Prolouge

This section gives you a slight glimpse at the way the world has become. This scene is four years after initial infection.

Ray stood silently as a young boy ran out the door and into the woods to safety. His gun all the while pointed steadily the other direction. In front of Ray stood an older man around forty years of age but scruffy making him appear much older. The man with knife in hand had been preparing the slice the young boys throat to prepare him to be cooked.

Ray had seen this far too many times already and this time he could not simply keep going. There was no shaking in Ray's hands this time. Feelings of anger and disgust permeated from Ray's worn down face. “One reason” Ray said calmly as he pulled the hammer back on the forty-five he held pointed in the mans direction. “Give me just one reason not to pull this trigger”

“Look man, I am just trying to live”. Ray had heard this before. “Just let me go and you will never see me again” the guy said to Ray as he slowly tried to take a step back.

“One more step and so help me god this bullet will find its way to the other side of your head.” Ray still was not use to the idea of taking a life and he had no idea if he would be able to if it called for it.

“You’re not going to shoot me” the man said with a wicked grin on his face. “You know if you fire that gun then you’re a dead man too”.

He was right and Ray knew it. There were no less than twenty people in the next building who had yet to find that Ray had made his way into their camp to rescue the young boy.

“So, I am going to tell you how this is going to go down. I am going to walk out of this room and you better hope you can run you stupid S.O.B.” He had a full on smile going at this point.

Ray could feel his heart beating faster and faster. All ray could see was this man standing over his kids. Preparing them as if they were a Thanksgiving feast. Ray had reached his boiling point.

POP. The gunshot took Ray by surprise. He did not even feel himself pulling the trigger. The bullet made a small round hole in this guy’s forehead and splattered the rest onto the wall behind him. Ray found himself shaking. He had killed this man and knew he should feel something other than the joy he felt at the sight of this cannibal falling to the ground.

The feelings of accomplishment were short lived however as he could hear the sound of the others coming. Ray ran out the back door and made his way quickly to the cover of the woods behind the houses. He knew exactly what would become of him if they caught him. He would not die quickly. They would keep him alive for as long as they could while eating little bits of him. He had smelled the burning of human flesh coming from these types of camps before. He had heard the screams coming from the dying as they had thin slices of flesh removed for food. Ray had no intention of having this happen to him tonight.

As the sound of the approaching mob rang louder in his ears he ran harder and faster. He could hear gun shots ringing out in the night getting ever so close to ending his journey. He could feel as a bullet pierced his skin, hitting him in the shoulder. His adrenaline was causing the pain to fade, into an ever so slight pinch.

He knew he was hit but could not stop running. He ran up onto a small stream flowing with a decent current and without thinking he jumped in and began swimming with the flow of the water. His left shoulder was of little use right now but he pushed himself to get every inch of movement out of the wounded limb.

Swimming for what had to of been a couple miles thanks to the quickly flowing water he made his way to dry land and laid there attempting to catch his breath. He took an extra shirt from his backpack and wrapped it around his shoulder the best he could to try to stop the bleeding. There was silence except for the sound of the water. He had made it to safety, for now.

After resting for a minute or two he emptied out his backpack trying to dry off the contents. Ray grabbed his water bottles and filled them up in the stream, wrapped his book back into an old shirt after wringing it out and then plotted his next move. He couldn’t stay by the water and he knew it. Being that far in the open was never a good idea nowadays. He had begun to feel the pain from his shoulder as he stood to collect his belongings.

Soon Ray had decided he would have to find somewhere to rest soon and attempt to remove the bullet that had likely missed killing him by less than a couple inches. He walked for about an hour till he came up to an abandoned car sitting off in the grass. It was at least a hundred feet from the road that he could see in front of him. This would have to be his resting place for the night.

After a few hours Ray was awakened by the sound of intense arguing. He stayed as still as he could while still raising his head to get a view of who was out there. Ray recognized one of the guys from the camp he had ran from just a few hours back. He thought to himself that there was no way they knew how close they were to him. He didn’t even know if they had come out this way still searching for him. He watched them carefully as they made their way just a little further down the road. Ray knew he was no longer safe even if they didn’t have their guns there was no way he was fighting them off.

He knew moving quietly was his only option. Stealth was how he had survived up to this point. He had a gun yes, but with only a few shots left, that was a last option. He was so thankful to the old man who had given him the forty-five. It had lent a little hope that he may live long enough to see his kids once more.

Ray had met the old man in a colony of surviving farmers in northern Louisiana that had taken in himself and his kids a little over a year ago. His kids had not eaten at that point in nearly a week and this group of strangers had taken them in as if they had been their kin. It was a good time and one of the few good times he had seen since the outbreak.

POP...POP...POP! He could hear the gunshots but could not tell how far away they had been. Ray made his way slowly out of the backseat and crawled to the rear of the car, away from the group of people. There still was no indication they knew he was there but he also could not stay so close to them for too long. He watched for his opening and crept slowly to the other side of the road and to the cover of the trees. Trees had become his best friend and one of the reasons he was still walking around. Ray made his way over a hillside and began to pick up the pace of his steps. Trying to place as much distance as he could between himself and the blatant killers that would have loved a shot at him.

He walked steadily for about an hour till he came up on a small one story house. Staying in houses was risky so he made his way around back and was glad to see they had a shed. He knew it was only a matter of time before someone else discovered this place and he would no longer be safe. His shoulder was still in tremendous pain but he was able to block out some of it just by plain fear alone. With daylight only a few hours away all Ray could do was sit and pray he lived that long.

Emptiness and sorrow filled his thoughts as he sat thinking of his life. Ray grabbed out his paper and pen. Thinking intently he began writing in the hopes if he didnt make it, someone would find this and in turn maybe his kids.

Author's Note

This section will likely be re-written but for now this is how it looks.