Day 25

It is strange what things you think about in a moment of panic, or maybe it is when your body creates adrenaline in enormous rates and your mind races as well. The first thing I thought when I was woken by screams was, are they following me? After rushing out of the tent, pulling my shoes onto my feet and seeing the massive number of zombies I thought, they migrate. There, at the edge of our camp were not ten or twenty zombies, but hundreds. It was as if they were emptying the northern states and migrating south.

"JOSH!" I scream with everything in me over the noise of the zombies approaching. "Josh!!" I fire my pistol into the air. He comes running over. Panic is all over his face and he is holding his M4. I think he was already awake. "Get the Hummer started. Find Chad and have him get grandma and grandpa. I'll meet you there in two minutes." He does not respond but runs, shouting for Chad and Charlotte.

I go back into the tent and grab throw my bag over my shoulders and then my rifle. I hand Dawn the pistol and pull the machete out of its sheath from my bag. I grab Connor, and Dawn grabs Seeley and we run. I abandon any pain I may have ever felt in my leg. My adrenaline masking what would normally be a searing pain. Seeley is crying in my arm but I ignore him. All I can focus on is getting them into the hummer and hopefully safety. When I get there, it is running and Charlotte is sitting in the passenger seat, her gas mask is on.

"Put these on," she says, throwing the medical masks to my wife and kids. My wife does, and Connor does reluctantly. Seeley, she has to force it on.

"Lock the doors, Charlotte," I say, and turn to Dawn, "I will be right back, I need to help Chad with my grandparents." I kiss her on the cheek and throw the door closed. As I run I grab my M21 and hold it in front of me. I survey the chaos that is entering the camp. There is a woman you sang along with Laith last night on the ground with several zombies surrounding her. I shoot a spray of bullets at the oncoming zombies.

"RUN!" I yell at her as I pass her. Laith runs past me soon after and I point to the woman that sang with him. He is empty handed and I reach into the bottle holder in my pack and hand him the pistol that was in it. He nods and I say a quick good luck before I runs towards the woman and into safety.

A zombie is near me and I smack its head with the butt of my rifle, then swing it around onto my back and draw my machete, cutting into its head and brain.

I see my grandparents tent. Chad is running towards it and I call towards him. He turns and looks at me but keeps running, his katana in hand. I look and the zombies are only meters away running. He looks in the tent and runs back to me. I have to swing my machete at another zombie as he approaches.

"They aren't there." He steps back and swings at several oncoming creatures. Stopping them instantly. The sea of dead rush past us and we both are swinging at anything that moves. I grab my rifle and fire rounds into a group near me, running directly at me. They fall, and I see Chad get tackled as I spin around. I run over and kick the thing with all of my might in the raised head. It slumps over, but only momentarily. I stab it and spin to fight off more as Chad gets back to his feet.

"We need to get out of here!" I hear him yell and at the same time we both turn and sprint towards the Hummer. There are zombies running beside us, behind us and in front. We, not being dead, are faster, but only just. I swing my blade at random, aiming for necks. My leg is starting to ache and I can feel a limp creeping into my step.

I fall over with no warning as if my leg just gave out. "Chad!" I scream, and he turns just in time to see a zombie land on my back, it's long fingernails tearing into my exposed skin on my arms and neck. I feel it slump heavily and watch as it rolls off my back and a sword yanked out of its skull. I spin and kick another that is nearing me as Chad slashes at it. He grabs me under my arm and pulls me up hard.

"Come on!" he says and we run. My leg is burning but I continue. I kill another zombie and we are ahead of them. I can hear Chad yelling to start driving the Hummer and I hope the windows are down for them to hear. A zombie ten feet from me falls over and I look over confused. And then forward at the Hummer where Dawn and Josh are firing rounds at the oncoming zombies. By instinct I duck as I run until I get to the Hummer that Charlotte has started moving forward slowly. The rear is open completely and Chad and I jump in.

"Hold on," Charlotte yells, and she picks up speed. After a moment, I spin around, grabbing a random rifle, and start firing at the pursuers. Chad is already doing the same. Once we are some distance from them I lay it back down with the others and lean back, panting, and trying to ignore my leg.

We reach the road and Charlotte shouts back towards anyone that will answer, "where to?"

"Utah," I say, looking at Dawn. She has the mask on and there is comfort in that. "We're going back to Utah."

Josh is badly hurt. There is a tear in his side and it is bleeding more than it should. I also notice that Chad is missing a finger on his left hand--his small finger--and so Charlotte drives as fast as she can through the forest. Chad has wrapped part of his shirt, which he tore, around his finger and is applying pressure. Josh has a spare shirt wrapped tightly around his torso. Charlotte tells us that we need to get to a hospital quickly so she can help treat them. They both seem to be doing OK, but it is obvious that they will need some stitches and treatment.

"Welcome to the club," I say to Chad, and he smiles.

It takes several hours to get to a hospital. It is a small medical facility in Medecino. Dawn and I as well as out kids wait in the lobby while Charlotte takes Chad and Josh back to help fix them up. I break a vending machine and give my kids some chips. They are tired, and I lay them down as soon as they've eaten on some beds in the back. Dawn falls asleep as well, but I stay awake watching out the emergency room entrance. Hoping to see no movement . And there is none. Not for the rest of the day and into the night, where I fall asleep on a chair away from everyone and everything, holding my rifle. Alone.