It’s taken me a day to process the scene that we encountered at the school yesterday. It was worse than any of us had dared to imagine.

As we moved through the Herber Settlement, we stopped at the armoury in order to procure some weapons. One shotgun was not going to do us any good against a horde; especially one composed of chipmunks and other rodents in various stages of decomposition.

The street was littered with skeletal corpses; some of them still moving, others blessedly and completely dead. What a horrible death it must have been. The attack would have been swift but to feel all of those little mouths feeding off of your flesh would have been terrifying and so very, very painful. We took the time to bestow a final dignity to all of the former survivors of the Herber Settlement. There was no way that we could have determined who was laying (un)dead in the streets so we just kept moving forward.

It was really slow going once we got to those areas that had been more densely populated at the time of the breach. It reminded me of the photos I had once seen of a cemetery that had flooded. For some reason the flooding had caused the caskets of the inhabitants to rise to the surface. As a result of the age of the wood and it’s decomposition in the ground, some of the skeletons ended up exposed to the elements. To an individual who first saw the disturbance, perhaps it looked like the dead were rising. Perhaps they were aware that such a phenomenon could occur. Whatever the case, it must have been a creepy sight; I know the pictures certainly were.

As we were walking, it started to get dark and the street lights didn’t come on; the power grid must be offline. As a precaution for our own safety, we decided to stop for the night. It just wasn’t safe to move at night; we didn’t have any flashlights to light our way and we had no desire to get ambushed while traversing in the dark.

We chose one of the vacant houses fairly close to the school. Since it was vacant, it likely had not been breached by any unwanted visitors. Regardless of our logic, we were still extremely careful as we entered the house.

Once inside, we were greeted by a surprising sight; 9 other survivors had managed to escape the tide of undeath as it swept through the settlement. Among them was Lt. Lafferty. We were both surprised and elated to see her!

Lt. Lafferty told us that she had been working, doing rounds of the settlement as one of the peace officers when she happened to notice the commotion happening up the street. Not taking any chances, she had immediately thought to seek refuge indoors. Other like-minded individuals noticed what she was doing and followed along behind her. Her quick thinking has saved all of their lives that day.

Not that Lafferty thought of herself as a hero; far from it in fact. Privately she let us know that more people had followed them to the house. Unfortunately so had the furry harbingers of undeath. Having to choose between a horrible death and potential survival, she chose survival for herself and the eight people holed up with her. It was a hard decision and one I knew would weigh heavily on her mind. I had made a similar decision at the library and I haven’t yet told you about the cacophony of knocking and screaming that sounded off just beyond the threshold of the library’s oaken doors. The memory of those desperate, frantic pleas to open the door will haunt me for a very long time.

All of those ‘what if’ moments just collect in your subconscious until the moment you close your eyes. Then your mind does everything in its power to sabotage any effort at sleep you make. It certainly sucks, that’s for sure.

Our night passed uneventfully. Most of us tried to sleep but in the end, we found ourselves chasing away the ghosts of our friends. As each of us reached the point where we could no longer just lie there, we got up and gathered in the living room. We sat in silence, each of us likely thinking of those we had loved and lost. It was a sombre gathering somewhat akin to a funeral.

As the sun came up, we collectively gathered our stuff, carefully observing the outside world for any signs of the Undead. Everything appeared to be quiet so we opened the front door and congregated in the street.

Last night we had decided to form two search parties instead of staying together. We had one 2 way radio, given to us by Lt. Lafferty. One of the groups would take it, the other planned on stopping by the police station to hopefully find another. At this point it was essential for us to split up in order to cover more ground. We had to find more survivors; there had to be more of us that had survived this. None of us wanted to lose contact with the other group though. The reason for that was twofold; the psychological effect of knowing that you’re not completely alone is a good one. And having that auditory lifeline could potentially save the lives that were left in the event of another unexpected breach. None of us wanted to die but in the end, we were going to do whatever we could to preserve the lives that were left.

Since the police station was on the way to the school, we opted to let the other group have the radio. They were going to head toward the hospital, hoping to find more people who had survived. We all said our goodbyes and watched for a moment as they walked away. They all had the determined but wary gait of people used to being on their guard. I hoped that we would see them again.

We turned to move in the opposite direction, heading toward the police station. It was only a short walk away, perhaps a few blocks. Along the way, we stopped to end the suffering any of the remnants of people who deserved some dignity and respect.

Once we got to the police station, we were dismayed to find the front doors open. Wide open. It was a little unnerving to be perfectly frank. What would we find in the confined spaces inside? It was decided that only 2 people would enter the station; Lt. Lafferty and myself. Lt. Lafferty was chosen because she actually knew where we would need to look for a radio. I was chosen because I was the best shot out of all of the other people in the group. I didn’t mind having to go inside. I wanted to find that radio as soon as possible and keep on moving toward school.

Lafferty and I carefully entered the station, all of our senses on high alert. We moved slowly, meticulously clearing each room and cubicle as we passed them. Knowing that the radios were kept in the back of the station, Lafferty lead us there. That was where we found them all.

The pile of skeletal corpses was horrifying and something I’m not likely to forget for years to come (if I live that long). And it was moving. It reminded me of a pot of boiling water; you only really see the disturbance on the surface but if you look closely into the water, you can see the bubbles travelling upward. As the corpses on the bottom of the pile moved, the outer layer responded. Why they were all still in a pile was beyond me. Maybe there was the assumption that underneath all of that bloody mess was a tasty morsel that was missed…

Knowing that we couldn’t have possibly handled them all on our own, we took the easy route out and just closed the door to the conference room. We will go back for them, I promise.

After that, we moved a little faster. We wanted to collect the radio and get the heck out of the station. We really needed to get to the school and see what state it was in. My eyes had prepared me for the worst, but my heart still contained some hope.

Collecting the radio, and adding a second for good measure, we radioed the other group to let them know they could actually reach us now. They were almost to the hospital, only a few more blocks to travel and they would be there. Lafferty spied an open gun cabinet and went to investigate; you can never have too many guns or ammunition during an apocalypse. We loaded up with what was there, unfortunately not a whole heck of a lot and backtracked our way out of the station.

Now it was onto the school and hopefully good news.

As we travelled down the street, there were less and less bodies on the road and on the sidewalks. It appeared to be a promising sign until we noticed the trails of slime on the pavement, all of them leading us in the direction of the school. Was there something alive at the school; someone calling out to them without even realizing it?

We quickly caught up to them, mainly due to the fact that they couldn’t move very fast. Each of us set to work, ending their lives as quickly as we could. None of us wanted them to get any closer to the school.

The schoolyard was worse that we could have ever imagined or prepared ourselves for. From the size of the bloody skeletal corpses on the tarmac, it was obvious that they belonged to children. It was a horrible sight, especially since many of them were moving, heading toward places unknown.

It was hard but we knew we had to help them all find solace. One by one we started to kill them. It was an emotionally painful process and with the first strike, we all had tears streaming down our faces. In the end they may have been the lucky ones; never having to grow up in the world we live in today.

The closer we got to the doors of the school, the more apparent it became that some of the children had managed to escape and get inside to safety. The doors had been chained from the inside but since they open inward, there was just enough space for tiny undead bodies to get in. We prayed that some of the children had managed to get behind an impenetrable door.

With the door chained we had to break in, hoping that the unavoidable noise wouldn’t bring a tiny horde down on our heads. We cautiously entered the hallway lined with grey metal lockers. Coats and backpacks were strewn across the tiled floor; a tiled floor that was so far free from any signs of blood or gore. The deeper that we moved into the school, the more ominously silent that it became. We checked each of the classrooms, opening the doors as we came to them. Nothing. No one was alive, no one was dead. Having cleared the first floor, we moved to the second. It was tense. Each door that we opened, we prepared ourselves to find a massacre. We didn’t find one though.

In the last classroom on the second floor, we found our first clue that perhaps some of them survived the siege. On the blackboard was a list of names. And a message.

“We’ve gone to find a better place to hide.”

No date, no hint. Just the message and all of the names. The names of the children that had survived. Julie and I greedily devoured the names and by the end of the list we had our answer. It was bittersweet. Jane and Lily were on that list. Liam was not. He must have been one of the poor souls out in the playground. Sweet little Liam reduced to a pile of bloody bones.

Realizing that we would have to find the 59 children that had survived, we started to make our way out of the school. It was a joyous moment but one tinged with the ultimate sadness. None of us were really paying attention, most of us lost in our own thoughts. A door to a janitor’s closet opened behind us, the sound alerting me to the presence of someone or something. I turned quickly, bringing up my firearm preparing to take aim. Seeing my reaction, the rest of the group followed suit.

It was at that moment that Liam fainted. It could have been from exhaustion, dehydration, or perhaps the excitement and terror of the ordeal he had lived through. I personally think it was the 8 guns that almost simultaneously trained themselves on him. Fear can do funny things to a body sometimes. The good news is that he is alive and not one of the corpses in the schoolyard. Now it’s just time to find the rest of children.

The Next Day

At some point you all know that I was going to have to make a choice about what to do. Do I venture outside to see what is actually going on or do I find a less drastic method? In the end, for the purposes of self-preservation, I chose the less drastic method.

Don’t get me wrong, I was absolutely petrified at the thought of having to venture outside in any capacity. I had no idea what was going on out there and if the screams of yesterday were any indication, the chances that I was going to find that the outside world was a dangerous one was high.

I have spent the last few days learning every inch of this library that I’ve been calling home. The windows haven’t been able to give us an accurate picture of what is beyond the walls because they are all clouded and opaque. It must have been a modification that was added to protect the books from sun damage. Great for the books, not so great for observing the possible presence of the Undead.

My companions haven’t been of any help either. All of them are just so scared of what could be beyond the thick oaken doors and red bricked walls that they are against any and all plans to learn what it going on outside. It’s not like we can stay locked up in here forever. We had absolutely no food and limited water. The taps still worked but we had no way of knowing how long the water would last. We didn’t know if anyone was still working at the power generator and as a result, we had no way of knowing how long the pumps would continue to function.

We haven’t been taking any chances with the lights either; and there were two reasons for that. The first was that we didn’t want any of the Undead, whether they were chipmunks, other rodents or former members of the Herber Settlement to be attracted by the contrast of the illumination on an otherwise dark facade. The other was that we didn’t want any other survivors that happened to venture out to unwittingly attract any undead things to us either in the event they were caught unaware and unprotected.

It has been hard to survive here, not knowing what is going on. I keep thinking about Lily, Liam and Jane. About Julie. About Ben. Had any of them managed to survive? I had a fairly good feeling that Julie was alive; it seemed that she could survive anything. There was also a very good chance that Ben had survived as well. The hospital was located on the opposite side of town from where the breach had occurred and there might have been enough time for a warning to have reached them. The only thing I couldn’t get out of my mind for more than a few seconds at a time was the possibility that Jane and the twins had been unprotected and vulnerable at the school.

Children are remarkably adaptable. Look at how Lily and Liam had managed to survive. And how Jane has eluded the Undead out in the open for so long and in the state that she had been in was absolutely amazing. I’ve done my best to not jump to the worst possible outcome but it’s getting more difficult as the hours pass… All I can do is pray and hope that they are okay.

I have to admit to you all that I was more than a little afraid as I climbed the stairs to the top floor of the library. On my reconnaissance missions, I had spotted the hatch that gave workers access to the roof. It was tucked away in the back of the library amongst the classics of literature. Bronte, Chaucer, Dante, Eyre, Melville, Salinger, Tolstoy; they were all there, collecting dust. It saddens me to know that many will never read the classics again and that many books will never get written. A whole facet of our culture lost to the unyielding cycle of death and undeath and the fight for survival.

I stopped for a moment and picked up the leather-bound copy of Four Quartets by Eliot. As I opened the front cover, the smell of the leather and yellowing paper assaulted my senses. Turning to the first poem Burnt Norton, I started to read. The part that struck me as most poignant was:

Footfalls echo in the memory

Down the passage which we did not take

Towards the door we never opened

Into the rose-garden. [1]

It brought back memories of a life before the Undead but helped me to recognize that only this moment truly mattered. The past cannot be changed, and the future will always remain unknown. It affirmed that man, humankind, is capable of redemption. We will rise from these ashes, of that I am certain. It’s just up to all of us to decide how that’s going to happen.

My moment of reverie, melancholy and affirmation over, I started to climb the metal rungs of the ladder slightly recessed into the wall. I hoped that once I got to the top that the hatch would be easy to open. I hadn’t thought to look for a key until I was almost to the top but it wouldn’t have mattered, the hatch was designed to opnen on a spring system.

My heart was hammering in my chest. I could feel the drumming of the blood in my ears reminding me that these could very well be the last moments where my blood would signal my own existence. I hadn’t told the rest of the survivors in the library of my plan; I hadn’t wanted their fear to sway my decision. As I hung onto the rungs, high above the floor, my left hand on the latch of the hatch, I stopped to say a small prayer.

I prayed that the world outside would be less horrific than I was imagining it to be. I prayed that the roof was clear of any undead things. I prayed that my friends had all survived. I just prayed for the world and everyone still alive in it.

With the moment passed, I turned the latch and opened the hatch, my eyes squinting at the bright sunlight that assaulted me. I could hear nothing except the sounds of the wind rustling the leaves in the nearby trees and the faint birdsong from somewhere close by but also far away. There were no screams and no telltale scratching of tiny nails on masonry.

As I climbed out on the flat roof, I was petrified. Just because I couldn’t hear them didn’t mean that they were gone. I tentatively made my way over to the closest edge. Looking down, I was surprised by the cleanliness of the streets. There were almost no bodies and those that were left had been picked so clean that it was mainly just skeletons left. The horde had been voracious in their attack on us.

I caught sight of a lone figure walking down the road. From their gait and the fact that they were carrying a shotgun, I knew that they were alive. I watched and waited however; this would be the true test. If anything Undead was still left within the walls of the Herber Settlement, a confrontation would ensue.

The figure continued to stalk carefully down the street, eyes likely peeled for any sign of the Undead. It briefly stopped at each of the skeletons, pausing only to determine if they were in fact truly dead. It was hard to believe that a body so depleted could still move but I had heard of it happening before. There is still so much that we don’t know about the Undead and what allows them to function. From the way that the figure quickly got on its way, they all must have been dead.

In a moment that changed. As the figure was straightening back up to continue its journey down the street, a bony arm snaked out to grasp a fleshed ankle. The figure went down and the skeleton slowly tried to overtake it, its limbs moving but not in coordination with each other. The figure appeared to look back, its other foot coming up to deliver what was to be a fatal blow. The skeleton went completely slack and the figure took a moment to extricate itself from the bloody phalanges.

As it got up, the recognition of who it was flooded my brain. At least one of my friends had survived and the realization brought with it the hope that I would see them all again. My need and desire for caution in the face of the unknown was over. I climbed back down the ladder, making sure to tightly close the hatch and sprinted to the front doors. As I threw them open, Julie came into closer view, her shotgun up and pointed at me, likely alerted by the noise of the door.

Upon seeing me, her face broke into a smile. Two of us had survived. We were together again and now it was time to see who else had made it. We hugged briefly, knowing that we still needed to be on guard.

Having heard the front doors open from the recesses of the library, the 5 other survivors had ventured closer to see what had happened. It was time for us to leave the sanctity that we had found inside the walls and discover if there were more than 7 of us left alive. I stepped back inside only long enough to grab a laptop and then we all left together. Our first stop, the school. Hopefully the scene we find there is similar to the one that we lived in the library.

The Next Day

[1] from Burnt Norton by T.S. Eliot