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The THING that used to be Peter, slowly and stiffly walked into the little settlement the survivors had made on the island. Instinct was driving him now, and his instinct was to return HOME… return home and feed on those he had considered his friends, and those who were his family.

The Peter-thing entered the clearing that he, himself, had helped to clear with his own two hands then looked around, he KNEW where he had to go to get food.

Turning in that direction, the Peter-thing made it’s way to the center of the settlement where MOST of the people would gather. Just as he reached his destination however, a young man with a deep tan and dirty blonde hair ran up until he stood between the Peter-thing and the others who were panicking and running, some to hide, some to get THEIR guns.

The Peter-thing’s dim memory KNEW who the young man standing before him was, even if it couldn’t recall his name or understand the words coming from his mouth. All the Peter-thing KNEW for sure at this point, was that the young man was prey…

The Peter-thing let out a moan, all the while the young man was talking, saying SOMETHING the Peter-thing DIDN’T understand in an oddly sorrowful and soothing tone. Then it happened, the Peter-thing took a couple of steps and there was a loud BANG, and the Peter-thing was gone.

Steve looked the man who was like a father to him in his cold dead eyes and KNEW, that the THING that had been him would come for him. He KNEW what had to be done, the man himself had told him all this since he was old enough to fire a gun on his own… but that didn’t prepare him, then the time came.

The THING that had been Peter moved toward him, and Steve shot it in the head, dropping it once and for all. As soon as Peter’s body hit the ground, Steve tossed his weapon aside and walked off, he didn’t want to deal with what was going to come NEXT.

Steve sat on the beach and watched, as the waves came into shore and back out again, over and over like the ticking of a clock, not since his mother had died giving birth to his little sister Frannie had he even come close to feeling as bad as he did today.

Of course this was MUCH worse, because at least THEN he had his new sister to focus on, and Peter had managed to hide the fact from him that like everyone who dies these days, his mother came back as one of those zombies as he called him, Steve had no idea until years later, that Peter had quietly put a bullet in his mother’s head after her death to stop her rising again, and NOW he had put a bullet in Peter’s head as well.

He had tried not to think about it, but NOW he KNEW what it must have been like for Peter to do that all those years ago.

“Steve, how ya’ feeling?” Steve turned to look, but KNEW already it was the voice of his best buddy Perry, the son of ‘uncle’ Jake and ‘aunt’ Tina, he was one year YOUNGER than Steve and they had been like brothers growing up. “How do you THINK I’m FEELING?” Steve said, turning away facing the beach once again.

Perry could have kicked himself. WHAT A STUPID IDIOT I AM he thought, disgusted with himself, but Frannie had BEGGED him to talk to Steve, he had been out here alone since he had been forced to shoot his step dad Peter, and she was worried.

“I’m sorry,” Perry said, bitterly, “I didn’t MEAN it like that. We’re all just WORRIED about you.” Steven took a deep breath, and said, “I KNOW man, I’m sorry too… I just can’t get the image out of my head. I mean, he was LIKE a father to me, he always told me how my father died a hero trying to protect them all from the bikers that attacked their mall… he had told me HOW he had PUT my dad out of his misery when HE was bit and I had seen it done when people here died… but I HAVE NEVER been in that position.”

“I KNOW,” Perry said, “Neither have I… I don’t KNOW how I would handle it if my dad came stumbling out of the jungle dead like that and I had to shoot him. But hey, YOU KNOW that Peter would have WANTED it that way, and he WOULD HAVE WANTED YOU to do it.”

“I KNOW that,” Steve said, TRYING to hold his anger and his sorrow in check, “he even TOLD me as much on several occasions, that he would RATHER be put out of his misery by family. That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Oh God,” Perry said, “of course not, losing someone you love is hard ENOUGH, but having to do what you HAD to do makes it worse. I KNOW that…”

“Never mind,” Steve said, interrupting, “I WILL be ok, I just need time and I THINK a change of scenery.” “Change of scenery? What do you mean: a different part of the island?”

“No!” Steve said, “More than that, I think I need to go to the main land.” “WHAT?” Perry said, “Are you out of your mind… the place is crawling with those dead things… zombies as Peter used to call them.”

“I KNOW,” Steve said, “but every part of this island reminds me of happier times and as long as those memories are shoved in my face EVERY day I will NEVER heal… besides there are supplies we’re running low on and maybe some survivors that I can bring back.”

“After all this time?” Perry asked, “You don’t really think…” “I DON’T KNOW,” Steve said, interrupting again, “and I GUESS that’s the point. We haven’t gotten any new information from the main land since those three in the helicopter came out from Florida, the ones who said they were in a government bunker that got over run. There’s no telling what the main land is like NOW.”

“What about Frannie? You KNOW she’s NOT going to like it.” Perry said, hoping that thought would stop Steve. “I KNOW,” Steve said, simply, “That’s why I’m NOT telling her… I know you love her man, and I think that’s great… I KNOW you will take care of her and treat her right, so I EXPECT you WON’T tell her either.”

Perry simply made a non-committal grunt, realizing that Steve had ONCE again made up his MIND and KNOWING that when that HAPPENED there was no talking to him. At length Steve got up, brushing the sand off of his tattered pants… “I have a meeting with the village elders to ask for supplies, and tell them my plans… I won’t leave until they ok my plan, and I can get some sort of boat. I will be sure to tell ya’ good bye buddy.” Perry merely nodded, and the two walked off the beach together, at least for a little while.

The meeting with the village elders had gone MUCH better than Steve had dared to hope. The three of them were indeed wise, and KNEW that SOMEONE was going to have to go to the main land to gather supplies and intelligence, and of course since Steve was old enough to hold a gun he had made himself useful to the village as a whole, so he was a shoe in.

Steve lay in his bunk, thinking about his plan, wondering what he would find. Of course he had hoped that MAYBE, just MAYBE some ragtag group of survivors on the main land had worked SOMETHING out, defeated the zombies and retaken the cities, of course that Sara lady from the helicopter had been a bit discouraging on that front.

She had told him at one point, that she and her fellow scientists had been in the underground bunker in Florida for MONTHS, looking for a way to deal with the dead THINGS and had gotten nowhere. She was even then on the island TRYING to run some primitive tests on people who died, but STILL was getting no closer.

Despite that, there was a part of him that had hoped maybe someone with better supplies, or smarter scientists, or SOMETHING would have had BETTER luck. In the end, he decided to prepare himself for the WORST-CASE scenario.

Decaying remains of once great cities, without a living person in sight. Empty and dirty city streets, lifeless with only the slow moving of the rotting corpses searching the cities for human flesh to eat, providing ANY sign of movement. Rotting decaying cities, filled with rotting decaying corpses, doing whatever they do when there are no people around to attack. That image was enough to make him reconsider his plan, but he HAD to get off the island, get a fresh perspective, and be alone for a while.

On the island it had, for many reasons, become the custom when someone died (once steps were taken to make SURE they would remain that way), for everyone to gather together and for the deceased’s remains to be burned on a funeral pyre.

So it was in the case of Peter’s remains as well. In deference to what Steve had to go through, and the young age of both HIM and his sister Frannie ‘uncle’ Jake and ‘aunt’ Tina had taken care of all of the details, Jake had gathered up the body from where Steve had shot Peter and prepared the pyre along Peter’s favorite part of the beach, while Tina had told everyone when and where to show up, and had made the traditional shroud to wrap the body.

As one of the elders, an ancient black man who had been a preacher on the main land said his words of comfort and healing, all of those who had been close to Peter, starting with Steve and Frannie and including, of course, Jake, Tina and many others, even Sara, John and Billy (who Steve recalled had often asked Peter’s help in secret on his hidden still, making his awful bootleg liquors).

Once all the words and the good byes had been said, it was Jake’s job to start the pyre. Taking a torch that had been burning nearby, he touched it to the wood, and to the wrapped up body on the pyre, until both were burning.

At this point Steve, touched as he was by all of the emotion, felt he needed to step back, so taking a hold of Perry’s shoulder he drug him off into the shadows well out of earshot to talk to him.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you good bye Perry,” Steve said, in a low voice. “So you’re GOING then?” Perry asked, flatly. “Yeah,” Steven said, “I asked the elders to keep it on the QT because of Frannie, they don’t agree with my request but they’ve honored it. I’m leaving in the morning at dawn so as to avoid a scene. I wanted to talk to you NOW so we COULD say OUR good byes and to give you a couple of things.”

At that point, he pulled a rolled up piece of paper from out of his pocket and pulled a ring from his index finger. “The paper is a note to Frannie, give it to her after I’m long gone. It’s my good bye to her and apology for not telling her what was going on. This,” he handed the ring to Perry, “is for you. My mom told me it belonged to my real dad and he would have WANTED his ONLY son to have it. Now I want you to hold it for me UNTIL I RETURN, so I WON’T lose it out there.”

“I STILL don’t THINK YOU should go AT ALL, at least not ALONE!” Perry said, with a mix of sadness and anger in his voice. “We’ve been all through that,” Steve said, ignoring Perry’s tone, “I have to get out of here and think, and the BEST way to do that is ALONE. Now are you going to take the ring and say good bye or what?”

Perry let out a slightly angry sigh and said, “Yeah ok. I’m honored, REALLY I KNOW how much you value this ring and I will take good care of IT, AND FRANNIE TOO.” Perry stuck out his hand for a handshake.

“You had better, or I will come back and get ya’” Steve said, in a slightly mocking tone, then he reached out and shook Perry’s hand. Perry yanked on his hand and pulled him in for a friendly hug and said, “You just COME BACK.”

The sun was slowly rising in the east as Steve stood on the shore with the elders and the boat they provided. It didn’t LOOK like much at first glance, but it DID have a working engine and fuel enough to reach the mainland, AND make a return trip as long as he didn’t take any detours, AND it was sea worthy.

As the three elders stood on the beach preparing to say their good byes, Steve looked at the island that had been his home all of his life one last time. Despite EVERYTHING, he had hopes of returning but that was by no means a sure thing, as was the prospect of WHEN he would return.

Steve was about to say his good byes to the elders and get any last minute instructions they wished to give him when in the growing light of the dawn he saw a pair of figures running their way. FUCK! He thought it didn’t take a genius to work out just WHO was coming.

Sure enough, as they got closer he could tell he had been correct: it was his sister Frannie, and Perry; Steve made a mental note to kill Perry later for this.

“Wait!” Frannie said, frantically, “What are you doing?” As she and Perry reached Steve, he hardened his expression and shot Perry a look that Perry KNEW was saying THANKS A LOT PAL.

“Don’t blame me,” Perry quickly offered, “she FOUND the note and after that there was little I could do, you know how headstrong Frannie can be, just like YOU.”

Frannie shot Perry a dirty look and said, “I had a right to KNOW. The ONLY living member of my family is going on some ill advised scouting mission to the main land where it’s crawling with flesh eating corpses, and you TRY and hide it from me.”

“Yeah, DAMN right I TRY and HIDE it!” Steve said, angrily “because I KNEW what you would do. Even now I can see you’ve packed some stuff because you THINK you’re going with ME!”

“I don’t THINK any such thing,” Frannie said, still angry, “I KNOW IT! If you’re going out and risking your neck, or worse, then I’M going to.” “Absolutely NOT!” Steve said.

“WHY NOT!” Frannie said, slightly calmer. “IF,” Steve said, trying to control the tone of his words, “you HAD read my note, you would KNOW why.”

“Oh I read it,” Frannie said, “some crap about needing to be alone with your thoughts, about having to get away… well I LOST my parents TOO DAMN it, and I DON’T want to lose YOU as well!”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “but there’s a difference: You didn’t get to KNOW mom, and YOU’RE NOT the one who had to shoot dad right between his cold, dead eyes.”

“No,” Frannie said, “but if you hadn’t I WOULD have, I was on my way there when you did it.” “Still,” Steve said, “You DIDN’T have to look at him and pull the trigger like I did, I saved you from that.” “Yeah, and I’m grateful big brother,” Frannie said, now sounding genuinely grateful AND LOVING, “but that doesn’t give you the RIGHT to slink off on your own on some fool’s errand of a suicide mission.”

Steve KNEW his sister WELL ENOUGH to KNOW he wasn’t going to get ANYWHERE with her so he turned to Perry and gave him a look that said he NEEDED help. “Hey pal,” Perry said “don’t look at me I’ve been arguing with her since midnight about it and you know what… I agree with her… you shouldn’t go alone,” at that point he pulled a small pack from behind him, “but I SHOULD be the one to go with you, NOT her.”

At that point, Steve couldn’t believe what was happening. On the ONE hand it WAS touching that they were so concerned but on the OTHER, he just felt he HAD to get out on his own and think, ALONE.

As a last ditch attempt at achieving his wishes he turned to the elders, hoping they would take his side and as soon as he did he saw he was sunk. He KNEW they NEVER agreed with his idea that one man ALONE would be able to move through cities crawling with zombies, scavengers or whatever, undetected better than a group and he KNEW, deep down, that they favored safety in numbers over the stealth of one.

“You know,” one of the elders, the doctor who had assisted in Frannie’s birth all those years ago, said, “how we feel about this matter. We NEVER supported a solo trip.” Then another elder, a woman Steve didn’t know much about said, “While the three of you would not be our IDEAL team, you have each proven you can take care of yourselves and you ARE young, strong and fit.” Then the last elder, the preacher who had spoken at Peter’s funeral, said, “The three of you shall go then, and you had better get started before the tide turns AGAINST you.” Steve couldn’t help but feel the tide had ALREADY turned AGAINST HIM.

In the end Steve KNEW he had no choice, he was stuck with his sister and best friend tagging along on what was supposed to be HIS solo outing. “Very well,” Steve conceded, “let’s go. Oh and by the way,” he said, turning to Perry and grinning almost despite himself, “I want my RING back.” Perry chuckled a bit and said, “Fine, it doesn’t suit me anyway.”

They had been on the ocean for hours, and the sun was getting close to reaching it’s midday zenith. Steve studied the map the elders had given him, and the route they had picked out closely, while Frannie kept a look out, for what he couldn’t say, and Perry operated the boat, having the MOST experience of the three of them with boats.

“According to this map,” Steve said, at last, “we should be hitting the main land in another hour or two. Some place called Uniontown.”

“Then what,” Frannie asked, never taking her eyes off the horizon. “Well,” Steve said, “we search the town for any signs of LIFE and supplies.” “Then what?” Perry said. “Then,” Steve said, starting to get a little irritated again, that they had forced themselves into this trip, “depending on what we find or don’t find, we either go to the next town over or back to the boat.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.” Frannie said, flatly. “Well,” Steve said, with an angry tone, “it worked just fine for me and since I didn’t INVITE EITHER of you along…” “Hey,” Perry said, hoping to defuse the tension between Steve and Frannie said, “IF you two keep fighting, I will turn this boat around.”

It worked to some extent, Frannie giggled a bit, and returned to watching the horizon while Steve smiled more than Perry had seen him smile since the thing with Peter, and returned to his map. “Just you keep giving directions mister navigator.” Perry said finally, to seal the deal.

True to his word the boat reached the main land in about two hours, and they were glad to be there. Keeping a careful eye out for any zombies they pulled the boat to shore and while Perry tied it so it wouldn’t drift away and with Steve’s help, covered it with nearby brush in case anyone was around who MIGHT decide to help themselves, Frannie kept her eye on the land, seeing Uniontown laid out in the distance, and looked for any sign of movement.

Once the boat was dealt with Steve and Perry walked up and stood on either side of Frannie. After looking at the remains of the city in the distance for a few minutes Steve finally said, “Ok let’s take a look around.”

As the three of them started walking toward Uniontown with Frannie in the middle and Steve and Perry on either side they quickly saw that the place looked like it had been empty for some time. Once they reached the town itself and looked around, Frannie was quick to note something odd.

“Look at this,” Frannie said pointing at the rotting remains of a man lying in the middle of a road. “What?” Perry asked. “It looks like one of those things, but look, there’s a crossbow bolt or something sticking out of it’s head.”

“So what?” Steve asked, eager to start exploring some of the buildings. “Well,” Frannie said, “LOOK at the bolt, it looks shiny, like it’s only been out here for a few days.”

“So,” Perry said, “someone with a crossbow or something has been here BEFORE us?” “Yeah,” Frannie said, “and not TOO long ago. They MAY still be here. We should be careful.” “Ok,” Steve said, evenly, “I was ALREADY planning on being careful but thanks for the warning.”

“I’m serious,” Frannie said, “being careful of those dead THINGS is one thing, but look over here, MOTORCYCLE tracks, these people could be trouble. Remember what mom and dad told us about the bikers at the mall?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, they had ALL heard that story, even Perry, “but JUST because they’re on bikes doesn’t mean they’re bad news, we will keep on our toes, but let’s not get panicky.” “I’m just saying,” Frannie said, defensively. “Alright you two,” Perry jumped in “we’re agreed PEOPLE have been here, and UNTIL we KNOW what their STORY is, we’re to be CAREFUL.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “let’s start checking out the buildings, shall we?” “Ok, yeah.” Perry said, and the group continued to follow the road. However, this proved to be more difficult than they had originally hoped as most of the buildings they first encountered looked pretty rough, and didn’t seem like they would hold out MUCH hope for any kind of goods.

Eventually however, they made their way over to a nearby liquor store. At first the trio was unsure what to make of it, all they knew of liquor was the home brew stuff that Billy the chopper pilot made in his hidden stills, and the stuff they saw in the window of THIS place was all strange and unheard of except in a misty sort of way that Billy himself would name them off almost like a child names off his favorite nursery rhyme characters.

They were about to step inside, when they saw a body in a cop’s uniform in the doorway, at first they reacted with caution, worried it MIGHT be a zombie, but then they SAW that apparently it was, and their mysterious ‘friends’ on the bikes had already shot it in the head for them.

As they walked inside they saw that it looked like they had ALSO beat them to the contents, not that there was ANYTHING in particular they would have WANTED to take, except perhaps the odd bottle of something to give to Billy as a souvenir.

Grabbing a few random bottles for just such a reason they returned to the outside, and decided to try and find a local store some place, that MIGHT STILL have some canned goods, or maybe a drugstore where they could find some useful medications. In preparation for this trip, the elders had complied a wish list of the sorts of things they KNEW their people would NEED, and Steve had hopes of trying to get as many of the things on the list as they COULD find.

However, each place they checked looked like the people ahead of them had already hit it. While there were still plenty of rotting vegetables, fruits and even some fish, MOST of the non-perishable canned goods seemed to have been picked over, and not just once but many times, like these people had made several trips.

“Looks like the people not only got here first, but have pretty much picked Uniontown clean.” Frannie said, in a disheartened tone. “Not only that,” Perry added, “they must have taken out the zombies in the area, or at least MOST of them, there are several bodies around, but we haven’t seen any up and walking around.”

“Either that,” Steve said, “or the zombies moved on when there got to be no people to eat. We really don’t know WHAT they do, when they have a whole town all to themselves.” “Well,” Perry said, “either way I for one am grateful, I was worried the PLACE would be CRAWLING with them.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, “too bad they didn’t leave us more to pick from though,” at that point he picked up a can whose ragged label read beets, and another that read liver, and making a horrible face put them both back where they came from, “all we have here are THEIR rejects.”

The three of them tried some other sundry stories, including a local pharmacy, where they managed to get some bandages, aspirin and some other odds and ends that the others seemed to have over looked, it wasn’t much to show for a day’s work, but by that time it was getting late and it would be better to get under cover before it got TOO dark to see anything.

At length, the trio found a small, fortified building that looked like it had been used as a bank. They of course, had no FIRST hand knowledge of banks, but their parents had told them all about the world before the dead rose and they KNEW of them, if NOT about them and they KNEW enough to know that they would be pretty secure, more secure than any other building in Uniontown, that was for sure.

As the three of them walked up to the doors and tried to open them, they found they wouldn’t budge. “Are they locked?” Frannie asked, tired and just ready to settle down before it got REALLY dark. “I don’t think so,” Steve said, “the knobs turn.” “Then,” Perry said, walking up to help Steve out, “they’re probably just STUCK. Here let’s try pushing them open TOGETHER.”

Steve and Perry each took one of the doors, while Frannie kept an eye out behind them, even though they hadn’t seen a zombie all day there was STILL a chance that there were some lurking around SOMEWHERE, and IF they had to make a LOT of noise TRYING to get the doors open, that COULD attract them.

Steve and Perry pushed against the heavy doors with all of their might and it took three or four really solid tries, but at length they finally pushed the doors open, at lest enough for the three of them to get in.

As they walked inside they saw a shadowy figure in the distance, standing in the corner of the main room. Out of reflex they drew their weapons and Steve shouted, “Who’s there!?” Just then the figure moved into the fading sunlight streaming from the highly placed windows, and they saw a hairy looking guy in leather carrying a sawed off shotgun, “Hey man don’t shoot, it’s me, Hendricks!”

“Who?” Frannie asked, still holding her weapon on the stranger. “Hendricks, didn’t Riley and the others send you to find me?” “No,” Perry said, “we don’t know who you’re talking about. We’re NOT from around here.”

“I MIGHT have guessed,” Hendricks said, in an angry tone, “those sons of bitches are probably so wrapped up in their OWN shit, they haven’t even MISSED me yet.” “What are you talking about?” Steve said, still holding his weapon on the man.

“You can lower that, KID, I won’t hurt ya’.” Hendricks said, then added, “I was part of a team, we’re paid well by Kaufman and his fellow fat cats in the Green, to go out into the big bad world and gather supplies for the city. It’s SUPPOSED to be for everyone, but you can bet the people in the Green get first crack, before those who live in the city around it.”

“Paid? Like in money, we had been told MONEY was worthless NOW.” Perry said sounding confused. Hendricks laughed, “out here it IS, but in the Green it’s got value, sure it takes a lot of cash to buy ANYTHING, and the fuckers running it have already gathered MOST of it up for themselves, but in the Green it has value. Of course those of us out in the city use the good old fashioned BARTER system.”

“So let me get this straight,” Steve began, “this Kaufman and other ‘fat cats’ give you money they have hoarded, to risk your necks out here getting supplies, then you turn the supplies over to them, and they dole them out as they see fit. Sounds to me like THEY should be out here, or YOU should dole out the stuff.”

“Hey,” Hendricks said, “it’s NOT PERFECT but it’s the only thing we have. Our city and others like it are all that’s left of the human race now. Isn’t YOUR city run the same way as ours?” “We’re NOT from a city,” Frannie said, too late for Steve, who didn’t want to give away too much, to stop her, “we live on an island out in the ocean and we live just fine without money and ‘fat cats’, whatever they are.”

“That’s impossible,” Hendricks said, “Kaufman and the others told us a long time ago that they sent out envoys by ship and that the only human settlements they found on islands had all been over run by walkers. The ONLY safe place is in the cities, everyone KNOWS that.”

“That’s NOT true,” Frannie continued, “we’ve lived on our island all our lives, we never heard of your cities or envoys or any of it, we live in peace with each other and farm the land and hunt and are happy.”

“Son of a bitch,” Hendricks said, “I SHOULD have KNOWN, it’s not exactly a secret that bastard Kaufman manipulates information. He’s always telling the people in the Green and in the city that it’s suicide to leave, that the outside is crawling with zombies, that anyone NOT in the city or the Green is dead, or worse, I NEVER fully believed it, but the island thing has got to be his biggest lie, he had men claiming to have gone out there, to have seen the remains and dealt with walkers out there.”

Steve had just been standing back, taking all of this in, but now he had to ask, “How did you get separated from your group and left out here ANYWAY?” Hendricks laughed, bitterly, “As usual someone fucked up. I GUESS I should count myself lucky, out here a fuck up usually means you’re dead meat.”

“But,” Steve pressed, “what EXACTLY happened?” “Oh!” Hendricks said, “First the fucking SKY FLOWERS stopped working.” “What?” Perry said, “What are ‘sky flowers’?” “They’re fireworks,” Hendricks explained, “we usually make these runs at night, because we discovered that a good fireworks show, or sky flowers as we started calling them, would distract the walkers. This one young guy, used to be a frat boy or something, had a theory that they remembered the fireworks from holidays, you know like July 4^th…” Peter had told them about Fourth of July but had never really mentioned fireworks, just the HISTORICAL aspects so they weren’t sure what he meant EXACTLY.

“Anyway, the kid would say ‘they’re reacting just like a crowd who goes to see a Fourth of July fireworks show or something, they MUST have vague memories of them, and are reacting accordingly’,” Hendricks continued, “personally I didn’t CARE as long as it kept the stenches standing still. Anyway, like I said they fucked up, our support vehicle Dead Reckoning was SUPPOSED to keep the sky flowers going and something went wrong, they stopped. As soon as that happened, every fucking walker in town started to go after us.”

“One of them was standing in the middle of the fucking road, randomly grabbing at us as we passed on our bikes, must have got a lucky grab when I rode by because off I went. As soon as I hit the ground I rolled around and fought them off with my trusty shotgun here and made for the BANK, KNOWING it would be safe, I’ve been hiding out here since, hoping Riley or that dirtball Cholo would send some help.”

“WHY?” Steve asked, “We’ve been out there for hours and we haven’t seen anything but BODIES, not any stenches, or walkers as you call them.” “That’s not possible, kid,” Hendricks said, in an agitated tone, “they HAVE to be out there. There were several left after everything calmed down. Maybe they’re laying low for some reason.”

At this point Hendricks SEEMED to forget about the guns STILL pointed at him and ran up a set of stairs, to a small area with a large bay window overlooking the town. Curious, the others followed. “This was apparently the bank manager’s office, this window gives you the BEST view of the town.” Hendricks looked all over town, “I don’t get it, WHERE are the walkers, like I said, there were several left after the whole mess died down, I hadn’t really heard anything out of them, but I WAS SURE they were still there.”

“Maybe they got tired of the raids, and the attacks and just wandered off.” Perry said, trying to come up with SOME kind of explanation. “Naw,” Hendricks said, “they had been hanging around here for as long as we had been hittin’ the place. We started WATCHING them without their knowledge, and had discovered when stenches are alone they kind of go through the motions of being alive.” “How so?” Steve asked his curiosity piqued. “Well,” Hendricks said, “for example, there was this one walker, had a name tag read Big Daddy, he had a garage out there, he would STAY in that garage and when one of the other walkers would trigger one of those bell things they used to use to let the pump jockeys know a car had pulled into the station, he would come out like he was ready to fill’em up and wipe their windshield. Then there was a young couple I used to called Frankie and Annette…” at that point Hendricks stopped his story as he noticed the blank stares on their faces, having grown up on an island they didn’t understand a lot of what he had been saying, least of all who Frankie and Annette were.

“Anyway,” Hendricks resumed, “the zombies were acting INTELLIGENT… Like they were learning, or more likely re-learning how to do things… like how stroke victims can RE-LEARN to talk or to walk… they were COMMUNICATING… who KNOWS what else they could RE-LEARN to do…

“THEY WOULDN’T just up and leave here, they’re USED to this place, it would take something REALLY strong to get them to leave.” “Like what?” Steve asked, curious, none of this fit the little he had KNOWN about zombie behavior. “I don’t know, but IF they did up and leave it’s NOT a good thing. Wherever they ARE NOW, it’s trouble… I HAVE to get back to the city and warn the people and QUICK.” “You think they MIGHT have gone there?” Frannie asked, skeptical of such an idea.

“I DON’T know,” Hendricks said, sounding unsure, “the night I got separated and things went so wrong I heard one of the guys, Riley say something about them LEARNING how to communicate and work together, we all dismissed the idea out of hand but after the shit hit the fan I SAW what he was talking about, that Big Daddy in particular seemed dangerously clever and the others seemed to FOLLOW him. IF they DID head to my city the people inside are in danger.”

“What about your motorcycle?” Perry asked. “No good, I snuck out at dawn the FIRST morning I was here. My bike must have flipped, or something, I found it wrapped around a tree a few feet from where I was pulled off.” “Surely your precious city is protected.” Perry said. “Yes,” Hendricks said, angrily, “of course but JUST because it can keep out garden variety walkers DOESN’T mean it will keep out these SMARTER ones, however….” “However what?” Frannie asked.

“However,” Hendricks continued, “IF Big Daddy, as his patch called him, IS gone we should be ok to go into his garage, with any LUCK maybe we could find a vehicle that he repaired before turning and we could all go to the city and warn them.”

“Listen,” Steve said, not sure how much of this SMART zombie crap he was buying, “we’re here to find stuff for OUR people, and that’s WHAT we’re GOING to do…” “Um,” Perry and Frannie both said at the same time, and then Perry said, “Can we talk over here?”

Steve let out an irritated sigh and walked over to where Perry was indicating, far out of Hendricks’s hearing. “Maybe we SHOULD help him,” Perry said. “Why?” Steve said, “we’re here to HELP our people by finding supplies we can’t get on the island and gather information on the state of the world.” “Yeah,” Frannie interjected, “but IF he’s right about some of the zombies getting smarter and getting out in the world it COULD be a THREAT to us ALL, besides this place looks pretty much picked over.” “Granted THIS city looks picked over but that just means we SHOULD move on to the NEXT one. Besides,” he added, “as far as the ‘smart’ zombies go, I don’t buy it,” Steve said, “it makes no sense.” Perry had to suppress a bitter little chuckle as he said, “about as much sense as the dead getting up and walking around in the first place.”

Steve had that sinking feeling that he was once again defeated, even though he was just as stubborn as his sister, she HAD Perry on her side on this one and if their history had taught him ANYTHING, it was that whichever one of them had Perry on their side usually won. “Ok,” Steve said, “we will help this guy find a vehicle and go with him to HIS city, BUT IF we find any supplies along the way we collect them, and the MOMENT traveling with this guy starts to look like it’s interfering with OUR original mission we bail! Agreed?” Frannie and Perry both nodded in agreement, and after another minute or two they rejoined Hendricks. “Alright,” Steve said, “here’s the deal…”

***

The next morning they all got up early and had a small breakfast made up mostly of supplies that Steve, Frannie and Perry had brought with them from their island home because MOST of Hendricks’s meager supplies, made up of food he had gotten from the town during the last raid were nearly gone.

Once they were done they carefully opened the front doors of the fortified bank building and slowly walked outside, keeping a look out for any zombies that might still be out and about.

As they made their way to where Hendricks told them Big Daddy’s Garage was located, they thus far had not seen hide nor hair of any zombies, just the bodies of those who had been killed on the raid.

After following Hendricks for a little while longer he pointed across a street and said, “there it is.” The others looked and saw a small gas station/garage, after looking around and not seeing anything they crossed the road and walked up to the station.

Once they reached the front of the building, they decided to try and look around, hoping to avoid any nasty surprises but, when they tried to look in through some nearby windows, they found they were TOO dirty to see much of anything, and attempts to wipe them off only revealed that MOST of the grime was on the inside.

“All right Hendricks, this is your party,” Steve said, indicating that HE should lead the way. “Whatever,” Hendricks said, checking the door. As he figured, it WASN’T locked so he just turned the knob and opened the door, walking in with Steve behind him, Frannie next and Perry bringing up the rear watching their back.

As they entered the dimly lit garage it didn’t take them LONG to see there were no cars or other vehicles in there. However, they decided that since they were there already they might as well have a GOOD look around.

Most of what they found were rusting tools covered by a thick layer of dust, and what appeared to be a small living area near the back of the building that MUST have been used by the so-called ‘Big Daddy’ when alive.

Now all that was left was aging crumbling furniture, and a wall of molding aging photographs in which Hendricks saw what MUST have been Big Daddy when he was alive. ONE such photo was him in an Army uniform, Hendricks could JUST make out that he was a sergeant, with other men of various ranks all around him holding their rifles and posing with big cheesy grins put on for the camera. Underneath was written, in neat but somewhat aggressive looking handwriting, ‘me and the boys’ then the first part of a year 19; the last two digits had been worn away by time.

Perry spotted another photo, THIS time with the same man and bunch of teens in matching coveralls, THIS one was clearly taken out front of the garage when the building was in BETTER repair and didn’t bear a caption.

Just then, the three of them heard a noise. “What was that?” Steve asked, turning to where he BELIEVED the sound to be coming from. “I don’t KNOW,” Hendricks said, trying to sound calm, “probably just rats or something, sometimes those THINGS try and eat them but they’re a good deal HARDER to catch than we are, so MOST of the time they don’t bother.”

At that point, Frannie said, “Look a door, judging by the looks of it I would say it goes outside. Should we check it out?” “Yeah,” Hendricks said, sounding excited, “maybe there’s a back lot where the cars are stored.”

As Perry walked over to open the door, they discovered the source of the noise, out popped several figures, they could tell right away that it was more of those ZOMBIES. Then Perry realized with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was the teens in the picture with Big Daddy, they even still had the coveralls on although, of course, by now they were torn and much more soiled.

It didn’t take them long to realize that they didn’t have much room to fight against the juvenile zombies in the garage so Steve yelled, “EVERYONE through the door QUICK!” As soon as the words were out of his mouth Perry slid the door open, and came face to face with ANOTHER zombie.

Almost as SOON as the door was slid open the zombie seemed to spot it’s new prey and attempted to attack. Perry was startled but ready, he raised his weapon and fired, and while he didn’t hit the critical head area, the blast did push the zombie far enough back to allow him and the others to retreat out into the building’s back area.

Just as Hendricks had suggested, the back lot was a gold mine of cars of all kinds, including what appeared to be the burned out wreck of an old white car with a huge dent on the driver’s side door.

“CLOSE THE DOOR,” Perry shouted, keeping his weapon trained on the solo zombie in front of them, “I will take care of this one.” As he said that, the zombie recovered from Perry’s first attack and started to SLOWLY make it’s way toward him.

This time Perry took a deep breath, he KNEW that given the distance between them he would have only ONE shot before the zombie was ON HIM AND he KNEW he had to make it a good one. So Perry aimed his weapon, TRYING to remember everything Peter and his dad had told him when they taught him how to shoot. THIS time he got it right between the eyes and the zombie fell, never to rise again.

Once he was sure the zombie was down for good, he turned to the others. “How’re we doing on the door guys?” He asked but they DIDN’T HAVE to tell, him he could see it was closed however, he could also HEAR the zombies on the inside pounding, trying to get through to get to them.

“I guess not ALL the zombies in town left.” Steve said, giving Hendricks a HARSH look. “Guess not,” Hendricks said, “I NEVER said they ALL acted SMART only MOST of them, bound to be a few dumb ones left around here.” Then returning to the task at hand he added, “Ok people, let’s look for our ride out of this PLACE.” “What should we be looking for?” Perry asked, seeing a surprising number of vehicles of all types, and somewhat discouraged by the idea that they would have to look them ALL over.

“Something FAST but protected, that will carry us ALL ideally.” Hendricks said, scanning the area. “This MAY be a bad time to mention this,” Steve said, with an uncertain tone, “but we don’t know much about cars and NONE us KNOW HOW to drive either.”

“What?” Hendricks asked. “We were born and raised on a remote island,” Frannie said, with a somewhat sarcastic tone, “WHY WOULD we NEED to know anything about cars or how to drive them.” “So,” Hendricks asked, “How did you plan to get around once you hit the main land?” “Walk I guess,” Steve said, “not like I planned on really going very far.” “Great,” Hendricks said, harshly, “ok I guess I’m the driver, just help me find something to drive.”

“Ok,” Steve said, “I think we should split up, it would go faster, but keep on your toes in case there are anymore zombies in here.” “No need,” Hendricks said, “there won’t be anymore.” “How can you be so sure?” Perry asked, looking at the one he had killed. “Because of the fence that surrounds this place. Do you REALLY think they could get in here?” “How do you explain that one then?” Frannie asked, pointing at the dead zombie on the ground.

“Probably was in here when it died, and got trapped as a zombie.” Hendricks said, adding, “I don’t see any holes in the fence, that’s the only way they could have gotten in.” “In ANY case,” Steve said, not buying ANY of it, “just stay sharp.”

Nobody disagreed with that idea at all, so as they each went their own way, they made sure to keep an eye out for any more zombies.

***

After several hours of searching, they had each found ONE vehicle that SEEMED to fit Hendricks’ criteria, but since he was the ONLY one to KNOW EXACTLY what they NEEDED, he had the last word.

Once he had checked each prospect out carefully, he finally said, “The hardtop jeep here,” at that point he indicated a black jeep that was sitting nearby “WOULD be perfect except the engine needs a good DEAL of work. I CAN fix it, BUT not alone. Am I safe in assuming since NONE of you KNOW about cars or even HOW to drive that you ALSO DON’T know anything about engines or how to repair them?”

The was silence for a second or two, that was finally broken when Perry volunteered, “I KNOW about BOAT engines.” Hendricks seemed to consider this information for a moment, then said, “I GUESS it will have to do. I SUPPOSE you two,” at that point, he indicated Frannie and Steve, “can search more of the town if you like, just be careful, there should be enough gas in the pumps out front, we will just have to go and harvest it, BUT if you come across any MORE out there bring it TOO, we’re going to need all we can find.”

“Oh and one other thing,” Hendricks added, cautiously “in ORDER to fix this thing I’m going to need mechanic’s tools, which means…” at that point he nodded his head toward the garage back door where they could STILL hear the zombies inside pounding, wanting to get out and get them.

“There’s an awful LOT of them.” Steve said, unsure if tangling with them was such a hot idea. “Yeah,” Hendricks said sadly, but brightened up when he added, “BUT I have a PLAN.”

***

“Ok,” Hendricks said, standing at the sliding door; “I’m going to try and slide the door open just enough to let only ONE zombie out, then close it again. With ANY luck this will WORK and we will be able to take them out ONE at a time. IF something goes wrong and we get too many, just do your best and for God’s sake COVER ME.”

Everyone gave him the thumbs up sign, and took their positions in a three-point semi-circle several feet from the door. “Ready when you are,” Steve said, trying to sound cool but feeling ANYTHING but.

Hendricks took a deep breath, and slowly opened the sliding door a little at a time until ONE of the zombies slipped through. Luckily, it didn’t SEEM to notice Hendricks and spied the others, who were MORE out in the OPEN; slowly the thing lurched in their direction.

Once Hendricks felt it was safe to move he started slowly sliding the door closed, which by then had several zombie hands, legs and even heads poking through, TRYING to get out. Once he had the door about closed a zombie hand popped out at the last moment like some kind of demented jack in the box forcing Hendricks to pull the door hard until the hand ripped off just to close it, then he kicked the hand aside almost as an afterthought.

Meanwhile, the zombie they had let out was lurching it’s way to the others and they took aim. There was little sense in wasting bullets, OR risking a barrage of bullets hitting Hendricks, so Steve took this one on his own.

Stepping forward a step or two he took aim, and just as the zombie moved closer he fired, hitting it between the eyes and dropping it where it stood. “Next,” Steve said with a sly grin, thinking to himself THIS IS GOING TO BE EASY.

The next several zombies went pretty much the same as the first, except that Frannie took a turn as shooter as did Perry and Steve got to go again.

Then something went wrong. Hendricks slid the door open to let yet another zombie through, but after so many times they were starting to catch on to how things worked, and before Hendricks could do ANYTHING to stop them, the LAST four zombies forced their way through the door.

While the others all seemed to spot Steve, Fran and Perry right away (like the others before them) and head right for them, the last one had caught Hendricks, who made the mistake of panicking, and TRYING to reach for his sawed off shotgun that was leaning against the nearby wall, thereby alerting the zombie to his presence.

The zombie lurched it way toward Hendricks, and since it didn’t have far to go it reached him BEFORE he could get a good grip on his weapon. As the thing grabbed him, it managed to cause him to fall to the ground and to not only lose his grip on his sawed off shotgun, but to knock it over and just out of reach.

The zombie was on top of him surprisingly quick, it always kind of amazed him how slow and stiff zombies could act MOST of the time, but when prey was involved they suddenly SEEMED capable of surprisingly fast moves. The same frat boy who had theorized about why the ‘sky flowers’ worked on stenches, had a theory that the zombies themselves weren’t any faster, it just SEEMED that way in the ‘heat of battle’, either way they sure did SEEM to move fast to kill ya’.

The zombie was trying to bite at Hendricks, while he used ALL of his strength to keep the thing’s mouth at bay. Finally he was able to free his right hand enough to try and grab for his sawed off shotgun, but he couldn’t find, it and every second the zombie was getting closer and closer to biting him.

Finally he felt cold metal, and THOUGHT he had found it when he pulled it up in to his line of sight, however, he quickly discovered that it was just an old pipe with a jagged tip. Deciding that THIS weapon would have to do he maneuvered the tip so that it was pointed at the zombie’s head and with all of his might jammed it into the thing’s skull.

That seemed to do the trick, he was able to force the metal in and all the way out the other side, for a moment it reminded him of those silly fake arrow things people would sometimes wear on their heads with the bend that would go in the back, making it look like the arrow was sticking THROUGH their heads at the front. However, the illusion was brief as the THING truly died and Hendricks tossed it’s body aside and jumped up, grabbing his sawed off shotgun in case the others needed any help.

Meanwhile, Steve, Frannie and Perry looked on in horror as three zombies started lurching their way. With Hendricks down, dealing with his own situation the trio no longer had to worry about accidentally hitting him, so they simultaneously took aim and fired.

They all three hit their marks and the zombies fell where they stood, once and for all TRULY dead. By this time Hendricks had taken care of HIS attacker as well, and the four of them regrouped between their bodies. “That SHOULD take care of that,” Steve said, “all we have to do is get rid of the bodies and you two can have the run of the garage.”

That proved to be easier said than done, even though all the zombies they had shot had been teenagers in life, they were now just dead weight, and lifting them to toss them over the fence proved difficult not to mention that since they couldn’t get much DISTANCE, all that really did was get the bodies out of the way, it didn’t do much for the smell, even though they were careful to pick a location where the wind would blow the smell AWAY, it would still occasionally change direction and blow the stench back at them.

“That’s ok,” Hendricks said, once they had gotten all the bodies over the fence, “I for one, don’t PLAN on being here much longer, think of the smell as motivation, as if we didn’t have enough already.”

***

Once that was done, Hendricks put the jeep in neutral and they all pushed it into the garage. They discovered that the place had it’s own generator, which Hendricks was pleased with because once they covered the windows of the place with whatever they could find, they could turn the lights on, giving him plenty of light to work by, as well as access to POWER tools, which would speed up the repairs.

While Hendricks and Perry started work on the jeep, Steve and Frannie decided to do some more looking around town, although by NOW they were CONVINCED there was little hope of finding ANYTHING worth the effort; they WANTED to at least TRY.

“Where do you want to look?” Frannie asked, scanning the buildings that comprised Uniontown. “Not sure,” Steve said, “I THINK it’s safe to say that Hendricks and his BUDDIES cleared out MOST of the stuff in the stores, so maybe we should TRY some of the private homes,” at that point he indicated a collection of small homes on a distant rise. “Sounds like as good a place as any to start,” Frannie said, looking at the houses in the distance.

***

“Hand me that monkey wrench,” Hendricks, who was under the hood of the jeep said to Perry, who stood nearby observing what he was doing, and handing him the tools he needed, as if he was TRYING to LEARN how to do the work himself.

After a few more minutes, Hendricks stepped back and rose to his full height, engine grease and sweat painted his face and hands. Taking out a red cloth they had found lying in a box with several others, Hendricks began wiping his hands clean, and soon followed that up by wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Looks like the engine is in WORSE shape than I thought. I’m going to need to pull some parts off some of the other vehicles in the back and HOPE they work.” “What do you WANT me to do?” Perry asked, eager to DO something since he missed the chance to go with Steve and Frannie, and was starting feel like he wasn’t contributing MUCH handing Hendricks tools.

“I’ll NEED your help,” Hendricks said, “I will need you to help me carry the tools I need to pull the parts, locate potential sources of those parts, and to carry the parts back.” “Ok,” Perry said, “I guess there’s no time like the present.” “Sure NOT.” Hendricks said with a grin, he was starting to like this kid’s attitude.

Since they had come into the garage from the back and taken care of all of the zombies they had found, they had been keeping the sliding door in the back open to help get SOME natural light and as much fresh air, occasionally tinged with the smell of the rotting zombies they killed before, as they could, so the two of them simply strolled out in the lot.

“Ok,” Hendricks said, “we’re going to need to find parts for the same kind of engine so we shouldn’t bother with the smaller CARS, if we could find another similar Jeep that would be perfect.” Perry’s eyes lit up, “I saw one before and I KNOW exactly where it is.” “Then lead the way,” Hendricks said.

***

The houses had been located several yards away from Uniontown proper, which was probably another reason the raids didn’t bother to hit them, and meant a good brisk stroll for Steve and Frannie.

While they were walking Frannie took the time to try and figure out what was going on in Steve’s head. “So,” Frannie said, “you don’t believe what Hendricks said about SMARTER zombies.” Steve, who had, up until then, been watching the tree lines on either side of the road, looked over and said, “I don’t know, I just don’t want to invest too heavily in it UNTIL I see some sign. I mean I SUPPOSE in all the time they’ve been around SOME of them COULD start to pick up human mannerisms, I KNOW I’ve heard stories of them working as a team to take people down but COMMUNICATION and simple animal coordination aren’t exactly the SAME thing. Why, what do YOU think?”

Frannie seemed worried when she said, “I HOPE he’s wrong, but I am afraid he MIGHT be right.” “What about this city of his?” Steve said, changing the subject somewhat, “it’s seems really ass backward. These ‘fat cats’ as he calls them sit up safe and make all the decisions that effect people’s lives and call ALL of the shots.”

“It does seem odd,” Frannie admitted, “but is it REALLY all that different from our ELDERS?” “Well,” Steve said, “YEAH it is. We CHOSE them and they’re always changing, they’re out among us and do all the work and struggling that the rest of us do. Sure we GIVE them some perks, but that’s our choice and MOST of the time they turn them down and just want to be treated like the rest of us.”

“That’s true,” Frannie said, “but maybe out here, having to struggle to survive without the protection of the ocean and everything like we have, things have to be DIFFERENT.” “Maybe,” Steve said, sounding unsure, “but IF we reach this city we’re going to have to watch this Kaufman, he sounds like trouble.”

Frannie was about to agree when they reached the first house. It looked like it had been empty from the start of the dead uprising and time had NOT been kind.

With a simple nod Steve led the way and Frannie watched their backs. He walked up to the front door, and tried the handle. When he touched it the door fell in with a crash. “Shit,” he muttered, “IF there are any zombies left in the area they probably ALL heard that.” Frannie simply nodded, and the two of them slowly walked inside.

***

The jeep that Perry led Hendricks to wasn’t EXACTLY like the one they had selected, BUT it was close enough for the engine parts to work so he walked over to it, raised the hood and started carefully poking around inside it, the place MIGHT be zombie free, as far as he KNEW, but that didn’t mean it was free of snakes, spiders or other critters.

Perry stood next to him with a toolbox ready to hand him whatever he NEEDED. Putting the toolbox down on the hood of a nearby car, he opened it up and got it all ready, so he could grab anything at a moment’s notice.

The two were SO busy with what they were doing, that they neglected to notice movement from a third nearby vehicle. It was almost undetectable at first, even if they HAD been looking at it, then it got more and more plain.

Slowly, a back door that had been hanging open started to move open even wider and a couple of zombies slowly spilled out, the first one hit the ground and stiffly started to rise, as the second one slid on out and worked to stand.

The second one had more trouble with standing since half of one of it’s legs was gone, but it managed to get up well enough to hobble it’s way around. The two seemed to sense Perry and Hendricks instantly, and slowly and quietly started to make their way over to them to attack.

***

Frannie and Steve had checked the first house and FOUND nothing useful. Some stale moldy bread and some meager supplies of perishables that had perished long before, just like the owner of the house who they found upstairs with a shotgun in what was left of his mouth, and ants and other insects swarming over what little they, time and the shotgun blast had left of his head.

After that they tried a couple of more with similar results, the only difference being that SOME of the homes had the corpses of their owners (who had apparently at some point chosen to shoot themselves in the head), while other homes seemed to have been left by their owners as they fled to somewhere ELSE they thought of as MORE safe, and still others more than likely belonged to some of the zombies that had been down there wandering the streets until, according to Hendricks, they had learned how do something else, and left to wreck havoc elsewhere.

After a couple of hours, they had only a couple of houses left. “Should we EVEN bother?” Frannie asked, discouraged, although NOT surprised, by the lack of progress they had made searching the small collection of houses.

“It’s either this, or twiddle our thumbs while Hendricks and Perry work on the jeep engine.” Steve said, adding, “Your call.” “Ok,” Frannie said, “let’s check them out, then we should go on to something else.” “Alright then.” Steve agreed.

They walked up to the porch of the nearest of the houses left to search, and from the moment they did Steve had an odd feeling he couldn’t describe. “I don’t like this,” Steve said to Frannie in a low whisper. “I know I feel it too, kind of like we’re being watched or something. What do you want to do?” “I would say run but that would just draw them out faster and IF there is anyone around we should just deal with them.” “Ok,” Frannie said, “so we proceed as planned.”

At that point, Frannie tried the door, it was LOCKED, that was a FIRST. “Looks like I’m going to have to break it down.” Steve said, quietly. “You think that’s a good idea?” Frannie asked, nervously. “Only if we want INSIDE.” Steve replied, giving the door a solid hit with his shoulder. It didn’t give completely at that point, but he could tell it would with a couple of more hits like that, so he tried it again and sure enough on the next hit the door flung open on to a large group of zombies.

***

Hendricks had expertly pulled all but one of the parts they needed to get the jeep they were working on going, and noticed that Perry was once again closely observing his moves, IF his concentration and attention were anything to say about it, Perry would learn how to fix jeep engines in NO time.

Meanwhile, neither of them had YET noticed the two zombies making their way slowly toward them. They were only a few feet away when the one with only one leg fell to the ground with a moan, that was when Perry and Hendricks turned and saw the standing zombie, who also let out a moan as it tried to reach it’s prey, now only a few inches away.

“FUCK!” Hendricks said. He hadn’t expected any trouble with walkers, so he had left his sawed off shotgun back in the garage, however as it turned out, Perry was better armed. He happened to have been holding a wrench he had been about to hand to Hendricks for use on the LAST part, and NOT having his gun handy simply chose to use IT.

He ran up to the zombie, and before it could act, bashed it over the head with the wrench until he heard the skull go, and he was SURE the brains inside were just a mashed paste. However, in all the concern about the standing zombie, NEITHER of them noticed the one on the ground that was now scooting it’s way toward where Perry was standing.

Before anyone noticed, it grabbed Perry by the ankle and pulled him down, then started to crawl along the ground, TRYING to get close enough to bite him. Perry tried to pull away, but the zombie wouldn’t let go, so he kicked it in the head, which finally made it let go enough for him to half crawl, half pull himself, away from it.

Then Hendricks came in, taking a cue from Perry, armed with a heavy looking wrench of his own, which he then used to bash the THING over the head until it was out of commission. Then as an after thought he wiped the blood on the nearby grass in case he NEEDED to use it later and didn’t want to get it’s blood everywhere.

“Let’s finish up and get the jeep goin’,” Hendricks said, gruffly, “I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU BUT I’M READY TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS TOWN.” Perry simply nodded, and stood up ready to do just as Hendricks had said.

***

The house was filled with zombies, Steve could only guess that a group of survivors had locked themselves in to stay safe, and one of them must have been bitten or died, and came back for the rest. Since then they were all trapped in the house UNTIL Steve busted the door down.

It didn’t take the large group of zombies long to seem to realize they were free at last, and that there were TWO tasty morsels right there in front of them, because they all slowly began to turn in unison and lurch toward the door, where Steve and Frannie were standing.

Steve attempted to grab the door to close it, but the zombies closest to it were already in the way. Aiming his gun he was able to take out a couple of them, as was Frannie, but it was clear they were out numbered. “RUN!” Steve shouted, and turned to see Frannie at his side as she did the same, then they took off.

“Back to the garage, we’re going to have trouble behind us.” Steve said. “Yeah,” Frannie agreed, “good thing they’re slow.”

Then, as they made their getaway, they found out WHY they had the feeling they were being watched, as a bunch MORE zombies started pouring out of the woods on either side of the road. They must have been working their way to the road quietly since Frannie and Steve first started walking around out there.

“Oh shit!” Steve said, “Now we’re in for it, they’ll end up blocking our way out if we don’t pour on the speed.” Frannie simply nodded, took a couple of shots at the zombies ahead of them and sped up as best as she could. GOOD FOR YOU, FRANNIE, Steve thought, as he followed her example.