Fight 4 Us (Book 1): The Beginning
FIGHT 4 US
THE BEGINNING
FIGHT 4 US
THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER 1 - GUYS TRIP
CHAPTER 2 - GOING HOME TO TAMPA
CHAPTER 3 - SUPPLY RUN
CHAPTER 4 - HOSPITAL CHAOS
CHAPTER 5 - NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH
CHAPTER 6 - ROAD TRIP
CHAPTER 7 - WELCOME TO ORLANDO
CHAPTER 8 - SPACE WARS
CHAPTER 9 - SHIT HITS THE FAN
CHAPTER 10 - GOING HOME TO RALEIGH
CHAPTER 11 - CHECKING IN
CHAPTER 12 – WHAT’S NEXT?
CHAPTER 1
GUYS TRIP
It is a crisp Friday morning. The birds are chirping, and it is the perfect morning for an early outdoor trail run along the Tennessee mountains. As I step down the front porch steps of the cabin we are renting, I check my watch and it reads 6:43AM. I try to get a morning run in four to five days a week. I take a deep breath and enjoy the nice view of the Tennessee landscape. After a couple of quick stretches of my hamstrings, I take off for my morning one to two-mile run. I remind myself to stick to the trail, as I don't know the area very well and don't want to risk getting hurt or lost. I have some motivating tunes going through my ear buds of my mp3 player, when suddenly, I hear a very loud bang. It startles me for a second.
I stop running and think to myself, “What the hell was that?”
Another bang goes off, but followed this time by a bloodcurdling scream. It sounds like it is coming from the west. I see a path that I believe will lead me to the sound, so I take it. As I am approaching the end of the path, I hear another loud scream and run straight towards it. I make a left behind a huge oak tree and find a man struggling to push two other men off him. I try to help, but one of the men lunges towards me. I take a step back to avoid the attacker, and yell, “Hey, what the fuck is going on here?”
No one responds to me.
I look over at the man lying on the ground. He is severely wounded and bleeding heavily in both arms, stomach, and on his left thigh. I run over to help the wounded man and see that he is being bitten and ripped apart by the two men. I can’t believe this and decide that I need to help this man. I run over to one of the men who is biting the man on the ground. I grab him by the shoulders and throw him off the man and into the dirt. I run over to the other man and he tries to bite me.
"What the hell?" I shout, as I step back and kick the attacker in the face.
I visually check the wounded man out, but make sure to keep my distance. His stomach has a big laceration going across it and he has several bite marks on his arms. I can sense something isn't right here but can’t believe that these two men are eating and biting another man. One of the men gets up from the ground and goes back to attacking the man who is severely wounded and lying on the ground.
The wounded man screams in pain as the man bites him in his right arm again and again.
I can’t believe what I am seeing. The scene is chaotic and seems surreal. I see three men in hunting gear and for some reason the two men keep attacking this one man. Everything is happening so fast but I’m trying to make sense of it.
The other man that I previously kicked in the face is standing now and is walking towards me. As he slowly walks towards me I visually inspect his face. He has blood all over his mouth and face. His eyes have this weird glaze to them, almost like he has fog stuck in his eyes. He doesn’t respond to any words and seems only to be focused on attacking me. As he gets closer, I see bite marks on his left forearm. The bites are deep as I see part of his ulna bone through the skin. Based on all the TV shows, movies, and comic books I have seen, I would classify this as a zombie attack. The men are displaying actions that are shown in zombie movies and shows. But this is real life and not a movie or show.
The man will not stop walking towards me. I take a step back and find a thick tree branch. I pick up the tree branch and throw it towards the man who is coming at me. The branch hits the man in the chest and it knocks him down. I take another look at the man who was being eaten alive. He needs help. I find one of the men’s rifles lying in the ground. I point it at the zombie who is now eating the man’s right bicep muscle and pull the trigger.
Click
The gun is out of bullets.
“Fuck!” I yell.
I flip the rifle around and swing the gun handle towards the zombie’s head. It smacks the zombie directly in the face. The gun handle puts a nice dent in the zombie’s forehead. The zombie falls off the man and smacks his head on some rocks.
I attend to the wounded man but he is passed out now. I try to wake him up but he isn’t responding to my commands. I feel that I need to get help. No one is around and I left my cell phone at the cabin. The man is not responding as he lays on the ground. He is a large man that probably weighs close to three hundred pounds. I would not be able to move him by myself. The zombies seem to be contained now as the one zombie is stuck under the big tree branch I threw at him and the other is struggling to get up after I hit him in the head with the rifle handle. I take one last look at the two zombies and the wounded man and decide to run back to the cabin to get help.
I am running quickly through the woods towards our rental cabin. My heart is pumping a mile a minute, and I am breathing heavily as my morning jog has now turned into my morning sprint. As I get pack to the trail that will lead me back to the cabin, I hear another gunshot. I stop and look back to where the sound came from. Another gunshot goes off followed by another.
The gunshots sounded like they came from where I just left. I am tempted to run back towards the location I just came from but stop to listen for more gunshots. No more shots are fired. The woods have become quiet now. I have never heard so many gunshots in my life. I wait another minute but no other gunshots go off. I turn back towards the trail that will lead me back to the cabin and continue my sprint back to the cabin.
I see the cabin and am relieved to know I made it back safely. I run past my car and up the cabin steps. I open the front door, run inside, and find it empty.
I scream, "Shaun, Phil, Matt, wake the fuck up! Something is definitely wrong outside, and we need to get the hell out of here now."
My high school friends, Shaun and Matt come running down the steps followed by my childhood friend, Phil.
"What's the matter Ryan?" asks Shaun.
I reply, as I try to catch my breath, "I was going for a run on the trail, when I heard gunshots. A man screamed and a couple more shots went off. I ran down to help, but saw something crazy when I got there. It was like something out of a horror movie. I saw two guys eating the arms and torso of another guy."
“No Way! You’re pulling our leg.” Matt shouts.
I look at the guys and say, "I know it sounds crazy guys, but I will show you."
I glance down at my sneaker and see that it has blood on it. I point down at my right sneaker and show them the blood.
“This blood isn’t mine,” I say as the guys look at the blood on my shoe.
I continue saying, “I need your help guys. This one guy is bleeding bad and I need your help to get him to a hospital.”
The guys look at me with a shocked look but want to believe that I’m telling them the truth.
Shaun says, “Let’s go check out what Ryan is talking about.”
The guys run back up the stairs and put on some sneakers and change their clothes. I run back up to my room to get my cell phone. I check my cell phone and see that I don’t have any service in the cabin.
The guys and I head out of the cabin. I take them down the same trail I ran this morning. I try to retrace my running trail and path but it’s hard to remember as the eve
nt happened so fast this morning. After what feels like 20 minutes, I finally lead the guys to where I heard the gunshots and saw the man being attacked.
We arrive to the exact spot where I saw the man being eaten, only to find some bloody leaves and dirt on the ground. There are no bodies, no truck, nor other signs of the wounded man or his attackers.
“I can see something happened here, but I’m not sure what exactly,” says Phil.
He continues with, “Are you sure it wasn't just a deer or something?”
I move closer to the blood spot in the dirt, point to it and say, “Yes, it was right here. There were three guys. One was trying to fight the other two guys off him, but he was overpowered by the two men as they knocked him down and started eating his arms and torso.”
The guys look at me like I'm somewhat crazy. I think they want to believe me, but the evidence in the woods just doesn't show them that. I see their faces and I think to myself, "Was I losing my mind? Was the mountain air messing with my head? Did I make the whole thing up during my run?"
I reassess the surroundings and conclude that it's not what I know, but what I can prove. I realize that I have nothing to show but a bloody dirt spot, so the guys, or anyone for that matter, will never believe me.
Suddenly, we hear a rustle behind some bushes directly behind Matt. Matt turns around and goes to check it out. As he slowly steps closer and closer to the bushes, a squirrel jumps out and climbs up a nearby tree. As the squirrel jumps out of the bushes, Matt falls backwards onto his butt. We all laugh as Matt lays on the ground.
Matt then says, "Dude, Ryan, what have you been smoking man? Maybe your brain and eyes aren't awake yet? Did you have your coffee yet?"
"I don't drink coffee," I reply as I help Matt get up from the ground.
We all have a good laugh about it again, and decide to go back to the cabin. However, as we are walking back to the cabin, I still have a very uneasy feeling of what happened earlier this morning. Not being able to make sense of it all, is only making me feel worse.
We arrive at the front door of the cabin. Shaun says, "C'mon guys, let’s get some breakfast going. I'm starving, and I need some of my famous pancakes."
The guys enter the cabin but I stay out on the front porch. I take a seat on one of the front porch chairs. I look out into the woods where I heard the gunshots and saw the man being attacked this morning.
As I am relaxing on the front porch, Phil comes out the front door and sits in the chair next to me. He sees that I’m curious and worried about the situation this morning.
Phil turns to me and asks, “You okay Ry?”
I reply, “Yeah. I’m just trying to make sense of this morning. If it really happened or did I just imagine it.”
I’m not sure what to believe about the situation from this morning. I have no reason to fabricate such a story but didn’t have any evidence besides my bloody shoe.
“I believe you Ryan. I know you wouldn’t just make this up,” says Phil.
I reply, “Thanks Phil. I just hate when people don’t believe me and I can’t prove my case. I really hope we don’t see any more craziness like I saw today.”
Phil jokes, “Maybe it’s the end of the world and you saw the first people infected with some virus.”
I reply, “I hope not.”
I look down at my hands and see that they are filthy. I need to go inside and wash up from my morning run and altercation.
I turn to Phil and say, “I have to get cleaned up from this morning. I feel disgusting.”
Phil jokes, “You look disgusting.”
I punch Phil in his shoulder and we both laugh. Phil and I stand up and walk inside the cabin. I run upstairs to the bathroom and wash my hands and face. Phil sits down in the kitchen where Shaun and Matt are.
As I’m washing my face and hands I take a second and look at myself in the mirror. I try to gather myself and take a couple of deep breathes. I don’t want to bring down the good time of our guy’s vacation, so I decide to try to enjoy the rest of the trip and move on from what I went through today. I finish up the in bathroom and walk down the stairs to hang out with the guys.
I still can’t believe that it has been over three years since I last saw these guys. We grew up with each and have kept in touch over the years. It has gotten harder and harder for me to see the guys since I moved to Florida, and they still live in North Carolina.
I must admit though, we all are in good shape for being married and in our late 30s. Shaun has fluctuated with his weight his whole life, but is now a trim 185 pounds and stands 5 foot 11 inches tall. I have known Shaun since the 6th grade through playing sports and common interests of sports, video games, and technology. Matt is the lanky skinny guy, 6 foot 3 inches tall, and although he doesn’t really work out much, he maintains a good weight of around 195 pounds. Matt and I have been good friends since 10th grade. We have always had a friendly amount of competition with each other since high school and it continues today. Phil and I have known each other the longest, since 4th grade. He is a cop now, and has put on a little weight since a lot of his job consists of him just sitting in his car for hours. Phil is by far the shortest, 5 foot 7 inches tall, and weighing around 200 pounds.
I am by far the most active guy of the group. I have just started to get back into running to maintain a healthy heart. I lift weights and have years of martial arts experience that I perform regularly. I'm an orthopedic doctor at a hospital in Tampa, Florida. I try to stay in shape for a variety of reasons and have maintained a healthy weight of 205 pounds for my height of 6 foot 1 inches.
As we are all standing around the kitchen, I can’t help but to think about a couple days earlier when I left from my house in Tampa, to go to beautiful Tennessee to meet up with the guys.
In my flashback, I am in my house in Tampa, and watching TV in my living room. Suddenly, the TV program I am watching is interrupted for breaking news. The news anchor says, "We have reports out of Miami of a man eating another man’s face. We aren't sure yet if it's connected with a string of reports about people biting and attacking people in south Florida."
Click
I turn around, and my wife, Lauren, has just entered the room and shut the TV off.
She says, "The news is horrible and it sounds like Miami is having some tough times. When are you leaving for Tennessee babe?"
I reply, "In about an hour or so. I just have to pack up the last of the bags and the gifts for the guys."
Lauren says, “It's such a nice warm sunny day out here. How long will it take you to get to Franklinville, Tennessee?"
I reply, "About 11 hours, that's why I want to leave ASAP. Wish you were going with me sweetie, but it's an all guys trip. I'm going to miss you but I'm excited to see the guys. It's been about three years since I have seen Phil, Shaun, and Matt."
Lauren says, "Wow, really? Has it really been that long? What are they up to now? How's Kylie, Lisa, and Amber?"
I say, “I guess pretty good. Married life can be pretty tough (Lauren punches me playfully in the arm), but they all seem to be enjoying their settled down lifestyle.”
Lauren says, “I wonder how Kylie is putting up with Matt, since they have been married for about a month now.”
I reply, "I'm sure I will find out over the next five days what the guys and their wives have been up to."
Lauren walks into the kitchen and grabs a couple of last minute items that I should take with me. She hands me a box of protein bars and some bottles of water. I place the bottles of water and protein bars in my bag.
Lauren and I went to the bulk food and product store yesterday to get stuff for the house and my trip. I’m glad the house is fully stocked for Lauren and we could get some things for the trip. I don’t how many stores are going to be close to our cabin in rural Tennessee. I pack up my last bag and walk it outside to my car. I open my trunk and place the last bag in. The last bag I put into my car contains 4 brand new shotguns and 2 boxes of ammo for each of the guys.<
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As I put in the last bag in the trunk, I smile and say to myself, “We should have a good time with these!”
As I close my trunk door, Lauren says, "I will miss you babe."
"I will miss you too Lauren. I will call you when I get on the road but when I'm at the cabin I doubt I will have good cell phone service. I will text and call when I can but cell phones don't work that well where we will be staying in Tennessee."
"If you need anything, have any questions, or any problems let me know sweetie. I will call you when I get on the road and have some time," I say to Lauren as I get into my car.
I close the driver side door and turn the key to start my car. I start on my journey to see the guys in Tennessee. As I back out of my driveway. I honk my horn and shout to Lauren, "Love you."
As I stand in the Tennessee cabin kitchen, I hear the guys talking. Part of me is worried about what I saw this morning and if Lauren is safe. I partially hear Matt talking about what I showed the guys this morning and what to make of it.
"What are we supposed to do now? We didn't see a body or anything that makes me want to leave" says Matt.
I reply, "I think we have to drive into town to get some food and stuff. Also, we can see if anyone knows anything or has reported anything about what I saw."
"We need supplies anyway, I need some stuff for my famous pancakes and eggs," says Shaun.
Phil turns the TV on but the screen is blank and nothing comes up.
Phil smacks the TV and says, "What the hell, the television doesn't work? It worked yesterday."
"C'mon let’s go into the city and get some stuff for breakfast. I'm making my famous pancakes, eggs, and bacon," says Shaun.
We leave the cabin, get into Shaun's Jeep and drive into town. Shaun loves his red jacked up jeep more than anything. The drive into town will take about 45 minutes from the cabin. As we drive on the back roads into town, we are passed by fire trucks, police cars, and several ambulances. The sirens and rescue vehicles make me think back to the 11-hour journey that I drove a couple days earlier.