backpack and go about looking for a place to lay down. You ask a soldier where the sleeping area is. He directs you to a large tarpped area with sleeping bags laid out. "I know it is crude, but we had to throw this together pretty quick. Besides, we're going to have this situation under control soon anyway. Y'all be back in your homes by the end of the week.

You're pretty tired, but you're hungry as well.

You head off, looking for someone to strike up a conversation with. After a while, you see a group of three guys in their mid-30s. You find out that they are from a town near yours. They fled yesterday evening and made for here straight-away.

"The televisions were still broadcasting when we left. No one has been able to get a signal from a station for about two hours. The soldiers here keep acting like this is just a temporary crisis...but I'm not so sure." says one of the men.

No one knows exactly is causing the virus, they just know it spreads through saliva. Fortunately there have been a few tests so far, and all of them indicate that the person has to be changed before saliva is viral though, so being close to a carrier won't cause harm. Rumors are going around that animals can contract the virus, but there haven't been any confirmed reports yet.

You mention the jets that flew overhead, asking if they came from this base. They say no, but they flew over here as well.

After a while, you leave them, feeling you got the most you can out of them.

You walk around some more, trying to get a sense of the area. While not paying attention to where you're going, you bump into someone. It's Joy, of all people. The exchange is awkward. But as she as she is walking away, she says "You know... My mom was a very kind woman. She didn't hate anyone. I'm trying to be like her. What I'm trying to say is, I ...don't blame you for what happened earlier. I want to, but I can't. You did what you had to do. Chances are, we would have done the same. I'll try to calm down my father."

Just then some soldiers come running by. They tell everyone to back away from the front gate. They are sealing it.

You send Joy to go look for her father. Then you run after the soldiers to the main gate, though stand a short distance off, for safety. Soldiers are posted in front. On either side of the gate are towers, with soldiers at the top. They are firing at something. People still outside abandon their cars and are running inside. They are shot instantly.

Just then, you see what they are firing at. A horde of zombies is rushing the main entrance. The gate is closed before they reach the gate, however. You hear the pounding of several fists upon the gate, but it is drowned out by gun fire.

After a few minutes, the guards on the towers shout down to the soldiers on the ground that everything is clear.

"**** yeah! These bastards are a piece of cake."

As they walk away, they see you "What the hell are you doing here? Do you want to enlist or something?"

You say no, you have absolutely no interest in joining the military.

"Then what the hell, man. Get the **** out of way." says one of the soldiers. The push their way past you. One of them bumps into your injured arm. A jolt of pain shoots up it, but you suppress the urge to flinch or show any other sign of pain. A mistake like that could cost you your life.

One thing is for sure, the defense looks tight enough, for now at least. You're unnerved by the fact they just mowed down a bunch of innocent bystanders, just because they were in the way. Not much you can do about it now though. It looks like you're trapped in here for the time being, for good or bad. Might as well make the best of it.

The general mood inside the base is optimistic. You get the feeling most people here DO believe they'll be back in their homes soon, and why shouldn't they? Obviously the military has everything covered. That said, you personally are feeling uneasy for some reason.

You spend the rest of the afternoon talking to people, getting food, and relaxing. Then at sundown, a voice comes in on the speakers. "Everyone, we'll be having a meeting shortly. Please make your way to the front of the barracks."

You follow everyone to the barracks. You see a group of soldiers at the front of the crowd, with a man standing in front. Once everyone is gathered, the man begins to speak.

"Good evening everyone. My name is General Douglas McCarthy. I am the commanding officer of this base. I'd like to begin this evening with a bit of news. First off, the infection has reached pandemic levels. Originally we believed the virus to be limited to only North America. We know now that this is not the case. Reports of the virus have been received in Japan, China, India, Russia, all over Europe, Northern Africa and Australlia. We have not had contact in Britain in over 10 hours, but it is believed they have initiated a policy of isolation, as to prevent the spread of the virus within the camp. Let us hope they have, for their own good."

"Starting tomorrow, everyone will be assigned specific tasks within the camp, as to maximize efficiency in the even we must stay here an extended period of time. We shall elaborate on this more tomorrow morning. As such, all food and other supplies will be rationed. Anyone caught trying to steal supplies will be shot on the spot."

"Finally, tonight we will be having mandatory medical examinations. Examinations will begin as soon as this meeting is adjourned. These are to determine the fitness of everyone here, so that we can better determine which sort of tasks you are suited for. Once your examination is complete, you shall receive a receipt. If tomorrow morning you do not have a receipt, you shall be shot. Understand?"

Everyone says yes.

"I'd like to end this meeting with the pledge of allegiance." He says. Everyone follows his lead. He bids everyone good night. Everyone begins heading for the medical station.

Day 1: 6:35 PM

People begin lining up for their medical exams. Not yet fully prepared to take it, after all you're not sure how they will react to the wound. You need more time to think. In the mean time, you find it a worthwhile pursuit to track down your former traveling companions. You go up and down the line, finding Rhames, Rob and Simon. You suggest that a discussion be held amongst yourselves before you get your exams. Rhames and Rob agree with you, though Simon refuses, saying that Peggy is worried about his health. They leave their place in line and go off to find a secluded place to talk. Before you begin, Judith approaches you. "I saw you moving up and down the line. What are you three doing?"

You tell her that you're expressing your thoughts on the base and whether or not you feel safe here. She points out that Richard, Joy and Simon are missing. You respond by telling her that Simon didn't want to come, and you don't think Joy and Richard will either.

"Non-sense," she says. "We all need to stick together."

Joy and Richard weren't in the line. Rhames suggests that they are in the RV. The problem is, you don't know where the RV is at.

Then you remember the walkie talkie in cop car. You go to the cop car and call the RV. Richard answers, you ask where he parked, and he tells you.

Once inside the RV, you begin your discussion. First you all talk about your initial thoughts of the camp. Richard seems to think the camp is safe. You ask if the weapons are still secure, he says they didn't find them while they searched. They're still safe.

Rhames says that he doesn't trust the military, while Rob says he doesn't trust the other survivors, especially if someone got into the camp with a bite wound. Richard counters both those worries by saying that the military is doing what they have to do in order to ensure the survival to everyone inside, and that the medical exams will root out any liars (he looks at you while he says this).

Inevitably, the conversation turns to the medical exams. Rhames asks if you're going to go get an exam, or if you're going to try to find some way to get around it. You say you don't know yet. Rhames then mentions suggests perhaps getting a forgery, which shouldn't be hard to fake. He says that he'll prepare one for you, just in case you decide to use one.

With that, the meeting is adjourned. Rhames and Judith heads off to the medical examination, Richard and Joy stay behind, and you and Rob walk off together.

"Hey... I'm not sure a forgery will work, to be honest. I'm sure they'll have ways of figuring it out. What...what if I could get you a real receipt? Would you want me to?"

You wonder what Rob means when he said he could get you a receipt. However, you decline. Despite the harshness of their methods, you think the military has a right to make sure that nobody in the camp is infected. You tell Rob you will get examined. He questions whether or not that is a good idea, but you say you'll be fine.

You get in line. It takes a few hours before it is your turn and you begin wondering if this really is such a good idea after all. However, you stick to your guns and man up.

When it is finally your turn, you are escorted to a room. Two armed guards are standing inside the room, with two more guards standing outside the room. The doctor is an old man, in his mid to late 60s. He introduces himself as Dr. Maxwell Brooks. You shake hands.

He begins the exam by asking a questions. Pretty basic stuff really: Medical history, allergies, stuff like that. Then he starts asking questions such as "where you attacked on the way to this base? Were you bitten?". You say that you were attacked, but you avoided any bite wounds.

After you answer all of his questions, he tells you to strip down. You do so. He instantly sees the bandage on your arm and asks where you got that wound.

Honesty is the best policy, as your mother used to say (before she was turned into a zombie) and in this situation, you don't see any alternatives. You tell him what happened. He nods the whole time, while listening. The guards have their firearms ready, but Dr. Brooks tells them to stand down.

"Lets take a closer look at this before we jump to conclusions, shall we?" He says.

He carefully removes the bandage wrap from your arm. Puss and blood has caused it to dry to your skin, making the removal quite painful. The area around the wound is a crimson color. It is definitely a lot worse than you remember it being.

"We've had other cases of people with gashes. So far, none have been fatal. However, this is one of the worst cases I've seen. Some people have expressed numbness or complete lack of function of extremities that have been gashed. Has anything like that happened to you yet?

You say no, just pain whenever someone has touched the arm. "I see", the doctor says, "Perhaps this will come on later. In any case, I'm gonna take a sample of your blood to have analyzed. " He takes out a syringe and sticks it in your arm, then puts the extracted blood into a vial. Also, unfortunately, we don't know 100% for sure if you're infected or not. There is always an off chance that we're wrong, and that the virus can be transmitted in more ways than just saliva. Therefore, we're going to have to hold you overnight.

You tell the doctor you will willingly be held for a while. "Good. Before I send you off, let me clean this up for you." He cleans and re-dresses the wound. "Here, I am going to write out your receipt. I shall have one of the guards give it to you once you are released." He writes something down and hands it to one of the guards. They then escort you out of the room.

The lead you to the other side of the base. The building you go in looks very much like a prison, There are many cells, each one is occupied by one or more people. No one is talking to one another, though occasionally you'll hear someone cry out in pain. You're lead to a single cell. Once inside, you plop down on the cot. You're not left in peace long. You hear someone shouting out your name.

It's Rob. He is in the cell across from yours.

You ask what he is doing in here and he tells you that they saw scratch marks on him while he was getting his medical examination. They aren't that bad, but they are holding him here as a precaution. He says he received them during the same attack you received your gash, though his not nearly as bad.

You call for one of the prison guards and ask if you can be transferred to the same cell as Rob. He looks hesitant and asks his superiors, they don't see anything wrong with it and you make the move.

Once inside, you talk for a long time with Rob, not having much else to do. You find out that Rhames, Joy, Richard and Judith all passed their exams, however, Simon was apparently admitted to the psyche ward of the medical center. They deemed him to be unstable.

After a while, you begin noticing guards taking people from their cells. You notice they never come back. Worse yet, the pain in your arm is fading away, being replaced with a strange coldness. There is nothing you can do about it though, so you go to sleep.

Day 2: 12:30 AM

You and Rob wake up to screaming. You hear several guards running by, then gunfire. Then silence. Afterwards, you try to listen closely. You can't hear much, but you think you hear some guards say that one of the doctors had accidentally re-used a syringe when getting a blood sample, and that the person who had used the needle before had been carrying the disease. This means that it can be transferred via blood as well.

You begin worrying about yourself, and Rob. But you don't feel especially ill, and it has been nearly 24 hours since you got your wound. You go back to sleep.

Day 2: 8:30 AM

You're awakened the next morning by a guard. He reads a list of names and says to shout out and say your name if it has been called. Both yours and Rob's names are called.

When the guard comes to you, he asks to see identification. Both of you show your IDs. Satisfied, he says you're free to go. He opens the cell door. You go to shake his hand, but can barely move it. Not totally surprised (after all, Dr. Brooks did warn you about this. You hope this is just temporary though.

Once outside, you see everyone gathered outside the barracks once more. General McCarthy is greeting everyone and issuing the latest news. Apparently communications with a near base were suddenly dropped over the night. They fear the worst. Then they begin issuing out jobs. Some of the stuff was basic, such as cleaning, cooking, and tilling the earth (apparently they are intending to convert part of the base into a farm). There are other jobs too though, such as supply procurement. That is what job you are assigned to.

When you get to the part of the base where the other supply procurers are meeting, you find out more about this task. Apparently there are not enough supplies to maintain the base over an extended period of time, so a group of people are being sent into near by towns to "procure" supplies.

You walk up to the soldier in charge of supply procurement and tell him about your arm. "God damnit to hell", he mutters, "why'd they send me a cripple in the first place." He pulls out a radio and calls in. "Yeah, I got a guy here who says one of his arms doesn't work too well, where do you want me to send him? Yeah?.... Ok... I'll send over there." He turns to you. "They want you over in the hospital wing. Looks like you're going to be cleaning up piss and **** all day. Enjoy yourself, kiddo." He walks away, muttering something under his breath. It sounds like "God damn cripples...We should just snuff them all out right now. ****ing useless." He then begins addressing the crowd that has surrounded him. You don't stay for long though, having been assigned a task.

You make your way over to the medical station. Inside are a lot of doctors and nurses. You check in at the front desk. The nurse there tells you to check in with the head doctor. His office isn't too far from the desk. You walk inside.

You're surprised to find out that you already know the head doctor. Its Dr. Brooks. He doesn't recognize you at first, but after telling him your name, he does. He asks you how your arm is. You tell him you can barely move it. He asks if he can take a closer look at it. You agree.

The bandage once again sticks to your arm. No blood this time, but there is still a lot of puss. On the bright side, the area around the wound isn't as red. He says the infection is starting to subside. He has a nurse clean it up and re-bandaged. Afterwards, he asks you which part of the hospital you want to work in.

You tell the doctor that you want to do general maintenance work. He looks at you funny. "You sure, son? It isn't the most glamorous job..." You tell him you're sure.

He directs you to the janitor's closet. You spend much of the day cleaning and such. Dr. Brooks was right. This isn't glamorous at all. Occasionally, people would call you over to help fix something. Luckily with your engineering experience, this isn't too much a problem. However, it is still rather difficult, since you can really only use one arm.

Over all, it is an uneventful day. Until the afternoon. You're cleaning near the ER when someone is brought in on a stretcher. He is rushed into one of the rooms and a large group is following him.

You join up with the rest of the onlookers. The man is led to an operation room. None of the onlookers can get inside the room though; a nurse is blocking the way.

You can hear two voices inside the room: both men, one is calm the other is panicking. The panicked man is telling the other man (whom you're assuming is a doctor) about what happened.

"We...were part of the supply team. There were about 30 of us out there. Anyway, we out in Hillsboro, its about 15 miles away. The whole damn town was overrun. There were just too many of them. Everyone.... EVERYONE was killed. I just barely got out alive. I managed to get this guy out of there."

"Were either of you bitten?" Asks the doctor.

"I know for sure that I wasn't. I don't know about this guy though. I just know that he was torn up pretty bad."

The doctor takes off the patient's shirt. You hear gasps from the people in front of you. "My god... He's covered in teethmarks. Everyone back away immediately. Nurse, call for guards NOW."

Then you hear screams, the people in front of you are trying to scatter. You begin backing up yourself. Suddenly a man in front of you is knocked to the ground. The patient is on top of , tearing his throat out with his teeth. The doctor and the man who brought the patient in are still in the room, terrified. The patient now turns his attention to them.

You're armed only with your mop that you were using to clean.

Thinking quickly, you run up to the door and close it once the zombie is inside. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the door has any sort of lock on it, especially not from the outside of the door though. Inside the room you hear the doctor and the man shouting in pain. Then there is silence. Seeing nothing near by to brace against the door, you just throw your wait against it.

Suddenly something hits the door incredibly hard. You're almost knocked over from the impact, but manage to stay standing. However, your injured arm is now in quite a bit of pain. You stay pressed up against it, determined to hold the door as long as possible. Again and again something hits the door, and each time your arm hurts even more.

After several hits, you begin to hear the door start to buckle. Then the door gives, with you underneath it. You're on your back, with the door, unhinged, on top of you. You can feel the zombie laying on top of the door. After a moment, it gets up and runs off, not noticing you under the door.

You lay there for a moment, dazed. While prone, you hear screams down the hallway then moments later, gunfire. With your uninjured arm, you push the door off you and look around. You see two bodies in the room, as well as the body of the throatless man. Not wanting to stick around, you go in the direction that you heard the gunfire from. After all, it must have been soldiers.

It doesn't take you long to find them. A group of six machine gun-armed soldiers are coming in your direction. When they see you, they ask if you have been bitten. You say no. You quickly explain your view of the events.

"Damn, guy, that is some balls you've got. You're a god damned hero. If you hadn't held that door as long as you did, more people would have been injured." Says one of the soldiers. You take them back to the operating room that the struggle just happened in. Sure enough, when you get there, the bodies of the doctor and the man who had brought in the zombie are there, twitching. You recognize this from when you killed your mother; the beginning of reanimation.

The guards quickly take them out.

Something feels off though. You look outside the room and notice that the man who had his throat bitten out is missing. You inform the soldiers. They begin filing out of the room. One of the guards lingers behind. "Here, guy, you're going to need this. Make sure you give this back to me after were done looking for this ****." He hands you a pistol. You check the clip. Just 8 shots.

Content that the zombie is vanquished, you suggest that perhaps it would do well to check the area to see if the patients were not attacked. You don't think you'll have to search too far though. The two zombies weren't unaccounted for THAT long of a time. They agree that it would be a good idea. To cover more area, the soldiers break into pairs, with you joining one of the groups.

You go room to room. The people are left behind are terrified. You check for bite wounds, but don't see anyway. Just when you think everything is clear, however, you hear gunshots.

The shots are coming from not too far from where you're currently at. It just takes a few seconds for you and the soldiers you're with to run over there.

What you see when you get there is horrific. One of the soldiers is lying on the ground. His face is torn apart. The other is leaning against the wall. His right ear is missing.

"One of them...snuck up on us. I managed to take it down, but it got a bite off on me first."

You tell the soldier that you're sorry, but he is infected. You aim your gun and fire it. He falls lifelessly to the ground. For safe measure, you shoot the head of the soldier's dead partner as well.

Of the 6 soldiers you originally met up with, now only 4 remain. Two are currently by your side. The pistol you're carrying currently has 6 shots left.

The guards remain silent. You can tell they aren't happy about what just happened, but that they also realized their friend was a dead man anyway.

While standing there, the two other guards come running up to you. "Our section is clear. We didn't run into any undead. We heard gunshots from this direction, is everything ok?"

You tell them what happened. While explaining though, you hear an announcement on the PA system. It is a voice ordering everyone to the gathering place in front of the barracks. On the way out, you run into a new group of soldiers. There are about 20 of them. "One of the guards here called in for backup?"

A soldier from your group steps forward. "That would be me. There was a major incident in here. How come you didn't come here sooner?"

One of the soldiers from the other group looks aside. "You..guys don't know? I see... We've had our own problems. You don't want to see beyond the gate... Also, somehow one of the zombies somehow got inside the base. It attacked at least 5 people before we brought it down.

Just then, a voice booms from the PA system:

"The meeting will begin shortly. Attendance is mandatory.

You want to go investigate this other attack, but decide it is for the best to head to the meeting. Something is happening and you want to find out what.

Day 2: 5:00 PM

You get to the meeting area in front of the barracks. As usual, the crowd is already assembled. Not long after you get there, General McCarthy takes the podium.

"I'd like to open tonight with a prayer. As many of you know, there were quite a few..incidents today. " He goes on to talk about the people killed in the supplies procurement mission. He then mentions something you hadn't heard about. "This afternoon, one of the infected somehow got inside the base. It killed 5 people before we managed to be bring it down. We are not sure at this time how it entered the base, but we believe it to be connected to an incident in the hospital."

"Regarding the hospital, we don't know much at this time, other than the attack occured when two survivors returned from the supply run previously mentioned. The situation is under control, however access to the hospital is now off limits until the hospital is.... thoroughly checked. If you have been in contact with any of the infected during these two incidents, make sure to report it. We can help you."

"Also, as many of you know, the gates of this complex are currently being surrounded by infected. This is not a cause for alarm. The ways are sturdy enough and thick enough to hold. I repeat, they cannot penetrate this base. However, since we are now surrounded, we are now cut off from supplies and reinforcements. We have enough supplies to hold out, but we must now tighten our belts. Meals shall now be issued once a day. "

"Finally, we have reason to believe that the infected are attracted by sound. Therefore, anyone talking above a whisper shall be punished immediately. No questions asked. That is all."

With that, he walks away from the podium. His guards join him. An aura of dread hangs in the air, but the crowd quickly dissipates. While making your way away from the crowd, you hear your name coming from the crowd. It is Judith.

"I'm so glad I found you. Everyone else is waiting for you." You go with her and find Rhames and Rob. Joy and Richard are absent.

Rhames is the first one to speak. "I don't like the way **** is going. I knew we shouldn't have gone here."

Rob agrees. "Yeah, and what the hell do they mean by "thoroughly check" the hospital. They way that general said that was creepy.

Rhames laughes. "Don't you know? They are going to purge it. No a single person still in there is going to come out a live. They gotta do what they gotta do, right?"

Judith interjects at that point.

"But! Simon is still in there! If what you're saying is true, than he is as good as dead."

Rhames holds her shoulder. "Yeah, that man is as good as dead. So what though? He's crazy, and he is old. He's lived a good life."

You tell Judith that you aren't going to in there. You then tell her that you were there when the attacks happened and who knows how many patients were infected before it was tracked down. A purge is probably a good thing in the long run.

She spits on you foot. "You're nothing but a big coward, you know that. He trusted you and now you're just going to let him die. I hope you rot in the deepest level of hell, you ass." She stomps off, leaving you, Rob and Rhames alone.

Rob shrugs a little. "She's kind of right. It IS a little messed up that we are just going to leave him up there to get killed, but hell, I'm not going to go up there and try to rescue him. That would be outright suicide. ****, all we've got are some pistols and a couple hunting rifles. They've got machine guns and a bunch of men. Damnit. I hate this."

Escape from Swanson Lake Military Base

After a little while more of talking to Rhames and Rob (whom you find out are both on the farming committee), you split off from them and head to the mess hall, where you get your meal for the day. Halfway through eatting it, you begin hearing gunshots. They are coming from the hospital. It looks like Rhames was right. An hour or later, the soldiers begin pulling out bodies and stacking them into mounds. They then set fire to the mounds. The stench from the fires is unbearable.

Soon after, a voice comes on over the PA announcing that a curfew would be going into affect. It starts at 7:30. Since it is about that time now, you head over to the sleeping area and go to sleep. You doze off for a while, but wake up after having a nightmare. You can't remember what it was about when you wake up, but remember Simon was in it. You lay there, trying to go sleep, but you can hear the sound of grunts and moans coming from beyond the base walls. After a while, you decide to head to the nearby bathroom. On the way there, however, a man stops you.

"Hey..uh...You got your medical exam, right. Hey uh... I need one of those slips... Can I borrow yours?". He has a small knife in his hand.

You have your bag with you, as well as your pistol that you never returned to the soldiers.

You try to get your bat out of your bag. It is difficult to do so quickly with only one arm though. He notices what you're doing and lunges forward with the knife. You dodge out of the way though.

"C'mon man.. I need this. My wife...she..uh..she lost hers. I don't want her to die. I just need it until tomorrow morning. I'll give it back.. I promise."

You notice he is sweating heavily. He is slow. One of his eyes is twitching. He is hesitating.

You respond to his hesitation by hitting him in the gut with your bat. You ask if he has been bitten. He swears that he hasn't. He is just looking out for his wife. You tell him to prove it. He stands there, sputtering, trying to make up an excuse, but he fails to do so and lunges at you once more. Once again, you dodge.

Once more the man lunges at you with his knife, but you're ready. You dodge again and hit him in the head with the bat. He falls to the ground and lays there for a moment, but slowly gets back up. He is now bleeding out his ear.

"You..monster... Just...help me. I don't want to do this. With all the effort he can muster, he tackles you to the ground and tries to stab you. With your one good arm, you hold back his knife hand and knee him in the gut. When you manage to get out from under him, you back away. You see what you have to do now. You pull out the gun that is tucked in your pants and fire a shot at him.

it hits him in the chest. He stops and looks down at it. You fire again, this time hitting him in the forehead. His body crumbles.

Everyone who had been sleeping is now up and active. Almost instantly, guards are upon you. "What the hell is going on here?" asks one of them when they reach the scene. They have their guns aimed at you. You try to explain what happened, adding that you think the man is infected. They instantly go about checking the man's body, even going as far as to strip him down. No bite marks. In fact, no kind of mark at all.

The guards aren't sure what to do with you, so they take your pack, and weapons and escort you to the administration building.

Day 2: 8:00 PM

You're taken to the head of the military police's office, but are told he is currently meeting with the General. The guards tell the receptionist that this is urgent, so she pages the General's office. He tells her to let you and the soldiers in.

General McCarthy's gaze fixes on you as you walk in. He is a very intimidating man.

"What is the problem here?" he asks.

The soldiers explain what they saw. You're then asked for for your perspective. You tell them you were going to the bathroom, and that he was trying to steal your medical exam receipt. McCarthy then asks how can they know you weren't trying to steal it from the man. You present your receipt as well as your driver's license. He indicates for you to continue your story. You then said he attacked you with your knife and that you had no choice but to defend yourself. He then asks where you got the gun.

You tell the General about what happened in the hospital this afternoon, including how the soldiers who responded to the incident gave you the gun. While you tell your story, it is hard to get an idea of what McCarthy is thinking. He's a very stoic man.

"An interesting tale, no doubt. However, those men had no right giving you a firearm. Because of their foolishness, we have you here, killing off innocent bystanders one-by-one. And causing a panic no less."

You insist that the thief was not an "innocent bystander". The General isn't listening though.

"We should shoot you here, on the spot. But no, we're going to have to nip this problem in the bud. If people think they can get away with murder, then this base will be thrown into anarchy long before the zombies take us. No, I think we'll make an example out of you." He turns to the man he was meeting with when you entered the room. "How does a barbecue sound, tomorrow, Russel?"

The man he is talking to, Russel, doesn't say anything at first, but musters the courage to speak. "Jesus christ, Doug. That is barbaric. We're still Americans. In any case, what if this boy is telling the truth? What if he was just defending himself."

McCarthy isn't amused. "Americans? The government has collapsed, Russel. We don't even know if the President is alive or dead. We stopped being Americans when we willing started nuking our own cities!"

That comment caught you off guard and McCarthy notices. He walks over to you and grabs you by the face. He forces you to look him in the eyes. You can see some sort of madness in McCarthy's eyes. "Ah yes, of course you didn't know about that. I guess it won't hurt to tell you, since you're as good as dead. It was yesterday afternoon, I believe. Five US cities had nuclear warheads dropped on them. LA, Dallas, Chicago, Philadelphia and New York. Those were the cities hardest hit. Back then we believed we'd actually contain this fiasco. " He turns to Russel. "I want you to personally escort this man to a cell." Russel gets up grabs your arm. McCarthy suddenly speaks on last time. "Oh, and Russel, if he isn't there in the morning, you'll be taking his place."

No one talks on your way to the destination. When you get to the prison area, Russel thanks the soldiers and dismisses them. One of the guards has your backpack, and hands it to Russel before walking away. "For what its worth, I believe you. In case you didn't know, my name is Brian Russel. I'm in charge of the MPs here on base. I wish I could help you, but you don't have a whole lot to back up your claims. If only you could supply some evidence, then McCarthy would have a harder time killing you."

You think back to your encounter with the thief. He was moving kind of strangely and looked ill. He HAD to be infected. Why else would he want a receipt. You ask Russel if the body has been destroyed.

He isn't sure. It is the base's policy to destroy dead bodies. There is hope, since the death didn't occur that long ago.

You go over to the area that is reserved for burning corpses. You see a fire already lit. Over the pit stands a man with a large spear-like object. Russel runs over to the man and asks tells him if any new bodies have arrived recently. The man says someone was just brought over a few minutes ago. Apparently the General is trying to get it destroyed quickly. You look down into the pit. There are many bodies down below, but most of them are charred beyond recognition. You don't recognize the currently burning body at first, but then realize it has same outfit on as the person you just killed. You push the man overseeing the fire aside and grab his skewer. It is heavy though and you can't support it with just your one arm. Russel comes over and helps you with it. Together you pick up the body and pull it out of the pit. The overseer has a flame retardant blanket nearby, and uses it to put out the flames.

The body is severely burned. "We're going to be lucky if we can get a sample out of this." Russel says. He turns to the overseer. "You have a radio, right? Call for Dr. Maxwell Brooks. He's the head doctor." The overseer calls him down. About ten minutes later Dr. Brooks is there. He recognizes you instantly. "It seems we're fated to keep meeting, aren't we?"

You fill in Brooks on your situation. He appears sympathetic, but he says "Well, the body IS badly damaged, but there is a chance we might manage to get a good sample. However, there is another problem. My lab is in the hospital, which is now restricted..."

You look down at the corpse. Your gut instinct is telling you that even if you do manage to find a blood sample, it won't do you any good. You have no idea what is wrong with McCarthy, but the man is obviously insane. No, your only chance at survival is to get the hell out of here.

Brooks can read you like an open book. "You're insane if you think you can get out of here alive. This camp is filled with soldiers whose orders are to shoot any deserters. And even if you somehow manage to get past them, the base is surrounded by those who are infected. You'll be dead in minutes.

You mention that one of the vehicles you came in is an RV. It should be able to withstand assaults by the zombies. Brooks points out that it won't stand up against bullets though. Plus you'll still have to find a way to open the gates. Doing so would put everyone at risk.

Russel has another idea. "We have a few helicopters stored here on base. You could probably get out that way. However, they'll be heavily guarded.

You take a look towards the gate. Then you glance over at the helipad. Both decisions are nearly outcome. However, you just can't stay here, waiting to die. The helicopter seems like the better choice though. However, you don't have a pilot. Russel then tells you that he can fly. You ask if he is planning on coming.

"You heard Doug. If you aren't in a cell tomorrow morning, it is my ass. I'm as good as dead if I let you go. I don't know how we're going to do this though. All I got is a pistol on me.

You accept his response and tell him you'll take care of the weapons. You ask if Dr. Brooks wants to come.

"No thanks. I'm just an old man. In any case, my family is here. I can't abandon them. If you want my honest opinion though, I think you both have a death wish. I'm not going to stop you though. I just hope you are made out of tougher stuff than you look."

You walk over to the RV and knock on the door. Richard answers it. When he sees who it is, he slams it again. You hear him talking to Joy for a minute. He then answers the door again. He asks what you want. You tell him that you're leaving the camp and wants to know if he and Joy would like to go with you. He automatically says no. You ask if you could grab a few guns. You can tell he wants to say no, but he says yes. You go inside to pick up a pistol. You give Russel a hunting rifle, since you only have one good arm.

You look up and see Joy. She is looking like she wants to go.

You go about procuring getting your supplies ready and ignore her. When you and Russell are ready, you turn and leave. Before you go, Richard stops you.

"Hey... Good luck." is all he says. You tell him to keep his eyes open and to be careful. You shake his hand and leave. You have a feeling you'll never see them again.

As you walk away, Russell is talking to you. "Hey. There is no way in hell we're going to take a helicopter with just me and you. You tell him not to worry, you know a few guys who can help.

As you walk to the barracks, you're stopped by two guards. Once they realize who you're with, they salute. Russell tells them to go patrol the south gate. Once inside, you check around for Rhames and Rob. You silently awaken them and tell them you're escaping. You ask if they want to come. They both agree.

You move silently towards the helipad. Before you get there, Russell stops you. "We're going to need strategy. We'll just get killed if we march in full force. You can see 15 soldiers standing in a ring around the helicopters.

You say you have an idea. You can use misdirection to help you. You tell Rob and Rhames to hang back for a moment. Unsure of what you're planning, they position themselves discretely. You and Russell walk up to the guards confidently.

They salute Russell. He tells them he has direct orders from General McCarthy. One of the soldiers asks why didn't the General just radio down the orders. Russell says that that is because they are trying to maintain radio silence. You can tell the soldiers believe that. They ask what their orders are. Russell, unsure about how to proceed, looks over to you.

You tell them that General McCarthy is having a meeting and specifically requested the helicopter guard team in his office. They ask Russell about you. He tells them you are his new assistant. They have no reason to doubt that, but they look at each other with doubt over if they should all go or not. Finally, they decide they would send 8 people to McCarthy's office, leaving 7 soldiers behind.

You head back to Rhames and Rob. Russell fills them in on what just happened. They are both relieved that there are less guards. "Still, they are outnumbering us nearly 2:1" says Rhames.

You realize that. Now more than ever, you wish you had Richard, Joy, Shannon, Simon, and Judith.

Russell looks down at his watch. "They'll be gone 15 minutes at the most. Also, once we start firing, soldiers will be down here in a matter of minutes. Whatever we do, we're going to have to be quick.

You quickly tell Rhames, Rob, and Russell you're idea. A sneak attack.

"Hey man... I really don't think this is going to work. We're going to leave ourselves unexposed and open once we fire the first few shots." Says Rob. You reassure him that it will work out. He still looks doubtful. So do Rhames and Russell.

Regardless, they follow you. The four of you walk towards the helicopter guards. Russell greets them. They say hello and ask who the two newcomers are. Russell says they are new recruits and will begin training tomorrow, so he is showing the three of you around the base. They ask why he is doing it after the curfew. He says because they had just enlisted. They shrug and go back to watching for trouble.

Rob is the first to draw his gun. One of the soldiers sees this and shouts a warning. Rob is quick with the trigger and shoots a soldier in the back of the head. You, Russell, and Rhames are close behind and each take down one guard each. Now three remain. However, they are now ready and begin firing with their automatic rifles. Russell drops to the ground, rolls and fires twice. However, both shots hit the torso of his target, which is protected by Kevlar.

You sense that something has pierced your lame arm. With your healthy arm you fire at a soldier. You take out one of the three remaining soldiers with a well placed headshot. You try to remain as mobile as possible, to avoid being shot. There are couple near hits, but so far so good. Rob and Rhames manage to take out the last two guards though.

Now that that is taken care of, the four of you begin running to the chopper. Russell is the first one in and hops in the pilot seat. Rob is in next. You and Rhames are coming in last. Just when you're about to climb into the chopper, you hear a gunshot and Rhames falls to the ground, you look back and see McCarthy and a large number of soldiers quickly approaching you.

You climb down off the helicopter and rush over to Rhames. He's lying face down, but he is alive, shouting at you to get on the chopper. Blood is pouring out of his leg. You go over, and help him up as best you can. Meanwhile bullets are whizzing by.

Luckily the helicopter is only a few feet away. Rob pulls Rhames in quickly. While you climbing in, a bullet hits the pinky and ring finger of your good hand. Searing pain flames from the wound and you're screaming loudly. Rob pulls you the rest of the way in. You collapse on the floor of the helicopter, Rhames beside you. He grabs you and pulls you closer to him. "You idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed. You should have left without me." You feel the helicopter lift off the ground. Rhames passes out.

Day 2: 10:00 PM

You look at your hand. Two fingers are missing and blood is pouring out of the wound. It is then that you notice that your lame arm is also bleeding, though you don't feel any pain at all from it. Rob tells you that there are at least 3 bullet wounds in your arm. The only pain you really feel is in your hand. It is so intense, you have to fight to stay conscious.

Russell shouts back to Rob asking how you and Rhames are doing. Rob is silent. Russell gets his meaning instantly. A moment later you hear Rob shout out. "Jesus christ. Look at that!"

You try to sit up, but can't put pressure on your hand. Rob helps you into a seat. You look out the window. Hundreds of zombies have surrounded the wall of the base.

"When did this start happening?" Asks Rob. Russell says that they started coming around midnight the night before. At first the soldiers would pick off the ones that came. But by that evening, there were too many to keep up with. "Its like they are drawn to the living."

Rob turns his attention to you. He asks if you still have a first aid kit in your backpack. you say yes. He retrieves it from your pack and begins taking inventory. "****... we don't have much disinfectant left. Maybe enough to clean one area."

You tell Rob to use the disinfectant on Rhames. Mobility is going to be the key to your survival and if his leg becomes infected, then he is as good as dead. Rob points out that the they don't know how severe the wound is, so he might not be able to walk anyway. You say you don't care. Just use it on Rhames. He agrees.

After tending to Rhame's wound, he comes over to yours. "I don't know how you're going to make it with no hands." He says. You say that you can still grip stuff with just your three fingers. He gives you a disagreeing look then begins wrapping your wounds. While he is doing that, you ask Russell how long can the helicopter fly for.

"This is a short-range vehicle", he says. " Maybe 6 hours, if we're lucky." You ask where he is heading. He replies "Away from that base."

Fair enough.

You are beginning to crash from your adrenaline rush. Feeling no immediate threat, you decide to give in to your body's demands and get some sleep.

Abandoned in the Mountains

When you wake up, it is still dark. Oddly enough, the helicopter has landed. You around you and see Rhames still lying on the floor of the helicopter, fast asleep.

Russell and Rob are nowhere to be seen. You sit tight in the helicopter. In any case, the pain in your hand keeps you from being overly inquisitive. A great deal of time goes on and yet Rob and Rhames don't return. While waiting, you look out the window. The helicopter is parked on a mountain in the middle of nowhere.

While waiting, Rhames wakes up. You ask how he is doing. He says his leg hurts like hell. He tries to get up and falters. Frustrated, he sits back down.

Eventually Rob and Russell do come back. Rob is frustrated. You immediately know something is up.

Suddenly Russell pulls a gun on you. He tells you to step outside the helicopter. You think he is joking. He says no.

You look over to Rob and ask him what is going on. "I'm sorry, man. But here's the thing. You can't do anything anymore. You barely have one hand. You'll slow us down.

You look back at Russell and ask him why the hell he helped you escape if he's just going to abandon you now. "I saved your life. If I had left you back in the base, you would have been a dead man. An innocent dead man. However, I want to live and my best chances are without you and the cop down there. Besides, you're still alive, right

Rhames calls Russell a son of a *****.

Rob says he's really sorry about this. He'd love to help you more, but the gods aren't favoring you.

You tell Russell that if he leaves you out in the wilderness, both you and Rhames are as good as dead. He should have left you in the base. He responds by repeating what he said earlier: At least you're still alive. Death isn't 100% certain.

You turn to Rob ask him if this is how he's going to repay you for saving his life. He doesn't say anything. You see this isn't going anywhere so you go over to Rhames and help him up. You then begin walking towards the helicopter exit. Suddenly Rob tells you to stop. He asks Russell if they could at least drop the two of you off at a better location.

Russell says he supposes he could, "but here's the thing", he says. "I honestly think your best chances of survival are out here in the woods. I mean, what are the chances of zombies out in the middle of nowhere? There can't be anyone here for miles. Do you still want me to drop you off somewhere else?"

You look out the window once more. You're pretty high up. Such terrain is going to be hard for Rhames to climb down in his condition. It is better if you're at a lower altitude. You ask Russell to set you down at the base of the mountain. Russell thinks about it for a moment, then agrees. You strap yourself (which is rather hard with just 3 fingers. Rob has to help you) in and the helicopter sets off to descend down the mountain.

The ride is merely a few minutes long. No one says a word the entire time. When the helicopter settles at the bottom, you get out of your seat, help Rhames up and get ready to leave. Russell stops you. "Hey, I'm sorry things are turning out this way. Hopefully you'll understand. No hard feelings, right?" You glare at him. He takes it in stride. "We're pretty far out. I doubt there is anyone out here, but be on your guard none-the-less. Even if there aren't any zombies, there are still wild animals." He asks what you got in your backpack. Some canned fruit and vegetables, a couple bottles of water a can of spray paint for signaling rescue copters, a zippo lighter, and a first aid kit. You also have your baseball bat still, which is holstered in its homemade sling. You have your pistol as well as 3 clips. Russell apologizes for not being able to give you more supplies, but says that they left kind of quickly and didn't have time to prepare as well as they should have. Suddenly he heads in to the cockpit and pulls out a piece of paper from a notebook. He begins scribbling on it. After a minute he comes back to you.

"Here, I made a map for you. I know, its not very good, but I'm going off memory." He hands you the map.

http://img.imgcake.com//cyoamap.jpg

You're next to a mountain range that is running north-south. At the north end of the range is a lake with an island in. Three dots are connected by a line you assume is a road. Above each dot is written a name: Lakewood, Springfield and Westminster.

"If I were you, I'd avoid the towns. They are just going to be dens for the infected. You can get everything you need out here."

With that, he heads back into the copter. You shout good luck to Rob and Russell as they begin to leave. You watch the helicopter lift off.

Day 3: 3:00 AM

Rhames is leaning up against a tree. Watching the helicopter fade into the horizon. It is very dark out here and you wish you had packed a flashlight back at home. After a while, Rhames speaks. "Well, it looks like it is just the two of us again. Look down at your hand and see the clothe is covered in blood. You have no idea if the bleed has stopped or not. However you feel very woozy. Rhames asks what the gameplan is.

Your hand hurts, Rhame's leg probably hurts like hell. You decide it best to wait until sunrise to really make a move. You tell Rhames you're going to be camping here for the night. It is too dangerous to move else where.

Rhames doesn't argue. You both decide to have one of you stand guard. You take the first watch. Rhames falls asleep.

A feeling of anxiousness creeps into your heart. This is the first time in the last few days that you've had to really consider your position in the world.The pain in your hand isn't going away at all. If anything its getting worse. You're all alone in the wilderness, with a former cop that can barely walk. In your heart of hearts, you begin to realize. You're going to die. Either youll be zombified, you're going to starve to death here in the wilderness. There is no hope.

You think back to all the choices you've made the last few days. You killed your parents. You let a woman die. You abandoned people who relied on you and now you've been abandoned.

Suddenly shooting yourself in the head sounds mighty appealing.

You look over to Rhames. You realize then that it would be selfish of you to end it all here. Rhames is counting on you to help him survive. Regardless of how you feel about living, you can't give up just yet. After all, Rhames hasn't given up on you yet.

The remainder of the night passes without incident. After a few hours, you wake up Rhames and head to sleep.

When you wake up, the sun is already climbing up the sky. Its still early though. You share a can of food and some water. While eatting, Rhames and you look over the map. Its pretty vague though. Rhames suggest that perhaps that the best idea would be to look for water, since you don't have much of it. You and him head east, figuring a stream will logically be closer to a mountain.

The going is very slow. The terrain isn't terribly difficult, though it gets more wooded as you move that direction. The problem is Rhame's leg. He is able to walk, and he tries to act tough about it, but you can tell each step brings him excruciating pain. Regardless, you press on.

You don't find any water, but you come across what you assume is a hunting cabin. You can't tell if anyone is inside or not.

You and Rhames cautiously approach the cabin. The cabin is fairly small, you can tell that at most it is one or two rooms total inside.

It is silent and you don't hear any voices inside. After a moment of hesitation, you tell Rhames to knock. You have your gun ready and stand back a little.

He knocks on the door. No answer. He then asks if there is anyone inside. No answer again.

Just when you're about to suggest just walking in, you hear a slam against the door. The windows nearby break and you see rotting hands try to pull a zombifed woman out of the window. A large man is trying to climb out of the other window. Both are having a hard time with it though. Something once again slams against the door.

You pull back away from the cabin and begin firing at the two zombies coming out of the window. You hit one in the head, killing it. The other zombie, the woman, is more fortunate. Your shot hits her in the chest. It knocks her to the ground. Your hand is now throbbing in pain.

The slamming continues against the door, but Rhames is bracing himself against it. You tell him to hold as long as possible. He won't hold long though. the pressure he is putting on his leg is more than he can handle.

Suddenly the slamming stops. Rhames stays pressed up against the door.

You brace yourself and tell Rhames to hold his position as well. Whatever is in there is still in there. ten seconds go by. Then suddenly there is another slam. The door gives way, knocking Rhames to the ground beside it.

Before you is the reanimated remains of an old man. The moment it sees you, it comes towards you. However, it is slower than the ones you have encountered in the past. You are able to head shot it before it comes close too you. It falls to the ground lifelessly.

Behind it, you see a zombified woman lying on the ground, trying to push her self up, but struggling. More pressingly, you see an undead little girl coming at you. She appears to have been undead quite a while. Her body is moving rather stiffly. She is making her way towards you.

You look back and forth between the girl zombie and the woman. Believing the girl, who is currently advancing on you, is the bigger threat, you fire at her. Your shot hits her in the forehead. However, you are unable to keep ahold of the gun. It flies out of your hand.

While this is happening the woman zombie, has crawled over to you. You feel it grab on to your leg. You kick at it furiously, but it stays latched on. It is about to bit your ankle, when suddenly a bullet penetrates her skull. You look back and see Rhames off to the side, his gun still pointing at the zombie. You thank him.

A quick glance inside the cabin reveals everything is clear. You set yourself down on a couch, along with Rhames. The cabin is composed of three rooms. There is a common room, which you're currently in. It is basically a living room with a kitchen also in the same room. The two other rooms you assume are a bedroom and a bathroom. The doors leading to both rooms are closed, however.

Interlude: Lucas Waverly

Lucas Waverly was an IT specialist for Honda. He had a wife named Linda, and two kids (Sarah and Samantha). One day, Lucas' boss approached him while he was working.

"Hey, Waverly. You've been doing a good job lately. Me and my wife have been talking lately and we are thinking of selling our cabin. Are you interested?" said the boss.

Lucas was hesitant, but his boss was a forceful man. "I'll tell you what. How about you take the rest of the week off and have your family stay at the cabin for the few days. When you come back, tell me what you think."

Lucas couldn't think of a way to say no, so he agreed to go. He left the office, packed up the wife and kids. Linda's father, who lived with them, also wanted to go, so they brought him too.

They arrived at the cabin at sundown. It was a nice cabin, but fairly small. Fairly secluded though. They had a nice dinner. Afterwards, Lucas asked his kids if they'd like to town with him. The nearest town was Westminster, and it took them about an hour to get there. It was a nice town and the people were friendly. However, while leaving the town Samantha was attacked by a hobo, who oddly enough bit her. They fought off the hobo, who attacked four more people before being shot in the head by the police.

Samantha was shaken by the attack, but not traumatized. However, that night she became suddenly sick and passed away.

Back to the Present

Rhames' leg is bothering him again. You can see fresh blood seeping from his leg wound. Your hand is also hurting. You realize the cabin probably has medical supplies.

You tell Rhames to sit tight while you look for supplies. You walk over and begin foraging around the kitchen. The kitchen is a mess. Plates thrown about, everything in the refridge has been dumped out. There is a strong stink in the air from the food rotting.

You look around some more, searching for medical supplies. No luck however. They must not be kept in this room.

You walk over to Rhames and tell him you can't find anything. Rhames says he figured as much. You go off to check one of the other rooms, but Rhames stops you.

"There has been one thing that has been bothering me. These zombies aren't like the ones we've been fighting. They're slower, not as capable as the others. I wonder..."

Just then you see something move outside the window. It was just for a second, and you couldn't be sure what it was, but you saw something.

You quickly run over to the door and attempt to close it*. However, the the latch is broken and the door won't close all the way. You fasten the lock.

You turn back and see an arm sticking in the window. Moments later a hideous face pops up. You can tell it was once a little girl. However, the flesh is starting to peel off her face and clumps of hair have fallen out. The eyes are dull and beginning to congeal. You shoot her in the head.

Rhames suddenly is excited. "I think I've figured it out! They're rotting! As they rot, they aren't able to function as well. Look at her. She's decaying! We might be able to survive this yet!"

You're silent, though you believe Rhames is correct. Maybe their brains will rot, and they will cease to function? Only time will tell. You and Rhames set about checking the rest of the house. It is empty, though in the bedroom, the window is shattered. You manage to find a first aid kit, but it is empty. All the supplies inside have been used. You do manage to find some aspirin though. You also find some car keys in the bed room.

Feeling bold, you go outside and examine the area right outside. The cabin has its own power generator. You notice it is still running. You wonder how long it will last for, however. Behind the cabin is a parking space, in which a medium sized SUV is currently parked. You imagine the keys to go it.

After checking things out, you go back inside and talk to Rhames. "I think we could fortify this place pretty nicely. I think we should hunker down here and wait this thing out."

You look around. Several broken windows, a broken door. No this cabin is nearly indefensible, especially in a major attack. You need to get the hell out of there as soon as possible. You show Rhames the car keys and he gets your meaning immediately.

"How the hell are we going to drive? You got three fingers, and I got one leg?"

You assure him that it will be fine.

You look around the cabin some more for any sort of supplies you can find. You gather the blankets off the bed. They're surprisingly clean.

Day 3: 8:00 AM

The SUV is fairly large. You hope inside the drivers seat. Rhames takes the passenger seat. Unfortunately the car is manual transmission. You're going to have to be able to shift gears.

Its not a problem. You'll be able to manage, especially with Rhames. The important thing is to stay mobile. You turn the key and the car starts. You take a look about. You have about half a tank of gas. That concerns you a little bit, but there is nothing you can do for the time being. You'll have to deal with that when the time comes.

You buckle yourself in, as does Rhames. The road is clear, since you're out in the middle of nowhere. If the situation was different, you'd actually go as far as to say the drive was pleasant. You never let your guard down.

From what you can tell, the road is heading northwesterly. The terrain eventually begins to even out. The trees start becoming more and more scarce. After driving about an hour and a half from the cabin, you come to a fork in the road. There is a sign on the side of the road. It reads:

"Westminster: 20 miles. Lakewood: 40 miles. Candlemire: 60 miles"

The arrow point to Westminster is north. the Lakewood arrow is east and the Candlemire arrow is west. Which road do you take?

Westminster

You drive forward, ignoring the other branches in the road.

You begin seeing houses sprout up, here and there. From time to time, you also see one of the undead, though they are too slow at this point to give serious chase. Eventually you come into Westminster proper. The town itself is fairly large.

While you are driving, something suddenly stumbles into the road. It is a zombie that had been leaning against a car. Its sudden movement catches you off guard and you loose control of the steering wheel. You crash into the back of a parked truck. You don't know how severe the damage is to the SUV, but the engine dies. There is a horde of zombies now stumbling towards you.

You try turning the key so that the car goes in reverse. No dice. You try turning the key again. Nothing is happening. The entire time you spend doing this, masses of zombies are closing in on you.

Rhames is frantic. "C'mon man! Let's go! Let's go!" He says over and over. Its no use. The car won't start. Now, the undead have begun surrounding your car. You notice a few "fast" zombies amongst the horde, they are the most aggressive in their pounding. The glass windows are beginning to break.

You're reminded of a similar scenario you were in two days before. That time you were able to survive by just driving through the horde. Obviously this isn't an acceptable solution now.

However, you remember your spray paint and lighter in your bag. Obviously you can't use them yourself, but Rhames might...

The zombies have you completely surrounded. You have your pistol ready. However, you think of a better Idea. You tell Rhames to reach into your backpack and pull out a can of spray paint, and a lighter. He knows what you're planning instantly.

You tell him to wait until they break through. That doesn't take long. The moment the window breaks open, he uses the makeshift flamethrower. The zombies on the other side catch flame.

But it doesn't stop them.

They act as if they don't even notice it. They begin tearing at Rhames. Their flaming hands catch him on fire.

On the other side, your window is broken. You begin firing at will. After firing for a few moments, you realize you have one bullet left.

You reach into your pack and pull out a clip. However, you realize you now have a problem. You have no idea how you're going to eject the clip from your pistol, then put in another clip. Especially in a timely manner.

While you are still trying to figure it out, something tears into your arm. A zombie is furiously bitting you. The hands of some of the zombies begin pulling at you. They are surprisingly strong, even still. You feel more bites. You try fighting it, but there are too many.

One of the zombies manages to bite your neck. The pain is unbearable, but you're determined to fight as long as possible. You press your feet against the side of Rhame's seat and use as much force as possible to launch yourself out of the car.

It doesn't work as well as you had hoped. Once you are cleared of the car, you now now surrounded by zombies who are now tearing the flesh off you with their teeth. Eventually you can't sustain consciousness, and your body goes into shock.

Time of Death: Day 3: 9:30 AM

The Rob Chronicles

Day 3: 3:00 AM

You have just said goodbye to two of your former comrades. Your current companion, a man named Brian Russell, had convinced you to leave them behind because they are crippled and will hold you back. You didn't want to listen to him, but you couldn't dispute his logic. In any case, he is the one piloting the helicopter, and you have zero interest in not staying with the helicopter.

Still, you feel like the biggest piece of **** in the world right now. You would probably be dead, or infected right now if it weren't for the two you're leaving behind. Ugh... What is happening to you? Prior to this mess, you were tough. Men feared you. Women threw themselves at you. And now you're just one big sissy who is concerned about some people you barely know.

But you can't help it.

The helicopter is steadily flying northwest. It is moving fairly slowly, but steadily across the countryside. Below, you see a mountain range that is running north to south. It is heavily forested down below.

You ask Russell where the two of you are heading. He says that last he had heard, the British Islands had shut off all communications with the outside world, in order to prevent the infection from getting in. This helicopter won't be able to make it there, but he can pilot other types of aircraft as well. He was planning on going to an airstrip and taking a small plane.

This sounds like a pretty solid idea. "Alright." You say. "I'm game. Any idea where we can find an airstrip though?"

"Yeah, Lakewood airport. Its a small airport, and was mostly used for private jet owners to store their planes." Russell shrugs. "I only hope that there are still some planes there."

It doesn't take you long to get to Lakewood. The city itself is fairly large, from what you can tell. As the name implies, it is built along the edge of a large lake. Eventually you reach the heliport. Russell has the helicopter hover for a few minutes.

"Ok, before I land this, we need to have a plan. " Russell says. First off, we need to be hellishly quick. We have no idea how many undead there are down there. Secondly, we have to find a plane. This goes without saying. Secondly, we need to refuel. Finally, we're going to need someone to check and make sure the runway is clear. We don't need to worry about infected, but I am concerned about hitting a truck.

ou tell Russell you think it is for the best if you stick together.

"I'm not sure about that. The success of this operation depends on how fast we are. I guess we're going to have to rely on luck though..."

Russell navigates the helicopter over the airfield. You can all ready see a couple zombies stumbling around. Russell lands the helicopter near the hangar.

He begins fumbling around with a supply kit placed in the back of the chopper. He walks over to you and hands you a large flashlight. "It's going to be dark in the hangar. I'm gonna need you to use this."

Day 3 - 4:15 AM

You take a mental inventory of what you have on you. You have your trusty bowie knife, your pistol, a hunting rifle slung over your shoulder, and now a flashlight.

Russell moves over to the door, getting ready to open it. You move over to the window of the chopper. You can see two dark figures moving slowly towards you. You warn Russell.

"What should we do first? Clear the runway or find and refuel an airplane?"

You tell Russell to head for the hangar.

"Good call. Finding a plane should be our first priority. It would be pointless to clear the runway if we didn't find a plane."

The door flies open. You instantly fire a shot at one of the two moving figures outside, it falls to the ground. Russell does the same, however, the shot misses the head. It is still stumbling towards you. You fire a shot at the zombie. This time it falls to the ground.

You run to the entrance of the hangar. Inside is pitch black.

Russell tells you to turn on the flashlight and take a look. Just as you're about to turn it on, you hear a crash coming from around the corner.

Russell says he's going to go check it out. You tell him you're going to come with him. He shrugs, then turns the corner. You follow him.

There is a fence running parallel to the side of the hangar, about ten feet away. The area is very narrow. Filling the area between the hangar and the fence are several crates. Some of the crates as well as some drums. One of the drums is knocked over, and you see why instantly. There is a large raccoon. He looks scared, most likely because it feels cornered.

You're getting ready to turn back and head the hangar when you notice something in the drum that the raccoon knocked over. You're not sure what it is.

You tell Russell you think you see something inside of the drum. He urges you to be careful.

You move towards the drum, but as you do the Raccoon runs over to you and attacks you. It is furious and unrelenting. Russell draws his pistol, but you signal him to stand down. Instead you pull out your knife and stab it in the leg. It screams but continues its attack. It launches itself at you, but you stab it in the back. The blade goes deep in. It pulls away, and withdraws into the corner, leaving a trail of blood.

You check inside the drum, inside are three raccoon pups.

"sigh...we should have guessed... How are you doing? Did you get injured?" Asks Russell.

The raccoon did injure you, to be honest. A couple of its bites broke skin, two bites on your leg are bleeding, and another bite on your chest is bleeding. But you'll manage. In any case, you don't have time to address your wounds.

"I'll be ok. Let's head back to the hangar" You tell Russell.

When you get back to hangar, you see five dark figures hobbling down the runway.

"That is strange." You say. "They're moving slower than they did a couple days ago."

"Hmm... We don't have time to think about that now. We'll discuss that later." Russell says.

You tell Russell to ignore the zombies. They aren't an immediate problem.

"I wouldn't say they aren't a immediate problem," says Russell. "Sooner or later, we're going to have to take care of them."

"We can take care of them later, then." You tell him "We need to focus on getting a plane."

"I'm telling you, we should take care of them now!" Russell tells you.

"God damnit, stop being a moron. Let's take care of the plane!" You insist. You grab Russell by the shirt. Russell backs down.

You turn on the flash light and give the hanger a once over. It is an old style hanger. It looks clear. A lot of tools are strewn about the hanger. Just one plane, a small business-class aircraft, is in the hanger.

"Excellent, i should be able to handle this", Russell says. we walks around the plane. "Good, everything we need to refuel is here. One of use should head into the plane and make sure it is empty, as well as check to make sure it will run."

It is easy to get inside the plane. The door is already open. You and Russell argue for a moment about who should hold onto the flashlight. It is moot; after a while you both realize that if you're going to check the plane, you're going to need the light.

You hold off going inside, long enough to have Russell set up the refueling process. Once he is ready, you go inside.

The plane is quite nice. You imagine the owner used to be quite wealthy, either a celebrity, or a businessman. Whoever the plane belongs to, its yours now .

You go to the cockpit, and check everything over. You then realize a problem: You can't turn on the plane while it is refueling without risking damaging the plane, so you can't fully check the plane. How come Russell hadn't thought of that?

You look at the plane for a moment, considering if it would be a good idea to actually just take the plane. Nah, that would be stupid. You have absolutely no flight experience. It would be suicide. No, your best bet is with Russell, even if you don't trust him. You begin running towards where you heard the gunshots.

They were coming from the runway. You run that way. You see a couple of bodies while you run. Up ahead, you see some movement. A small vehicle of some sort is moving around. Because of how dark it is, you can't make out what exactly it is. Occasionally, you hear a gunshot or two.

You shout out at the cart. It takes note of you and drives over.

Russell is the driver.

"What the hell are you doing?" You ask Russell.

"I finished refueling while you were at the chopper, so I decided to get a jump on clearing the runway." he says "Damnit, Rob. You should have stayed with the plane. God knows, I could have shot you by accident."

"How the hell was I suppose to know? I get back to the plane and you aren't there." You say furiously. "Then I hear gunshots. I thought you were in trouble."

He asks if you want to help him clear the runway. You agree to help. The work goes smoothly. Happily, there aren't too many infected at the airport, and less so out on the runway. After you clear the runway, you and Russell begin heading back for the plane.

Inside, Russell begins strapping himself in. You do the same. As you're strapping in, he begins asking you about what you got out of the helicopter.

"I only found the first aid kit. There wasn't anything there, really." You tell him.

All of a sudden Russell trips out. "You didn't look very hard then. I left a locket in the helicopter. You should have seen it!"

"How the hell should I have known to get a locket! All you said was to go look for supplies!" You say.

"Well, it kind of stands out. You're kind of stupid, aren't you?" He replies.

You're at the point where you're about to shank Russell. Your patience get the best of you though. You need him alive.

"Look, I'm going to go back and get the locket. It means alot to me. I'll be right back. You stay here."

Russell goes for the exit, but you follow him.

He asks where you're going. "I don't trust you," you say. "I'm almost positive there isn't a locket out there in the copter. I would have seen it. For some reason, you're trying to shake me. In any case, you might need back up. If you die out there, I'm screwed."

He nods. "Suit yourself."

You head over to the chopper once again. All of this back-and-forthing is really starting to grow tiresome. Already you can see the sky begin to brighten.

Inside the helicopter, Russell heads straight for the cockpit. You see him grab something that was hanging around the controls. You guess he really did have a locket there.

"My wife. This locket had belonged to her. She had contracted the virus a couple days ago. Back when this first started happening. I... was the one who shot her."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I don't have any family, so I didn't lose anyone." You say.

"Must be nice..." He grows silent for a moment. Sudden he draws his gun and points it at you. You do the same. "You're going to stay here." He says.

"What the hell, man. I knew you couldn't be trusted. Why are you doing this!?" You say.

"I didn't want to abandon you like this. You're useful, and in any case trustworthy and dependable. However, I heard some rumors back at the base. People were saying animals could pass on the virus. I can't take any chances."

You look down at where the raccoon bite you. It doesn't hurt that bad. "You god damn bastard!"

"Hey, no hard feelings, right? We gotta do what we gotta do to survive."

Now you know how it felt when you betrayed your friends earlier.

If this had been a couple days ago, you would have stabbed him in the face for betraying you, but now... You can't bring yourself to do it.

"So be it, you rat bastard. I hope your plane crashes in the Atlantic."

He looks sad, but turns away. He wishes you luck and walks away, towards the plane.

You're now completely alone. No more [College Major], no more Rhames, no more Richard and family. God Russell is such a bastard.

You look around the chopper. You think you MIGHT be able to figure this out. It doesn't look too difficult.

You begin walking away from runway. You have absolutely no idea where your currently at. At leastt Russell had given Rhames and [College Major] a map. Now you sorely wish you had travelled this way at least once, back when you were a drifter. Oh well, there is nothing you can do now.

As you're walking, you hear behind you the plane begin to taxi down the runway. You turn back. You can see the noise from the engines attracting any nearby zombies. They are following the plane, though the plane is moving too fast for them. Thank god for that distraction. You'll be able to make your getaway easier.

You turn back and continue walking eventually you come to a chain-linked fence that isn't barbed wired. You begin climbing it, which is fairly easy. You're used to this kind of thing. When you're about halfway up, you suddenly hear a load crash. You look over your shoulder. The plane has crashed into a large wall. One of the wings is broken off part way and there is a fire.

"God damn moron. How'd he go and mess this up." You say.

You can see black figures moving towards the plane. Now they are being attracted by the brightness of the flames. Perfect distraction.

But you can't help but feel one of your former comrades needs you right now.

You spit in the direction of the plane.

"Serves the bastard right."

You spit again, then finish climbing the fence. In some ways you feel kind of relieved to be away from Russell, not having to worry any more if he will betray you. But on the other hand you are now all alone in a dangerous world. You wish you had at least one of your old friends with you; [College Major], Rhames, Richard, Joy, SOMEONE. But there is nothing you can do about that.

The sun peaks over the horizon.

Day 3: 6:45 AM

The airport doesn't take long to leave. It is small, and relatively zombie free. Luckily the zombies you do run into are of the slow variety, so you are able to sneak past them without any problems. By time you get to the front gate of the airport, the sun is fully up and you can see clearly.

You wish you couldn't though.

The streets are full of zombies wandering aimlessly. Obviously you can't stay here. There is WAY too much undead activity. While observing the horde, you notice two other problems. A) You're hungry, and B) You're exhausted. You haven't slept or ate since you left the military base. You had been ok when you were pumping adrenaline through your body, but now you're hitting a low, you are really starting to feel the side effects. And other than your pistol, your rifle, and you're knife, you're not carrying any other equipment.

You take a closer look from your relatively secure position behind a large gate. You seem to be in some sort of commercial zone. There are a lot of small businesses and shops along this street. About 100 yards away, you can see that the town begins to turn into neighborhoods.

http://img.imgcake.com/lakewoodmap.jpg

You sit back, trying to muster the courage. There is no way you're going to get past this horde without gaining their attention. You just hope to god there are no fast zombies. After mustering the courage, you climb over the gate and begin your jog towards the houses.

Like you thought they would, the undead near by detect your movements instantly. They begin stumbling towards you. Some are faster than others, but none are fast enough to keep pace with you. You keep your attention forward, firing at the undead that are directly in front of you.

100 yards is quite far, but your adrenaline is pumping and you're luckily pretty well in shape. Eventually you come to the neighborhood area you saw. The houses are mostly one stories. Many have their windows or doors busted. You decide it best not to go in one of thoses, especially with a horde on your tail.

Then you see a house that gets your attention. The windows are broken, but they are blocked. The door is also intact. Next door, a zombie that was on the porch sees you begins to hobble over. You shoot it, and its brains explode everywhere.

You go to open the door. Its locked. You've been keeping mental record of how many shots you've fired. You have 4 shots left in the clip. Behind you, the horde is quickly approaching.