It was early in the morning, nobody else was awake and my head was swirling. I had a gut feeling that I was going to barf and well, I was right. I pushed out of my tent, ran to a nearby tree, and just let it all out. When I turned back to face the camp I saw Brooke wandering away from the camp with what I guess you could call a limp but it really seemed more like she was lazily dragging herself. At first I thought it must have been nothing more than a hangover but when I called her name she whipped her head around and let out a terrifying screech that sounded like she was gasping for air yet at the same time choking on water. My face shifted from one of concern to one of fear when she flailed her arms in the air and started after me because I noticed the flesh on her left arm looked like it had been gnawed off. She finally reached me, throwing herself on top of me and throwing us both to the ground. Now Brooke wasn't a big girl nor was she a very strong one. But in this instant she was slightly overpowering me. I had realized at this point that she wasn't playing because she was aggressively snapping her teeth at my face while trying to pin my wrists. I somehow managed to get one arm free and I threw her on to the ground and quickly sat up and ran to Seth's tent. "Seth, wake up! Wake up!" I yelled hitting on the door. I reached for the zipper but he beat me to it. "It's six in the morning and I have a hangover, what is it!" he said stepping outside. But when he saw Brooke charging toward us his questions were answered she threw herself onto Seth but before she had a chance to do anything a rock flew from nowhere and smacked into her skull a mist of black blood sprayed the inside of the tent. Me and Seth, both in shock, turned to the direction the rock came from and saw Amy standing frozen with a look on her face like she couldn't believe what she just did. None of us could move we all just sat there motionless for what seemed like eternity. The loudest sounds being our own breathing...at least until a silence bursting gunshot assaulted our eardrums. I whipped my head backwards to look inside Seth's tent yet again only to find another dead body. Haley, who had a chunk missing from her neck and now a bullet hole through her forehead. By now there was a huge pool of that dark blood leaking all of the ground. Simultaneously me, Seth, and Amy looked in the direction of the gun shot and saw a man in full camouflage, an orange vest, and holding a hunting rifle walking toward us. I readied myself for a fight, even grabbed the machete that was lying on the ground beside me. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I mean no harm, I'm Michael. Just call me Mike." said the man. "Okay Mike, what the hell just happened?!" I demanded. "According to my radio this has been happening in the city since around three a.m." answered Mike. "What's been happening? I still don't understand what exactly just happened!" I said. "Well welcome to the club! None of us do! One minute I'm on a camping trip with my son and the next minute I'm having to put a bullet in a seven year old boy! All I know is, the news said the dead are getting back up. Walking around. Eating people. It's f*ing crazy in the woods I don't want to see the city!" he shouted. "We have to get out of here! Everyone in the car!" said Seth. "Please, let me ride with you I left my truck miles from here and I really don't want to be on foot!" pleaded Mike. "Yeah hop in!" I said as I helped Amy into the back seat. We were all loaded so we took off, leaving our entire camp site behind. Really the only thing I took with me was that machete. I was not about to let go of that thing! For some reason it made me feel safer. “Scott, where are we going anyway?” asked Seth. “Just drive back to Moss Bluff, I gotta see if my family’s okay.” I replied. “Hold up, we can’t go in the city, they said at all costs avoid heavily populated places!” argued Mike. “I don’t give a damn what they said, I want to find out if my parents are even still alive!” demanded Amy. “She’s right.” I said. “Guys, you might want to take a look at this!” Seth interrupted. We all turned our heads in the direction he was facing. The bridge was blocked and on the other side there were soldiers and police posted with guns. In the distance you could see the city bright flashes going off in the city. “Are they bombing the city?!” asked Amy rhetorically. “Why is this happening!? Everything was perfectly fine only hours ago!” said Seth. Without saying a word I stepped out of the vehicle and walked toward one of the police officers. “Sir! Sir, what’s going on here?” I asked the man. “Get back to your vehicle civilian! It’s not safe here!” he spat back. “But my family…” I pleaded. “Everyone in the city was told to evacuate to Fort St. Gerald at the old children’s hospital. I hope that helps kid but its very dangerous here please leave.” The man said changing the hostility in his voice to compassion. “Thank you.” I said as I ran back to the car. I threw myself into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. “Let’s get out of here!” I ordered. “What did they say?” Seth asked. “Do you know where the Gerald children’s hospital is?” I asked. “Yeah, that’s where I used to go when I was a kid.” said Seth. “Yeah, head there, apparently they set up an evacuation center there.” I said. “That’s smart! The high walls are great for keeping these freaks away!” said Seth as he stepped on the gas. I must have dosed off because all I remember next was Seth frantically smacking my shoulder. “Where are we?” I asked. “My uncle’s house, I already checked it out. There’s nobody here, but he left his guns.” He said. “Guns?! Are you crazy?!” I shouted. “I’m sorry, I just thought that maybe you didn’t want to have your face gnawed off!” argued Seth. “Okay good point…What do you have for me?” I asked. “Well there aren’t many to go around. There’s only a revolver, a glock, and a 12 gauge shot gun.” Seth answered. “I think I’ll take the glock.” I said. “I’ll take the 12 gauge.” said Mike. “Then I guess that leaves me with the revolver.” said Seth. “What does that leave me with?” asked Amy. “You can use my hunting rifle if you think you can handle it.” said Mike. “Are you kidding, I used to go to the range with my dad all the time.” Amy replied. “So where to now?” she asked. “We’re gonna have to cross through the city just to get to the fort.” I answered. “But that’s a death sentence!” she argued. “Yeah, well it’s also our only choice. You’ve gotta trust me baby.” I assured her. Amy just gave me a half smile while unsuccessfully trying to mask her fear. “So we’re really doing this?” asked Seth. “It appears so.” said Mike. So we all loaded up our things and headed down the road. What Amy said was true…after seeing what just one of those things could do I was terrified to see what ten could do, or twenty, or a hundred. Yeah, we were asking to be torn to shreds, but if we didn’t go we never would have learned how to survive in this new world. We never would have met the person that changed this whole situation for us.