Day 4

It wasn't an easy ride down the pit road to the back garage where the fuel truck was parked, but it was unsettling. The road I had driven down so many times in the dark when working late back in the day was now even more unnerving with my mind wandering, thinking "is there a thing down here? Is it watching me? Are there a bunch of them?". These ideas , thoughts , and notions spun in my head while trying to be as discreet as possible on the dark dirt road. Winding between the different piles of processed gravel each hill I emerged from granted me a small reprieve from my torture. Not much sanity at this point just adrenaline , fear . and inner turmoil.

Finally getting to the end of the road and having the choice of the fuel truck or the rest of the roads leading further into the pit I almost wondered if it would be safer to just stop and fuel or drive around a bit and get a good feel for the area. Either way it was not going to be easy, the fuel trucks PTO that runs the pump for the nozzle is a screaming loud grind that would literally wake the dead.

I parked my truck right next to the fuel truck and started looking around and listening to make sure I was the only one in earshot and nothing was skulking around. It is real hard to move around on processed gravel and not be heard, but once this truck is fired up I will not be hearing anything.I opened the fuel trucks rusty door and started feeling for the keys on the floor and my hand ran thru some sand , dirt , and god knows what else until I felt the keys. Hopping up into the seat I took a moment and listened again knowing once i start this beast i have a good 5 minutes of me as an alarm for whatever is around and me not hearing anything coming in from the darkness.

Twisting the key and pumping the pedal i got the beast started but the fun part was yet to come, even tho the truck is running if it isn't warmed up the PTO will stall it out so I had to sit there and let it run a bit first. This was probably my closest to madness in the pit so far and my mind wandered quite a bit while i continued to rev the engine trying to warm it up as fast as possible. Every glimmer twink and fart made my eyes dance on the windshield and mirrors thinking something was there. When the truck seemed warm enough I pulled up on the PTO shaft and let the clutch out slowly,"grrrrrrrrgrrrrrrgrrrr" loud as a trains whistle and deep as a rig horn sounding like a meat grinder chewing on a house this couldn't be any less attractive to my situation.

Moving to the back of the truck I decided to fuel up and walk away not bothering to shut off the truck and not bothering to hide it's keys. I was pretty sure I would be the last person coming down here to this truck for possibly ever and to chance going back and forth to the cab with all the noise I was making didn't sit well with me. I topped off my truck and then a few cans I had tied to the back for out of gas calls and started my truck up. Looking down at the dash the fuel gauge read full and I knew I could at least be safely making it to my brothers, my brothers, maybe it's shangrila and everything is peachy there.

Driving the truck back up the hill to the gate I had blown thru earlier I could see the thing from earlier down the road seemingly wiggling in the road a quarter mile or so up . I slammed it when I backed up and there it was still trying to get up still trying to get me.The funny thing was being in that pit surrounded by darkness trying not to make noise was more horrifying than what I was seeing in the roadway, I guess your mind can get to you sometimes.

I turned the truck to the left coming out of the gate and heading in the opposite direction of the thing I encountered earlier, once was enough for today. It was a long ride to my brothers ahead of me and I knew it , while driving thru back roads i scanned as many channels on the radio as possible and to my surprise I found one that just played Christmas music nonstop, it seemed the only one even with power, kind of funny. It had been a warm early December and being in the 50s and 60s for New England was different but the weather wasn't what I wanted to complain about.

As I drove down the back roads of one small area to another randomly seeing cars on fire people in the road and a few "things" it would all be to the backdrop of " white Christmas" or " melakaleekemakka", which made the drive even more surreal until I came across the 7-11. Thats when things got extra strange because the 7-11 was lit and in the middle of nowhere on this back road and if I hadn't seen and experienced what had happened earlier I would sware it was all a dream. This place looked....completely normal , one car at the pumps two near the door and fully lit with no carnage anywhere...or bodies. I pulled into the lot figuring there has to be a catch and looking thru the store windows started getting a feel for something being off, for all the cars out front the store was empty.

I stopped along side the entrance to the store and left the truck door open when i got out but I did take the keys. If someone is running they aren't ditching me and taking my ride and if I was running the door would already be open, if only my passengers window wasn't gone . Carefully opening the door to the store I was being quietly optimistic that this was going to work out for the best. I had no bodies on the floors, no blood anywhere, no moaning, no screaming, as a matter of fact I had nothing , it was weird. I decided to look behind the counter the back room somewhere there had to be someone or something in this place they couldn't have just vanished.

Peering over the counter near the register expecting a "thing" or disemboweled corpse to be awaiting my gaze I found lint , nothing. I turned my attention to the backroom near the entrance to the coolers for soda and started walking in the general direction, I say general because aside from coffee and shock I was hungry and this place had things that substituted for food. Jerky and soda was in the cards as I walked down the aisle and to the backroom door but the door was locked and I had a feeling this was the people from 7-11s great plan  to hold up here in this back room.

Not the best of plans to keep yourself in a microwave dinner tray for the serving but I wasn't going to argue with them I just had to make sure they knew it wasn't something that hiding would cure. "Hello are you OK in there?" I said to the door. "boom boom boom" three gunshots rang out as the door had new peep holes. "what the hell man what the hell" I yelled as i fell backwards, luckily I wasn't at the door or these dimwits would've made me an entree. " I'm not one of them , your on your own good luck a''holes" . I grabbed as much food as I could and bailed feeling anger towards the people in the backroom. Only after driving alone eating and drinking did it occur they were just desperate and frightened , who knows what they had seen to make them hide like they were. Did they fire up a generator and get attacked? Is that why they had power?

No answers on this one but grazing in empty stores may be the only way I eat for a while so keeping an eye out for stores abandoned with no noticeable danger could be a good thing and I also learned that even tho I'm a good guy , the people I'm running across don't know this or me and I don't want to get caught leaning against any doors knocking again....

Day 3

Turning out of the driveway my thoughts were deep for my brother and his family and wondering just how far this had spread. I was thankful for the car charger for my phone but still had no signal at all. I headed down the road towards the highway hoping that the highway would be clearer than the side roads and that I could make some time up and get to my brothers house before anything else or anyone else would be victims.

My hopes didn't pan out as i neared the entrance ramp for the highway it was already a visible parking lot.  Quickly i turned a U and headed back the other direction and start towards the side roads, I was always pretty good with directions and finding my way but in complete darkness with everything and anything in the roads and anybody as well it was going to be a long night.

First thing on my agenda was to find some sort of vehicle that wasn't missing a window and had a better miles per gallon than the tank i was in. The tow truck was like a battering ram but had no maneuverability and got 8 mpg. Not knowing where to get diesel with no power was a bad thing as well, I headed to the nearest construction yard in hopes of a hand pump and some red fuel ( red fuel is common for construction equipment its dyed red for easy ability to tell for DOT as it has no road tax on it per gallon for construction use only) figuring the last thing someone is going to do is stick my tanks and fuel is fuel, hell i would run this on smurfs ground up in coffee if i could , I just needed to get to my brothers.

Heading down the road I locked in on the notion a company I worked for had a giant diesel truck out back in the mining pit and it ran its own pump off the trucks engine like a home heating oil truck, which is what it once was. The only issues with going there were 2 things , one its in the middle of nowhere in a mine and two its about 9 miles from me. While I was heading that way I kept my eyes peeled for not only possible spare fuel tanks but also for anything resembling a gun or weapon, I had never used a gun in my life before but at this point its all I could think of.

On the way there a disturbing thing happened , a child , but not just a child a child of about 2 years old sitting in the middle of the street staring directly at me and crying but not moving . Locking up my brakes it was all I could do to keep the truck from running right over him, I was becoming aware that going this fast when possible still was dangerous. The door to the truck made a loud crack as it opened, I was supposed to grease it a week ago but lost the time. The child as I approached was not crying as initially thought but actually drooling, and was covered in some dark matter that I didn't want to imagine what it came from. Starting to back up to the truck the child was right on my toes trying to keep his balance stepping over the rubble in the road and was keeping up pretty good too.

Now was the time I had to make a huge jump and it was wether or not I was going to slam this toddler or step away, but after what had happened at my mothers it occurred to me that this child while it almost caught me could very well trick someone else. For all I knew this is how my mother got caught, and as soon as it ran thru my mind I hauled off and destroyed the child with my boot. But not like imagining kicking a toddler in the face this toddler hit the ground and was already getting back up like he fell over nothing more. No tears , no whimper, nothing , just back to getting its teeth in me.

I hopped into the truck and slammed the door only to find myself sitting side by side with a thing that had got into the passengers lack of window and was already on my neck. Quickly I shoved him away and slammed it in gear , and while fending him off i ran down the toddler who was nothing but a speed bump that made a crunch . The thing on my right was all for giving me a hickey but i was all for getting him off of me, and the will was strong but its flesh was weak,( one thing I have learned about them is while they have no fear of weapons or any common sense and are very tenacious, they have half the strength they once did and its a good thing too,) if only there jaws were weak as well, the biting is where the hell starts.

Keeping the throttle to the floor I was swerving back and forth trying to keep the thing off balance but funny thing was my balance sucked as well and more than a few times i thought I had almost rolled him teeth first into my shoulder. Not really knowing yet what was going on I had relied on my zombie movie knowledge for my safety and as far as I knew the biting I was watching them try was how this was spreading . I didn't want to be dinner or the next walking whatever they were.

Luck would have it as i swerved one time to my left and the thing slammed the passengers door it popped open and the thing went sailing out the truck. In my excitement  i yelled out " yeahhhh buddy eat it" but was so excited i drove straight into a tree. Not one of my better moments and I ate the steering wheel and a bit of the windshield . While I was trying to get myself back to the land of the not too bright tow truck drivers the thing I had just celebrated launching into the street was walking right up behind me. Taking the ignition and trying to fire up the stalled out truck i heard a crunch and spotted the window hopper staggering behind me and couldn't get the truck started quick enough. Boom the truck fired and I slammed it in reverse, running the thing down and hard.

Limping the truck to the mining pit i slammed thru the gate that protects the entrance and drove down the hill towards the fuel truck and hopefully a moment of peace where I would actually look forward to fueling the truck and seeing if i lost any teeth on my wheel. As I headed down the dirt road towards the darkness and the fuel truck i wondered if the truck or even I would make it to my brothers.

Day 2

I started down the road like a maniac but quickly started to calm down . Not so much because I am cold at heart but because the road was littered with everything and anything that could end up in it. When the hell did all this happen? Just as I thought that from the right out of my passenger window I was rudely introduced to the reason.

A mob of people all running , screaming , arms flailing, looking like they were half drunk were running right into me. Chased by the same "things I witnessed at the donut shop. It was mass chaos , they ran into the side of my truck, the back ,the front . Yelling , screaming, covered in blood , some of them even looking mortally wounded. They had looks on their faces of utter horror and complete panic. I tried to lock up my brakes and I believe I may have even run over a few people, they just wouldn't stop . I tried to open my door and had a change of heart when the people being chased just kept running from my right to my left. Not a one of them was trying to get in on or near my truck they had ground to cover and weren't slowing for anyone. It went against all of the things I had seen on T.V. and to be honest I would learn thru time most of the things on T.V. weren't accurate of panic situations and the horror of the moment, but this was just confusing.

I sat there in the truck, idling, with all the flood lights on . Looking around thru all my windows trying to figure out what was happening. Was I the thing they were afraid of? Am I dreaming? Am I blacked out?
Then my passenger door glass shattered and the fog was gone. A man , the type of man you wouldn't normally be afraid of dressed in 50 year old out on the town garb was diving thru my window with blood pouring from his mouth and he was snarling, clawing, and spitting at me. I threw the accelerator down and bam I was off like a shot of lightning and the thing hanging from the door glass was not even a bit miffed. It was like we were in a field and it was sunny out. To a normal man , hanging out of a window you just dove thru in a speeding truck is unnerving but to this thing it wasn't even so much as an inconvenience, until i side swiped a parked car and watched him get sucked out of the windowless frame of the door.

Holy crap this was all happening way to fast and way to heavy to handle with a 20 minute beach nap and a cup of....ooooo crap where did the coffee go?

Heading up the road I was in the final stretch to the hospital and inside I was hoping as it came into view I would feel better almost instantly seeing it normal like always with people walking in and out and a security guard having a cigarette on his break outside. But it wasn't like that at all it was something so much more different and suddenly i knew where the people had been running from and also that most of the injuries were probably from the visit to the hospital and lack of care when the chase started. Windows blown out , a small fire in the ambulatory rotary, people laying everywhere, this was not what I had hoped to see.

I sat in the truck for a second trying to get my head together and thought of where to go what to do, I had no phone so my first step was to try to get to relatives and make sure they were safe. I popped the truck in gear and hammered down the road swerving between the strange obstacles and crashed vehicles and headed to my mothers house to make sure she was OK. i thought aloud "if shes OK we can head to my brothers and then maybe its better up there , he's an hour away maybe its normal there" I kept saying it over and over maybe trying to make myself believe it and make it so, like my end of the world is not here yet rally cap.

I would like to say that I made it to my mothers and everything was fine, i would love to say it was all a dream. But the closer I got the truck to her street the worse the carnage had been getting. Running over these "things " that could barely run was becoming too easy and despite the truck having the bumper to do it each thud was making me scream out loud more and more. These things were going out of their way to step into my path , no known common sense it seemed they just saw me and had to get from A to B and the truck being in the way had no change of heart for them . They had what can be called a fearlessness but the more i got to understand the situation the more I realized it wasn't fearlessness but no thought at all except the basic desire to kill.

I made it to the top of her road and turned down it , driving by all the houses I grew up around, thinking "hey theres Mr Mcdoanalds and theres the Harts" but looking at their houses it appeared they weren't going to be answering the door any time soon.

I pulled into my mothers driveways and killed the truck and the lights simultaneously. I say there for a second getting a tally on whatever I had that could suffice as a weapon and wait for my eyes to adjust to the utter darkness in front of me.

I opened the trucks door and slowly and slipped out into the driveway and started to make my way to the side door. Every tick and clack rang thru my ears , suddenly every noise was so important , I could never have imagined having my senses so honed in on just nothingness. But I never did get inside of the house , it had become painfully obvious what the situation was at my mothers house and for respect of her and my memories i will only say that it was a harrowing night at my childhood home , leaving me with a better understanding of what needed to be done to these things, and also a mental breakdown that probably helped me thru the beginning of this whole thing that  could have held me back had it not all poured out.

 I made my best efforts to say good bye and then burned the house down, I knew i couldn't take time to try and dig a grave  with the activity in the area and it seemed the only way to send her off . It was also a  send off  of my childhood, a piece of my innocence burned that day with my mother, some people over time may think I was cold for doing what i did, but if you don't become hardened you become dead. And that was a lesson I was learning fast , too too fast.

Before I lit the house ablaze I made sure to take any canned goods and then round up anything else that could be of use. I made sure i could get all I needed while i was in a house that I knew well and had a good safe perimeter around me. My mother left too many openings and probably answered the door to something banging on it. I would have probably done the same thing , if you didn't know what was happening it would be real easy to get bamboozled by the "things". I learned fast and by luck , for all I knew the woman under the box truck could have been heading towards me when she was slammed by the box truck , I was asleep half out my window dreaming of beaches and beers.

Walking towards the truck with the house warming my back ablaze I knew life was forever different and as i wiped a tear from my cheek and climbed into my truck I vowed that none of the people like my mother would die in vein.

Day 1

If you can read this you are one of the people who have made it out or have at least made it somewhere safe. And I can only assume you have some ability to a functioning version of the Internet which right now appears to be non-existent , and I hope for your sake weapons and food. This is a collection as I have the time to type it out of what life has become for me. I wont speak for everyone everywhere in the world as travel has become dangerous and downright impossible to do further than a few miles a day by foot if I have the strength and nerve to do so. I guess if you are reading this i shouldn't have to explain what it all means except that the world as we know it is gone. So I have started writing as much of this down on paper scraps mostly and when I actually get to any functioning Internet , transfer it all over to this blog , hopefully I will be around when you read this to answer some questions , if not just know that the last update will probably be why .....Lets get started


Day One

I work alternating shifts and having never had the ability to further my education my job list reads like the type of list you hear on down on your luck stories. But for once it may have saved my ass, or at least gave me the ability to stay somewhat alive. On this particular evening i was working for a local tow truck company and as usual it was Friday night , meaning if it was my night and Friday i was covering the entire weekend. Not a bad deal all in all but not great if you have any sort of social life, and I don't really.

It was funny at first that the calls coming in were non-existent and when it is that quiet I normally find a coffee shop to park at and sit in the truck waiting for a call. It never pays to go home , as soon as the boots come off you get a call, its easier to stay in the truck and not get your hopes up of any chance to relax. And aside from this evening it was very busy the past week and to be honest I was enjoying having some down time.

Having run out of coffee from my last trip inside I made my way back into the Dunkin Donuts and ordered my usual large regular. While the lady behind the counter started making my coffee i glanced at the flat screen on the wall and the news channel on it was showing what appeared to be riots or something but seemingly in different areas of the world, words on the scroll at the bottom saying things like "widespread panic" and " mass hysteria" were being shot across the screen. But nowadays with the TMZ's of the world its all too common and most of the time the next day you cant even find a clipping of the b/s. I did what anyone overworked and under rested would do and shrugged it off. I remembered so many times seeing these "news" scrolls and never finding any news afterwards, almost like custom b/s news for donut TVs or something.

Having a fresh cup of coffee i took my place back in the truck and had a big moment of sigh. Long day, long week ,and a long year , but things could always be worse right? Man I couldn't have been more right, after my coffee I must have nodded off and had a great nap , dreaming of sandy beaches, a beer in my hand and a cool breeze. But an alarm clock in the form of a massive car crash woke me up only feet from my coffee shop lots entrance. It took me a second to get my bearings almost like shell shocked a bit, I half expected it to be a dream , way too surreal. I shook my head I think, I am not too sure now in my memories ,as i was hazy then as well being half asleep and started up the truck and hit the flood lights.

What i saw was more horrific than most fatal car accidents I have seen on highways. A car that looked to be a Hyundai Accent from what was left of it was mounted under a box truck and a woman was laying under the box truck .....wiggling.....Like she was trying to get up and shake it off. But she was so badly mangled and disfigured ...I ....I....couldn't believe it. I have heard of adrenaline making you keep going but this was some Horror movie stuff. Towing and doing accidents with fatalities you get used to the gore the blood but not seeing the injured in such a terrible phase of wound trying to move at all let alone manage to what appeared to be a foot and an ankle bone , where the left foot used to connect.

As I opened the truck door and grabbed my mag-light and rubber gloves and started to put them on the lady from the coffee shop came up behind me and said  she hoped everyone was OK and tried calling the police but she couldn't get her phone to work. I asked about her cell she said that was dead too, my stomach was sinking , I wasn't in the loop yet about what was happening but i fished my phone out and looked as it read "no signal" . I never have no signal , something very bad was happening and the news clips of "riots" and "hysteria" were in my head as me and the coffee shop woman stood there staring at this "thing" get up from under the box truck and start dragging itself across the door of the box truck hanging onto the edge of the window for balance to the driver of the truck who didn't look conscious and was wedged between the half rolled down window and the wheel.

I went in a motion like i was heading to the scene and the coffee lady grabbed my arm. "Don't , don't go near that , just stay here " she whispered and would not  release the death grip she had from my arm. And all too soon the "woman thing" that was at the box truck door grabbed the driver by his hair and proceeded to chew as best I could tell on his face. The driver a middle aged man who didn't appear to be aware and I believe even if he was it didn't look like he had alot of options he was stuck between his wheel and doors glass that was down enough for the chewing we witnessed.

I'm not sure if it was disbelief , fear, shock, or all of it mixed but me and the lady holding my arm stood not saying a thing in awe. Until the thing turned to us. It had part of I can only guess the forehead or scalp of the driver of the box truck hanging out of her mouth and the look in her eyes made me think it was enough to back away.

We both stammered and started walking backwards slowly , silly to think now with what we have all been thru but then it being so new , so unknown , so off- kilter , we actually couldn't fathom what at all was happening. The thing it turned out didn't even see us it was going for the truck that had the flood lights aimed in "its " direction, maybe hoping something was still inside. Just watching her try to somehow walk with the foot ankle situation was making my coffee come back up a little bit and I have a strong stomach.

By the time it was near the cab of my truck me and the lady were locked inside the D and D and trying every available means of phone , Internet, 911 connection we could think of. Nada , zip , nothing worked, and then ....the power went out, and I mean everything no emergency lights nothing. The lady curled up being the counter and started sobbing loudly, and i covered her mouth as she snorted and howled and said in her ear "shhhh we don't know wtf is going on lets not make any noise until we do." She nodded and i removed my hand, then I said" before it gets cold get those thermos' and fill them up with any coffee you have that is hot were gonna need it". Hoping to myself if I just kept her somewhat busy she wouldn't do anything to bring attention to us. All I could think was every horror movie I had seen and knowing how I would be yelling at the screen "quiet dammit".

As she started the process all i could see outside was the lights of my truck beaming off the accident and the "thing" crawling around inside the cab. I was sitting at the booth in the front of the shop staring out the window trying for the life of me to figure out what the next step was, what do I do. Do I go outside and start a zombie Apocalypse? What if this is a freak accident and boom powers back on and I'm the wacko killing some lady who got slammed by a box truck? I had to find out how deep I was in and what it was I was wading thru.

I got up walked to the counter and told the lady I was going to go outside and see what is happening and if the "thing" in my truck needed medical help. She begged me not to and said things like "undead" , "zombie", and "monster". I laughed a bit and reassured her that its not a movie something isn't right I'll be right out the window I'll see how she is and look up the road a bit to see what I can see , lock me out and only unlock if I'm back. Otherwise stay safe and quiet and out of site.

The lock turned and made a squealing announcement as I slipped out the door and "bam clank" locked by the coffee lady without a care for being sleuth. Walking across the lot I kept thinking what do I do? Do i brain this woman and leave? Do I drive her to the hospital? Is it even open? Wait ,wait, wait of course it is what hospital closes right? I got my self a bit straightened out and then said "excuse me miss are you OK do you need help?"

This thing , this grey eyed thing turned to me and I damn near hopped out of my skin. Her face was half gone , being this close gave me a much better look at her and i knew it was not just a few injuries.Her hair wet with blood smeared to her skull and teeth hanging by nerves from what was once a jaw. She started to drag herself out of the cab and head towards me and for once I didn't know wtf I was going to do. Kick her?, Knock her over? I was at a loss , until.. I heard glass breaking behind me.

5 to 7 other "things' were inside the coffee shop and the lady inside was once again screaming but it wasn't a fear wail it was a scream that makes you sick. Without so much as a blink i wheeled around and donkey kicked the "lady" coming out of my truck and jumped inside. Firing it up i shot out of the spot running the woman down and doing a donut to face the shop.As the headlights filled the interior i reached down for my "tire checker" a simple piece of ree bar and started to climb out of the cab , but stopped. There was no reason to head inside I could visibly see these "things" tearing her apart and she was no longer with the living she was grey and dismembered.

I got back behind the wheel and nailed the throttle and hauled out of the lot , and in my mirror the "woman thing" from the box truck I ran over was trying to get to her foot and stump in the lot right behind me. I was mortified what the hell is going on what the hell did I just see , have happen, what is going on? Am I sleeping and dreaming? Was that really happening? I headed down the road towards the hospital and hopefully some answers.