Chapter 2 - Make Friends
8 Days after first infected - 9:45 AM on Tuesday.
John opens the hatch to climb down.
He slowly walks around the house to see if there's any infected.
The baracades are still the way he left it.
John checks the living room and see one window was broken from the outside.
He can recall afew days earlier when someone called for help trying to find shelter.
He gently turns around walking through the hallway towards the kitchen and pass the rest room on the right.
The hallway is small and a bit deep leading to a 90 degree turn to the left leading to the kitchen.
John is really tense and began sweating by his forehead.
He leans against the left side of the wall to peek around the corner of the hall.
He tries to relax himself a bit by moving his shoulders.
He slowly takes the turn and walk into the kitchen and slowly grabs his mouth.
The kitchen has a bad smell coming from the fridge.
It appears to be something that went bad.
John hears a noise appear in his ears for everything being too quiet.
a soft crack sound echo throughout the house and John swiftly reaches out to the knife on the kitchen table.
The house is a little dark and sunlight shines through tiny open spaces.
John gets irritated by fear and began to move quickly doing a sweep search around the house for the infected.
After checking the second bedroom last, John sighs and finally ease up and walk towards the living room to sit on his favorite couch.
His mind recalls this must be much easier than it is for other people, because he was always alone.
He starts to think of the people he always worked with and wonder if they might be alive.
As John relaxes in the quiet neibourhood, he hears a car driving far distance.
John is not surprised to hear there are other survivors out there.
He jumps up from the couch and run towards the window next to the front door.
He peeks from the same little space between the baracades and close his eyes tightly.
He remembers being so long in the roof where it was dark and hot.
His eyes are still sensitive to sunlight and he slowly tries again to get a peek outside.
The light finally clears and he's able to see a small piece of a burned car in the middle of the street and blood on the house at the back's window.
Suddenly John c8oughs from a dry throat feeling very thursty.
Because the roof was so hot he spend more time drinking water instead of eating.
The water went fast and John took no chance to fetch water.
After the second cough, John grabs his mouth and turns around looking in the house again.
He freeze for a brief moment to listen for any other noise.
John tries to swollow and get the feeling of the inside of his throat stick of dryness.
The house slowly began to heat up as the sun rises.
John walks to the kitchen and stops in front of the sink.
John hesitate to open the tab thinking the water might not be clean.
He slowly turns the tab and a little bit of water comes out and stops for a moment and the tab begins to make a noise as the water tries to come out.
John swifly closes the tab trying to avoid noise and slowly backs away from the sink.
He turns around and walk towards the living room on his way to peek again and steps on a piece of glass breaking it.
The break echo through the hall and suddenly he hears a growl coming from the back yard outside.
John freeze as he began to breathe heavily and feel the beat of his heart moving his eyes.
John remains still up to 2 minutes without moving and the thought of one being close.
John starts to grow tense once again and slowly tries to move towards the couch.
He lifts his right leg from the glass and his knee makes a crack sound.
He quickly freeze again thinking this is extremely difficult, but better this way then to face one of 'them'.
John continues to move with caution.
Everything seems to be fine again until he suddenly feels pressure.
The kind of pressure that won't go away even when you try to ignore it.
John tries to walk slowly, but his speed slowly increases as he walks.
The pressure gets worse and John bends one knee taking smaller steps faster.
On the move in the hall way he swiftly turns right into a room and fast, but softly he close the door behind him.
John looks around the room quickly and shake his hands.
He finally figures something out and quickly grabs the paper and roll it down the toilet and he swiftly unbutton his pants and grabs on.
He suddenly leans down bending his knees and let go.
Shortly after John grabs the handle and before he could flush, he suddenly stops.
He slowly takes his hand from the handle thinking that being used to something might not be easy to change.
Without washing his hand or flushing the toilet, John pulls up his pants and use the back of his right hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
'That was the most complicated piss I ever had in my life, shit...' John said inside his mind.
John's mouth began to feel dry and his sight
swiftly goes dark and comes back again.
He breathes heavily as it was a hunger blackout in the need of energy.
All the other food he left went bad and remembers there are only two cans of food left.
John slowly takes one of the cans to the living room and opens it.
He took the tuna in salt water and drink the water first.
the taste is extremely salty and John stops for a moment waiting for the burn on his throat to go away.
He starts to eat the tuna out of the can with his hands and lifts the can to throw everything in his mouth.
A few hours have passed John fell asleep on the couch.
(Car engine driving) The empty can is still in John's left hand hanging downwards from the couch.
Slowly the can slips from his hand and the can falls to the ground and the noise wakes John.
He quickly flies up startled and look around.
Just when he sighs and calms down, he hears a driving car getting closer.
The car is a little more closeby and John runs towards the window to peek if he can see the car through that small opening.
He peeks and tries to slowly move the one couch blocking the window (tires spinning) and hear the car very close.
John manage to see a glimpse of the car driving at high speed.
A sliver Volvo with a man driving and one of the infected biting his neck.
As John see the man scream inside the car driving faster, The man notice John and turns the steering.
(Window breaking) The car quickly crashes into the house next to John's, breaking the whole front porch.
John tries to find a better view (car hooter beeping) and realize someone in a house across the street was peeking behind a curtain.
The guy driving the car is dead and his head is laying on the steering wheel leaning against the hooter.
The noise echoes throughout the silent neibourhood streets.
John falls down to his buttom shocked.
The view point changes as it shows the neibourhood from above showing the infected all around the neibourhood slowly turning towards the direction of the hooting car.
30 Seconds passed and John finally gets himself to stand up.
He grabs his head and tries to think of something while the horn blows.
(door banging) It wasn't long before there were 4 already at the front door trying to get in.
"What The Fuck!? I wasn't making any noise... how would they even know someone's in here? Ah Shit... I need to do something fast - Fuck!" John said grabbing his face and bending over.
Suddenly John remembers how strong 'they' were inside the bus and he already knew that the baracade by the door isn't going to hold four of them.
He swiftly grabs his favorite chair and pushes it to support the baracade by the door.
He looks around the living room for something else while leaning agains the rumble by the door.
Two other infected across the street looks at the 4 by the door and starts to walk towards 'them'.
John notice the other two on their way and gets up from the rumble.
John rushes over to grab the shelf and push it as fast as he can to increase the pressure on the door.
It wasn't long before two more added up and start to push as well.
"Aww... this isn't working and to think it might be able to hold off at least this much thanks to trusting information on movies... Fuck You Directors! Aww... Strong infected Mother Fuckers... Aagh Awwwww!!!
(Scene Paused)
"Well... this is a fucked up situation, I really can't believe I survived the breakout just to die in that lonely house... But Before I show you what happens next allow me to take you back a bit a few days before all this shit happened..."
6 Days Earlier...
"A lot of things in the movies happened to be miscalculated from reality... But unlike me, you shouldn't blame the directors for not being helpful on information - Its kinda impossible to know how things will be when they end up they way it did.
I always thought that if zombies were real, they'd end up to be more or less the same.
That same image about things we expected zombies should be, got swept away the first day in that bus.
Wanna hear something else...?
I thought the smart people who has the most information about the Undead would probably be the one's to survive a pandemic, but I was brutally wrong... As you can see one of those two infected came strolling to my front door to help their buddies break in was a gothic teenage chick with half her face chewed off...
I'll have you know that they are much stronger than they look and it' even more brutal to see it happening before you than some movie showing someone's flesh peeled off... I guess it becomes worse once your mind realize that it's real, but hey... The way people scream makes you want to piss your pants hearing how painful they go down... Let's start with the first things that happened right after I closed that hatch..."
Out in the city...
The infected makes their way off the bus slowly walking into the building.
The security is laying on the floor injured by the bus crash.
The first two infected to get off the bus bends down to feast on the security guard.
The lift doors open and there are 3 women standing in the middle.
One tries to close the doors (Screaming) as one of the infected make his way to the lift.
The doors were about to close and the arm of the infected got in the way and the doors opened again.
On the 5th floor of the build was a man with a white shirt and a cup of coffee and the printing sign on the cup saying 'Wake Up! The world ends Today'.
He's talking to 4 colleagues and laughing.
He's the 9 to 5 employee having a normal day with a brown stain on his red tie and a upside down tag named 'Bill'.
"Hold up guys... I gotta head up to the 7th floor to fetch some papers, be right back!" Bill said walking to the lift.
Bill pushes the button waiting for the lift and pulls up his tie and finally notice the stain.
He smells it and says " Must be this morning's cup of coffee hehehe..." and laughed.
Bill takes out his phone and start to play the game Subway Surf.
The Doors open and Bill bumps into one of the infected walking out and say "Sorry can't take my eyes off, I'll die..." While walking into the lift.
The doors closes just in time leaving the infected one out in floor 5.
Bill moves back a bit and pulls up his big tummy with his left hand and farts.
"Whoa there buddy... too much Doughnuts Bugha hahaha!"
Shortly after the doors open on floor 7 and Bill sees the manager.
He swiftly throws he's phone to the ground and grab his tie.
The main office door closes and Bill bends down breathing heavily to pick up the phone and then he sees three girls laying on the floor bleeding and one having brain spasms.
"Oh yeah Fucking genuis ladies... You tried to prank me with this one last time, even an idiot can tell this is fake..." Bill said with a sarcastic voice.
He walks out of the lift and the doors close.
The boss calls in Bill to the office.
"Oh God this is the end for me I know it... Fuck I'm getting fired today!" Bill talks to himself walking towards the manager's office.
Bill enters and closes the door behind him.
Bill looks out the window and see a huge explosion outside.
"Oh car crash... cool" Bill said looking at the Manager.
Before the manager could speak someone made an anouncement on the microphone "Everyone evacuate the building People are eating each other! This is not a drill people They're going crazy! Haaaagh..." And the sound of the mircophone dropping.
"What is going on today? Bill... there was a crash on the ground floor I need you to check for injured people... What's going on?" the manager asked afterwards.
"Oh nothing Boss... They're just messing around trying to make their day with me nothing serious and about that crash Boss, I'll be sure to check on it..." Bill replied and walked out the office.
The lift doors open and Bill saw the lift was empty and only an arm was laying on the floor.
"Wow... now that looks real, that shit is genius!" Bill said excitingly and went to floor G.
The doors open and Bill walks out of the building and see people running all over the place and police are shooting.
Cars are burning and the city is filled with chaos.
"What is this a Fucking Movie? What the hell is going on here...?" Bill asks looking shocked.
The view zooms out from Bill showing the whole city facing a Crisis.
"Chaos was spreading faster than the infection and people did more killing than the infected... The undead Destroyed everything and people helped.
First everyone got the same idea... Steal food and supplies then get the fuck out of this hell hole...
The only problem was people didn't realize that the goverment's only containment was to quarentine the whole Queens Town! Completely sealed off was also something that failed in the movies...
And then again they were right about it and the dead broke through...
For me to baracade myself inside was a good move I believed because I always saw that in the stories of the undead - Freaked out people becomes more dangerous than the virus itself, but also the cause for the infection to spread so fast...
But the calculation on that was also off.
The Infection was taking its time to spread and to reach other places took a while as well...
At least I knew that an infected person wouldn't be able to drive for more than 7 minutes and that is if the person was to be bitten in the car...
Some places are far out up to 1 hour drive and I realized that the more people notice the pandemic, the more chose to leave town...
Traffic blocked all the main roads causing more people to avoid driving...
It became more serious when the infected reached the border points of each road bloc... By serious - I mean the army shoot everything on sight forcing people to stay inside this bowl of chaos...
At some point the only option is to baracade and hide, sealing yourself off from the chaos to avoid the undead reaching you...
It is hard enough having to deal with crazy dead people trying to eat you, So having the living help made it almost impossible to survive...
Like the beauty queen girl who choose to run in high heels and trip spraining her ankle by the side road and a freaked out driver running her over because he's too afraid to stop, the problem is that maybe she didn't die there and is left unable to move making it so easy for the infected to enjoy her in every way, kinda sad though...
Anyway things got out of hand at some point the army was killing more people than zombies and destroyed other things too and normally you would think they would resolve the problem by sending in an air strike, then you realize that your life is worth less than the goverment's reputation... Yep they're more concerned about other countries watching them kill at least 10 million people in one go - but at some point the army reaches about half a million...
Normally the one's to cause the infection would end up to be some kind of goverment experiment, but reality won't be so predictive and this changes everything..."
4th Day Of Break Out...
"At this point certain places becomes a little more quiet as other place more chaotic...
The Spread of chaos always comes to the order of people's believes.
First off when the goverment who most people give the role as heroes gets fucked, the rules dies with them... Now this day is the day you can say - The Day without rules!
When there are no more rules, it simply means people won't be punished for doing something bad anymore because the people who handles the punishments are the ones breaking the rules...
This "no rules day" which sounds like a holiday brings out the true nature of people holding back..."
Day 5 After Infection Started...
"By this day, certain things are no more!
Let's say nobody have access to electricity anymore because the dead reached the power station and anyone dumb enough to start a generator doesn't live long enough to make a home cooked meal...
Second thing that goes with power would be communication...
Taking a chance to find a radio on day 5 was the same thing as commiting suicide...
Most of the infection wer grouped together making it hard to slip through.
Speaking of slip, The infected made sure many people trying to wait out the chaos, joins the party...
There was just something about Zombies being drawn by noise so naturally as if it was meant to be that way...
The Baracading strategy had rules and only a few people were aware of them...
Let's see, Some people's houses were too big to keep track of all enterances... By this I mean it was very easy for one infected to break through a baracade without anyone noticing...
I mean so many people abandoned their homes leaving you with a much better selection to choose from...
So Baracade Rule 1. choose a smaller space to seal off...
Then there's the other problem of some people who loved their belongings more than other people - Feel like you can't leave your car outside?
Believe me someone will do the very best to 'borrow' your car...
Some people will go out there to stop them and never get the chance to go back inside... This brings us to another rule - Don't take risks for belongings.
And Now to the sad part...
A few people had this problem and you might also - I surely hope not!
For the ones who wanted to baracade themselves till most of the killing stop, didn't quite work for some people.
Because they had little children and some babies, the word quiet didn't apply to that household... Which makes this rule simple; for those who can't afford to keep quiet, keep moving...
As hard as that may be, you still have a better chance to survive rather than to be trapped in a house waiting to die...
Before the end of this day, certain things were no longer easy to find as well...
Meds are so important, Something other than water to search for first, because other than dying; you really don't want to die of infection or some flu...
This is also applies to the folks out there who knows they need some pills to stay alive - get those first...
By the end of the day, even water might not be worth drinking anymore so if you choose to baracade, fill up bottles of water before the end of day 4 because when the power goes out, you'll have no idea what happens to the water supply..."
6th day after Infection started...
"Not much about this day can be said...
What I'm trying to say is after the 5th day, there are less survivors and more infected out there...
If you are one of the unlucky few to survive this far, cry because your suffering starts from here...
Day 6 brings the end of chaos allowing the whole town and neighbourhoods to quiet down...
Now many would think that is a good thing, but the challenge starts from there, You'll find a few survivors searching for some supplies...
They become the victums of infected still in groups which makes this a tricky one so I'll say day 6 becomes quiet only to fool those in baracades...
Some end up going for the big places like a mall or a shopping centre that happens to have everything you need in one place...
Sounds like paradise right?
And that's the places you should avoid first...
Those were the places during chaos visited first and because it was paradise, most people went for supplies there - meaning a lot of people died there - meaning a lot of infected waiting there...
I heard people gettin' eaten inside the house trying to find food on day 6...
There is one more thing you forgot going out on day 6...
When you go out to find supplies and let's say you got lucky, the problem is going back!
The man went out to find the supplies, got some and made it back to the house in the same neighbourhood...
What he miscalculated was that he thought if they were so slow they might loose track of him, but there was something else I learned about the undead while I listened to a whole family screaming and probably wishing to die...
The infected have a way of following you even if you get far enough for them being unable to see you, The undead can walk the same direction for days without stopping or even resting...
This is done by their instinct, causing them to believe walking that direction will have them find you one day...
If you're not driving a car in which you can travel for miles without stop, running seems pointless unless you change direction soon...
The man went out for supplies at mid day...
By early Night time his home was invaded by up to 30 infected breaking down all the baracades leaving them trapped inside...
Here's the worst part about a zombie following you...
By nature the infected seems to remain at one place having nowhere else to go, and for one to follow you in the same direction you ran means trouble...
Maybe one saw you and you ran for two miles into one direction, you know it will take that slow walking disease at least a day to get there...
The problem is that he doesn't show up alone, because when a zombie walks into one direction all the others seeing that will follow because they know that zombie saw the living and he or she knows the direction..."
Day 7 Of Infection...
"This day is one of the most difficult ones ever...
I Guess I can call this one "out of supply day", meaning that you're getting freaked out because food and water is starting to run out and you still don't want to go out there and search for supplies...
Now there's only one reason I choose to avoid going out on this day...
Because I knew just as I was running out of supplies, other survivors were too...
I call this problem "wrong way"!
There might be a few dozen groups thinking that things are finally cooled down so I'm going to take my chances, but what they don't know is which directions is safe to walk to...
But I'll say each day has its own purpose served making the possibilities greater for you to survive longer thinking about it...
Allow me to explain to you what happens on day 7...
Running out of supplies forces people to head out without thinking to go back so you might as well say it is the last time you'll get to see them...
Now when a few groups decide to search for supplies at the same time, it creates the Wrong way problem...
If one group is being followed for 6 hours, it would mean the have grouped a small horde behind them...
This brings the point where the first group meets up with another and sees the supplies they have...
Where the group got those must mean there's a bit more safe so they'll aim for the same place to search supplies...
The wrong way meeting up with the horde following the other group 3 hours behind.
This means that whenever you see a group focused on surviving they won't group with others not having any - because meaning to share becomes a problem especially sharing women in a group with men in another...
So, avoid the direction where a group survivors comes from, because they're being followed surely!
Well you can also say there is something amazing happening on day 7...
That brings us to day 8!"
Day 8 of Infection Spread...
"This is the most important day...
And no, its not your birthday or even the day where a cure is found and working...
This day is made special by day 7...
At the end of day 7 - So many people walked different ways leading the infected to follow them, but not just that...
Bigger groups have formed because of the hordes following survivors making some places almost completely empty...
Then you get day 8 where some of the infected grew tired of the same place so they start to walk in random places...
Sounds like a perfect time to head out and find some supplies right?
Wrong!
You need to avoid what happened to other groups...
Finding supplies plays a big role out there so you need to get out there and search for other survivors!
Searching for survivors who's searching for supplies are the one's who slightly had the same idea as you, because its the reason they survived this long...
Calling on to day 8 as Making Friends!
You need to find people that's able to search for supplies with you... this makes it much safer and faster.
When you've searched for people you can try to trust, Search for supplies and keep traveling together...
You need more hands much more than food...
This day holds many things about making friends...
Surviving together also allows you to see if you can trust other people because before day 8 comes to an end, those people should at least have saved you once or you them...
This is your first time surviving with people and also your first time outside the new world...
There is something to keep the group sane in order to survive or else everyone else will go crazy...
You need to have group rules, Because rules are the only thing keeping people in to order...
Before we head back to my Fucked up situation, check out a few group rules to survive.
I promise you that after these 8 days there will be many other things to make sense to you...
So First of all; please avoid having more than one woman in your group - oh and choose one older thats than 30...
Two problems comes from this meaning other men from groups will surly target your group!
the other problem is common...
Woman have their monthly cycle and Zombies are attracted to blood even the type of blood that smells...
Choose a river and travel closeby is the only way to stay alive with one woman...
You need one because her survival support keeps a man going far longer than he could on his own...
With that - Sex always seem to come at some point, the depression of feeling scared and lonely makes people to want to make love...
Avoid unprotected sex!
Not just for sickness, but for any pregnancies...
Having that can cause difficulties and future dangers for the group to survive...
The world is already a living hell - leave babies out of this!
One more thing... supplies becomes hard to find and that saying for shelter too.
Finding a safe place becomes hard because it gets taken by other survivors too...
So One last rule - Keep the group small!
No more than 8 people because overpopulation in a group can cause early starves, lying and devided over disagreements...
These things strikes your group much faster leaving them vulnerable to the infected because finding a place big enough to shelter everyone breaks the baracade rule by keeping the place small...
Also finding supplies won't last because of too many bellies to feed and hard to keep track when someone goes missing...
I guess you're finally ready to face the world outside - The New World!"
(Scene Played)
John runs as fast as he can in the hallway to climb up into the roof.
The infected is nearly inside and John starts to kick the rooftop breaking through the sinkplates.
He kicks harder until some of the screws came loose and finally after so many days John feels the wind blow and sunlight on his skin.
He stands on the roof and sees in far distance many more infected approaching.
He finds the nearby tree to climb down and rushes over to pull the body from the car.
As he climbs down, suddenly the Noise stops he runs as fast as he can from the back yard to the side gate leading outside.
He sees the car halfway in the house and the dead driver is missing.
The one who bit the driver went through the windscreen.
John tries to think how the zombie could have gotten out because The seat belt was still on, could the zombie perhaps be able to loosen himself?
A man shouts across the street "John! This way hurry..." and waves at John to come.
John rushed over the street and into the last house at the end of the street.
"This place is not safe we need a way out..." The man said to John.
"How many are you?" John asks the man.
"We're just 4 people me, my wife, my son and some young I gave shelter few days ago... You have a plan to get out of this mess?" The man asks John once again.
"I might have thought about something Mr. James... I just hope it works, we need to get over the other side of the river, its the only direction I believe we won't run into them or get followed... It's not far from here but we need something to go with because building something is not something we have time for!" John said with irritation.
They both agree to follow the plan and swiftly grab a few things and ran.
Shortly after a while of running they reached the river and find that there was still one boat left behind and they rushed over to get it started.
"I don't mean to budge in, but I can see a few of those things coming this way..." The young man said slowly walking back.
John pulls the leaver as hard and fast as he could a few times.
"John hurry! They're closing in on us..." Mr. James said with fear.
"Fucking Start You piece of shit Ahh!" John screams and finally get it to start.
As the motor runs everyone gets on grabbing something.
The last bag is grabbed and the young man tries to get on and one of the infected grabs the backpack on his back and pulls his backwards.
The young man grabs a hold of Mr. James son and pulls him out of the boat.
"No... let Go!" Mr. James Shouts.
John jumps off the boat and grabs on to Mr. Jame's son and gets him loose just before the other infected arives.
With the young man on the floor being eaten alive, The others make way to the other side of the river.
It is noon and the sun is about to set and only four got out of that neibourhood.
"Shit... this is far beyond any bad day I've had..." John said leaning back trying to rest while watching Mr. James hold his son tight.
The boat continues to move and the 4 are patiently sitting on the boat.
The scream of the young man faded to silence and the 3 grownups change their expressions to something of guilt.
The sunset turns to a red color reflecting a shine on the river.
"Thank you for saving us, saving our son..." Mr. James wife said grabbing Jonh's hand.
"I guess the plan worked... Misses Jen... I'm just glad you guys survived this hell, to be honest...
I really thought I was the only one in the neibourhood to survive, am glad I'm not alone..."
"It was a good thing I took the chance to get one of them out of the car... I had to smash his head to kill him so he won't bite me, I finally got to move him to the other side of the car to stop that hell of a noise he caused..." Mr. James said sighing.
"Anyway... It's already dark so the best thing to do is to kill the engine and stay on the river till morning breaks... Walking out at night's a really bad thing to do..." John said whispering loudly.
"We packed some flashlights, we can use the once its too dark...?" Misses Jen asked calmly.
"No... we shouldn't use them unless we have to... draw attention and you're easily trapped... speaking of attention I still can't seem to understand how they found me without making noise..." John said scratching his head.
It wasn't very long and the sun was gone, leaving the 4 survivors nothing but the moon's reflection shining on the water.
"Another day Ends meaning the start of a new Nightmare is yet to come... For some reason I haven't told them about the important task I carry on my shoulder and I probably shouldn't...
It is now 8 days after the first drug abuser got Infected with something unknown and wiping most Queens Town clean...
For Those who might not know Who I am, my name is John Richards and this is my Fucked up Survival Story!"
To Be Continued...