Sharpshooter

Police Sergeant Jude Grave stood in the city branch of Shane Jewelry. Unlike most days where his thoughts were preoccupied with trajectories and the town's most wanted list, today Jude was thinking about something a great deal more personal than work.

"Excuse me sir, can I help you?" A seedy looking salesman in a suit asked him.

I must've looked lost. Jude thought in silent amusement. "Well I'm browsing for a ring, it's mine and my wife's ten year anniversary and I want to get her something nice."

"Ah...," the salesman trailed off for a moment. "Well perhaps I could show you a few of our best stock."

"I'd be delighted." Jude replied, his voice laden with fake gratitude. This little pissant can't tell the difference between shit and shinola but he knows a sucker when he sees one, or at least he thinks he sees a sucker.

The weasely salesman led him over the higher priced cases; Jude guessed they were the higher priced cases since there was nobody else in the store near them. Deciding to display some of his contempt for the man, he leaned on the case they came to a stop at.

"Sir I would appreciate it if you-"

"I'd appreciate it if you shut the fuck up and just try to sell me a nice ring for my wife." Jude replied flatly.

"Sir I-"

"Just shut the fuck up and show me the rings assclown." Jude 'instructed.'

Looking highly unhappy, the salesman gestured to the case that Jude was leaning on, "In the case that you're so callously leaning on, there's one of the better looking rings in the store."

Jude pushed off of the case and gave a long look at the ring sitting on the small cushion inside, nice and wide. It had a row of sapphires circling the center with two rows of diamonds flanking on either side.

"It's a two and one quarter karat, Princess Cut, Sapphire and Diamond ring." The salesman sniffed with a trace of professional pride.

"How much is it?" Jude asked deadpan.

"Just over two thousand, five hundred dollars." He reported.

Twenty five hundred! Jude's mind screamed, there's no way you can afford that much, no way you ca-

"I'll take it." Jude responded aloud, cutting off his mind's protests. He'd find a way to pay it off and it was a nice ring, he knew Tracy would love it. The salesman removed the ring form the case and ushered Jude over to the counter.

After getting his purchase all packed up, Jude handed over his credit card and impatiently waited for the guy to get it all set up. A fool and his money are soon parted eh? Jude recited the all too familiar phrase over in his head as he entered his PIN.

Putting the card back in his wallet, he left the store without a second glance. Outside, he checked the time on his iPod Touch, 2:45pm.

C'mon Grave, you just bought Tracy a ring worth two grand. You can spare some money for a nice lunch in the city, it's a nice sunny day, why don't you make it a bit nicer for yourself?

Acquiescing to his own suggestion, he jumped in his Jeep Liberty and cranked the key in the ignition. Reaching into an interior pocket of his jacket, he pulled out his iPod and plugged it into the jack in the glove box. Thumbing his playlist on, he clicked the radio on and shifted the stick into gear.

Pulling out of the parking lot, he navigated onto the main thoroughfare of the city. The traffic on the roads was especially intense, unusual for a Sunday. The mood of people seemed tense as well, almost like people were stocking up for a storm. He dipped his head in acknowledgement at the two officers in a parked Police cruiser, pulling security for a supermarket.

Jude was a sharpshooter on his town's police force, since his town was an isolated one they had their own "Special Forces" so to speak. Specially trained police forces that could act as tactical options, the reasoning behind the choice being that the nearest SWAT units were well over fifty miles away. Turning on the radio, he was serenaded by Here Comes The Sun, by The Beatles.

Since his name was Jude, Tracy constantly associated him with the Beatles. Every once in a while she played a joke on him that involved the Beatles just to get on his nerves, I guess this is her version of anniversary gift.

Still, Jude knew he could be listening to a far worse song, it could be Hey Jude. Tracy played that every time she wanted to see him wince and he had no doubt that he'd catch a earful of it tonight, probably right when they were messing around in bed too. She had a sick sense of humor.

Spying a Subway, he flipped on his turn signal and navigated his way into the parking lot, eager for a grinder. Walking into the Subway, he was taken aback, the restaurant was absolutely dead, not a single customer. The only staff member that was there was a acne faced teenager with the biggest set of braces Jude had ever seen. Walking hesitently to the front of the counter, he fixed the boy with his most serious look, "You know what's going on here son?"

Wordlessly, the youth pointed at the far wall before making his way into the backroom of the store, staring intently at a cell phone. Jude turned to where the teenager had pointed at, a nice flatscreen TV was mounted, the channel was FOX news.

"Of all the goddamn channels..." Jude's disgusted rant died off at the sight of the headline, East Coast "Plauge" spreads outwards.. in a bold, red box.

Turning his full attention to the muted TV, Jude watched as the silent parade of images showed up on the screen one after another. The first showed a map of the projected area of impact, all thirteen states that made up the East coast were highlighted with big arrows moving up towards Canada and out towards the Midwest.

"Jesus fucking christ!" Jude breathed as he raked his fingers through his hair.

The second picture went on to show researchers working in labs, the designation H1N1 was displayed prominently accross the bottom of the picture.

The third image was of a hastily taken video, it showed approximately thirty seconds of National Guard soldiers moving door to door, clearing civilians out and policing looters.

The video ended with a quck look at armour rolling into whatever town it was that the shooter lived in. Jude checked the time on his IPod in a daze, the digital numbers read 3:30

Tearing his eyes away from the TV, he noticed that now the lone staff worker that had "greeted" him when he first walked in was gone. Looking in the backroom, Jude saw that the door lay wide open.

Not bothering to stick around and find out what happened to the boy, he headed back out to his Jeep at a light jog. Whipping out his phone, he dialed Tracy's number before sticking the phone up to his ear.

Dammit Tracy! Jude silently cursed as he started up the Jeep. Pick up!

As if she could hear him, the Phone's answering machine kicked in, You've reached the answering machine of Tracy Grave, so sorry I can't get to you right now but if you'll leave your name, number and a brief message I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

"Tracy, it's me honey." Jude tried to not let any of the fear he was experiencing to enter his voice. "I need you to either pick up or call me back as soon as you humanly can, I've just seen a newscast about an H1N1 outbreak...they're deploying the National Guard. I think this is as real as it gets, I'm heading back into town now, I'm sure the force 'll need me..." Jude struggled with what to say next, he didn't want to say 'bye' since it sounded too final. "I love you."

Jude snapped the phone shut and tromped the gas pedal. Speeding past the Hospital, he flew up onto the highway onramp and gunned it back to his hometown. A drive that would've normally taken close to two hours, took Jude the better part of three, the delay had to do with the fact that Jude wasn't the only motorist on the highway. Apparently every other motorist seemed to have gotten the wonderful idea stuck in their heads to go out on the highway today.

All along the highway sat the still bulks of stopped or crashed cars, there was one really bad head on crash that Jude was going to stop for but the Officer in charge waved him on. The officer stood there silently, growing smaller in Jude's mirror until he crested the hill and the officer was gone, the thing that disturbed Jude was that he just stood there while the injured stuck their hands out towards him undoubtedly moaning for help. Jude remembered that the officer was fingering his piece, which disturbed the Sharpshooter too.

The traffic was offset somewhat by the fact that it was only quarter to four when he headed out, most workplaces didn't let their employees go 'till Five o' clock. In the parts that it did get a tiny bit gnarly, Jude used the small flashing light that he kept in his Jeep for police emergincies to get by.

The one disturbance Jude couldn't get by with the Jeep was at the offramp to his own town, "What the hell!" Jude exclaimed as he brought the Jeep to a jarring halt. In front of the exit to his town stood four concrete road barriers, evenly spaced to stop any vehicle short of an armored tank, beyond the barriers he could hear faint screams and see a blazing inferno in the town's north end.

Guarding the barriers were two State Trooper patrol cruisers and four of the distinctive troopers, each carried a shotgun and a sidearm, all of them looked tired and nervous. Taking the keys out of the ignition, he grabbed his IPod from the glove box along with his badge and backup handgun, a 9mm Beretta. Tucking the gun into the holster behind the small of his back, he clipped the badge onto his belt, slipped his iPod his coat pocket and jammed his keys in his pants pocket.

The door made a creaking noise not entirely dissimilar to gunshots as he eased it open, Note to self, get that damn door oiled! He chided himself. There was already a sizeable crowd gathered around the troopers by the time he reached the ass end of the crowd; mostly frightened motorists but a few others from the town too.

Jude noticed there was easily fifty of them, with only four State troopers the odds weren’t looking good that they could keep holding them back. Jude took a deep breath, like a diver preparing to immerse himself in water before he plunged into the crowd. At first he was met by stiff resistance, but soon the crowd noticed that he was a cop that might be a little sympathetic to their cause and let him through unmolested.

Reaching the front of the crowd, he took purposeful steps towards the Ranking trooper, seemingly undaunted by the fact that the man had a shotgun on him. "Hold it right there mister!" The trooper cried as he raised the shotgun in a warning gesture.

"I'm Police," Jude held up his Badge. "Local tactical team."

The trooper's demeanor changed instantly, "Thank god you're here sir, we've got a pretty sizable crowd and could use another body," He gave a quizzical glance at Jude's backup handgun. "You're gonna need a bit more than that, don't cha' think?"

"I'm not here to help you man the barriers," Jude answered calmly. "I'm here to get back into my hometown and make sure my wife's safe." Not at all a lie, just not telling the whole truth. Jude really did want to know if his wife was safe, but he also knew that he had to report into the station and find out just what the hell was going on.

He moved to step through the blockade but the trooper's shotgun brought him up short, "I'm sorry sir, I can't let you go in there, Chief's orders. Now I'm gonna have to ask you to step back from the perimeter and help-"

"You want my help?" Jude asked, incredulous. "Here's your fucking help," Jude muttered before turning back to the crowd. "People, listen up! I hold in my hand, the keys to the Jeep I just came in. It's got three quarters of a tank and it'll work better against these blockades then any of your cars!"

Jude threw the keys over on the right side of the line, like a tidal wave, the fifty or so people surged towards that side of the barriers. Jude turned his gaze back to the line just in time to see all four troopers rush to contain the section of perimeter; snatching his chance he vaulted the barriers and beat feet down the off ramp.

The sound of shotgun blasts brought him up short, swinging around Jude fully intended to tear some trooper a new asshole for popping rounds off in the general vicinity of a crowd. What took his breath away was the fact that the troopers were opening up...on the crowd, shell after shell flew out of their receivers and people screamed out in agony as the buckshot hit them.

Still the crowd surged forward, his keys no longer on their collective mind, it was just mob mentality. As Jude stared in shock and awe at the unfolding scenario in front of him, a spasm of movement to his left drew Jude's attention. The first few people in the front row of the crowd that had been unlucky enough to catch the buckshot full on had died instantly. Now though, one of the bodies twitched and spasmed for a few minutes, Jude watched in silent horror as the body lurched to its feet, half its side gone with ropes of intestines trailing after it.

Taking a shuffling step on shaky legs, the protestor turned zombie lunged at the back of another protestor. His shrieks of agony cut through the din of noise and a few of the protestors turned to look, of course by then two of the other dead bodies had clambered to their feet and like undead flesh machines were munching down on the living.

He saw a man try to fight one of the things off with his bare fists; he was dragged down and literally torn apart by three of the zombies. A woman cried out in agony as a zombie bit down on her face, she came away missing almost all of her lower jaw. The leader of the troopers shot another of the zombies in the head; it popped like an overripe grape, sending a shower of brain matter and bone over everybody.

The trooper leader got taken down by a pack of four of them, Jude managed to avert his eyes in time but the screams were enough. Without looking back, Jude sprinted the rest of the way down the off ramp and into town. It had been a scorcher, that much Jude could tell. Fortunately it seemed as though the afternoon had brought an unexpected drop in temperature.

Jude skidded to a stop, his breath coming in ragged gasps and looked at the scene that he could see beyond town limits. It was like the end of the goddamn world, in daylight instead of night. People fought in the street for things like food, guns, ammo and even women while an equally disturbing line of cars stretched from the entrance as far as the eye could see.

The car in front had a sudden flurry of movement in it before its horn honked and the driver's hand shot out the window, the arm beckoned in a "come here" gesture. Jude shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the car, the driver was clearly impatient since he began talking before Jude had even reached the side of his car.

"Officer, is it safe to leave?" He asked in a raised voice.

"Uhhh...well that depends on your definition of safe." Jude replied, a little strapped for words after what he'd just seen.

"The troopers man, are they still there?"

"Well yeah...but they're a bit tied up with those...zombies right now." Jude felt foolish as soon as he said it. As if on cue the volume of fire picked up from the direction of the highway,

"They must've spread out to all four ramps," The driver spoke with a childish glee. "Thanks officer, you've been a huge help." The man smiled and stuck his hand out the window again; honking his horn to get the other drivers' attention he waved his hand in a circular motion. At first Jude didn't know what to make of it, then he saw one of the town's two plow trucks...its blade was up and primed.

It clicked in Jude's mind; they had never meant to ask politely. They were just lying in wait until the troopers were occupied; Jude had just given them the information they needed.

"Thanks for the info officer," The man replied as if he could read Jude's thoughts. "You stay safe and good luck."

With that, he rolled up his window and cranked his ignition, Jude stepped back and the man tore out of the town so fast his tires squealed. With the plow truck in front and buddy's car behind, the rest of the massive convoy fell in behind them.

That's got to be a lot of the town's population! Jude thought in shock. A good quarter or more!

The unbroken chain of vehicles went on for close to five minutes, finally the last of the cars roared out of the town and Jude was able to cross the road. Jude pulled out his pistol and checked to make sure the safety was off and a round in the chamber, his town suddenly seemed a whole lot less safe than when he had last seen it this morning.

Jude made his way through the streets infested with the dead and the living, most of time he could lose the dead quite easily or else they got distracted by something other than him, the looters and thugs were another story. Most of them fled once they saw he was an armed cop, a few kept doing what they were doing anyway and one or two tried to jump him for his gun.

He ignored all but the last of these thugs, Leave it Grave, the world's ending...it's not your problem anymore.

The one or two that tried to jump him, he simply shot in the head. After that, the looters gave him a wide berth. Jude was forced to kill a few of the wandering zombies. By the time he reached the police station, Jude was quite low on ammo for his Beretta. Using the keys on his ring, Jude quietly opened the door and edged his way into the darkened Police station.

The station didn't have that many windows and it was getting darker out too, not quite night but slowly getting there. It made the station effectively dark, pitch dark. Jude pulled out his IPod and thumbed his flashlight app, turning the screen so it faced outward; he handled it and the Beretta in a slightly awkward tactical grip.

He took slow, sweeping steps. His tactical sense fully kicked in, suddenly he was hyperaware of every noise, the light of his IPod glared in sharp contrast and he felt like he was walking on air. After locking the door behind him to prevent any surprises from coming in behind him, he cleared out the front desk area. After that came the back area with desks, a break room and washrooms. Both were completely devoid of undead and he moved on to the rear of the station, he cleared the vehicle bays, interrogation rooms, holding cells, the closet like access to the roof and the repeater tower that was up there and the equipment room.

The rear of the station yielded none of the seemingly ubiquitous Zombies, but there was life in there. Four men were locked in the holding cells at the back of the station, the pleading started once they saw the beam of his light.

"Help us!" They shouted, their voices laden with fear. Jude stopped in his tracks, a quandary already tumbling around in his head.

What if this is only temporary, what if these guys were in for assault or rape? Whatever happens, I'm still a cop...but I'm still a human being too.

The pleading and whining from the guys in the cells didn't help any in his thought process. In the end Jude decided to leave them there, they weren't his responsibility if the world recovered from this and they weren't his problem if it didn't, he had more pressing concerns. Jude made his way out of the cellblock, locking the door behind him and leaving the key hanging on the wall in plain view.

Jude walked through the darkened station, past all of the empty desks and abandoned rooms. He stopped in front of the door that led to the station's equipment room, pressing his back to the wall beside the doorknob he slipped his IPod into his pocket and inserted his key into the lock. The lock gave with a well oiled snick and he turned the knob, pushing the door open a crack he stopped long enough to get his light back in a tactical grip before barging into the room.

Just like the rest of the station, it was empty of any zombies, just pitch darkness and silhouetted objects that looked much more foreboding in the station's gloom. Finally Jude holstered his pistol; he kept his light out and began to use it to scan the tactical team's weapon's lockers.

I don't know where the fuck anybody went, even if I did I'm not nuts enough to stick around for this shit. The others can deal with this bullshit, but it'd be stupid to leave here without any supplies. Jude thought with disdain, they just didn't pay him enough for this shit.

Finding his own with little difficulty, he dialed in the combination and yanked the door open, inside he found his .308 caliber Remington R700 rifle, his .45 caliber Glock 21 sidearm, his Kevlar body armor, his holster and his communications gear.

Strapping the holster on his left leg and donning his vest, Jude dropped the Glock into the holster and slung the rifle over his shoulder. He made sure the telescopic scope was secured and both bipod legs were locked in place. Jude felt a little surer of himself now that he was armed, looking around the room with his light he eventually turned up a backpack to put his "loot" in and a police grade flashlight.

Jude returned the IPod to his pocket and clipped the flashlight to his vest, I know I could turn on every single one of these lights, make this place glare like a fucking Christmas tree, but that's not what's called for here. Jude thought to himself as he rummaged through the pitch dark equipment room, What I need to do is keep a low profile.

Jude stuffed the communications equipment into the bag and made another circuit of the room, this time with a bag he could sweep stuff into. In went two of the station's med kits, a length of high tension rope, a few flash bang grenades, three sets of handcuffs, six of the station's high end Motorola walkie talkies with their chargers and shoulder mikes plus his helmet and goggles. His backpack starting to weigh down, Jude made his way to where the ammunition was stored.

I'm no thief, I don't want to steal what could be potentially life saving bullets from guys that I've known for years. Jude dithered, Yeah life saving...like yours and Tracy's?

His resistance largely evaporated and he began grabbing ammunition, he made sure that all three magazines for his Glock were loaded. Jude also stuffed his R700 with six rounds of .308 and filled up his sole magazine for the rifle with more, he swept the rest of the station's .308 into the backpack with a pang of guilt.

Once he finished with the ammo, he made a quick trip to the locker room to pick up his tactical style fatigues and clean out his locker. After that it was the Chief's office. He had only been in the office once or twice and had no particular urge to ever go back in, but there were things in there that he knew he'd need for his plan to work.

Maps for starters, detailed maps in case somebody should get lost in the forest and the police had to mount a response. The other thing he was interested in was personnel files, he had a sinking feeling that in the weeks to come he might be dealing with his fellow officers in a less than friendly way, Jude wanted every advantage he could get.

Jude shoved the papers into his already bulging backpack; he was halfway to the entrance when he noticed the racks of keys to the cruisers in the bays outside. He had only noticed one vehicle when he did his sweep, funnily enough there was only one key on the rack, Sure...why the hell not? Jude grinned as he ran back to the bay.

***

The cruiser’s lights blazed like blue and red supernovas as it roared down the road, its engine growled and the tires made short screeches as Jude teased the vehicle around obstacles and undead crowding the street. As much as he wanted to, Jude resisted his childish urge to blast the siren and kept his attention focused squarely ahead of him on the road.

He had tried calling Tracy back outside the station but it had just gone to voicemail...again. So help me god, if she left it at home... Jude left the thought unfinished, all he wanted right now was to see her again...he'd never missed someone so much it hurt, up until now.

A figure stumbled out onto the road, right in front of Jude's cruiser. He cursed visciously as he slammed on the breaks; the effect was instantaneous and damn near wrenched the wheel away from his grip. Wrestling the wheel back under control, Jude gritted his teeth against the earsplitting screech of the tires.

The cruiser shuddered to a stop and threw Jude back in his seat, he straightened up and flipped the siren for a second, giving the dumbass pedestrian a piece of his mind. "You dumbass fucker!" Jude shouted and flipped him something else, then the flashing red of the light bar came around and bathed the walker in a hellish red glow.

It was a zombie, quite a disgusting one at that. Half his face was gone; the analytical part of Jude's mind guessed a headshot that missed the brain, the emotional part threw the Crown vic into reverse and tromped the gas pedal. The car lurched backwards for about twenty meters before Jude slammed on the breaks again, the red break lights glowed like eyes as the car came to a halt.

Slamming the car into drive, Jude gunned it back down towards the shambling walker. The vic's V8 had already pushed the behemoth of a car to an astonishing sixty five miles per hour; it struck the walker at roughly waist level.

All Jude ever saw was a greenish grey blur, then the vic' bucked over the nastiest speed bump in history. Jude was tempted to get out and admire his handiwork, until he saw the other shambling figures converging on the Vic' from all sides.

Jude slammed his foot down on the pedal once more, the V8 growled and the vic' shot forward. This time Jude aimed for the figures, WHAM...THUD...THUMP.

It feels so...good! Jude smiled in spite of himself, no...cathartic!

Then it was gone, consumed by the mountainous worry that seemed to define Jude since all this bullshit began.

It'll be better once I find Tracy and get her away from here. Jude comforted himself, I'll even give her the ring if she's at the house.

Jude flipped open his cell with one hand and dialed Tracy's cell again; the dial tone reverberated through his ear again...and again...and again.

***

The door to Jude's flat fell inwards with a muffled thud, Glock raised, Jude began to clear his own living room. He made it to the kitchen before he saw Tracy's note,

Jude

Honey, something's going very wrong here. A National Guard sergeant just showed up at the door, his orders are to bring every civilian down to Ft. Devore for military protection.

If you're reading this, then at least you made it home.

Tracy

"No!" Jude growled and punched the fridge that the note was attached to. Damn, damn, damn! That guard camp will be swarming with them, dead an alive!

Still, Jude knew he had to go and save her. He loved her enough to marry her and by God he’d go to the gates of hell and back for her…he just hoped he wasn’t too late.

He ran through the house quickly, grabbing multiple bags and filling them with things like food, water, camping gear, clothes and a few pictures that he knew Tracy couldn't do without.

He also spied her favorite cashmere sweater lying on their bed; usually she wouldn't go out without it. She said it was so soft; Jude shrugged and threw it in one of the bags for later.

He was so preoccupied in packing up his shit, it almost cost him his life. He was walking through the kitchen, back towards the living room when he heard it. The soft, raggedy moan loosened Jude's bowels.

Before Jude could act, the zombie fell on top of him, trapping him underneath the bag of shit. Panic surged through him as he remembered the troopers on the highway, "Get the fuck off me!" he shouted. Not waiting for the zombie to moan back at him, Jude shoved the bag up high enough so that he could roll out from under it.

He rolled across the floor like a log until he banged up against a table leg. Climbing to his feet, Jude saw that the zombie was already coming right at him. With no time to pull out his Glock, Jude hefted one of the wooden chairs that sat beside him, raising it over his head he brought it down on the zombie with a grunt.

The chair impacted the on the shambling bastard's head with a mighty craaack, the zombie staggering back and collapsing to the floor. Still in a primal fight or flight frame of mind, Jude kicked the freshly killed walker in the ribs six times before his mind caught up with his instincts.

Stumbling back from the corpse, he hit the far wall and sunk into it. His hands hadn't shook so badly since he first fired a shot at someone, his eyes darted at every shadow and his heart hammered so hard in his chest Jude was afraid it would give out. As the fear began to ebb Jude realized that the bowel loosening sensation from earlier hadn't just been a sensation, he'd soiled himself from fright.

"Ugh, that's just fucking disgusting!" Jude muttered to the corpse, "Good job Grave and fuck you asshole!" He snarled, giving the corpse a healthy kick before shuffling off to the bathroom. Kicking off his shoes, he ripped off his socks and body armor and got to work on his pants.

Leaving his clothes in a heap, Jude was careful to separate his body armor and pistol from his shit stained clothes. Shutting and locking his bathroom door, he cranked the knobs for the hot water, once the gushing of water got to the right temperature Jude pulled the shower knob and stepped in.

The hot water was an electrifying jolt and Jude yelled when it first touched him, gradually he began to enter a clear minded state thanks in part to the water.

Ten minutes later, Jude eased himself out of the shower, able to think and act with a clear head. It was only when he was drying himself off and heard a noise in the house did Jude realize that he had made a mistake, he had kicked the front door open and not bothered to find any way of blocking it back up.

Wrapping the towel around his waist, Jude took the Glock out of its holster and stepped out of the bathroom. The noises were louder, almost like a scurrying noise, he sighted on where he was sure whatever it was going to pop out of. Sure enough, just right at the top of the stairs a figure flashed past his field of vision.

Acting on instinct, Jude pulled the trigger. The shape hissed in fear and resolved itself into a cat before scampering back out the way it came. Jude had to stifle a laugh, the sight of a big hole in the wall all for a little cat was too much, Man Tracy's gonna kill me when she sees that!

His stifled laughter quickly gave way to a full blown laugh, soon he was propped up against the wall, red faced and trying to catch his breath he was laughing so hard, All over a fucking cat!

The thought didn't strike Jude as particularly funny, it made him laugh harder all the same. It was the thud in the house next door that sobered him, Yesterday the most I would have to contend with would be a noise complaint from an angry neighbor, now...that very same neighbor could be trying to eat me alive.

The thought was frightening and exhilarating at the same time, Jude felt as if his whole life up until this point had been obscured by a thick layer of fog, fog which made it hard to know if he was doing the right thing...if what he was doing mattered.

Now, everything he did mattered. He only had one uncomplicated goal...survival. That simple realization made Jude feel years younger, it made him feel more...defined, like a blade honed to perfection.

Jude hummed to himself as he sauntered back towards his bedroom, first he'd get dressed, and then he'd go save the love of his life from an army base that was probably infested with vicious undead automatons and homicidal soldiers.

"It's never easy!" Jude groaned to the empty room, only silence answered him.

***

The roads had gotten worse since the last time Jude had been out, wrecked and abandoned cars littered the streets, trashcans lay burning and shapes moved about outside the interceptor's windows. If the shapes moved slowly and held out their arms Jude relaxed, but if they were moving in an alert manner, Jude tensed and reached for his Glock.

Jude would rather face a hundred zombies rather than a single human with blood on their mind, at least with the zombies they were slow and incredibly stupid, and you could trip them up in every sense of the word. With humans though, they had the same kind of playing field and Jude knew from experience that when humans were pushed too far they would do stupid things, like attack a police officer.

The front of the interceptor was already soaked with gore from all the zombies he had ran over just to get to his house; Jude really had no qualms about adding fresh gore to the front. As he was thinking, one of them snarled and stepped into the path of his headlights like the dumb undead bitch she was, Jude tromped the gas and braced himself in the seat as the vehicle rolled over her body with a wet squelch.

Trying hard to put the squelching and sucking noises out of his mind, Jude slowly turned up the connector that would take him to the back roads; unconsciously flipping the signal as he did. Jude had hoped that the back roads would be less congested with crashes than the main arteries of town, therefore allowing him to make much better time to Ft. Devore.

Jude's hopes were dashed the minute he turned onto Elmwood Street, in fact it looked like more people tried to escape through the back roads then they did the main streets. It was completely impassable by car, if Jude was going any further on this road it would be by foot.

"Fuck that noise." Jude said aloud, as much for the comfort of his own voice than anything else. Just as he was shifting the gear into reverse, a barrage of gunfire ripped down Main Street. Blood draining from his face, Jude flipped all of the electronics in the car off before shutting off the engine and pulling the key, sitting in the darkened car, Jude watched with rapt attention.

The fire rose in both volume and intensity, it sounded like a whole platoon equipped with automatic rifles. What if the Guardsmen went rogue?

The suddenness of the thought ambushed him, his chest tightened with a horrible fear for Tracy. Jude forced himself to relax, panic would get him nowhere in this new world, he had to think logically. Jude focused on the gunfire, something didn't seem quite right about it if it was from automatic rifles, and it seemed too synchronized.

It clicked with Jude a second before they came around the corner, what he had mistook for automatic rifles was actually a slew of bolt actions, probably looted from the hunting & camping store by the very men who now carried them. Jude instantly got a bad feeling off them, if they were popping that many rounds off they were either terrible shots, or they were doing it to terrorize whoever was left in town.

Jude's second guess was confirmed when a thirty something woman stuck her head out of a third floor window, the fright was naked across her face, Jude guessed she thought they were firing at a wave of undead. A man that Jude recognized as Jack Danson looked up and spotted her, with a whoop of amusement Danson let loose a round.

The rifle boomed, whizzing through the air the round drilled into the wall two meters to her right. Chips of stone and mortar exploded into the air, the woman shrieked and pulled her head back inside, shutting the window behind her. Letting out an animalistc howl of triumph that made Jude's blood boil, he signalled his boys into the house, "We're gonna have ourselves a grand ol' time with the fine lady upstairs!" Danson shouted to his enthusiastic posse.

Jude let out the breath he'd been subconsciously holding when the last of them entered the house, he had certainly run into Danson before. More than that, he had read Danson's file. The man was a Grade A scumbag, he had been the prime suspect in the murder of his twenty two year old wife until the case had gone cold due to lack of evidence. When the kid that she had had in another relationship turned up strangled to death, raped and thrown in the local landfill people started to talk about more...drastic measures.

Nothing had ever happened in that case either; Danson was slipperier than a greased eel. The only things they had been ever able to nail him on where a handful of shoplifting charges and an assault charge which was later dropped by the victim. Danson seemed like the type of guy to go raider if the world was ending, Jude would have to make sure he stayed on his guard.

While the thought had crossed Jude's mind to prop the R700 on the hood of the car and give the cocksucker a "lethal lobotomy" he decided against it, better to keep a low profile. Jude slowly opened the door and checked the outside world with his Glock, everything in his field of view looked clear so he slithered out of the driver's seat onto the pavement.

Doing another scan with his Glock, Jude found that he was safe for the moment. He retrieved the rifle from its place on the front seat and the police bag from the back before reaching under the dash and popping the trunk. Jude studied the bags for a moment until he had picked out which one had the food in it; hefting the pack out of the trunk Jude shouldered it.

After shutting the trunk and both doors, Jude retreated a ways and found a good spot of cover beside a dumpster. Holding out the remote, he gingerly depressed the lock key.

HONK

The cruiser produced a single, loud squawk before falling silent. Jude checked to make sure the rifle was loaded and waited. After five minutes a single zombie shuffled towards the darkened car, Jude held his breath. He waited for another two minutes until he was sure no more dead or alive fuckers were coming to ruin his day, quiet as a cat; Jude crept away from the distracted zombie and towards Ft. Devore.

***

Fifteen minutes later, Jude had selected a spot up on the hill overlooking the base. He settled into the dense foliage and set up his rifle. Jude wasn't pleased by what he saw when he looked through the scope. The base was in utter chaos, panicked townsfolk were running in every direction, small fires burned, zombies shambled and the guardsmen shot anything that moved.

It was a scene straight out of hell, a wild end of the world kind of anarchy. Jude noticed there was one particular fire around the motor pool that looked ready to expand at any minute, engulfing the main fuel storage tanks. The sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified and he reached for his cell phone, before he could punch in Tracy's number the phone lit up with an incoming call.

Jude checked the phone's display, the call was from Tracy. Finally! Jude sighed in relief as he thumbed the talk button, "Tracy, Tracy! Is that you, what's going on down there? Tr-"

"Jude! Honey, shut up." Tracy raised her voice to get his attention. "I'm here and I'm safe...for the moment."

"For the moment, what does that mean?" Jude demanded.

"T-there's a bunch of us trapped in the building besides the parking lot for all of the military vehicles," Tracy's voice sounded afraid and ragged. "We ran in here when the base started getting overwhelmed, a few of the men barricaded the doors and ever since then those...things have been trying to get in!"

Jude did a quick look over of the motor pool, he swallowed hard when he saw the mob of zombies trying to break down the doors to the building he thought Tracy was in, the building that was practically next to the gas tanks. Jude brought the phone back to his lips, careful to mask his fear, "Tracy, I can see where you are. I want you to get ready to run; I'll let you know when over the phone."

"Run?" Tracy exclaimed. "Jude, those things will tear me apart before I make it five feet!"

"I've got my rifle with me Dear, you're just gonna have to trust me and wait for my signal." Jude replied patiently. Tracy took a deep breath before answering

"Alright Jude...but just in case I don't make it, I want you to know-"

"No time for that, you'll tell me when you’re up here with me." Jude cut her off, not wanting to hear what she was about to say. "I'm lining up the first one now, there's seven of them so I want you to count off the shots an-"

"Dammit Jude," Tracy cut him off this time. "I just wanted to say that I lo-"

The fuel storage tanks ruptured. The cell screeched in his ear, the explosion was like nothing he had ever seen before. It was so powerful, so bright that he had to shield his eyes; the cell's line went dead. The explosion seemed to go on for hours, but not long enough to completely drown out Jude's screams of grief and anguish.

***

Jude walked on the shoulder of the road that led away from Ft. Devore; it was all he could do to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. He hadn't bothered to check on the building that Tracy had been in, aside from a few twisted beams and a scorched pile of earth there was nothing left to check...just ash in the wind.

Jude had watched through the scope of his rifle for a few anguished moments, hoping against hope that Tracy might come staggering out, hurt but alive. When the dust had finally settled though, Jude knew his marriage of ten years was over. He hadn't stuck around to watch as the rest of the guardsmen got slaughtered, nor had he lent them any assistance.

Jude had simply staggered his way back to the entrance road and walked, I just can't believe she's gone.

The thought jerked him back to the present with a hot flash of agony in his chest, Jude fought to keep the tears back. Jude thought the droning he heard was in his head, the sound you get when you try to fight back tears.

So he was surprised when the blast of a horn sounded behind him, surprised but not incapacitated. Jude dropped his packs and dove into the nearby ditch, landing with an oomph, he sighted the rifle on the noise.

Dust billowing up from their tires into the night sky, the two vehicles were olive drab colored and distinctly army. The lead vehicle was a humvee, like the kind he had seen in Black Hawk Down, only without the turret.

The second vehicle was one of those big Deuce and a half cargo trucks, the Deuce's horn blew a second time and Jude knew it had been that vehicle that had honked at him.

The two military vehicles came to a stop a good fifteen from him, the passenger's door of the Deuce opened with the same pops and creaks that Jude's Jeep had. A nervous looking man jumped from the seat and made his way towards Jude, unarmed with hands held high.

He's certainly not stupid. Jude thought as he relaxed his grip a little on the rifle, he detected no hint of malice from the young guardsman but after what he saw in town Jude wasn't taking any chances.

The soldier came to a stop, hands still above his head. He looked tired and scared but when he spoke it was with calmness that Jude envied, "Normally I'd ask you to drop the weapon but in these times I could see why you'd keep it pointed at me. I should tell you though that I'm not here to fight you, or steal from you, I'm here to ask you to join us."

Straight down and to the point, not condescending everything with sir, I like this Guy. Jude noted. "Why would I want to go with you? I seem to be doing just fine by myself."

"For mutual need sir," the soldier replied. "We have supplies, vehicles and trained people. You look like you have a destination in mind, that and...You look like you could lead us." He indicated Jude's sergeant insignia on his vest, a trace of worry entering his voice at the mention of adequate leadership.

"You look like you're doing a fine job of it." Jude pointed out honestly.

"To be honest, I'm just holding the group together. Our sergeant died during the carnage at the base along with a lot of others, there's only four of us left including me and I'm just a corporal." the corporal admitted, showing his two chevrons.

"What's your name Corporal?" Jude asked, having reached a snap decision.

"Brax sir, Gordon Brax."

"Well Brax, we'd better get my bags on the back of your truck."

A smile lit up Brax's face as he held out his hand, "Right away sir."

Jude permitted himself a small smile as he clasped it, holding the hand firm he leaned in closer, "It's not sir Brax, either Jude or Grave." he said quietly before releasing his grip.

Brax stared at him with an expression the held respect, "Yes Grave."

Together, the two of them loaded Jude's bags into the Duce before they entered the humvee, sending the soldier in the passenger's seat to go ride shotgun in the Duce.

Brax took front seat and motioned Jude into the back, Brax motioned for the driver to go and the humvee accelerated with a jerk, the splash of light behind him told Jude that the Duce was following behind them again.

"So where to?" Brax asked as the humvee bounced up and down the dirt road, the sound of pebbles hitting the underside was a constant noise.

"What?" Jude replied in confusion, still in a bit of a daze about Tracy.

"I said earlier that you looked like you knew where you were going, you never said anything to disprove that. So where are we going?"

"Up," Jude replied as all of his half finished plans for him and Tracy to survive together crumbled. "Up into the forests, the recreation center."

Brax looked puzzled for a moment before his face lit up with understanding, he faced palmed himself, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Jude was no longer listening; he leaned back in the humvee and popped his ear buds in. Cranking the IPod, he turned on the one song that would make this anniversary complete as his last, Jude reached into his pocket and brought out the ring he had bought just this morning...it seemed like a lifetime ago.

Hey, Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better

His tears splashed against the floor of the humvee, the music flowed through his ears and the hard metal of the ring slipped through his fingers as it fell to the floor. Jude didn't bother to pick it up, the sound of it sliding along the floor was like the sound of a cell door slamming on his old life. Locked up forever.