My Family and the Zombies - Part One - No Choices

Friday, 11 March 2011, 0600

"It's the End of the World As We Know It" begins blaring in your ears. You look over to see your ipod alarm clock blasting music beside your head. You reach over to hit the snooze button and then stop, holding your hand above the button. You let the song continue to play, and then stand up and get out of bed. 

You stand in front of the mirror and take a look at yourself.  You are a young woman, only 16 years of age, and it's time to get up and get ready for school. 

0601

You admire your youthful body in the mirror, doing a quick twirl in your bra and panties and smiling to yourself. You toss your blonde hair over your shoulder and admire your firm, fit body with a smile.

You head over to the closet to get ready for the day.

0602

You pull on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt has, emblazoned across the front, the statement "Hardcore /b/itch". Generally people don't fuck with you when you go running.

You pull on your running shoes and creep down the stairs, careful not to wake your parents, who won't wake up for another half hour.

You step out the front door of your home and look up and down the street. There is a light mist on the street, and there are not many cars out yet. 

0604

You take off down the street, passing by a few homes before turning left and heading down a path towards the woods. 

The gravel quickly ends, and you are now on a dirty path through the woods near your home. Generally the only people you see on this path are other runners, but at this time in the morning they are infrequent. You listen to the sound of your feet slapping against the hard-packed earth as the mist begins to burn off around you. 

The trail joins another path a few hundred meters ahead, and you look to the left down another path and see a man who is walking slowly down the path, his head hanging low. He seems to catch sight of you, or catch your scent somehow, and his head raises to look at you. He begins to jog towards you as you travel down the path.

As the man follows you, you begin to pick up speed. His gait is unusual, but as you move faster he begins to do so as well. As you run faster he picks up speed as well and he begins to close on you. You look over your shoulder and see there is saliva pouring from his mouth onto his shirt as he follows. What the fuck.

You come across a fork in the path as you are running.

0615

You turn right, back towards the town, and take off back towards town at a dead sprint. The man behinds you lets out a shattering groan, "Mraahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" and begins to follow you at full speed. He is sprinting after you, but he is running wildly, arms flailing, with spit pouring out of his mouth as he follows.

You feel your legs burning as you run, but you don't hold up. He continues to gain on you, and your heart is pounding as you see the edge of the woods up ahead. He is within twenty meters of you now as you break out of the path and onto the pavement of the road.

You see that the roads are clear. There still seems to be no one around to help you.

You run up to the first house to your front, the man still chasing. The house is small, and only a single story. You begin pounding on the door and screaming, "Someone let me in! Someone help me!"

You look over your shoulder and see the man is almost upon you. You turn and brace yourself against the door as he nears you. Suddenly the door opens and you fall back into the house. 

You look up to see a middle-aged man looking down at you, stunned, as you fall into his entranceway. Before the middle-aged man can react, the man who is was chasing you has launched through the doorway and onto the other man. 

The other man screams as your pursuer begins scratching, clawing and biting at him. 


You launch to your feet as you see your pursuer beginning to bite into the neck of the middle-aged man. There is absolute terror in his eyes as blood begins to spray from an opened artery. He pleads to you, "Help me," but you turn and run back out the door. 

As you run back towards your house, your breath short, you can hear the man's screams behind you, echoing through the streets. 

You begin to see lights turning on along the street as other people hear the screams. Another man walks out of his front door with a shotgun in his hands while wearing his robe, looking up and down the street.


You run up to the man standing there in the robe, sweat pouring down your body. 

"Sir, sir, there is an attack going on down the street. A man chased me out of the woods and is attacking someone in his home just over there," you yell as you pant, pointing down the street.

The man looks at you. "Alright, little lady. I'm going to go take care of it... you run home and lock the door, alright?"

You look up at him. He doesn't look gallant, or special, or courageous, but he looks determined. 

You nod to the man and take off for home again, leaving the man to fend for himself. He begins walking towards the home of the middle-aged man who so foolishly opened his door to help you. 

You make it another half block towards your house and are only a few doors away when you hear a shot behind you. You look over your shoulder to see the man firing his shotgun at two figures; you can't make out who they are from this far. 

One of the figures falls to the ground, but the other one leaps onto the man in his robe and wrestles him to the ground. 

You continue running all the way up your steps and to the front door of your home. You burst through the front door and shouting at the top of your lungs for your family to come downstairs and get ready to defend the house. 

Finally your father appears at the top of the stairs and looks down at you. "What the fuck is going on?" he asks you. 

"Someone chased me through the woods and then attacked this man who tried to help me and then I ran away and then I asked this other man for help and then he shot at them but then he's dead soon and..."

"What are you talking about?" your father cuts you off. He rushes down the stairs in just a pair of shorts and looks at you. He sees the fear in your eyes and then calls up to your mother and brother. "Get down here! We have a real problem!"

He goes to grab the phone and you can see him beginning to dial 911.

You lock the front door and then run to the back door and lock that as well as your father phones the police. He begins shouting into the phone as soon as he gets through, screaming at them that his daughter has been attacked by some maniac in the woods. 

After the doors are locked you run into the front room with your father. Your mother and brother have also arrived downstairs. Your father is still on the phone. He briefly covers the handset and says, "They are on their way. They have heard reports of gunshots in the area and they are sending a number of cars." 

You nod to him. You hear more gunshots outside and you run to the front window. You pull aside the blinds and see one of your neighbours standing in front of his house firing a handgun at three or four people who are running towards him at full speed. The rounds seem to barely slow them, and within moments they are on him, tearing and biting at him. 

Your brother, standing beside you, screams. You quickly move to cover his mouth to muffle the noise.

"Dad, we need to go get the guns now! Let's go!" He looks at you, looks out the window, and then drops the phone and rushes towards the garage. He opens the garage door and you and the rest of the family follow him into the garage. He's not an avid hunter or survivalist, but he does have a few weapons at least.

He grabs two shotguns from his gun rack and a hunting rifle and puts them on the table. He grabs boxes of shotgun shells, both slugs and buckshot, and throws them on the table beside the weapons.

You grab the rifle from the table. Your father and brother each grab one of the shotguns. Your dad may not be a great hunter, but he has a pretty reasonable weapon... Swiss Arms Black Special. A bit overkill in most hunting situations, but should be useful when facing... whatever it is you are facing. You begin loading magazines with the loose ammunition from the boxes. 

Your mother stands and looks at the three of you with fear in her eyes, still wearing her nightie. She just stares. There is more shooting from the street, and the intensity of fire and screams picks up. Your mother turns and sprints up the stairs away from you.

You hear slamming against the front door. You slam a mag into the weapon, then charge the weapon and put it on safe. You walk back into the front hall and look at the front door.

0631

You have packed a couple of filled mags into the back of your tight running shorts. You wish you were wearing something a bit more comfortable and practical. 

You motion for your brother to head over to the door. He looks at you and shakes his head. The thumping picks up on the front door. You nod to the door again and then raise your weapon to your shoulder, indicating that he will cover you. Your father is still grabbing supplies in the other room.

Your brother walks cautiously over to the front door, then stands to the side with his hand on the handle. 

He throws open the door. A police officer is standing there, a gun in his hand, and he is covered in blood. Your eyes meet his.

You open fire, hitting him in the chest with two rounds. He falls to his side in the doorway, and your brother quickly slams the door. Your brother looks at you. "Why the fuck did you shoot him?"

"He's one of them!" you scream at your brother. "He's already covered in blood!"

You rush over to the cop and look down at him. He is bleeding heavily from his chest and back. The full metal jacket rounds went right through his bulletproof vest. He looks up at you, blood bubbling from his lips. "I'm not... I'm not one of them... I'm... fuck, why did you shoot me?"

0635

"Get him into the kitchen and try to help him!" you yell to your brother. He grabs the police officer and begins dragging him into the kitchen. You grab the officer's legs and the two of you lift him onto the kitchen counter. You clear away the counter and then tear open the officer's vest. You see the two bullet holes pouring blood from his chest. 

He looks up at you and grabs your hand, "You need to help me! I have a family!"

You look down at his arm as he's grabbing you and see a bite mark through the cloth. 

"Officer, can you tell me what happened to your arm?" you ask him.

He looks up at you. "Are you shitting me? My arm? One of those fuckers bit me... forget... forget about my damn arm... I'm bleeding to death here! Help me!"

You look at the man and then at your brother. You have no idea how this spreads, but it seems to spread somehow. If this is anything like... like what you have seen in movies, then it will be spread through bites.

0638

You grab at his pistol before he can react. He just moans and looks up at you. "What the fuck are you doing?"

You turn to your brother. "We can't help him. We have to throw him back outside."

Your brother looks at you and his eyes widen. You can hear more shooting from the street, and the sound of sirens. You grab the cop by his legs. He tries feebly to struggle, but he can barely move. You pull him off the table, his head hitting the floor as you begin to drag him to the door.

"I'm a cop... I'm a cop..." he pleads as you pull him along. You nod to your brother who looks at you, then looks at the cop, then opens the front door. You pull the cop out front, depositing him on the front step. 

You look down the street to see people running all over the place. There are cops shooting at people, cops shooting at other cops, and civilians screaming and fighting everywhere.

You slam the door behind you, ignoring his protests.

"Dad, we need to start boarding up the house. We need to hurry, because the world is going to shit here..." you call back to your father. 

He comes out of the garage holding his shotgun in his hand. You can see the look of fear in his eyes. He begins blathering nonsensically about the car. You can hear your mother sobbing upstairs. They have both clearly lost it.

You turn to your brother, "Begin getting stuff. We need to defend this house... now!"

Your brother nods and runs past your dad and into the garage to begin grabbing supplies. You hear more banging at the front door.

You ignore the banging at the door, ignore your father who is walking around blathering, and ignore your mother who is upstairs sobbing. You head back into the garage with your brother, sling your rifle, and begin helping him grab wood. 

He begins hauling two by fours over to your front window, where the drapes are closed. The banging at the door becomes more insistent. *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* against the door. Your brother runs back into the garage and grabs a hammer and nails. You place the first board against the window and he begins hammering.

You hear more sounds from the back of your house. *Thud* *Thud* *Thud* against the back door.

You continue to board up the front window. You still hear screams from outside. The banging at the front door becomes worse, and you can hear groans from the front door as well. Your father begins to fret, pacing back and forth and fingering the trigger of the shotgun. "Not good. Not good. Not good," he repeats over and over again. 

Your brother hammers feverishly at the boards as the groaning increases. Suddenly you hear a crash from the back door, which you had ignored. You turn and see someone lumbering through the entranceway to the kitchen towards your father. The figure, a man, with blood pouring from his mouth, immediately grabs at your father and the two of them tumble to the ground.

You raise your weapon to your shoulder and try to get a bead on the zombie as it claws at your father. You open up, firing two rounds in your first volley. One of them hits the zombie in the back and the other smacks into the wall behind it. The zombie ignores your shots and continues scratching at your father, who is screaming.

You fire again, and this time one of your rounds catches the zombie in the arm and the other hits your father in the stomach. He screams, and then the zombie manages to get around his arms and sink its teeth into the side of your father's neck.

You fire again and this time one of your rounds catches the zombie in the face and it falls to the ground on your father's body.

0650

You grab your father and open up his shirt. He's bleeding from his stomach and there is blood pouring from the wound in his neck. He screaming at the top of his lungs. Your mother rushes down the stairs, screaming as well.

The sound of the zombies at the front door has picked up, and they are groaning, responding to the sound of your father's screams. You see the front door begin to buckle from the sheer weight of the bodies pressed against it. You hear smashing against the makeshift barricade at your front window. 

You hear more groaning from the rear of the house. The situation is untenable.

You turn to your brother, who has tears running down his face. You look down at your father, who is screaming and clutching at his neck. You turn back to your mother, who is running around and screaming at the top of her lungs. 

You grab your father's shotgun in your hand and head for the garage. "Help... help me!" he shouts after you. You ignore him and open the rear door of the car, throwing in the extra shotgun.

"Get in the passenger seat," you tell your brother. He nods and jumps into the passenger seat. You look at him and smile. "Riding shotgun for real now, eh little bro?" 

He doesn't smile back.

You jump into the front seat of the car and hit the button on the garage door opener. You look to your left and see your father standing in the door of the garage. Standing. 

You look to your front as the garage door opens. There are people still running through the street, but they all look like zombies now. You hit the gas and pull out into the street, leaving your house behind you.

0702

The first thing your brother does is connect his ipod to the stereo system. He hits the play button. "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult. You look over at him. "Fucking appropriate, eh?" 

He smiles at you for the first time. "I suppose it is."

You begin speeding through the streets, dodging zombies and civilians alike as you head for Cindy's house. She is only about 20 blocks away, but there is mayhem everywhere on the way there. People are fighting in the streets at every turn. You see an improvised police barricade, but it has already been abandoned, one of the two cop cars burning in the street.

You arrive at Cindy's house and see the front door closed. There are only a few zombies in the streets around you.

"Alright, little bro, get in there and see if you can get Cindy out of the house," you say to him. He looks at you, doubt in his face again. He shrugs and gets out of the car and heads towards the front door. You leave the keys in the ignition and get out of the car. You cradle the weapon in your shoulder and look up and down the street.

A zombie catches sight of you and begins lumbering towards you. It's an older black woman, and her eyes are blank. As she nears you she begins to pick up speed. When she's about thirty meters away you pull the trigger, the round striking her in the head. She drops to the ground like a rock.

You hear a shot from inside the house, and then a few moments later your brother appears at the door, pulling Cindy with him. "Her dad was already turned," he calls out to you as he throws Cindy into the back of the car.

You nod and jump into the driver's seat.

Cindy looks at you with shock in her eyes as you back out of the driveway. "Your brother just shot my dad," she says to you, her mouth barely moving. The next song comes onto the ipod. "I'm in Over My Head," by Lit. You look over at your brother. "Is this for real?"

He laughs again. "Just trying to set the mood, sis."

You turn back to Cindy. "Look, we're going to head for the nearest military base to here... don't worry about your dad. He wasn't your dad anymore." 

You begin speeding through the streets, heading towards an Armoury that you know of in New Westminster. There are cars speeding through the streets, and you narrowly avoid a crash. 

You are speeding along at full speed until there is a roadblock in front of you. You see police manning the roadblock, with weapons at the ready. You look around the street and see that all the doors are closed. Doesn't look like there are any zombies here yet...

0722

You drive your car slowly up towards the police roadblock. You get out and close the door behind you.

"Stop, right there!" one of the cops shouts at you. There are four of them at the roadblock, and they all point their weapons at you.

"Put your weapons down. You cannot come through. This is a quarantine zone. You need to get into your car and wait," the cops tell you.

You look at the cops. They look serious. You look over at your brother and then over at Cindy. She's holding the extra shotgun from the back seat. The cops are all holding pistols, but you don't like your odds.

You call to them, "We are not infected."

The cop shouts back, "We don't know that. We can't let you through. You need to drop your weapons and get in the car and wait. We will have people here soon to help you."

The cops keep their weapons trained on you. You look over at your brother and his grip tightens on the shotgun.

You call back to the cop, "Alright, we will put our weapons down."

You begin to crouch down to put your weapon on the ground, but as you do you drop into the prone position. 

You quickly bring your weapon to your shoulder and begin firing. You hit two of the cops before they have a chance to respond, your rounds ploughing into them. 

They return fire, rounds smashing into the car. From fifty meters away, their pistols are not extremely accurate, but you hear a grunt from your brother. You look over to see that he's been hit in the arm, and he drops to the ground.

You continue to fire at the other two cops, and you manage to suppress them so that they drop behind their vehicles. They begin shouting at you, "Why the fuck are you shooting at us? We're the police."

Cindy stands, her shotgun pointed at the cops over the vehicle. You keep your weapon trained on their vehicles, waiting for them to appear. One of them pokes his head up over the vehicle and then leans over it to begin firing. Before he can take a shot you have pulled the trigger, and your round catches him in the face, sending him onto his back.

You hear the last cop shout, "Fuck." 

"I'm going to surrender," he calls out. He throws his gun over the front of his car and then stands up.

He stands and walks slowly towards you. You look back at Cindy and then grin. You look back over the sights of the weapon and then pull the trigger. Your round enters through his cheekbone and then exits through the top of his head. A pink mist fills the air behind him as his body slumps to the ground. 

You stand. Bolt fully to the rear. You reload your second magazine. Lucky you are a good shot. Only sixty rounds left though. 

You rush over to the police vehicles. Two of the police offers are laying there, groaning. You quickly grab the handguns from the two officers before they can react. 

You slide one of them down the back of your running shorts and hand the other one to Cindy. She smiles at you. Your brother follows up behind you, blood pouring from his arm. 

"Fuckers shot me," he says to you with a grimace. 

"Yeah, I saw."

You begin to go through the vehicles of the police officers, grabbing at whatever you think could be helpful. They each have a first aid kit in them. You grab all the weapons and ammunition, including two more shotguns, and then throw them into one of the vehicles. 

You tell Cindy to get in the back with your brother and then you get in the driver's seat. 

You turn on the car and pull out into the street, leaving the police officers behind you. 

0737

You continue to head for the Armoury. No one will know that you broke through the quarantine, and there should be some decent people there.

You see a few people in the street, but generally people seem to be sticking in their houses. You see emergency vehicles streaming back and forth through the streets as you drive, as well as cars full of families all heading east. At least no one has the bad idea of heading west back towards your house...

Your brother throws his ipod into the front seat and you plug it in. "This is the End" by the Doors comes on. You look back at him. "Another brilliant choice, bro."

You arrive at the Armoury in New West. There are men running around in military fatigues all around the building, with soldiers standing guard near the front.

You get out of the car. Immediately the two soldiers raise their weapons. You hold your hands up and sling your rifle as you walk towards them.

"What is going on here?" one of the soldiers asks you. You look down at his rank badge.

"Look, Corporal, we just came from a bunch of looting back there about twenty blocks. Some cops tried to help us and in the process there was a firefight with the looters... my brother got shot in the process and the cops who were helping us were killed... can you help us out?"

The soldier looks at you suspiciously. Then he shrugs. "Alright, you grab your brother and take him inside. We will have medics who can help him out." 

You smile at him, and he looks down at your chest. Seems fear does not always alter physiology. 

You nod to Cindy back in the car and she grabs your brother. You begin to walk towards the building when the soldier stops you. 

"Gotta leave your guns here if you want to go inside."

"Fine, my brother really needs help. I'll be back soon to pick these up... big boy."

The Corporal laughs at you and smiles. He can't be more than 21 or 22. You clear your weapons and then leave them at his post. He gives you a smile, and then you grab your brother and, with Cindy, help him down the steps. 

You pull him through the front doors of the Armoury. There are soldiers running around left and right. A man in a medical coat runs up to you. "Is he injured? What happened?"

You look at the man. "Got shot. Fucking looters."

He grabs your brother by the arm and begins to pull him away. "We can take it from here, but you need to get out of here. We can't have civilians running around in here."

"I won't leave my brother," you say to the man. He looks at you, then at your brother. "Alright, the two of you seem harmless... fine, you can stay."

He drags your brother over to a set of cots where there are other civilians and a few soldiers lying injured. He looks at the two of you, "Don't worry, no one here is infected... we are still outside of the quarantine zone. Just some looters... as you already know."

He lays your brother down and then begins examining the wound. Suddenly from outside you hear gunshots. You see all the soldiers immediately begin rushing for the door. The man in the medical jacket looks at you, "How the fuck did they get through the quarantine... we thought we were so damn fast and effective..."

You grab your brother up from the cot and begin dragging him back towards the door. The medical officer looks at you, "Where are you going?" he asks. You look back, "I'm not going to rely on you guys to save us!' 

He turns back and shakes his head.

You and Cindy pull your brother outside and back up the stairs to the front of the guard post. The guard is still standing there calmly, watching a firefight down the street. Soldiers have taken up positions all along the street and are shooting at zombies, who are rushing towards their lines. 

You look at the Corporal. 

"So, you wanna come with us? Doesn't look like this whole quarantine strategy is really working..."

The soldier looks at you, then looks around. Everyone else has rushed down the street to fight the zombies, including the other guy who was manning the position with him. You can see he's seriously debating it in his mind...

"Fuck it, alright. I'm with you. Let's bail, girl."

Your brother is beginning to look pale, blood still leaking from his arm at an alarming rate. 

You and Cindy grab the weapons you had left at the front and then head for the police car. 

The four of you get in the vehicle, with the soldier now riding shotgun. "We need to get over the bridge and out of here," the soldier says to you. "If we don't get over one of the bridges soon, then we're screwed. That was the quarantine fall-back point."

0750

You head for the bridge. As soon as you start the car the next track begins playing on your brother's ipod. "Miracles" by Norwegian Recycling. You look back at your brother, who Cindy is trying to comfort. He needs a miracle right now. 

You head down the road and towards the bridge. As you pull onto the onramp, you see that the bridge is clogged with vehicles. No one seems to have abandoned their vehicles yet, but traffic is pretty slow. You could walk across the bridge faster than traffic is moving, although it would be tough with your brother. 

You look back and see the flashes of the firefight in the distance back on the hill where the Armoury is located. 

You look over at the Corporal. He merely shrugs.

You turn on the police lights and sirens. Despite the slow traffic and clogged bridge deck, cars begin to pull to the side to let you pass onto the onramp. In Canada, people generally obey the authorities, regardless of the situation.

You begin to slowly edge through the traffic. Even with people pulling over for you it's a slow go. You look over at the Corporal and then back at Cindy. She has used the police medikit to stem the bleeding, but your brother still looks faint. 

You drive slowly through the traffic, the sirens blaring. You look over your shoulder. You don't see any flashes coming from the hill anymore. 

You make it up the onramp and onto the bridge deck. You come to a stop as traffic barely plods along. Even your sirens don't help on the bridge. There is nowhere for anyone to pull over. 

You tell the Corporal to get out of the vehicle and scout up ahead to see if it would be faster to just walk. He agrees and gets out of the vehicle. You continue to slowly drive through traffic as he weaves between the cars and walks up through the bridge deck.

You look over your shoulder and you can see the traffic is backed up all the way along the highway for as far as you can see. 

You look way back and see that the people at the rear have already started to get out of their cars and walk. You see people trudging forward, carrying their belongings like poor Libyan refugees. 

Your brother's ipod begins blaring Norwegian Recycling's "Dark and Difficult Times" Harry Potter mashup. 

You continue to drive forward. You hearing firing from behind you. You look over your shoulder and at the edge of the highway far to the rear you see people fighting. Zombies.

You tell Cindy and your brother to get out of the car. You grab your brother's ipod. It might be helpful. You look ahead and see that some people have got out of their cars ahead as well. There was no way you would have made it through.

You grab as much stuff as you can haul and throw it over your shoulders. Cindy is carrying her shotgun, her pistol, and your brother is leaning on her. Your brother still carries his shotgun with his free hand. You have your Black Special and the handgun down the back of your running shorts, plus the one extra mag as well.

You begin walking forward. You hear the intensity of the shooting pick up behind you. You wish the Corporal was around to help...

You hear screams and groans, and as you look back over your shoulder you see figures rushing through the crowd behind you. The crowd surges forward and begins running. You are swept up in the crowd and you lose sight of Cindy and your brother.

0815

You begin to run forward with the people. You will have to hope that your brother and Cindy will make it to the other side where you can meet them. You are running as a mass across the bridge now, and you can hear screams and groaning from behind you in the distance.

You continue to run, your weapon clattering against you as you go. You are faster than a lot of the others in the ground, but it is tough to force your way through. Some people begin to fall, but the crowd tramples them. There are screams. You look back over your shoulder and see some people far behind preparing to jump over the side of the bridge. There must be zombies close.

You finally make it through the cars that are on the bridge. There is one broken down at the side, and it seems that is what has caused the traffic problem. There are no cars beyond it, just people running and screaming.

You make it to the other side of the bridge and see the Corporal there. He calls out to you and you rush over to him. "What now?" he asks you.

"We keep running. Who knows where the others are," you tell the Corporal. He nods. "By the way," he says, "my name is Chris." 

You smile at him. "Alright Chris, we have to keep running, or else we're never going to make it."

The two of you take off down the highway, which is still packed with people. You hear gunshots behind you and screams. You look over your shoulder and see, at the edge of the bridge, someone who has been knocked over, with a zombie on the person's back gnawing at their neck. People immediately rush to the other person's aid, but you see another person bit as soon as they arrive to help. 

You continue to run until the crowd begins to thin out. Even with you carrying weapons, other people are mainly slower than you are, and most people have luggage and other crap with them.

As the crowd thins out Chris turns to you. "Do we just keep running along this highway, or should we head into town and try and find a vehicle?"

You continue to run along the highway through the thinning crowd. You make it past the first exit at 152nd street and keep running. You have to shift to the side of the road now as people begin pulling onto the highway from the 152nd street onramp. There are a lot of cars on the road, but traffic is still moving. A number of survivors from the bridge try to flag down passing vehicles, but no one appears to stop. Then again, most of the other bridge survivors are not 16 year old girls.

You look over at Chris as the two of you run along the side of the road. "Two ways to do this," you say to him.  "Either we just stop someone with our weapons, or we stop someone with my charm.  I think we'll try the charm method first."

You stop and turn back towards the traffic and throw your thumb into the air. You give your ass a little wiggle as you smile at the vehicles passing by. You may be smiling, but you are still carrying an assault rifle and walking with a soldier.

Finally, a beat up old Corolla pulls up beside you and then pulls off to the side of the road. A guy rolls down the window. The two guys inside are young. Both look to be in their early twenties. 

The man grins at the two of you. "Ass, grass or cash, baby. And at the moment, we don't want any cash or grass. What do you say?"

You look at the guy. 

You look at the two of them and then look at Chris. You walk over to the window and then lean over looking at the two of them. You smile at the two of them and lick your lips. "So, I guess the two of you would like to get a hold of some of this nice pussy, right?"

The two of them look at each other and grin. "That's the deal, baby," the driver says to you. Chris grimaces at you and shakes his head.

"I think I can help out with that," you say to the two of them. They both smile at you. The passenger unlocks the rear door. As he's looking back to unlock the door, you pull the pistol from behind your back. 

The first round goes into the side of the passenger's head. The driver slams the car back into drive and goes to hit the gas, but you pull the trigger again, spraying the driver side window with his brains.

You walk around to the side of the car and then open the door and pull out the body. You jump into the driver's seat and throw your rifle in the back. "Let's go," you say to Chris, who looks at you stunned.

You step on the gas and start driving. You hand your brother's ipod to Chris. He unplugs the driver's ipod, which was connected through a radio system, and plugs in your brother's. "Extreme Ways" by Moby begins playing in the car. It's like he prepared a zombie apocalypse playlist or something.

You continue driving, making it out of Surrey and past Abbotsford before you begin to run low on gas near Chilliwack. 

You pull off the road and onto the road for the first gas station in Chilliwack. There is a massive lineup of vehicles. You look at Chris and sigh.

You turn to Chris, ""Time to use our firepower to get what we need."

He looks at you. "Are you sure we have to do this? Can't we just wait in line like everyone else?"

"Don't be a pussy, Chris. We didn't get this far by sitting around and waiting. We need to take action. You're a soldier, let's take some goddamn action."

Chris sighs and then nods. 

The two of you get out of the Corolla. You grab your rifle from the back seat. Only sixty rounds left. You begin walking up past the cars towards the front of the line. The vehicles are packed with families. Everyone looks terrified. 

You get to the front of the line. People are frantically filling up their vehicles as well as gas cans and every other container they can think of with gas. 

At the front of the line, finishing their fill-up, are four vehicles. You consider what to take.  There is a pickup truck, which has two farmers in it, a van full of a family with two kids, a sports car with a teenager driving, and a BMW with a rich older man and what looks to be his young wife. 

You walk up towards the teenager who is filling up his sports car. He turns and looks at you. "Umm, hey, how's it going?" he asks.

You look at him, and then look at Chris. "Hand me the keys, asshole," you say to him.

He looks at you. "What? What? The keys? This is my car..."

You pull your pistol out from behind your back and point it at him. "Your car, my car. Semantics, right? Just hand me the fucking keys and you can keep your life."

The activity around the gas station stops. Everyone is staring at you. His hand shakes as he holds the keys out and drops them into your hands. 

"Now fuck off," you tell him. He turns and starts backing away.

You grab the handle to the pump and continue pumping the gas. Chris has his rifle unslung and is eying up the people watching.

"I should go in and grab some food," Chris says to you over his shoulder as he eyes the crowd.

"Forget that," you tell him. "We need to get out of here as soon as possible. The people here are restless... everyone else waited their turn except us."

You look over at the two farmers who are filling their pickup truck. One of them spits at the ground as you look at him. The other one is standing behind the vehicle. They probably have weapons on them. 

The car is about three quarters full when the pump shuts off. 

Someone in a gas attendant uniform steps out of the store. "You guys can't take that guy's car... he didn't pay for the gas yet," the man yells at you. You look at him, and then look at Chris. 

"Alright, we're just going to go then," you say to the attendant. You look over and see the farmer begin to relax. There would have been a gunfight if you chose another option you bet. 

The two of you get into the sports car. BMW 6-Series. Black. 

You look over at Chris, who plugs your brother's ipod back into the dock. "Stuck in the middle with you" begins playing as you pull out of the gas station and head East again. 

Chris turns to you. "Glad you kept your cool there, babe. That was a risky situation... could have ended badly for us."

You nod. You are driving fast, weaving through the traffic in the car as you go. 

"We're going to need food and water at some point," Chris says to you. 

0942

"I'm also hungry. I didn't even have breakfast yet. We'll stop pretty soon to get something," you say to Chris. 

You keep driving, weaving in and out of the traffic at top speed, until you hit Bridal Falls. You then pull over and into the gas station there. There is a lineup for the gas station, but is nowhere near as long as the one was in Chilliwack. 

You seem to be ahead of the horde, and ahead of at least some of the panic. You get out of the car.

You ask Chris if you can get any cash from him. He looks at you and laughs and hands you a wad of bills from his pocket. You still don't have any pockets, and you don't have any ID on you. You leave your rifle in the back of the car and then head inside. You shove the pistol down the front of your shorts as you step through the door. 

There are a lot of people in the store, but it's not outrageous yet. You begin to grab supplies from the shelves, filling your arms with water bottles and foods. You get in line for the cash register. 

Two men look at you and grin, watching you stand there with your arms full. "You need any help there, little girl?" one of them asks you. 

You look at him. He's smiling down at you and looking at your ass as he stands behind you. 

"I don't need any help, thank you. My boyfriend, that soldier standing out there with the assault rifle, he's protecting me," you say to the man. His grin fades and he steps back as he looks out the door.

"Of course, ma'am. Didn't mean to interfere... just offering our protection is all." 

At least some people still respect the military. 

You throw your goods onto the counter in front of the cashier. The girl looks to be about 21 or so, and her hands are shaking as she begins ringing up your items. She leans over and whispers to you, "Can you take me with you? Please? I don't have my own car and I'm just stuck here... please!"

You look the girl up and down. 

0955

"Alright. Meet us out back in a few minutes and we'll take you with us," you say to her. She nods at you. She packages up your stuff into bags, looking over her shoulder at her boss. She has dark red hair and a pale complexion, but she's pretty. Even the fear in her eyes doesn't take away from her beauty.

You pay, then grab the bags and walk out of the store. Chris has finished filling up the car and is parked near the front entrance. You throw the groceries into the back and smile at him.

"We're going to have one more customer, Chris. I think you'll like her, though."

He looks at you and smiles. "Whatever you say, babe."

You get into the driver's seat and pull the car around back. You then get out of the car and stand there, waiting for the girl. She comes out the back of the store quietly a few minutes later. 

"I told him I was going to the bathroom," she says to you with a smile on her face. "Should we try and get supplies from the back room before we go?" she asks you.

"No, we need to keep moving. Have to stay ahead of the horde," you tell her. She nods and then jumps into the back seat of the car. You slide the seat back and then jump back into the front.

Full tank of gas. Check.

Weapons. Check.

Ammunition. Check.

Food and water. Check. 

It's time to drive. 

Chris turns back to you, "So where exactly are we headed?"

You turn to Chris, "As far North as we can get."

You look back and ask the girl what her name is. She smiles at you a big smile, "My name's Julia. Pleased to meet you." She reaches forward and shakes Chris' hand. You just nod at her.

North it is. You look over your shoulder, seeing nothing but a few cars on the road behind you, and you step on the gas. 

Your brother's ipod cycles back to the beginning of the playlist. "Don't Fear the Reaper" comes on. And you drive.

To Be Continued