As the World Burns

It had been about three weeks since I had started running. After all that time, I thought I'd be further by now... But no. Here I was, and hadn't even made it out of the state I started in. Florida was a total mess at this point. Whatever these things were, their numbers grew quick, and they hit the entire state hard. Nobody saw any of it coming. I remember being without a vehicle at the time, and for a week I spent my days locked inside my house, afraid to even look out the window, but then... the power went out... and the water stopped... And I ran out of food. Damn my lazy ass for not going grocery shopping the week before! So I gathered up the little bit of stuff I thought I would need, including a machete which I always kept for home defense... And to freak out boys, an old photo album, and my now dead I-Pod named Squee, which I was hoping I could recharge at some point in my journey.

My first encounter with one of them, and I immediately knew I wasn't ready. It was at a sporting goods store, to try and find supplies. I knew I'd need a gun, even though I had never shot one before, and I knew I'd need a few other little things to try and find a zombie free utopia. I turned on my flashlight and started making my way through the aisles, keeping an ear out for anything lurking in the dark. I heard something towards the back of the store, so I dug the machete out of my backpack... Which was probably a dumb place for it... Like I said, I was in a learning phase... Anyways, I started to make my way to where the sound was coming from, in my mind I was going to take care of whatever was there, before it took care of me. I was looking straight ahead, focused on what I was going to have to do. There was going to be blood, and lots of it, so I was trying to imagine in my head what was going to happen... Which is about the time I got blind-sided.

It was a teenage girl, and I was honestly pissed off that I was taken down by a girl who I know I could've easily taken out had I been on my guard. I got her off of me, and I realized she knocked the machete somewhere out of reach and the flashlight was God only knows where, shattered in a few useless pieces. I got to my feet as quick as I could, and looked around for where she was. All of the sudden a beam of light hit her disfigured face, followed by a quick silenced gun shot, dropping her to the floor. The beam of light followed her to the ground, and I did my best to collect myself. When the light shifted to me, I did my best to show it I was friendly, and the gun behind the light slowly dropped.

Long story short, I was saved by one of the people I'm with now. His name is is Wes, and he's a bit of a dick. He was travelling with two other people at the time, Eric and Nicole, another dick and his total skank of a girlfriend. Surviving this whole thing seemed like it was going to require teaming up with people I wouldn't have been able to stand before. Wes thought he was some sort of Godsend, bad ass to everyone who had the "pleasure" of being around him. Maybe it was just because he had a silenced pistol, and could do fancy things with a butterfly knife that he felt this way, but I just thought he was a cocky asshole.

That week we found another group of survivors hiding at a grocery store. This group seemed a lot more laid back, and I felt much more at ease around them. It was nice to be around a few people you could actually have an intelligent conversation with. There was an older couple, Henry and Janice. Janice was about eight and a half months pregnant, and she looked every bit of it. Henry was a tall bearded fellow, with a hearty laugh and a dirty old trucker's cap he deemed to be good luck. Then there was Leon. He was always playing his guitar, and he was pretty damn good at it too. It was nice to have music, since I didn't have Squee at the moment.

There was Natasha, who was very... Relaxed would be the nice way to put it. She was a clear cut drug addict, and made no attempt to hide it from anyone. Most of the time she spent passed out on the floor. She was a beautiful girl, which made it an even sadder sight. Oh, and how could I forget Melody? I think she told me she was a cheerleader or something like that before all of this happened. Most of the time I found her enthusiasm... Annoying. Still, I could tolerate her company a bit more than I could tolerate Wes' company.

We stayed at the grocery store for a few days, before the army came. Not the good, save your life, bring everything back to normal type of army. I mean the insane, army of zombies that's trying to hunt down anything I would define as living. We didn't see it coming in time, and we barely escaped with our lives. Its something I'll never forget and believe me when I say, some things cannot be unseen. I remember at one point looking back at the seemingly endless sea of zombies after us and seeing something elevated above them. A few of them were carrying what at first glance, looked like torches. The more I inspected, the more I realized how horribly mistaken I was, they were babies. The sick fuckers had babies on skewers, and lit them on fire. I don't know if it was some sort of mind game or what, but it was certainly disturbing. How they were coming up with any of this, I had no idea.

Somewhere in the struggle of our escape, Eric was bitten. He wasn't just bitten once, he was bitten a few times. None of us knew the details of what was really going on, but we all had seen a zombie movie at some point in the past, and we knew what a bite usually meant. When we finally reached safety, his girlfriend Nicole decided to give him a send off... In private. Long story short, she swallowed, and a few days later, we were putting a bullet in her head after she tried to bite poor Melody's leg off.

We didn't figure out what happened until we found some random radio station on a battery operated radio that was coming from who knows where. It was good to know that there were places that weren't as bad as where we were, but something told me it wouldn't last much longer. DJ Double Tap, the guy performing a one man, seemingly non-stop radio show filled us in on the details of what apparently was a parasite that was found in meat. Sort of explained how I avoided catching it. I was out of the country for a while, and I was broke as hell. When I got back, I was just happy to have hot noodles on my budget. It sucked when I realized I was now officially a vegetarian. Surviving is bull shit sometimes.

After a lot of running, we made it to a little house in the middle of nowhere, and that's where we are now. Slow but sure, we're running out of food, and its becoming evident that we're going to have to move on soon. We've all been fighting for a few days, trying to decide on where to head towards. Most of us agree, that things seem better north of us. After all, if there's still a radio station thriving there, it can't be as bad as where we are now. The other half of us want to go west, thinking that maybe we'll find something along the way. The arguments are getting worse, and I'm almost ready to just flip a coin and go with whatever it says.

"So where the fuck are we gonna go now Henry!?" Wes shouted. "I get what you're saying! I get it! But fuck! That guy's holed up in a radio station! For all we know he hasn't even looked out the window for weeks!"

"I know what you're saying Wes, but have you heard the recent broadcasts? Apparently the person who caused all of this lives on the coast of California! Imagine how bad it is out that way! Its probably worse than here!" Henry replied.

"Well then where the fuck are we gonna go!? Yea I've heard them! This bullshit is worldwide! I know all about it! You don't have to fucking tell me!" Wes yelled back.

"Well, why don't we just go to the coast, and find a boat?" Melody asked.

"Melody, I don't mean to be a dick, but I'm gonna be a dick. Have you been to the fucking shore? Its a fucking train wreck. Vehicles were one of the first things these things started getting rid of," Wes explained. "Believe me, it was the first thing I thought of too. I was all about getting to the shore, and taking the fuck off, but when I got there, all I seen was a bunch of wood floating in the water where there should have been boats. They're getting rid of all the cars and everything. That's why you usually can hear them coming from miles away. You hear all the fucking cars blowing up, and you just judge by how loud the explosion was as to how close they're getting. Its almost like listening to thunder crash."

"Well... I was just trying to help," Melody replied.

"Don't get upset dear, he's just..."

"Being an asshole," Henry said, finishing his wife Janice's sentence.

"Well fuck all of you then, if nobody else is gonna decide on anything, I'll do it myself," Wes snapped. "Nobody here wants to make a decision! We're all just sitting on our asses and waiting for someone else to do everything!"

"Well whenever we try and come up with a decision you snap our heads off if it doesn't agree with yours!" Henry shouted back. Wes closed his eyes, and clenched his fists. He looked like he wanted to kill Henry. Probably because he was a person who didn't like to admit he was wrong.

"If you're all so fucking smart then, make a decision. I don't even care, I'm just tired of doing everything around here," Wes argued. His remark kind of pissed me off just a little, and I was doing everything I could to keep my mouth shut. I knew Henry was much better off arguing this than I was. The fact that Leon was playing some pretty, slow song on guitar was helping my cause just a little.

"Well why don't we take a vote then Wes?" Henry asked.

"Because every time we fucking take one, its split right down the fucking middle! There's seven of us, but there might as well be six since that fucking pill head is never conscious long enough to be considered still living," Trevor replied.

"Trevor, I've seen you take some of those same pills from her, and you're calling her a pill head?" Janice asked.

"She is! And so fucking what! I take pills on occasion! I'm stressed the fuck out! You can all suck my fucking dick!" Wes shouted. "She's way worse than me!"

"She's just pointing out the fact that you're a hypocrite on occasion, and the fact that anyone listens to you is beyond me," Henry replied. Things were starting to get ugly, and I knew if it kept going, Henry and Wes were going to fight. I decided to put my coin idea into the mix. Why not? It was just crazy enough to work.

"Why don't we just flip a coin or something? Heads we go west, tails we go north. I mean, shit, what could it hurt? It seems like we're gonna encounter something bad either way," I said.

"Are you fucking serious!?" Wes snapped.

"Fuck you! I am fucking serious! Where's your bright idea genius!?" I shouted.

"Nelly... I swear to God, you are... What the fuck would you do if I wasn't around to talk you out of this type of dumb bullshit?" Wes asked.

"I'd probably be acting upon my dumb bullshit Wes, because I don't tend to think its dumb bullshit. Seriously! What could it hurt!? Not even you know what to do here! So just flip a coin! If it turns out wrong, you can blame me like I know you love doing," I said.

"Hey, Nelly's right. We should just say fuck it and flip a coin. I'm down with that," Leon added, backing me as always. By the way, I never properly introduced myself. My name is Penelope, but everyone calls me Nelly. I hate my name with an unrivalled passion. Penelope is just so... Ew. I can't stand it. Nelly is a little bit better, I can handle that name... I really should have made a new name up when I met these people... What the hell was I thinking!?

"Fine, you guys do your fucking coin flip then! Whatever! I don't really give a fuck... Just... Fuck all of you right now," Wes pouted.

"Who's still got a coin?" Leon asked, finally stopping the strings on his guitar.

"I actually have one, its my lucky fifty cent piece," Henry replied. "Here Nelly, would you do me the honors?"

"Sure, why the hell not?" I answered as he handed me the coin. "What did I say before? Heads west, tails north?"

"Sounds right to me," Leon said. I flipped the coin high into the air... A little too high maybe, as it hit the ceiling and bounced off the hard tile floor. All of us gathered around to see the results. When I didn't see John F. Kennedy's face, I knew it was settled. We were going north, and I did a silent thank you to the Goddess responsible for the result. I just had a... Feeling that things would work out if we went that way.

"Well, north it is," Henry said with a smile.

"Probably a fucking two sided coin," Wes snapped.

"I've never seen a two sided coin with both sides tails," I replied.

"Just... Fine! Fuck it! Whatever! You guys win! I don't even give a fuck!" Wes shouted.

"Chill out bro, hell, I wanted to go west like you. I always wanted to see California. Oh well, it was a fair way to settle it. So... Let's just go with it," Leon said, in his typical laid back manner.

"Fine... Somebody wake that fucking druggie up," Wes ordered.

"Says the asshole with a drug problem," I fired back.

"I'm not in the fucking mood Nelly, so please, just shut the fuck up," Wes replied. I couldn't help but laugh as Leon woke Natasha up from her drug induced coma. She stumbled to her feet, and we started to gather the things we would need out on the road. On our way out the door, I could hear an explosion in the distance. It sounded like a car, and I knew it was a good thing that we left when we did. Whatever caused it would be rummaging through the house we were just at in no time. Had we wasted any more time arguing, it wouldn't have been good. We hurried down the road, heading north towards the state line. Leon got out his guitar, and started to play as we walked.

"A little travelling music," he said as he strummed a few chords.

"Are you sure that's really a good idea?" Natasha asked as she held her head.

"Fucking stupid man! Let's just call any zombies in the area to where we are!" Wes shouted.

"Okay... You're right. I'll put it away," Leon replied.

"You know, your shouting isn't much better," I argued back.

"Ah, don't sweat it Nelly, he'll fucking take a few pills later, probably mix them with a few beers, and pass out standing up, like he does almost every night," Henry added.

"Fuck all of you! Swear to fucking God I'm done with you assholes!" Wes yelled.

"Then why are you still here?" Leon asked as he put his guitar back in its case.

"Because... You fuckers aren't shit without me," Wes answered. "I'm not heartless."

Nobody replied to what Wes said. I think we were all just getting used to the fact that he was an asshole. I couldn't wait until we found a place with power. Squee needed to be revived! My world needed to be filled with music once again! Damn it! My thigh is killing me for some reason! Oh well... I'll survive. I know I will.