Zombie Chronicles:

Before you begin reading…
So you’ll know what’s going on, you’ll find the final chapter of book one here.
I’ve been a zombie movie fan since I was a child and also do zombie make up. This link contains examples of some of my work on my daughters and myself.
The Diary of Sarah McClure: Zombie Chronicles is a writing endeavor that started on my blog the Dragon’s Den (link is to the right). The book is registered with the Library of Congress and I’m currently searching for a publisher. So if there are any publishers out there that are interested…
If the characters seem real, that’s because they are. I am Sarah, my husband is Ian, my daughters are Skye and Melissa, my sister is Michelle, and of course Hunter plays himself. The rest are my fellow students at the university I attend. However there are a few who are not real people including, our mid-eastern friend Frank, and the man we all love to hate, Mark.
The story is a “what if” as in, what if a zombie attack occurred in the small Alabama town of Troy, and what would happen to my family and myself in the wake of such an attack? So kick back, turn down the lights and prepare for the dead to walk.

The Diary of Sarah McClure: Book 2
Skye has fallen

Chapter 1

Michelle watched a shooting star through blurry eyes. As it disappeared behind a cloud, she thought this was a good sign or an answer to her prayer. For the first time in, not just days but years, she felt at peace and was filled with hope. Wiping her eyes on her sleeve, she reached in her pocket for a cigarette. There was a brief pause as she thought that maybe she shouldn’t smoke considering her newly established relationship with God, and then she shrugged her shoulders and thought, “screw it”, she couldn’t quit everything at once. A few raindrops hit her face and the fire, making it hiss. She looked up; the sky was really clouding up in one area. The wind was beginning to pick up too.
Skye suddenly appeared in the doorway and launched into the Zorro theme song.
Michelle shook her head and laughed, “You’re as crazy as your mother.”
Skye faked a british accent, “Careful Auntie dear or I shall have to brand you with my mark.”
A clap of thunder made Michelle jump, “Do what you must, I’m out of here.” She tossed her cigarette into the fire, making for the door just as the rain began to come down in sheets.
…
Michelle and Skye stayed up talking until about 2am. They decided it was time to go to bed when Skye nodded off and slumped forward, hitting her head on the table…much to Michelle’s amusement.
Amy, Lance, Chas and Toby were asleep in the family room, while Frank slept in the guest room. And since Ian and Sarah were in their room, Skye decided to be un-slumber party-ish and sleep in her own room. “Aunt Michelle, will you sleep in my room tonight? She pleaded, “I hate storms!”
Michelle, who hated storms too, pretended to be upset but said she would. After moving Hunter to the floor, that is.

It didn’t take long for Skye to fall asleep, which left Michelle awake and staring at the ceiling. She thought about her prayer and how God would answer it. Maybe there was a part of the government left and they would find them?? Maybe they would find out this whole mess was only in certain areas?? The wind blew something against the building and startled her for a moment, “Crap, maybe I should have prayed for an ark.” She thought as she drifted off to sleep.
…
In the Gulf of Mexico the waters swirled and surged onto the beach as the storm approached Gulf Shores. There were no weathermen, no newscasts and no warnings as the category 3 hurricane began to move toward land.

Chapter 2

Michelle and Skye woke to the sound of the wind, as grey daylight filtered into the room. They both jumped at the sound of moaning coming from outside the window. Michelle quickly got out of bed and looked outside. “Damn it, the zombies are through the fence.” And then “Holy shit, look at the wind!”
Skye joined her, “Oh my God, I think it’s a hurricane.” She ran for the door, “I’m waking the others.”
Michelle estimated close to a dozen zombies in the front yard alone. Most of them were on the ground crawling or attempting to get up, only to be knocked off their feet by the wind. She reached for her gun belt and strapped it on as she heard others stirring about in the house.
…
The others were up and huddled about in the family room. Occasionally an extraordinary gust of wind would distinguish itself from the usual whistling sound, making them cringe as the house shuddered. As soon as Toby saw Michelle walk through the door he raced to her and held on for dear life. “It’s okay bud, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” She said, scooping him up in her arms.
“Mom and Dad are coming”, Skye said, entering into the room.
“Someone had better go wake up Frank, he’s in the spare room.” Amy said.
“I’ll do it…don’t frighten the man with your morning breath.” Lance ducked as Amy swatted at him.
Everyone started at the sound of breaking glass and familiar moaning noises coming from the direction of the living room.
“Someone get in here!” Ian yelled from the same direction.
Michelle put down Toby and ran in the living room, closely followed by Skye. Since they had konked out late at the previous evening’s Halloween party, everyone was more or less still dressed in their costumes. Skye and Sarah had been knights, pretty realistic looking ones at that. They had worn homemade chain mail, softened by fluffy insulated underwear, and tunics over the mail. Skye’s tunic bore a gold lion on a field of green, Sarah’s, a gold dragon on a field of cobalt. They completed the look by donning a pair of tall, soft leather boots and matching capes. Leather belts hung from about their waists. Skye’s held her sword and a hunting knife…Sarah’s held a sword taken off the wall, a long kitchen knife and her handgun. Ian had gone as the Phantom of the Opera and although his mask was off, he still wore the cape and black clothing. Michelle having agonized a long time over what she was to be, finally settled on somewhat matching Toby and came as a female pirate…baggy pants tucked inside boots, and a white peasant blouse with a black leather bodice on top. She too wore a belt with an epee type sword, and of course her handgun. She had worn heavy makeup, assuming all female pirates were wenches, which made Sarah laugh. But being stubborn, she kept the makeup on anyway.
Lance came as the tinman, and Amy as Dorothy. Chas thought it would be funny to come as Toto so he constructed a basket around himself and put on fake dog ears. Frank, not being very familiar with the holiday, didn’t participate in the dressing up part because it made him uncomfortable.
So as the others ran into the living room behind Skye, and Michelle, Frank was met with the surreal scene of two knights, a pirate and the phantom of the opera, fighting with a zombie, and attempting to hammer up a piece of wood. After this was accomplished, Michelle leaned on Skye as Sarah leaned on Ian, breathing hard from their exertion. “It’s a good thing we put up those security bars or they would have been in.” Ian said, still out of breath.
The wind howled viciously, as the moaning from the undead in the yard continued. Amy smirked and looked at Chas, “It doesn’t look like we’re in Kansas anymore Toto.”
One by one they began to giggle…even Frank had gotten the joke this time.

Chapter 3

Everyone went into the family room and huddled together listening to parts of the neighborhood blow by.
“So, what category do you think this hurricane is…a two, three?” Michelle asked Ian.
Ian thought for a minute, “I think it’s probably stronger than a one, which means it must have been hell on the coast to be so strong this far up.”
“Thank God we never moved to Florida.” Skye added.
Michelle lit a cigarette and took a long drag, “I think I might have caused this.”
Ian looked puzzled, “What, the hurricane??”
“Yeah, I prayed for help last night.” She said, “My first prayer in years.”
Frank smiled, “No Michelle, this is good news.”
“I should have known, ten bucks says if I had went into a church it would have fallen on me.” She said sarcastically.
Ian laughed, “Michelle, it takes longer than a night for a hurricane to whip up, don’t worry about it.”
The sound of twisting metal interrupted their conversation.
“Damn it, we should have built a shelter for the copter a long time ago.” Sarah said to no one in particular.
Chas shook his head, “If it’s damaged, we are SO screwed.”
“It’s tied down, maybe the ropes will hold.” Skye said hopefully.
Frank nodded in agreement, “Yes, it is good to think positively.”
From somewhere in the distance they heard a giant ripping sound followed by a tremendous crash.
Michelle jumped up, “What the hell was that??”
Ian patted her arm, “That would be a tree blowing down.”
Michelle suddenly got a paranoid look on her face, “Do you think we’ll be okay in here?”
“We should be, Ian and I had most of the bigger trees cut down from around the house a few years ago.” Sarah answered.
“I think some of us should try to make it over to the helicopter and secure it better, if it’s not too late.” Chas said.
Michelle laughed sarcastically, “I think you’ve lost your mind.”
“The helicopter is our only way out of Troy if things get out of hand here.” Chas said to Ian, ignoring Michelle.
“Oh for the love of God, there’s a hurricane going on!” Lance blurted out. “The helicopter isn’t going to do us any good if we’re dead.”
Ian sighed and then stood up, “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
Frank stood up, “Then I will go too my friend.”
As the women looked on in disbelief, Ian, Chas and Frank prepared to go out into the storm. Lance sat on the arm of the couch shaking his head, “You are crazy as hell, this is NOT going to work!”
The three of them stood at the door loading their weapons. Lance suddenly stood up and grabbed his coat and gun belt. Amy looked confused, “Lance, what are you doing??… why are you going??”
“I guess I’m crazy as hell too.” He said disgustedly and walked out the door with the others.
The women and Toby ran to the window to watch the men’s progress. If they leaned into the wind they found that they could walk very slowly. A zombie on the ground crawled toward Ian. Ian struggled to keep his gun hand steady and fired. The bullet, being blown by the wind hit another zombie in the chest further back. “Oh my God.” Michelle said aloud. Sarah began pounding the window, screaming, “Come back!”

Chapter 4

Chas saw Ian’s bullet blow off-mark and so made his way over to the zombie, stabbing it in the head. “It’s too windy for guns.” He shouted over the wind. Ian nodded his head and put his gun away, pulling out his knife instead.
Lance looked around nervously, “Let’s get our asses over there and back ladies, this ain’t a picnic.”
The women watched out the window as the men disappeared around the corner, barely able to breathe.
“I’ll give them 15 minutes and then I’m going after them.” Skye said.
“I’ll be right behind you.” Michelle added.
Toby walked up and tugged on Sarah’s sleeve, “Is uncle Ian going to be okay?” he asked.
“Yes dear, he’ll be fine.” Sarah answered, and hoped it was true.
…
As the men turned the corner they were delighted to see that the helicopter was so far still intact. They quickened their pace as much as they could to reach it before the wind flipped it over. They had spare cords and rope in a compartment on the helicopter, Lance made for that area of the copter and then he froze. “No…oh HELL NO.” He yelled.
Chas struggled against a gust of wind to stand beside him, “Shit” He put his hands to his head.
As Ian and Frank reached them they saw what had them so upset. The compartment where the engine was housed stood open, wires stuck up from it and blew in the wind, they noticed an arrow lodged in the compartment door. On the windshield a poorly done dancing unicorn was painted on it.
“What the hell??” Lance asked.
“Jesus” Chas managed.
A strong gust of wind blew a large branch down near them, and nearly knocked them off of their feet. “We can’t save it now, let’s go back inside before we get killed.” Ian said, pulling on Lance and Chas’ shoulders.
…
“Here they come!” Amy said excitedly.
“They weren’t gone very long, I wonder if it’s okay?” Michelle wondered.
The women met them at the door and began bombarding them with questions.
“Is the helicopter okay?” Sarah asked Ian.
Ian shook his head, “No it’s been sabotaged.”
“Sabotaged?” Michelle said puzzled, “What, by zombies??”
“Not zombies, someone breathing.” Chas said.
“The wires were ripped from the engine, and someone painted a freakin’ unicorn on the windshield.” Lance blurted out.
“What kind of nut would sabotage our copter and then take the time to paint on the windshield?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know but that will be one of the questions I ask them before I shove that arrow they left up their ass.” Lance answered.
Sarah raised her eyebrows “Arrow?”
“Yeah, an arrow.” Lance said
“Oh what the hell, first zombies, then lions and now friggin’ Robin Hood?” Michelle said sarcastically.

Chapter 5

Ian took sat down and sighed, “There’s not much we can do about it right now so we might as well try to get some rest, we’re going to have our work cut out for us when this blows over.”
“I just don’t get it, why would someone not want to help us, or at the very least just leave us alone?” Sarah asked.
“I’ll tell you who, a freakin’ nut.” Lance said.
“No shit.” Michelle nodded in agreement.
Sarah looked at Ian, “So what now, should we try and fix the copter?”
Lance shook his head from side to side slowly and spoke with each word drawn out, “I don’t think that will be an option.”
They discussed the options they thought they did have until it was dark. Finally Ian said,
“Look let’s just grab some blankets and all bed down in here tonight, that way we’ll be together if something happens.
…
The young man watched out the window as the three men approached the helicopter. He was holed up in a house near those he watched until the storm passed. He laughed to himself at the looks on their faces upon discovering his handy-work. This was almost as funny as the older man trying to shoot the zombie in high winds. A sudden thud on the window made him jump and he nearly drop the binoculars. A zombie looked back at him through the glass. Its white eyes vacantly stared as it rubbed its hands across the window, searching for a way in so it could feed. He had left the gate open on purpose thinking he’d have plenty of time to get out and back to the others before too many zombies got through. But by the time he’d finished up with the copter the storm had hit and he was stuck here, surrounded by zombies. Feeling a bit paranoid, the young man decided to check the locks and windows one last time before taking a nap.
Before the attack he had been just an average college student, barely squeaking by with his grades. However unlike most college students with a bad GPA, his downfall wasn’t partying, it was meeting every week with his friends to role-play. And when he wasn’t actually there role-playing he was daydreaming about what they should do next or what to get his character when they were playing. Most of the people he played with had above average IQ’s and excelled in the game, but somehow something got lost in the translation when that intelligence was applied to real life. Until Now.
…
Skye opened her eyes and yawned. She stretched and her back, which was sore from her sleeping on the floor, creaked in protest. She looked around the family room; Chas and Toby were konked out in one recliner, Frank was in the other one. Amy and Lance had fallen asleep watching an old dvd, Michelle was sprawled across the loveseat and her mom and dad were together on the couch. Hunter sat by the back door whining to go to the bathroom. When he saw Skye sit up he began wagging his tail vigorously.
“You gotta go boy?” she asked. Hunter ran up to her and began nuzzling her face as if to say, “Hurry UP!”
“Okay, okay then, calm down.” Skye said as she untangled herself from her blankets.
By the time she reached the door Hunter was frantic and began making little whimpering noises. Skye peered out the window on the door and made sure the coast was clear. Surprised at how much the wind had died down, she decided to go out with Hunter. She reached for her sword and belt as she followed the dog outside.

Chapter 6

Once Skye was outside she was surprised at just how much the weather had cleared, in fact the sun looked like it was beginning to win in a fight against the clouds. She kept her eyes open and her back to the house so that a zombie wouldn’t have a chance to sneak up on her. “Hurry up Hunter, I’m hungry.” Skye said to the dog, who seemed to have a need to sniff every blade of grass in the yard. She watched as he made his way through an obstacle course of debris that was left after the hurricane.
…
The young man brought the binoculars up to his eyes, checking to see if the zombies were thinned out enough for him to get out of this place and back to campus. That was where his group had set up and they were now waiting for him to come back and report. His eyes came to rest upon a girl in her teens wearing a knight’s tunic, one that looked to be of much better quality than his own. She was holding a sword and talking to a large black dog that was running in and out of mounds of trash scattered on the grass. He thought she was very pretty in a tomboy, female warrior sort of way. But then again, all the Barbie dolls were dead, weren’t they? He watched her stance and the way she held her weapon and figured she could kick some major ass if she wanted to. He wondered if he could take her in a sword fight. He was larger, but she was small and he guessed she was probably quick as hell.
The door to the house opened and a middle-aged woman with dark hair stepped out and looked to be scolding the girl. The woman wore a tunic as well and she appeared to be in pretty good shape, and didn’t look too bad for someone her age. He noticed a sword hanging from her belt, and next to it a handgun in a holster. He snorted in disgust. Guns were a holdover from their other life, and took no skill whatsoever. How hard was it to pull a trigger? Still, she possessed a sword, so he thought she must be somewhat proficient in fighting with one. Then as they turned toward his direction, he noticed for the first time what was on their tunics. The younger girl’s tunic bore a lion, the older lady a dragon. He put a lot of stock in symbols. His group favored the unicorn for its mystical and magical properties. It also meant purity…purity from the vices that destroyed their old world. The lion probably meant that the girl was brave and for the most part fearless. This went right along with his initial assessment of her. But the dragon was something altogether different. The lady suddenly looked up in his direction, almost like she could tell he was there. He jumped back out of sight, and made for the door. It was time for him to report.
…
“Mom, I’m sorry but Hunter is taking his sweet time going to the bathroom.” Skye said to her mother.
Sarah looked at Hunter, who was looking at her out of the corner of his eyes as he sniffed grass. “Hunter, go potty NOW.” Sarah said grouchily. Hunter trotted over to the nearest bush and complied.
She started to turn and go in but something caught her eye…something was moving around further down the block. “What the hell is that?” She asked herself. Skye followed her gaze and immediately saw what she was talking about. The bushes across the way were shaking a bit. Sarah squinted to see what it was, just then an armadillo strolled out from behind it.
Skye smiled, “Awww…it’s cute, lets just hope Hunter doesn’t see it.”
Hunter didn’t see the armadillo or the young man who ran from the house when they turned to go inside.

…
As everyone was finishing up breakfast, Ian went over the plans for the day. “Okay, Chas, Frank and I are going to survey the area and see what’s damaged and what we’ll need to fix it.” He continued as the others nodded in agreement, “After that us guys will go to Lowes to get what we need, while you gals hold down the fort.”
“Sheer brilliance.” Michelle quipped.
Sarah laughed, “Watch out Michelle, don’t make him unleash his corny jokes, those are lethal.”
Ian feigned a hurt look and stuck his nose up in the air, “Well come on Frank, Chas…I can see our superior intellect and humor is not appreciated here.”
Sarah pulled Ian to her and kissed him, “Just be careful silly.”
“Yes dear.” He said in a wimpy voice.
Skye walked over to Chas and kissed him on the forehead, “See if Dad will stop for snacks on the way back.” She whispered to him.
“Yes dear.” Chas imitated Ian.
Lance raised his arms and walked toward Frank, “Come here baby.”
And then Frank surprised everyone by going along and raising his arms too. Lance pulled back horrified, “Damn it man, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Frank, without missing a beat said, “Yes dear.”
Michelle laughed, “I think Frank has been around us too long.”

Chapter 7

The young man approached the campus library and was relieved when the doors opened automatically for him when he reached them. A tall, dark haired young man poked his head from around the door, he immediately recognized his friend Alan, “Hurry damn it, there are zombies coming.” And then “Where the hell have you been Steven, we thought you were dead.”
Steven cleared the doors and they were shut and bolted behind him. “Well it’s not like there wasn’t a hurricane or anything going on, I thought I was going to be dead.”
Alan held up his hand, “Don’t tell me about it, tell Blake, he’s PISSED off.”
Steven sighed and rolled his eyes towards heaven, “Oh great, knowing that makes me surviving so worth it.” He leaned against the doors, collecting his thoughts.
Alan patted his friend on the shoulder, “You’d better get in there before he decides to feed you to the zombies…remember Eric?”
Steven sighed again, “Shit” and he began walking toward the back of the library.
All of this was being taken in by someone they hadn’t noticed sitting quietly in the corner. His eyes followed Steven as he walked out of sight and then came to rest upon Alan who rubbed his face with his hands before walking off in the same direction. This wasn’t good, he thought. They couldn’t keep letting Blake kill members of their group off because of some imagined slight. They’d lost 3 already, Eric being the last one to go. Before the whole zombie thing Blake had been a great dungeon master and a fairly good friend, but the whole survival scenario was getting to him. David feared, hell KNEW, he’d lost his mind. And if that wasn’t bad enough, most of the others were just like him. It was almost as if they enjoyed their present situation. David would have been out of there a long time ago had there been other options. Going against them would be suicide.
…
It had only been about half an hour or so when the men reappeared at the house.
“What are you guys doing back so soon?” Michelle asked.
Ian shook his head, “The fences aren’t down at all, somebody cut the chains and locks on the gate.”
“What?” Sarah asked, confused.
“Yeah, this unicorn person is really starting to piss me off.” Lance added.
“Did you lock it back up?” Amy asked.
“Well, we chained it the best we could, it should hold for now but we’ll eventually have to replace it.” Chas said.
Ian walked over to the former coat rack, which now had weapons hanging from it, and took down a large gun, “Now we just have to take care of the zombies on this side and we’ll be almost as good as new.”
“But with no helicopter.” Lance said sadly.
“Which means that when we’re finished with this we’re going to have to acquire a new mode of transportation should we need to make a quick exit from Troy.” Ian added.
“I say we find the unicorn bastard, slap a saddle on him and ride his ass around for transportation.” Lance said, “Then maybe he’ll think twice before messing with somebody else’s ride again.”
This made Skye giggle and the others shake their heads.
Ian cleared his throat, “Okay…well if we ever find him, he’s all yours Lance.” He then looked at Frank, “Well?”
Frank checked his weapon and looked at Ian, “It is time to hunt zombies my friend.”
Ian nodded, “Let’s go.”
“Can I come dad?” Skye pleaded, “I’m bored.”
“Sure”, and as an afterthought he added, “bring Toby too, I think he’ll be relatively safe with us, they’re pretty spread out.” Ian responded.
Michelle got a concerned look on her face, “Are you sure?”
Chas answered for him “Yeah, it’ll be okay, I mean, what could go wrong?”

Chapter 8

As Frank, Ian, Skye and Toby walked down the driveway, Lance came running up behind them. “Hey, don’t think you’re going to get to have all of the fun.”
Frank looked at Ian and smiled, “We didn’t leave fast enough.”
“Thank YOU Ali Baba.” Lance said, feigning sarcasm as the others giggled.
Frank laughed, “Thank YOU cowboy.”
“Frank, I don’t even want to know what you meant by that.” Lance said with a horrified look on his face.
Skye patted Lance on the shoulder, “I think we just found you a new nickname.”
“Oh hell no.” Lance said.
Skye’s smile suddenly disappeared as a small crowd of the undead started towards them, “Look alive guys, here they come.”
Toby drew the sword that Skye had given him for his birthday/Halloween. It wasn’t really his birthday but since he couldn’t remember when his real one was he chose Halloween to celebrate it. Although he had been training using her sword, it was large, bulky and hard for him to wield with any sort of skill at all. This sword was one that she had received when she was younger, and therefore was much shorter and easier for him to handle.
Skye kept close to Toby and drew her sword as well. She hoped he would keep calm and not harm her or himself swinging his sword around. Normally she would never give something with a real edge to a child so young, but under the circumstances…
The first few zombies approached them. The one closest to Skye and Toby looked like he had died horribly. His eyes had been gouged out and his nose was missing. Skye figured that since this one was blind, he would be the perfect one for Toby to practice with. “Get him Toby!” Skye called out.
…

Blake sat in an elaborately carved chair at the end of a large library table. He absent-mindedly swirled the wine in his glass as he listened to Steven give his account of where he had been and what he had observed. Steven wasn’t even sure if he was listening to him anymore, and he was tempted to throw something crazy into the mix just to find out but then remembered what Blake had done to some others before him. When he finished he stood there stiffly, waiting for Blake to say something. The silence deepened and Steven nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot. Sweat began to form on his upper lip.
Finally Blake set his wine down on the table and looked at Steven, “What kind of moron are you?”
Steven cleared his throat, “I don’t..
“It was a rhetorical question you idiot, don’t answer it!” Blake screamed as he threw his wine at Steven.
Alan, who had been listening outside the door, put his hand on his sword and held his breath. Even if it meant dying, there was no way he was going to watch his younger friend be condemned or killed by this nutjob.
Blake got up and walked to were Steven was standing. “What the hell were you thinking when you trashed the helicopter?” When Steven didn’t answer he continued, “They didn’t even know we existed and we had that advantage.”
Steven closed his eyes and held his breath, waiting for the blow…but it didn’t come. Instead when he opened his eyes he saw Blake walking toward the door. As he reached it he turned and motioned to the broken glass and wine covering the floor. “Clean this mess up and stay out of my sight.” With that he opened the door and immediately noticed Alan standing on the other side. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I was …just coming to see if Steven was okay.” Alan stammered.
“No he’s not okay, he’s an idiot.” Blake said disgustedly and stormed out the door, and down the hall.

Chapter 9

As Toby watched the zombie creep toward him he tried not to let his fear show. When it got close enough he swung his sword and missed, which knocked him off balance and he began to fall. The zombie, although blind, seemed to sense his mistake and lunged forward. Toby attempted to roll, it was what Skye had said to do in case he fell while fighting. But before he could complete the roll the zombie grabbed his jacket and the result was the zombie being pulled down with him. He had just enough time to put his feet up and brace the zombie up with his legs, preventing it from biting him. Toby pulled back his sword and brought it down as hard as he could on top of the zombie’s head. A split appeared and the zombie went limp. Toby quickly kicked him off and rolled over and on his feet. He looked over to where Skye was and saw a zombie reaching for her leg as she was attempting to kill another one. Toby raced over and buried his sword in its head before it could touch her. Suddenly he felt hands pulling him backward and he screamed in spite of himself. There was a loud bang and the hands loosened their grip as the zombie slid to the ground. Toby spun around and looked at the zombie that had nearly gotten him. He shuddered.
“Oh God, here come some more.” Skye called out. She looked at Toby, “Are you okay?”
Toby looked at her and nodded his head slowly.
Skye looked skeptical, “Are you sure?” She walked closer, “Do you want to go back?”
Toby looked back at the house and then to the zombies approaching them, he hoped that the others didn’t notice him fighting back tears, “No, I’m alright”
“Well okay then little warrior, let’s go!” Skye said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
…

Sarah looked up from her cards to see Michelle looking towards the window AGAIN. “BINGO” Sarah yelled.
Michelle jumped, “What?”
“See, you don’t even know what friggin’ game we’re playing!” Sarah exclaimed.
Michelle tossed her cards on the table, “Screw it, I can’t concentrate.”
Michelle’s attention was once again drawn to the window at the sound of gunshots outside.
Sarah put her cards down as well, “You know Ian wouldn’t let anything happen to Toby, don’t you?”
Sighing, Michelle closed her eyes and then opened them suddenly, slamming her hand down on the table, “He’s tried to kill me for years, and now he’s trying to kill my son!”
There was a moment of silence as Sarah looked at Michelle as if she were crazy, and then they both began giggling.
The smile on Sarah’s face was soon replaced by a look of horror as she saw a zombie lumber into the kitchen from the family room and right behind Michelle.
“NOOO!” Sarah screamed.
Michelle saw Sarah’s face go white and she looked over her shoulder just in time to avoid being grabbed by Amy, who had just enough of her face left to be recognizable.

Chapter 10

Ian and Frank walked a bit ahead as Lance, Toby and Skye brought up the rear. Skye was proud of Toby. He had proven himself a little force to be reckoned with, and had remembered most of what she had taught him. His form needed a little work but when the end result was one less zombie, well, you couldn’t argue with that. They had worked their way almost around the block, on the backside of the fence, when a scream filled the air. Ian and Frank froze, afraid of what the scream meant. The others trotted to catch up with them. Skye looked at Ian, “Was that mom?”
“God” Was all Ian could manage and he immediately began running toward their house. Skye grabbed Toby’s hand and began running after him.
…

Michelle jumped off her chair and joined her sister on the other side of the table as what used to be Amy stumbled around it. Hunter, who had been woken up by the scream, ran into the kitchen and stopped short. He sniffed the air and began growling, and then whining. It smelled like one of them, but it smelled like one of the bad things as well. He took a few steps forward, hair raised and growling.
…

Michelle and Sarah huddled by the kitchen door and watched their disfigured friend approach them. Sarah wasn’t carrying a weapon, but Michelle was. Michelle lifted her gun and began whispering to herself, “shit…shit…shit”. Her hands shook so bad that she couldn’t aim the gun properly. Hunter looked confused so it didn’t look like he was going to be any help.
Finally, when she got too close for comfort, Michelle pulled the trigger. It hit Amy in the right shoulder and pushed her back, but she kept coming. Sarah jumped from a thud behind her and turned to see a zombie outside the kitchen door trying to get in. It must have followed the scream.
“Damn it!” Sarah exclaimed. “Do something, there’s more outside.”
Michelle took aim again and pulled the trigger. This time the bullet found its mark and the zombie dropped to the ground. Sarah rested her forehead on her sister’s back and began to cry.
Hunter went over and began sniffing the corpse. Then he looked up toward the family room and began growling and whining in that direction.
Michelle’s eyes widened, “The back door” she whispered.
…

David sat in the branches of a nearby tree and watched as Frank, Ian and the others took care of the zombies. He couldn’t believe how efficient they were. They also seemed very close knit. One of the men had taught a class he had taken last semester and he was having a tough time reconciling his former professor, Dr. McClure, with the person he saw now. He was a good professor, more friendly and accessible than the others. Would the professor remember him? Should he join this group and finally get out of the situation he had been in since this all came down? Would they accept him? He was trying to decide what to do when he heard a scream come from their house. The others started running in that direction but down the road about a dozen or so zombies were also heading that way. David was closer than all of them.

Chapter 11
David made it to the house first and ran through the gate and to the backyard. Some zombies that had wandered into the yard through the open gate immediately went after him. David cursed Blake under his breath for his insistence on shunning modern weaponry, and drew his sword. Out of the corner of his eye he could see another zombie heading in the back door, with another right behind it.
…
Michelle crept forward, gun raised. Sarah followed close behind, and then stepping over Amy’s body she quietly retrieved her gun from where it hung on the weapon rack. Sounds of fighting could be heard from outside as they turned to face the family room door. Hunter’s growls intensified and he moved forward and then lunged as a zombie suddenly lurched through the doorway. The black lab hit the zombie full in the chest, knocking him back into the family room. Another soon took it’s place and not wanting to hit Hunter by accident, they pulled back, letting the zombie into the kitchen.
…
David had his hands full taking care of the zombies in the yard when through the gate appeared the zombies who he had beat to the house. His heart sank, and he knew he was probably going to die. “Kiss my ass” he yelled to the new comers and attempted to fight and back his way into the open door. He could hear growling and the sounds of a dog attack, but he couldn’t afford to sneak a look behind him. Hopefully the dog was keeping the zombies that were in there busy, because if one came up behind him he would have no way of knowing until it was too late.
…
Skye made it to the yard first and was momentarily confused. Someone she had never seen before was hacking away at a handful of zombies as he tried to make it to through the back door. She charged forward and her own sword joined his as the others came running into the yard. A gunshot rang out from the house and then another. A pale hand reached from the doorway and grabbed David by the shoulder, pulling him backward. Ian lifted his gun and shot the zombie before it could bite his shoulder. David lost his balance and fell through the door, a zombie moved forward and threw itself down on top of him. David screamed and tried to keep it’s mouth away from him. The dog he had heard growling earlier jumped on the zombie, knocking him off of David and dragging him across the floor by it’s tattered shirt. David rolled to the side and got to his feet. He swung his sword down and into the head of the zombie that had nearly gotten him. Upon seeing the zombie lifeless, Hunter ran outside and to Skye’s side.
David wiped the sweat and blood from his eyes and looked up to see Michelle and Sarah staring at him. Michelle spoke up first, “Who the hell are you?”

Chapter 12

Before David had a chance to answer Michelle’s question, a zombie shuffled into the doorway and hissed at David. Suddenly a split appeared in its head, blood trickling from it. The zombie fell forward with a sword sticking out of its skull. Skye entered the room, placed her foot on its back, and pulled on the sword handle. It came out with a sickening sound.
“Skye, where’s your father?” asked Sarah.
“He’s coming, there’s only one or two of them left.” Skye replied.
“Don’t let Lance come in until we say it’s okay.” Michelle said as she disappeared from view.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” Skye asked in a slightly panicked voice.
“Amy’s dead.” Sarah said softly.
Skye’s eyes widened and began to fill with tears. As she closed them tears began to fall. “Amy” She whispered.
David looked around and stepped around Sarah and Skye to make it into the kitchen to help Michelle, who was using a sheet to roll up Amy’s body.
Suddenly, Lance stepped into the doorway.
“Lance stay out!” Sarah held her arms out to block him.
“Why Sarah?” Lance asked. He looked at Skye, and then back at Sarah.
Noticing their tears, he was filled with fear and he asked, “What are you crying for?” His voice was shaky and slightly raised. When he didn’t get an answer he asked, “Why can’t I come inside Sarah?”
“Lance, just…” Sarah started.
“NO, you tell me…tell me Sarah.” Lance said.
Sarah spoke softly this time, “Lance please go outside.”
Lance closed his eyes and appeared to be talking to himself “Please don’t tell me its Amy.” Lance repeated this, barely able to breath.
With that, Skye broke down and began sobbing.
“Why are you crying???” He said, raising his voice more.
Lance shook his head back and forth, “God no, please don’t tell me its Amy.” And then without warning Lance charged through them and into the kitchen. He stopped short as soon as he’d cleared the doorway. A blood soaked sheet covered a lifeless figure. Lance fell to his knees and covered the body with his own. “NO…NO…NO!” Crying uncontrollably, he pulled himself up and lifted the sheet from her face.
…
Ian, Frank and Toby were just finishing up with the zombies outside and began to head into the house when they were startled by a scream. The despair in it made the hair on the back of their neck stand.

Chapter 13

Skye and Sarah held onto each other crying, as Michelle knelt down and tried her best to console Lance. David stood awkwardly to the side, not knowing exactly what he should do. Finally, he mumbled something about checking the house for other zombies and left the room. Ian, and Frank came into the house and Skye managed to look up and hold Toby back as the two men entered the kitchen.
“Oh God” Was all that Ian could manage.
Frank put his face in his hands and began to cry.
Lance had pulled Amy up onto his lap and sat there rocking her lifeless body back and forth. Michelle rubbed his back, whispering in his ear.
David came back from checking the rest of the house and leaned against the kitchen counter. Ian recognized him as a student that had taken one of his classes. However he didn’t remember too much about the boy, the class had been a large one.
Lance looked up and seemed to notice David for the first time. A look of anger and suspicion came across his face. “It was you wasn’t it?” “You’re responsible for this!”
David shook his head, “No, I heard the scream and came to help.” He looked to Michelle and Sarah for support.
Michelle looked at his attire and immediately tied it in with the recent sabotage. “Nice clothes Robin Hood, you didn’t by chance lose any arrows did you?”
David’s eyes widened, “NO, that wasn’t me, I didn’t have anything to do with messing up your helicopter.”
Michelle jumped up, “Who mentioned anything about a helicopter?” She pulled her gun and aimed it at David’s head, “So did you happen to leave the back door open the same way you left the friggin’ gate open??”
Lance carefully laid the body of Amy on the floor and stood up, his weapon aimed at David as well.
Sarah, Ian and Frank looked at David and then to Lance and Michelle, not sure what to do.
Skye thought for a moment and spoke up, “No, wait!…he was fighting in the backyard when I got here, trying to make it into the house.” If he wanted to kill us off he’d have just left, wouldn’t he?”
David began nodding, “That’s right, I heard the scream and saw you coming from down the block, but some zombies had also heard the scream and were heading this way.”
And when the others said nothing, but only stared back at him, he added, “I was closer so I came to see if I could help.”
Michelle’s eyes narrowed, ”So you were spying on us?”
David was panicking on the inside, he was nervous and couldn’t think straight so he could explain himself properly. It didn’t help that he had two guns pointed at his head by two highly emotional people.
“Please, I didn’t do it, but I know who did.” David said. “Well, I know who screwed up the helicopter, but I don’t know anything about this.”
Nobody moved. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.
“Well? We’re listening” Said Michelle.

Chapter 14

“I’m not saying anything until you put your guns down.” David said.
“Let’s assess the situation here, shall we? WE have the guns, therefore we give the orders.” Michelle shot back. “Nobody is putting shit down until you explain yourself.”
David folded his arms defiantly.
“Or we could blow your friggin’ brains out right now and not have to worry about it.” Lance said, hatred on his tear-streaked face.
“Whoaaaa” Ian stepped forward, holding his arms out between them. “We have enough killing going on without doing this.” He turned to Michelle and Lance. “Put your guns down.”
“Ian, he could have killed Amy, or Chas too for all we know.” Michelle said. “Have you seen him around?”
Skye, who had been preoccupied with the events taking place suddenly looked around frantically. “Chas, oh my God, where is he?” Skye broke free from Sarah and ran to the other end of the house looking for him. With the sounds of Skye opening and slamming doors, calling for Chas in the background, David began to speak. “Steven killed your copter.”
As the others listened as David told his story.
…

“I was having lunch at the student center with some gamer friends of mine when a girl came in screaming about someone who had attacked her. She had a bite on their arm, and a damn good one at that. And as we all gathered around to help her a guy came in and took a bite out of the first person he could get his hands on. Then another came in, and then another. After that my friends and I ran for the library. We were supposed to have a game later that evening, in the upstairs part, and knew the place pretty well. Plus we also figured it had those big old doors on it and if we closed them we would be safe. We were lucky because when we got there the place was pretty much deserted. Eventually most of the people we gamed with showed up, along with a few others, and we’ve been there ever since. Our dungeon master, Blake, assumed the role as our leader and got it in his head that we were only going to use edged weapons, and those that were popular during the middle ages. And of course we have him to thank for my lovely attire as well. Basically he’s lost his mind and has killed anyone that has contested his leadership. And then of course we have his faithful subjects that kill on command and do stupid crap like destroy other people’s property, like your helicopter.”
David looked at Michelle and Lance, “That’s about it. I’d have left a long time ago but for all I knew we were the only ones left…I had no place to go.”
Michelle and Lance lowered their weapons.
“How did you end up here?” Michelle asked.
“I finally got out of there without one of his psychos following me. I thought maybe I could join your group.”
Everyone seemed lost in thought, thinking about what David had told them.
Sarah was the first one to speak, “So why do these guys want to hurt us?”
“I don’t think they necessarily want to hurt you. They just want to please Blake, who of course wants to be in charge of everyone.” David looked at those gathered in front of him, “Even you guys.”

Chapter 15
Lance knelt down and began wrapping the sheet around Amy’s body. “Did they do this to her?” He asked quietly.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I wish I had an answer for you.” David said.
Lance sighed and pulled a small box out of his pants pocket and handed it to Sarah.
Sarah took the ring box and opened it with shaky hands. Inside was a beautiful engagement ring.
Lance eased himself into a sitting position. “Tomorrow would have been our three year anniversary for seeing each other. I was going to ask her to marry me.” He put his face in his hands and began to cry. Michelle sat down and put her arm around him, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Skye charged into the room and stopped short upon noticing that everyone was crying and that her mom was holding a ring. She pulled her baseball cap down to cover her eyes, letting her hand linger on the cap. “Chas is missing.” Can someone help me find him, she whispered.
Ian nodded, “First we’ll bury Amy and then we’ll begin looking for Chas.”

…

Chas opened his eyes and immediately closed them again to block out the glare of the sun. His head was killing him. With his eyes still closed, he felt the back of his head and winced with pain. He snuck a peek and saw that his hand was covered with blood. Rolling on to his side, he attempted to get up, only to fall back down again. “Shit!”
After a few tries he managed to make it to his knees. Then putting his hands over his eyes to block out the sun, he took a look around.
“Take it easy redneck or you’re going to make yourself feel a lot worse than you do already.” A voice from somewhere above him said.

…

Ian cleared his throat. “The Lord be with you.”
“And also with you.” Skye and Sarah responded automatically.
“Let us pray” he continued.
Everyone bowed their heads.
“God, please receive your daughter and keep her until the day that all of us can be reunited. Please be with Lance and those of us left behind. Heal us, protect us and when it is our time, embrace us as you did Amy. Amen”
“Amen” the others whispered.
As the others began to walk away, Lance sat on the ground next to her grave, still clutching the ring box in his hand. Ian began playing the bagpipes (a family tradition he was extending to Amy), it’s mournful music filling the air.

Chapter 16

As the last few notes hung in the air, Ian lowered the pipes and patted Lance on the shoulder. “Sarah will have dinner ready shortly…you probably shouldn‘t stay out here too long.”
Lance nodded his head and then lowered himself to the ground, next to Amy’s grave.
Ian sighed and began walking toward the house. They would keep an eye on him from a respectful distance. After all, there could still be some zombies walking around that they had missed.
…
“Who are you?” Chas whispered hoarsely.
“Nobody you know redneck.” the voice from up above him answered.
Chas took a deep breath and tried to think, despite the pain in his head. “I have a name, it’s Chas.”
“Whatever” the voice answered, and from somewhere up above a door slammed shut.
Suddenly, Chas realized he was in a metal cage. A cage that was suspended by rope over what appeared to be….he crawled to the edge of the cage and looked down…yep, zombies. He rolled over on his back, “Oh shit…oh shit…what am I going to do now?” He said softly to himself. And then, with as much energy as he could muster up, he yelled, “Why are you doing this to me??” Moans from the undead below were the only response he got.
…
Ian walked inside and was immediately set upon by Skye. “Dad, are we looking for Chas now?” She had her sword strapped on AND, a rarity for her, a gun in a holster on her hip.
“Yes dear, just let me put these pipes up and get my guns.“ Ian said.
Toby walked up behind Skye, buckling his sword belt. “I’m going too.”
Michelle looked up from where she was sitting, “I don’t think so little man.”
“Mom, please! Skye might need me!” Toby pleaded.
“Toby, Skye is quite capable of taking care of herself…she’ll be fine.” Michelle said, taking his sword and belt from him.
“It’s okay Toby, I’ll okay.” Skye reassured him.
“You suck!“ Toby said to Michelle, and then stormed out of the room.
“Oh yeah, well you SUCK TOO!” Michelle yelled at his retreating figure.
Everyone turned to look at Michelle, their mouths open.
Michelle shrugged, “What the hell, he didn’t come with an owners manual.”
Sarah covered her face and began to giggle.
“What, do I not meet your seal of approval Betty Crocker?” Michelle asked, lighting a cigarette.
David looked confused, “What does baking have to do with child-rearing?”
“Well it…uhhh…oh shut the hell up.” Michelle said and walked off in the direction that Toby had went.
Sarah, still giggling, held up her hand for a high five, which David returned.
…
Ian, Skye and David walked from the house and tried to decide which way they should go to start their search for Chas. David gripped his new weapon, a handgun. Although he had become quite good fighting with a sword. The gun allowed him to keep a little bit of distance between him and the zombies.
“Let’s just work our way around and close the circle in tighter each time we make it back this way.” Ian said.
“Sounds like a plan.” David said, as they began walking down the driveway.

Chapter 17

David looked up and down the road leading to the McClure house. They had searched the entire block and there was not a sign of anyone, living or undead. “So what do you think, should we start looking in houses and then maybe in areas outside the fence?”
Skye pulled out her ponytail and redid it to contain the hair that had fallen in her face. “I don’t think he would be in the houses, let’s start looking outside the fence.”
“Why would he have went outside the fence?” Ian asked.
Skye shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe he saw something and went to investigate.” Ian didn’t respond but nodded his head.
David thought a moment and said, “Shouldn’t we tell the others before we leave the block?”
“No, I don’t feel like walking all the way back. They already know we’re out searching anyway.” Skye responded.
“Okay then, let’s go.” Ian said, walking toward the direction of the gate.
“Hey guys” David said
Skye and Ian turned to look at him.
“We might want to start looking on campus, near the library.”
Ian looked puzzled, “Any particular reason why?”
David shrugged, “Just a hunch.”
…

Things were falling apart fast. Blake, pissed off about David’s departure, had snapped and began questioning everyone’s loyalty. This led to a few more of the group being fed to the zombies that were kept in the fenced off area where the library’s generators were located. Steven wiped the sweat from his eyes with his sleeve and looked at the prisoner, who was suspended in a cage over the generator area. He didn’t know what Blake hoped to accomplish by taking him. It was only going to cause things to get ugly between them and the group who had blocked off the dead end. The only real reason he could think of was that he was trying to lure the younger girl to the library so he could capture her. He had developed quite a thing for her, from afar, and decided that their fate was to be together. After all, they had to continue the human race, Steven sarcastically thought to himself.
…

“So what is taking them so long?” Michelle said, looking out the window for the hundredth time.
“Maybe Chas hurt his leg and they’re having to carry him back, or something.” Sarah offered.
Michelle let go of the curtain and grabbed a cigarette, “Why do we always get stuck staying behind?” She quickly lit it and blew out a puff of smoke, “Hell, even Toby got to go last time.”
Sarah stared at her sister and smiled, “There’s a box of tissues over there, if you need one.”
Michelle stopped and stared back, “I’m being serious.”
Sarah sighed. “Because if we all went and something happened, there would be no one left, I suppose.”
“Lucky us” Michelle said and walked out of the room.
Sarah rubbed her tired eyes and whispered to herself, “Yeah, lucky us.”
…

As they approached the main part of the campus, Ian held up his hand. He cocked his head as if listening to something. Then Skye and David heard it as well. A hoarse voice was screaming something unintelligible.
“Oh shit” David whispered. “Is that your guy?”
Ian mouthed out the words, “I think so.”
“Oh shit” David repeated.
Another hoarse scream filled the air and then there was a loud bang, followed by silence.
Skye burst into tears and began running for the library, while Ian and David tried to keep up.

Chapter 18
Ian and David fired shots at zombies that got close to Skye. This slowed them down even more and soon Skye was out of sight. Ian felt panic grip him and he unconsciously began praying out loud, “Please God, keep her safe…please God, please”.
As they neared the library they saw no sign of Skye. A machine gun sounded from somewhere behind the building.
Ian looked at David, “I thought they didn’t like modern weapons?”
David shrugged, “Maybe they’ve changed their stance on that issue.”
Ian looked over the library, “Well, we know it wasn’t Skye, she only had a sword and a hand gun.”
…
Sarah, Michelle and Frank looked out the window. They had heard some gunfire and something didn’t feel right to Sarah. From the window she could see Lance still sitting by Amy’s grave. Apparently he had left and come back with a bottle of liquor. Sarah wasn’t sure how much he’d had, but she saw that it was enough to make him start talking to himself. Occasionally he would lift the bottle to accentuate a point.
Sarah looked at Frank, “You’d better go get Lance. We might need him to go look for the others.” Frank nodded his head and walked out the door.
Michelle shook her head, “He’s not going to be any good to us, he’s drunk.”
Sarah turned back to the window and watched as Frank approached lance. “Maybe I should make some coffee.”
Michelle patted her sister’s shoulder, “No, this might work for us. We could light his burps and he could be a walking flame thrower.”
Sarah couldn’t help herself. She had to smile.
Michelle nudged her. “Ah now see, there’s that smile.”
…
Skye, upon reaching the library, began to look around the outside. She walked slow, catching her breath and trying to remain calm. The sound had come from somewhere near this building, she was sure of it.
The front had a hastily built wooden fence surrounding it. It was kind of a tall fence, but she was sure she could get over it if she had to. It was impossible to see the front doors with the fence in the way, so she decided to head toward the back.
However, as she approached the back, she became aware of a putrid smell. She pulled her t-shirt up over her face in an attempt to shield herself from it. She also became aware of not only the sound of machinery, but some other sound in the background. It was a creaking sort of sound. Almost like someone hanging from a gallows. There was a brick wall from where the sounds were coming from. Almost a court yard, really. She looked up and in horror she realized the sound that she had heard was a cage that had been suspended from a rope and pulley system. And in the cage was the prone figure of a young man. “Chas!” Skye whispered to herself. Suddenly a hand came over her mouth as she was being pulled from behind.

Chapter 19

An arm wrapped around Skye’s waist and for a minute she thrashed around wildly, trying to break free. Then she heard a familiar voice whisper in her ear, “Damn it Skye hold still, and try to be quiet.” Skye immediately held still and when the arm let go of her, she turned to see Melissa smiling back at her. “Melissa!” Skye whispered excitedly. Melissa smiled back, “I bet you thought you’d never see me again.” Skye hugged her friend, “Where the hell have you been?? It’s been months!” and then a serious look came across her face. “Mel, they have Chas up there.” She pointed to the cage hanging in the courtyard.
Mel nodded her head, “Yes I know. I was on my way back to you guys and I heard this God awful noise and came to check it out…I guess you did too.”
A moan from somewhere behind them, made them jump. Coming up the library sidewalk was a zombie that Skye recognized as one of her dad’s co-workers. His suit was ripped and torn, revealing flesh that was in the same condition. His face was frozen with the horror his death must have been. Skye could barely stand to look at him. He was such a nice man when he was alive. Behind him were five or six others. Thankfully Skye didn’t recognize them. Without warning, Melissa shot off some rounds from her machine gun, making Skye jump and taking them down before they could get any closer.
From somewhere in the courtyard they could hear a door slam open and the scrambling of undead feet go towards the noise. Considering that the brick wall more resembled brick pillars with wrought iron attaching them than an actual wall, they decided to head for some nearby bushes to hide in. Unfortunately they didn’t hide fast enough.
…Ian and David made it to the library, hugging to the building until they decided what they wanted to do next.
Ian looked at David and pointed to the fence surrounding the front of the library, “Who constructed that monstrosity, Noah?”
David sighed, “No, Blake, in his infinite wisdom, decided that not only would it serve as a barrier to anyone, alive or dead, that wanted in, but it would also make a kind of dry moat.” When Ian looked confused, David added, “Only instead of alligators they would of course use zombies.”
“What an idiot!” Ian exclaimed. “What if they found a way in?”
“That’s what we tried to tell him, but of course he wouldn’t listen.” David said.
Ian suddenly went flat against the building, “Somebody’s coming.” He whispered.

Chapter 20

Michelle and Sarah watched as Frank and Lance walked into the kitchen. Well, Lance didn’t so much walk as stumble through the door. Frank leaned against the wall as Lance fell into a chair by the table. In his hand he held a fifth of Southern Comfort. It was nearly empty.
“Jesus Lance, did you drink all of that by yourself?” Michelle asked.
Lance looked up at Michelle with red eyes and said, “It wasn’t enough.”
Sarah and Frank looked at each other in a sad and knowing way.
Michelle quickly snatched the bottle from Lance’s hand, not giving him a chance to react. “I’d say you’ve had quite enough.”
Angry, Lance, tried to get up and grab the bottle back. “Damn it woman, give it back!”
“Lance, just sit your drunk ass down.” Michelle said, pushing him down. She turned to Sarah, “Forget the human flame thrower, I forgot how irritating drunks are.”
“Michelle, don’t be such a bitch and give me back my bottle.” Lance said.
Michelle spun around and slapped Lance across the face, more out of instinct than anger.
Lance’s eyes got big and then, leaning his elbows on the table, he buried his face in his hands and began to cry.
Sarah went to Lance and put her hands on his shoulders and then turned to her sister, “God Michelle, have a little sympathy.”
“We can’t afford to have sympathy right now…hello???…remember, your husband and daughter are out there somewhere and we need to find them.” Michelle said.
Frank looked nervously between Michelle and Sarah.
Toby, who had come in at the sound of raised voices, walked over to Frank and leaned up against him to feel safe. Frank put his arm around the boy and hugged him to himself.
Sarah held her sister’s gaze, “Well attacking each other is NOT the answer, we’re not animals, we are NOT going to start in on each other like a bunch of animals.” Sarah took a deep breath and lowered her voice, “We’ll find them, they’re smart and know what they’re doing, so everything is going to be alright.”
Michelle shook her head in disgust, “Spare me the Mary Poppins bullshit and let’s just get going.”
…
David followed Ian’s lead and flattened himself against the wall too. David slid over to the corner and peered around, his face went pale. “God, we have to go!”
Ian slid over and looked around as well. Someone had opened the gate to the fence surrounding the library and a large crowd of zombies were heading right for them.
David pulled on Ian’s sleeve, “Come ON!”
Ian resisted, “We have to get Skye first.”
David started walking backwards, “We’re not going to do Skye any good if we’re dead.”
Ian nodded his head and began running back toward the direction they came from.
Sarah was going to kill him for leaving Skye.

Chapter 21

Skye woke up with a headache. When she opened her eyes she saw Melissa stretched out on the floor next to her. She felt the back of her head and noticed a knot, where she had apparently been struck to knock her out. She slowly sat up and looked at the room they were in. It appeared to be some sort of office with meager furnishings and shabby curtains hanging from a small window to the side of the desk. As she shakily got to her feet, she realized that her weapons had been taken, and also noticed that Melissa’s gun had been taken as well. This wasn’t a good sign. She walked over to the window and looked out. From the position of the other buildings she rightly guessed that she was somewhere in the library. Which meant that the friggin’ D&D nuts had gotten a hold of them. This was just great, how was she going to save Chas if she were captured too??
Then, as she looked out, two running figures caught her eye. It was David and her Dad! And right behind them was a whole parade of zombies.
…
As David and Ian entered into the McClure camp, they were met by Sarah, Frank, Michelle, Toby and a quickly sobering Lance. Sarah immediately noticed her daughter wasn’t with them. “Where’s Skye?”
Ian shook his head, “She ran ahead and got lost near the library.”
Sarah’s mouth dropped open, “Then what the hell are you doing here?? Go get here Ian!”
Ian shook his head again, “There’s zombies all over the place over there, thanks to Robin hood and his gang. We’ll have to go back later.”
Sarah stepped closer, her face taking on an uncustomary hardened look, “Then I’ll go get her myself.” With that Sarah strode past the two groups and began walking toward the university. Ian ran after her and attempted to pull her back by the arm. “Sarah, stop, you’ll get killed.” Michelle, who was right behind Ian, nodded in agreement. Ian shook Sarah’s arm lightly to get his point across, “Please, I don’t want to lose you.”
Sarah struggled against Ian’s grip and finally in desperation she punched him in the face with her free hand. Ian fell back, shocked, and holding his nose. As soon as Ian’s grip on her loosened, Sarah began running up the road.
“SHIT!” Michelle exclaimed and ran after her. Blood trickled from Ian’s nose, tears fell from his eyes.

Chapter 22

Sarah had barely made on to the campus when she noticed an increase in the amount of zombies wandering around. She would have to be careful. From somewhere behind her she could hear Michelle yelling her name. Normally she would have turned around and waited for her sister, but Skye’s life was in jeopardy here and every minute counted. A small group of zombies spotted her and began shambling towards her. Behind them she saw even larger groups heading in her general direction. She quickly altered her plans and cut across a parking lot and headed towards the stadium. She would have to take the long way around.
…Skye lay on her back and began kicking the door. Not to break it down, she wasn’t strong enough to do that, just hard enough for the sound to echo down the hallway. She figured that eventually someone would get tired of hearing it and come tell her to stop and then she could request to talk to this Dungeons and Dragons dickhead. At some point Melissa woke up with a groan, “Oh GOD my head hurts” and then “What the hell are you doing, you’re making my head throb?”
Skye looked over and smiled, “Welcome back and I can’t stop kicking, I’m waiting for someone to come.”
Melissa made a pathetic sound and rolled over, attempting to get to her feet. “Where are we?”
“Somewhere in the library.” Skye said, looking at her upside down.
Suddenly the door flew open and a young man of about 20 stuck his head into the room. “STOP IT! Stop hitting the door!”
Skye smiled, “I wasn’t hitting it, I was kicking it.”
Clearly irritated, the young man put his hand on his sword, “How about I cut your friggin’ leg off and then we won’t have to worry about it anymore?”
Skye got up and dusted herself off, “Then I guess I’d have to kick it with my other leg.” She smiled.
“Listen you stupid bitch, I don’t have time for games. Stop it or I’ll kill you.”
Skye put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Do it.”
Melissa, who had been trying to stand, sunk back down to the floor. Her mouth and eyes wide open.
When the young man hesitated, Skye laughed, walked over to him and pushed him hard. He fell back, hitting the opposite wall. Skye took the opportunity to move into the hallway and kick him hard in the face. Dazed, the young man groped for his sword, but Skye found it first. Melissa staggered into the hallway and clung onto the doorjamb.
“Okay, get inside” Skye said, motioning toward the room with the sword.

Chapter 23

The young man half walked/half stumbled through the door and turned to look at Skye, “You’ll never make it out.”
Skye laughed, “Sure I will, especially if everyone is as easy to get through as you.” With that she slammed the door shut. A stream of obscenities came from the other side.
Melissa, who was leaning against the wall, managed a smile, “Okay, so now what??”
Skye made a loop in her belt to hold the sword, “Now we find Chas” She looked at Melissa “I’m not leaving without him.”
Melissa nodded and then looked up and down the hallway, “Which way are we going?”
Skye thought for a minute, “Since our room faced the front of the library and Chas is hanging in the back, we can take either side and then turn the opposite way to get him.”
Melissa pulled away from the wall, “Sounds like a plan.”
…
Sarah stood behind a tree and looked out over the library grounds. Most of the zombies had wandered off. A few stragglers still appeared at the gate from time to time. If she made it into the fenced off area she could probably get through the door somehow, providing there weren’t a lot of zombies left in the back. Even with the gate open there might be a group left in there, they weren’t exactly intelligent.
She heard a crackling noise to her left and turned to see one of the D&D guys coming through the bushes, on a horse. He was young, was he even college-aged?? And what the hell was he wearing?? A badly made tunic and a helm that looked as if it were conceived by Salvador Dali. A large sword hung from the saddle. Sarah crouched down and waited. He rode just past her and then something made him turn around in the saddle and look. Had he seen her? She held her breath and waited. The young man climbed down from the horse, drew the sword from the saddle and began walking toward the tree that Sarah was hiding behind.
Sarah pulled her gun, “Come on dipshit, make my day” she whispered to herself.
…
If Lance hadn’t sobered up completely from Sarah punching Ian, he certainly did when the first big wave of zombies made it to them, as they made their way to the library.
Michelle put Toby between herself and Ian and began firing. Toby pulled his sword. Him and Hunter were to get the ones that made it past the bullets. Not many did.
Michelle, although focused on killing zombies, kept an eye out for her sister as well. Even amongst the zombies they were killing. She felt panicked and started to get that out of control feeling. If they all made it through this alive, she was going to kick her sister’s ass.

Chapter 24
The young man stopped just short of where Sarah was hiding and began talking in a low voice, “I see you, you might as well come out.”
Sarah straightened herself up and stepped out from behind the tree. “Take me to my daughter.”
He shook his head, “Blake would have my head on a platter.”
Sarah’s eyes hardened, “That’s preferable over what I can do, that’s a promise.”
The young man turned his attention from Sarah’s eyes, to the gun in her hand. He began walking to her slowly, “Come on now, we’re all in this together…the zombies and all that.”
Sarah took a step back. “Don’t come closer or I’ll make your head look like a life saver.”
He continued walking, “There’s not many of us humans left, are you going to just kill off the ones that you don’t like?” With that he was close enough to lunge at her.
Sarah quickly stepped back and fired her weapon. The young man fell with a hole in his head. “No, only dumbasses like you.” She responded.
Sarah picked up the sword and walked over to the horse. After sheathing the sword and holstering her gun, she climbed on and rode towards the library.
As she got closer to the library, Sarah prodded the horse into a faster pace. Soon she was riding fast towards the front of the building. When she was about 30 feet from the building she pulled the horse to a stop. She pulled out her gun. People had gathered on top of the roof to watch her progress. It was to these people she spoke. “Get Blake” A man broke away from the crowd and ran into the building.
Soon, what looked like a medieval version of Darth Vader came out, this had to be Blake. Sarah would have laughed under different circumstances. He spoke, “You’re not getting your daughter back, she belongs to us now.”
Sarah shook her head slowly, “I’m not leaving without her.”
Blake shook his head as well, “And I’m not letting you have her… perhaps we should kill her and we won’t have to bother with you anymore.”
Sarah’s breath caught and she fought to show no emotion, “Oh no, if you kill her, I swear I’ll kill all of you crazy bastards…every one of you.”
Blake smile, “And that would bring your daughter back?”
Sarah pointed her gun at his head, “No but it would make me feel a whole lot better, in fact, I already killed one of you and I feel a whole lot better already.”
The smile drained from Blake’s face as he realized for the first time that she was riding one of their horses.
…

The others had heard the shot and knew it had to be Sarah. What bothered them was the fact that it was only one shot. Had she gotten into trouble/bitten and then shot herself? They didn’t speak about it out loud, but they were all thinking it. Michelle did her best to fight off tears.
Toby looked at the others and said, “Was that aunt Sarah?”
Nobody answered for a while, finally Ian spoke up. “Yes, it probably was.”
“Toby, this is not the time for questions, okay?” Michelle said in a shaky voice.
Toby nodded and Lance put his arm around the boy as they continued on to the library.

Chapter 25

As Skye and Melissa made there way down the hall, they checked out every room that was unlocked. They wanted to make sure no one would be sneaking up behind them. In one room in particular they hit the jackpot. Guns of every size and shape were stored here, as well as ammunition, food, wine, swords and bows.
Skye smiled when her eyes rested on the guns, “Well, well, well…it looks like old Blake is a hypocrite.”
After equipping themselves with handguns, ammo and a better sword for Skye, they headed back to the hallway. Eventually they made it to the back of the library.
Skye looked out the window. She saw that Chas was still alive, but passed out on the floor of the cage. She counted about half a dozen zombies wandering around underneath it, trying to reach up and get him.
“Okay, what now?” Melissa asked
Skye sighed, “I think we’re going to have to get him from underneath…if we get him down from up here zombies could get him before we can get down there to let him out.”
“Why don’t we just kill the zombies first and then let him down?” Asked Melissa
“Well for one, we can’t see how many are around the corner, and two if we start shooting everyone’s going to hear it.” Skye replied
Melissa nodded, “Okay, let’s go get him then.”
The girls pulled out their guns and headed downstairs.

…

Sarah noticed someone with a crossbow getting into position on the roof. If she moved slowly, she thought, maybe she could move her aim from Blake to this guy without anyone noticing. From somewhere behind her she heard a moan, and then several more.
Blake smiled, “It looks like you have company.”
Sarah turned and saw a group of zombies coming up behind her. She started to turn back around when she heard a “woosh” noise and her horse reared, falling as a bolt entered his heart. Sarah went down underneath him and pain immediately erupted in her leg. She let out a scream of agony. The zombies moved faster, sensing an easy meal. Sarah aimed and began shooting. Zombies in the front began falling, only to be replaced by more. Sarah’s gun clicked, empty. She screamed again and began struggling to free the large sword from the saddle. It was no use, from the angle that the horse had fallen, the top of the sword kept getting stuck in the ground before she could pull it free. She fought to free her leg but the dead weight of the horse was too much and all it got her was intense pain.
From somewhere on the rooftop she heard people laughing. Tears of pain, frustration and sadness rolled down her cheeks as she lay on her back and prepared to die. Her breaths coming in panicked gasps, she made the sign of the cross and began to pray.

Chapter 26
Skye opened the cage door and turned Chas’ face towards her own. “Chas, wake up.” When this didn’t work she began lightly slapping his cheeks, “Chas, come ON…CHAS!!” Chas’ eyes fluttered open, unfocused and filled with confusion. “Skye?”
Skye pulled him to her and kissed him, “Thank God, you’re still alive…are you hurt?”
He sat up slowly, wincing in pain, “Yeah, but I think I can manage.”
The girls helped him into a sitting position, and then to his feet. He swayed a bit but then seemed to get his balance. With some assistance, he was able to walk.
They made it out of the brick enclosure and had started walking around the building when Chas suddenly doubled over.
“Chas what is it?” Skye looked at Melissa, “We might have to end up dragging him there.”
An odd sound escaped Chas’ lips as he sunk all the way down to the ground. Skye, barely able to breathe, whispered, “Chas, have you been bitten?”
Chas shook his head and held on to his side. It was at that moment that she realized he was laughing. Relieved, she couldn’t help but giggle a bit too, “Chas, get a grip, we have to get out of here.” And then, “What the hell is so funny?”
He motioned for her to come closer to him. She sat beside him on the ground and listened. “Remember right before we started dating? I thought we were too good of friends to date and so I almost went out with Karen? Skye nodded and motioned for him to hurry up and get to the point.
Chas paused dramatically, “I’m so glad I picked you.”
“Oh for God’s sake.” She rolled her eyes towards heaven, but smiled nonetheless, “Are you serious…that’s it??
“Yep.” Chas nodded his head, trying his best to control himself. He stopped laughing, took a deep breath and said “Skye McClure, you’re my hero.”
She looked at him. His eyes were both blackened, and bruised, as was much of his face. Blood had dried on the corner of his mouth, trailing all of the way down to his chin.
But even though he was beat all to hell, his eyes still sparkled and held a glint of mischief. And he was still, she thought, the most adorable thing she’d ever seen.
Melissa spoke up, “God, I feel like I’m in the middle of some chick flick, can we please go now??”
Skye stood, helping Chas to his feet as well, “Yeah, let’s go home.”
…
An archer stepped forward and motioned to where Sarah lay on the ground. “Should I finish her off?”
Blake shook his head, “NO…let the zombies have her. Besides, she killed one of us so she’s going to pay for it with her own life.”
When the archer looked unsure, Blake smacked him on the shoulder, “What’s wrong, are you afraid of a little blood and guts?”
He turned to look at the rest of those on the roof, “This could be the best entertainment we’ve had in weeks.”

Chapter 27

Skye paused, some kind of commotion was going on in front of the library, and she could have sworn she heard shots. “Damn it”, she thought, what if the others had come after her? This would complicate things. She turned towards Melissa, “We’d better go see what’s up, knowing my family they’re out there shooting it up with these bozos”.
…
The first zombie to reach Sarah lunged at her. Pieces of flesh hung from his face in strips. She could smell rotted flesh and tried not to gag as she instinctively grabbed for his throat. His teeth were inches from her face and his crooked jaw made a popping noise as he opened and shut his mouth. She screamed in horror. It was then that she noticed the weight on her trapped leg shift…the horse wasn’t dead yet! With as much strength as she could muster she pushed the zombie backward and made one last attempt to free her leg. She braced her good leg on the horse’s back and pushed. Her leg popped free as the zombie made it back to her. She put her good leg on his chest and grabbed the lapels of his jacket, flipping him over her. The zombie landed on the other side of the horse. She heard moaning and looked up to see that the other zombies had nearly reached her. They shuffled toward her, some on broken ankles, some without limbs, all wanting to tear her apart. She screamed again, but the sound wasn’t recognizable as anything human. It was the sound of a trapped animal. Sarah tried to stand but the pain in her leg was too great, so she began crawling away as fast as she could. From somewhere on the rooftop there was laughter. She sobbed and crawled faster.
…
Hunter was the first to hear Sarah’s screams and he was off in a flash. Ian stopped and listened, and then motioned for the others to follow after him. As they topped the hill Ian’s breath caught in his throat. He saw Sarah hurt and crawling on the ground, with a group of zombies after her. There was no way they would get there in time. Hunter was closing the gap pretty fast, but there were too many for him to fight off. Ian broke into a run. Michelle screamed something unintelligible and ran past him. The others tried to keep up.
…
As Skye was rounding the corner of the library she heard two screams, they were close. Then she heard some screaming from on top of the hill. She was not prepared for what she saw next. Her mother was on the ground, scrambling to get away from some zombies that were after her. Blood trickled down her mother’s face. She looked crazy. Skye froze, unable to move as she watched everything unfold in front of her. Sound was distorted.
She saw her dad and aunt running down the hill after Hunter. From somewhere behind her Melissa and Chas came up and passed her, going toward her mother. She heard a noise from the rooftop, laughing. Then she heard another noise, a whoosh and with a yelp Hunter fell to the ground with an arrow in his side.
Suddenly the spell was broken and Skye ran toward them with a yell.

Chapter 28

Chas and Melissa were the first to make it to Sarah. Chas knelt beside her and hugged her to him. Melissa ran in front of her and began firing. Skye raced past the three of them and went to Hunter, who was laying on his side and panting heavily. Bright red blood was flowing from around the arrow in his side.
“You bastards” she screamed as she began firing at the zombies closest to her. She then turned her attention to the roof, where several people were gathered. This was where the laughing was coming from. She raised her gun in their direction and began to fire. Many on the roof fell, but not before someone with a bow got in a shot at her. The shot hit her in the right shoulder and she fell to the ground with a scream.
At the sight of Skye falling, Toby raced around Ian and Michelle, making it to Skye first.
Her voice filled with pain, Skye began pushing Toby back, “Toby get back, they’ll kill you.”
Toby shook his head, “No Skye, NO” An arrow flew past his head. Skye knocked him down, lying on top of him, and waiting for the next arrow to hit her.
Michelle stopped running and aimed her gun at the archer. She pulled the trigger and saw his head explode into pieces. “Eat that you crazy fuck!” she yelled.
Melissa and Chas helped Sarah up and brought her to where Hunter and Skye were laying.
When the others reached them, David kept walking towards the library.
“Where are you going?” Ian called out to him.
“I’m not sure that Blake was up there, and if he wasn’t, I’m going to find him and kill him.” David replied.
“I’ll go too” Lance said, catching up with him.
After a brief pause, to make sure Skye and Sarah were going to be okay, Michelle went after them. They didn’t look her as she stepped up beside them, or acknowledge her presence in any way other than to nod when she said “It’s time to go to war.”
Frank looked on as they disappeared behind the makeshift fence. “What would you like to do, my friend?”
Ian stood up and took a look around. Zombies that had been attracted to their yelling and gunfire were starting to come over the hill and from the east side of the library. He sighed, “Let’s get inside the library, there’s not enough of us left that are unhurt, to make it on our own.”
“Shit!” Melissa blurted out. We need to find the others and tell them that they have guns too!
“What are you talking about?” Ian asked.
“That’s where Skye and I got our weapons, they have a whole room full of them.” Melissa said.
“And now they’re probably just desperate enough to use them…” Ian pulled up Sarah, who had sank down next to Skye and Hunter. Frank picked up Skye, who protested, “What about Hunter??” Hunter, upon hearing his name, whined and struggled to get up.
“Skye, we don’t have time…we’ll come back for him later.” Ian said.
“But he’ll die Dad!” Skye pleaded.
Ian took his daughter’s chin and held it firm, “Skye, Hunter is ALREADY dying.”
She began to cry.

Chapter 29

Chas and Melissa helped Sarah, and Frank carried Skye as Ian led them into the library. Toby followed, looking back every few steps to see if Hunter would get up and follow. Tears stung his eyes and left clean trails down his dirty face.
As soon as they had made it in to a safe room on the first level, they turned their attention to Skye, who had an injury to her shoulder where an arrow had passed through it.
Ian looked at her wound and shook his head. “We should have kept Lance here, he’s the only one of us that’s had any kind of medical training.”
Frank tore a piece off of his shirt and put it on the wound. “Pressure is what it needs.”
Even though them putting pressure on her wound hurt, Skye barely noticed. All she could think about was Hunter. She remembered when they first got him from the pound. He was so skinny and sick, they didn’t know if he would make it or not. Many nights he would sleep with her and she would get annoyed because his snoring would keep her from going to sleep. Eventually she would nudge him awake and he’d slink off of the bed. And now she would give anything to hear him snoring beside her right now. She placed her hand over her face. Her chest rose up and down rapidly as she tried to control herself. Suddenly Skye took her hand away from her face and screamed, “HUNTER!”
Toby, who had been watching outside, rested his forehead on the window. His shoulders shook as he sobbed.
…

As Michelle rounded the first hallway on the third floor, she though she saw movement. Like someone had darted into one of the rooms. She raised her finger to her lips to let David and Lance know that someone was there. David crept up to stand beside her and whisper, “That’s Blake’s room, be careful, we don’t know what he has in there.”
Michelle nodded her head and quietly headed down the hall, David and Lance followed. As they approached the door a voice called out from inside, “Please, come in.”
Startled, but still under control, Michelle raised her weapon and stood in the doorway.
Blake sat at a table in the corner of the room. A small stream of blood made its way from under the table. They stared at each other for a long time.
Blake spoke first, “I’m Blake, and you are?”
Michelle never took her eyes off of him, her finger was on the trigger. “I’m your worst friggin’ nightmare asshole.”
The smile faded from his face.
…
Sarah made it over to her daughter and sat on the floor next to her, cradling and comforting her the best that she could. She held her daughter’s head, and stroked her hair like she had when she was a child, but in the end she gave up and cried with her daughter.

Chapter 30

Michelle startled at Skye’s sudden cry, from somewhere below them, and her finger squeezed the trigger. Blake’s left shoulder turned red and his mouth made a funny “O” shape. He slumped to the ground.
Michelle rushed forward, “shit!”
…
Everyone looked up at the sound of gunfire. Sarah passed Skye off to Ian and walked over to the window to stand beside Toby. “Hey, are you okay?” She whispered. Toby bit his lip and nodded, but the tears rolling down his cheeks gave him away. Sarah put her arms around him and looked out the window, where her Hunter lay.
Frank looked from Ian and Skye to Sarah and Toby. “We should go, more will come.”
As if on cue, zombies began pounding on the windows, making Sarah and Toby jump.
“Maybe we should send someone up for the others.” Sarah said.
Ian shook his head, “We’ll wait here for them, hopefully they won’t take too long.”
Sarah looked at the zombie trying to reach her through the window. At one time it had been a young girl, a fairly attractive one, perhaps. It stared at her with vacant, desperate eyes. No hate, not malice, only hunger. Next to her was an older gentleman in a bathrobe. Behind him, another young girl, and then another zombie, and then another. A claustrophobic feeling, and a sense of hopelessness began to well up inside of her. What if they were like them next week? Tomorrow? She sighed, hell, she’d be happy just to make it through this evening.
The sound of footsteps coming up the hall pulled her attention away from the dead outside the window. The door opened and Michelle, David, and Lance came into the room. In between Michelle and David was a man that Sarah recognized immediately. It was Blake. His shoulder was bleeding and he looked scared out of his mind.
Sarah’s hand instinctively went to her gun, “You bastard, you nearly killed me and my daughter.”
But before she could do or say anything else, Skye was up and in his face. She tried to speak without crying but failed. Her voice started out soft and breathless and ended in an out of control scream, “you killed HUNTER!” Her left hand shot out across his face. She kicked him in the chest, knocking him against the wall, and then again in the stomach. As he fell to the ground she pounded with her good fist on his face and head.
Everyone watched, as if in a trance, and then as Blake’s nose broke and blood sprayed out, Ian grabbed Skye by the waist and pulled her off of him. “Whoa slugger, come on.” She struggled against him at first but then settled down, resting her head on his shoulder.
Blake cried and held on to his nose as the others discussed his fate.
Chapter 31
“We should go now, the others are here.” Frank said to Ian.
Michelle motioned to Blake, who was still on his knees “What about this stupid bastard?”
Ian thought for a minute, “For now we’ll take him with us, we can decide what to do with him later.”
Skye looked at Blake with hatred, “Why don’t we kill him now, and then we won’t have to worry about it?”
Sarah looked at Ian, “I second that motion.”
Ian raised his voice, “Look, we’re not going to just kill the guy, we’ll decide later, now let’s go!”
The others held their tongues and prepared to leave.
David walked over to Blake and nudged him, not so gently, with his foot, “Get up and start moving.”
…
Blake listened nervously to Ian and Michelle, who were in the kitchen with the others, deciding what to do with him. He knew the two older men were on his side, but the rest, especially the women, were hell bent on killing him. He worked on the ropes that bound his hands as they talked.
…
Michelle glared at Ian, “The bastard is barely human so the whole killing the human argument doesn’t apply here”.
Ian shook his head, “no matter how you try to argue it we’re going by species and he is human we’re not just going to kill him for no reason”.
Michelle slammed her hand on the kitchen table her voice raising with every word “Reason? No REASON? How about ATTEMPTED MURDER?!, Or how about killing your FUCKING DOG…THE ONE WHO SAVED MY LIFE?!”.
Sarah jumped in, “We’ll never be safe Ian, if we let him go he’s crazy enough to try and come back and get us. You know it’s true.”
Frank stepped forward and pointed out the window, “This is not right. killing is no good. What makes us different from them if we walk around killing each other.
Sarah looked at Frank and Ian, “And just what species are those things out there that we’ve been blowing the shit out of on a regular basis?”
Ian sighed, “fine do with him what you want, I wash my hands of this whole mess”.
“Great, the bastards dead.” Michelle said as she left the room to retrieve Blake, closely followed by Sarah, Skye, Chas, and David.
Lance, looking uncomfortable and seeing logic in both arguments, stayed where he was at.
Skye’s voice rung out clear from the other room “ DAMN IT!”
Ian, Frank, and Lance walked in to join the others. What they saw when they got there was an empty chair with ropes on the floor surrounding it. David shook his head, “I can’t believe he got away.”
Sarah threw her hands up in the air, “That’s it, I’m out of here. We’re never going to be safe as long as he’s running around.” She turned to Skye, “Get your stuff together, only what you need.”
Ian pleaded with Michelle, “Talk to your sister, you know she’ll listen to you.”
Michelle shook her head, “No Ian, Toby and I are getting the hell out of here, and if you’re smart you will too.”
“Are you coming?” Skye asked Chas.
Chas walked up and put his arm around her, “You’re all I have left, wherever you go, I go.”
…
The plan was simple, they had decided to go back to the library for horses, and to gather ammunition from Blake’s supply room. They were going to take as many weapons and ammo as they could hold, this served two purposes. It would help them survive on the road, and it would severely deplete Blake’s supply.
As they approached the library they stepped over bodies from earlier in the day. The smell of death was in the air. When they reached the building itself, all was dark and silent.
Ian spoke up, “Remember, we’re only here to get guns, ammo and horses, nothing else.”
Michelle flipped her cigarette, “And if Blake just happens to wander into view we’re killing his sorry as.” She looked at Ian as she said this, “And I MEAN IT.”
Sarah and Skye nodded in agreement.
Frank watched the retreating figures of Skye, Sarah, and Michelle. He put his hand on Ian’s shoulder and sighed, “We are in deep shit my friend.”

TO BE CONTINUED…

You might have noticed that I removed my book from online. It was due to the fact that I’m now going to rework/edit it and then go full-force into submitting it for publishing. To those who have read and encouraged me, thank you so much and I’m glad I could entertain you. I’ll be starting part 2 of the book shortly and will do it chapter by chapter here, just like book 1, so keep checking and eventually I’ll be posting again.
Also, the working title for book 1 will be “The Diary of Sarah McClure: zombie chronicles” I haven’t decided upon a title for book 2 yet…maybe you guys can come up with something.

NOTE: If you still haven’t read the final chapter, it’s up on my blog.

Sarah McClure is the name of one of my ancestors, and also a name I considered when I was going to legally change my name several years ago. The Sarah character is me.

The Michelle character is modeled after my sister but is named for one of the most avid readers of my blog (The Dragon’s Den).

The Ian character is modeled off of my husband.

Hunter is really the name of my black lab. So basically Hunter plays himself.

Our family (the McClures) belonged to the MacCleod clan in Scotland, which has a branch off of it called the MacLeod’s of Skye. We are of the Harris branch.

My oldest daughter was the model for the Allie character, but wanted her killed off because I got the name and boyfriend’s name wrong lol. So the Melissa character was born. Tom was modeled after Tom of Blink 182 to begin with, he ended up not being very much like him though.

The much hated Mark character was modeled off of the Mark character in the Roseanne sitcom. And then he just sort of grew a life of his own, and then lost it heh.
Chris and Mike were Criminal Justice classmates of mine.

Well that’s about it. Is there anything else that anyone wants to know?

UPDATE: I can’t believe I forgot to say that Skye is modeled after my youngest daughter Tess, who can indeed sword fight a bit and knows some self-defense.

UPDATE AGAIN: Damn it, I forgot Amy and Lance, they are fellow students as well. We had Anthropology together.

Here’s a short story I started a while back and just now remembered to finish up. Hopefully this will hold you over until the next chapter of Skye Has Fallen. Enjoy!

Hunger

May 14th, 1890

Her family was gone, her neighbors were gone too, and for all she knew the whole world was gone except for her. All of them were dead. Well, dead wasn’t exactly the word. They were still up and about, but their hearts had stopped beating long ago. She and her family had boarded themselves up inside the house when it became apparent that the dead were walking, but what they hadn’t realized was that one of them had been bitten. And even if they had known, at that time they didn’t understand that one little bite could seal their doom. So one by one her family had been taken out, and now she was the only one left. And now it looked as if she had survived only to starve to death, or die from dehydration. She eased herself down onto the bed. What was she going to do?? She needed to come up with some course of action but she couldn’t think properly. How long can a person survive without food? Water? As bad as the food situation was, the water problem was even more dangerous. It had run out yesterday. It was best not to think about it. It only made matters worse. And it was so cold. The fire had gone out and the confusion in her brain wouldn’t allow her to remember how to start another one. Once placing the wood in the fireplace, she had stood there desperately trying to remember the next step. Cursing, she’d finally given up. But it was best not to think of that either. She shifted her position on the bed and closed her eyes to get some sleep.
The dream was brutal. In it she was walking around the house, desperate in her need for food. She yanked the cushions from the sofa, hoping to find a few crumbs hidden there, or anything really. The hunger was unbearable. She walked to the pantry and pulled the shelves over, cursing the lack of food. Then she heard the sound of singing. A sweet, child-like voice drifted to her from down the hall. She walked in the direction of the singing, into the hallway until she came to her daughter’s room and then opened the door. Sally sat on the floor, playing with the doll she had made for her birthday. The pain in her stomach howled. She crept forward and pulled her daughter to her mouth, ripping away her throat with her teeth. Warm blood trickled down her throat, quenching her thirst and making her stomach growl in anticipation of a feast. The little girl struggled against her for a few seconds and then as her body went limp she began to eat. Looking over she became aware of Mary sleeping on the bed by the window. She dropped the younger girls body and went to Mary, biting and chewing until there was not much left except ripped clothing and bones. Then the dream moved on and she was walking through the kitchen and into the sitting room. She stopped to look at her reflection in a full-length mirror. Vacant eyes stared back at her. The side of her face was gone, revealing muscle and bone. Strips of flesh hung from the wound. Her foot was broken and turned sideways, which meant she had been walking on a bloody stub. In her hand she held the forearm of her daughter. Suddenly there was movement in the shadows behind her, in the mirror. Her daughter stepped into the light. Sally’s rosy complexion had gone white, her eyes were full of malice and evil. Her left arm was missing, as well as her throat. Sally’s eyes met her mother’s and she managed to hiss out, “Mama”. The woman opened her mouth and attempted to respond but nothing came out, for her own throat was missing as well. Then from somewhere down the hallway she could hear her husband screaming, “NO!” upon discovering what was left of his oldest child.
Jolted awake, she opened her eyes and the hunger hit her. A deep, gut wrenching pain that made her hiss through clenched teeth. She slowly stumbled to her feet and walked into the kitchen, looking at the pantry. No food. In a fit of anger she spun around and cleared the counter of its contents, shoving everything onto the floor. A clawing sound came from the hallway and she knew that her husband had woken up from the noise. He was trying to get out, and she knew it was only a matter of time. A deep moan of desperation left her lips. Outside she could hear the moans of the undead, matching her own. They wanted food, and she wanted food. A common goal of sorts. A fresh set of hunger pangs hit her and she howled in pain. Through pain clouded vision she aimlessly walked into the living room, then to the bedrooms and through the sitting room. A gunshot rang out somewhere in the yard. Someone was alive! Maybe she would be saved after all. Her stomach growled at the prospect of food. Pounding against the window she attempted to yell at the man carrying the gun. He was on horseback, along with two other men. But when she opened her mouth to yell all her dehydrated vocal chords could produce was a whispering sort of hiss. She pounded the window in frustration as the men rode away. Her husband began clawing at the door again, making inhuman noises as he tried to break free. If she had any tears left in her she would have cried. But her tears, as well as her voice, had dried up long ago. She slumped down against the wall with a sigh. Dead hands shoved and clawed at the front door. They remembered she was here. She understood how they felt. The craving for food had become an animal inside of her that was trying to claw its way out. Maybe she should just open the door and let them in so she could put an end to everyone’s pain. Anything to stop the cold and hunger. Shivering, she tried to rise to a standing position and fell back down. The word fever echoed in her head, but the word sounded so foreign and the voice distant, that it lost all meaning to her. Then like a scene from a play, a memory came forward….
“Your husband has a fever Mrs. Jennings, the bite is infected.” The doctor closed his black bag, “That dog that bit him might have been rabid.”
“Is there anything I can do?” She had asked.
“Just try and keep his fever down and hope for the best.” He replied.
“Will it kill him?” Her voice shook.
“If it’s rabies, possibly. Some make it, most don’t.” And upon seeing the look on her face, “Pray Mrs. Jennings, that I KNOW will help.”
But it didn’t help. Her husband had went mad and she had been forced to lock him inside the back bedroom, and had told the girls to shut their bedroom door and stay inside. Then the others had come. One or two at first and then by the dozens. They were all rabid, foam and blood trickled out of their mouths. Who’s blood, she did not know, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t their own.
And then she heard gunshots once again and as she desperately tried to pull herself back up to the window, her fingernails broke off and her fingertips began to bleed. Whimpering, animal noises came from her throat as she struggled and eventually made it to her feet. Her head swam with excitement as she saw the latch on the door begin to lift. The door creaked open slowly.
The man didn’t have a chance. She was on him the instant he stepped through the door. Her teeth ripped through his throat as he screamed, then gurgled in surprise. And for a little while, her hunger was gone.