Zafehouse: Diaries

[Hottentot]

...Namely to haul ourselves and everything we can carry to the old warehouse at 6 Golf Place and wait for the rescuers to arrive. Or at least have a real epic last stand.



Thursday, February 21, 9pm. With the horde on our heels, we made a fighting retreat to the warehouse. We expected a few zombies to be there by now again, trying to find our trail again, but we underestimated their numbers. There were more of them than we thought and by the time we got inside, there was no way back. With the undead in front and behind us, we came up with a quick strategy. With four team members capable of moving quickly, we had Willie, Claudia, Fernando and Marissa spread out and sweep the warehouse. Raymond was left to guard the entrance behind a barricade we hastily erected from a desk and a few drawers. The shots from his guns are quickly joined by those of the assault team's echoing through the large halls of the warehouse.


Finally, the warehouse became silent. Usually it was a good thing. A familiar sign of victory. A time to take a deep breath and sigh, be thankful for surviving another encounter with the reaper. But this time there was something wrong with it. Fernando was the first to realize it. Without wasting a moment, he alerted his comrades and rushed back to the entrance.


But it was too late. The assault team found Raymond on the floor, being torn apart by six zombies that had bursted through the door and a window. Boosted either by fear, anger or grief, the assault team gunned and battered them down showing no mercy. Willie and Claudia covered Marissa and Fernando as they were trying to push the undead back from the door and close it.


As the door's latch finally clicked back to its place, there was time for everyone to take that one deep breath. But there was nothing that we could do to help Raymond. He had died quickly with his throat torn open and large spots of blood coughed around his lips. His savaged hands were still clutching his gun as if he was ready to jump up and start shooting. His eyes were still open and had a furious look in them. It was difficult to say if it was meant for the zombies or his comrades who had left him behind one last time.





Thursday, February 21, 9pm. We are safe. For now. As safe as a hare is from wolf in a trap cage waiting for the hunter. Willie has received serious injuries and Claudia and Fernando are wounded as well. Only Marissa is still healthy, but even she is too tired to do anything. Fernando and Claudia are taking turns in guarding while the others sleep.


There is an empty spot in here. Managing routines feels different now. Someone should probably be removing the corpses, but for some reason no one wants to. Raymond is still there among them, like just yet another zombie in the middle of the 28 others. Even when no one is saying it, everyone knows things are different now. We were in this together. Despite of our differences, we all worked for a common goal and believed we would either be saved or killed together. Despite of the dangers we somehow thought it would all turn out OK if we just sticked together. Despite of the close situations, we somehow believed we'd never...


We were survivors. That's in the past now. Now it's just four souls reminded of their feeble mortality by the stench of rotting flesh around them.


Another attack is coming...





Friday, February 22, 1am. The attacks continue. They are relentless. They don't tire. They don't drink. The only food they need is us. But the worst is the knowledge. They are not afraid of death.





Friday, February 22, 6am. The dawn is breaking. We waited for the chopper to arrive at 0500, but as minutes slowly drifted past it, we abandoned hope. The knowledge of having to spend another day in the warehouse surrounded by the zombies is putting everyone down. We are trying to stay focused by playing chess, exercising, building barricades and writing this diary, but everyone knows it's only temporary. The signs are already showing. We are arguing. Blaming each other for Raymond's death. Angered over imagined slights. Getting anxious over small things. This egg might just break from the inside.





Friday, February 22, 10am. We are out of food. The few snacks we carried with us initially ran out long ago and it's starting to show. Marissa and Claudia are eating things that normal person wouldn't touch. Willie found Fernando crying in the toilet, trying to drink from the seat. Claudia's infection is getting worse and there are no medical supplies here to treat it. We can't go out to scavenge from the buildings nearby. If the help doesn't arrive soon, we might just be done for.





Friday, February 22, 3pm. A loud crash shooked us suddenly. A large zombie, faster and stronger than any we had ever seen before, breached a window followed by a group of its smaller kin and took us by surprise. It must have been the one that zombie hunter warned us about.





There was nowhere to run, so we had to face that thing or die trying. It grabbed Willie by the throat and snapped his neck before he could pull the trigger. Marissa was next, getting her face torn off by the monster's forceful lash. By that time Claudia had finally managed to ready her gun and emptied a clip at its feet. The zombie fell down like a huge log, but was already getting back up.


While Fernando was holding the regular ones at the bay, Claudia took a cricket bat from against the wall and impaled the large zombie's head with it. The thing screamed and started hurling the bat wielding Claudia around like a ragdoll, but also tore the wound in its head larger and larger at the same time. Finally it crashed down on the floor, lifeless and motionless, bleeding blood that resembled black goo all around the place.


Claudia and Fernando fought off the rest of the wave as fast as they could, but no speed was fast enough for Willie and Marissa, whose lifeless bodies were lying on the both sides of the dead behemoth. And Willie was so sure it didn't exist...





Friday, February 22, 12pm. Has it been 9 hours since the last entries already? The time has lost its meaning in here. The zombies keep attacking. Their bodies are already forming barricades to slow down the next waves. The night is falling. We have to be ready. Tired.





Saturday, February 23, 1am. More attacks. The stench of death is everywhere. Claudia and Fernando are hugging each other in the middle of the corpses. Tears are flowing down their cheeks, but no sound is heard anywhere. It's is eerily quiet. Until it starts again.





Saturday, February 23, 2am. More zombies are coming from all around the town. They are preparing. There is no energy and no will left. Fernando and Claudia are looking at each other. Neither of them ever thought those "what if we two were the last people in the world" scenarios would one day become reality.





Saturday, February 23, 4am. The guns. They dropped. Claudia stopped loading. Fernando put the clip away. The barrels came out of mouths. The eyes opened. They looked up. The sound. They both heard it. The clock. 0450.





Saturday, February 23, 5am. Chopper is lifting off. The zombies are swarming inside the building. Their groaning is slowly fading away. Their silhouettes getting smaller. The smiling faces of the emergency crew turning from a week long dream to reality. The wounds are treated. The pain is going away. And this diary...





...Is better left off for the zombies. Claudia's secret will die with it. We are going to find a way. We'll have to.