New Beginnings

She's sleeping now, and my guard shift is over. As I see some of our new companions huddled together next to the fireplace, it reminds me how lucky we are. Perhaps I should go see my wife, but right now I need to collect my thoughts. It's been a full day since I went to get supplies. Of course there were zombies there, but that wasn't the worst. Zombies are predictable. You know exactly what they want they want and how they're going to try to get it. You can use the same tactic to outsmart, outrun, or kill any zombie. No, the zombies, I can prepare for. It's the uninfected that frighten me.

I traveled to a nearby food distribution center to get some canned goods. Of course there were zack. Zack, a word I started using for them. I was never a soldier, but I played a lot of war games. The army used to call Germans Gerry, or was it Jerry? They never spelled it out. That wasn't important. If I started acting the way I thought a soldier would, maybe I could convince myself I was one.

I was on foot. I didn't know how many would be there, and needed to be able to run. In the panic, many took to their cars. All it did was cause traffic jams and turn poor souls into canned food. Whatever roads weren't blocked or zack-infested were watched by thieves.

I had a small cargo trailer to hold whatever I could get. I didn't want to get attention. People were hungry and they were scared, their basic needs and personal safety were handled either by or through the government. That government has been disconnected for a week and we've already lost hundreds of years of civilization. I patted the handgun at my hip; my insurance against the mobs - be they human or not. I also tightly gripped my spade-like shovel. Yes, my trusty shovel, that never jammed and never needed reloading.

I couldn't see any crowds as I approached, pulling the trailer by hand. That was good. People mean chaos. People and chaos bring zack.

The place had been ransacked, but what was left was enough for now. Canned cheese, canned meat, rice, wheat, peanut butter. It didn't look appetizing, but it would last. With a trailer full, I could feed the two of us for a year. All I had to do make it to the car and I'd be home free.

As I walked out, I saw him. Couldn't have been more than 20, looked like he hadn't eaten much. I didn't know what he wanted, but I knew he was holding a knife, and looking at me like he wanted something. For a moment, we just stood at each other, waiting for a move.

"You're going to give me that trailer. Now."
"There's more inside. You don't need this stuff."
"He's lying." A voice came behind me. I turned quickly to see a man, maybe 40, with a woman and little girl in tow, running toward me. His face looked worried. I drew my gun, pointing back and forth. The man stopped. He put his arms out, to protect what was obviously his wife and daughter. They both let out a frantic gasp, frozen.

"Let's all calm down", the man said. "I don't want any more violence. I just want some food."
"Just give me the trailer and we all get to walk away!" The kid was raising his voice, trying to look tough. It was stupid. It was going to get us noticed.

"Look, son. Nobody needs to get hurt. There's more than enough food for each of us." The older man didn't seem like he knew the kid. We were likely three people who had the same idea. I just got there a little sooner.

"No." The kid yelled. "That's enough for me to hide out without going hungry." He was frantic at this point, sweating. "I don't want to hurt anybody, but I'm not taking any chances for you, or you!" He turned to the man, waving his knife around. Then he turned back at me.

"You think your tough with your gun? You can't get us all!" He was being too loud. I was taking too much time. This wasn't going to end well. I would have just let it go, but he had a point. You give up food now, and you don't know when you'll get more. I needed this to end.

"Look, we all want this food, right? We also want to be safe, right? I have a place holed up where we can hide this out. We can all work together to be safe, and we can all share the food."

"Bull! You're just going to take us somewhere to kill us!" The kid didn't share the enthusiasm the family did.

"If you'd prefer, I could kill you now." I was through wasting time. His chest was in my cross hairs. Time stood still as we locked eyes. Nothing else existed, not the food, not the woman's pleas for peace. Then, we heard it. The only thing to bring us all back to reality. The thing that reminded us why we were all doing what we were doing. We heard one moan.

Despite popular belief, zombies aren't superhuman. Their hearing, smell, are no better than ours. Depending on their stage of decomposition, they may even be worse. Most of their advanced functions are gone too. But when zack senses you, he always lets out a loud moan. I don't know why, but they always do it without fail. Maybe it's their attempt to talk to you. Maybe it's what's left of their humanity telling you to get away from the demon they can no longer control. A zombie moaning sends chills through you, especially when you realize that every zack who hears it will come to investigate. Within minutes, all zack nearby will be here or coming here. There's no way I'm getting home safe.

I turned around and pointed at the distribution center. "Run inside, we're dead out here!" The father nodded his head at me and his family began running for the door. I turned back to my trailer so I could keep my treasure. All I saw was a blur as the idiot kid tackled me to the floor.

There's more to this story, but I've told enough for one night. I'll likely be able to tell more later, when I'd have more time to make sense of it all. But right now, I'm going to give Em a big kiss and tell her how glad I am to have her.