Journals of the Damned

hole up in when I had scouted for supplies. None were as good as the one the bitch had burned down, with its safe room. The most logical choice was a little storage facility named, "U Store It". The property was fenced in and the main office had a small apartment above it. It was fairly secure wouldn't be hard to defend but we wouldn't stay there. We did, however, make it look like we were staying there.

  The Suburban, with its mangled, tireless, rear rim and the multiple bullet and shrapnel holes stood out like a sore thumb. It was easily recognizable as belonging to us so we parked it in plain sight, there, in front of the office.

  I figured that the parasite maddened Red would come out again once night fell. Without a doubt she would search her town for any sign of us. Also without a doubt she would burn whatever building she thought we were hiding in. Allan and I talked about whether or not the other burned shells of buildings in the community were because of accidents or her setting them ablaze to force survivors out. Probably the latter.

  The shrapnel wound was deeper than I had thought it was. It also hurt a lot more once my adrenalin stopped flowing. I did my best to stitch it up with a needle and thread from my sewing kit. It looks nothing like what a doctor would do but it closed the wound. It was an exercise in self inflicted pain, I hadn't thought a small needle could hurt so much.

  We cleaned our weapons and took stock of what ammo remained. There isn't much left.

  Our meal consisted of some rice we found in the caretakers apartment. There was nothing else to eat. All of our food was destroyed in the fire, along with our clothes, sleeping bags and everything else we had scrounged in the past months.

  I made sure to turn on one of the apartment lights, ensuring a small amount of illumination will spill into the night. I wanted the insane bitch to think we were inside. We even went so far as to drag two of the zeds we wasted earlier, a male and female corpse, and placed them inside. We got a third corpse and laid it in just inside the entry gate and fired off a single round. The parasite infected woman was sure to hear the shot, clueing her as to our new location. Hopefully she would think we fired off the round because a zombie had gotten too close and we had to kill it. If she burned the building down she would find two smoldering corpses. If she thought we were dead it would be a lot easier to catch her off guard.

  I also booby-trapped the door with my shotgun. I didn't like the idea of giving the weapon up, but if we were staying in the building we certainly would do something like that. There was always the off chance that she would be foolish enough to pick the lock on the door and try to kill us in our sleep, receiving a face full of lead but I doubt she would do that. If she did fire bomb the place she would come back to find the shotgun aimed at the door, as if we were actually hiding inside. My M1 carbine was out of ammo so I left it in one of the cadaver's arms.

  After setting up the fake shelter we made our way to the charred ruins of the large walled piece of property in the richer and older part of town.

  We will be doing the opposite of what we should. We will sleep outside, in a spot she had probably (according to her M.O.), previously destroyed. There are the well-cooked skeletal remains of four people here, more proof to me that the homicidal cunt did this. The night will be cold without a campfire but the brick wall around the property would keep any of the undead out. The single gate is ajar, and that's how we left it. To close and lock it might give us away, better it stays open. Most of the undead have been either killed or led out of town so the chance is slim any of the ghouls will wander in on us. Regardless, one of us will stand watch at night and keep an eye out.

  I would love to be in the position to monitor the fake shelter we set up and see if it actually draws her attention. That's not a good idea, she will monitor the place before she strikes and I don't want her to accidently stumble across us. We'll know soon enough if the plan works, fire can be seen for miles.

  We did all of that yesterday. Allan stayed up the whole night, knowing I was going to go out today and search for her. He should have woken me for my watch around four in the morning but he let me sleep. To be honest, I'm glad he did, I needed it. As soon as I finish writing this I'm going to go check on the fake safe house. Maybe move the Chevy, turn on a different light, drag the corpse away, and make it look like we are there. Then go look for her.

  I'll give the plan a couple of days. In the meantime I will search for her lair during the light while she sleeps, she seems to be a night hunter.

  Wednesday, March 5, 2013

  Last night, at around four thirty in the morning, Allan woke me up. As soon as my eyes opened I could smell what he roused me from my sleep for. The cold morning air was filled with the heavy scent of a building on fire.

  There, on the far horizon, we could see the spreading glow of flames. We were too far away from the fire to see the building itself being engulfed by the fire but we both knew which building was burning. The parasite ridden and crazed woman had taken the bait and burned down our fake safe house. The glow from the fire started small and we watched as it grew into a huge bonfire that lit up the night. The storage bays must have caught on fire along with the office and small apartment. Great black plumes of smoke went up from the conflagration well into the afternoon. The fire still smolders as I write this, night will soon fall again, sending grayish trails into the sky.

  Monday and Tuesday afternoon I cautiously made my way into town to locate the Red's lair. I had desperately wanted to scrounge around in the supermarket to look for food but I figured that was the one place she would be sure to keep an eye on.

  All of the buildings I checked out had been broken into and looted already. Except for one. The Post office was locked and boarded up. That fact alone led me to believe she was hiding inside it.

  How the infected woman had been getting in and out of the building before we had lead the undead way from town was a mystery to me. The hungry dead seemed to be thickest around the Post Office and there was no way anyone could have entered or left the building without being noticed and quickly surrounded by the monstrosities. Maybe there is an access tunnel or something under the building. Maybe she's not inside the Post Office at all, but if she's not, then why is there a relatively fresh blood trail leading into the rear door? Every other building in town shows no sign of habitation. It was also from the roof of the Post Office that she had shot me and would have killed me if it weren't for my bullet proof vest.

  The only buildings I haven't been able to physically investigate are the grocery store and the handful of buildings around it. From what I saw of them through my binoculars shows broken windows and bashed down doors, it's quite clear that nobody is inside them.

  I'll find out for certain soon enough. Sometime tomorrow the ruins of the fake safe house will have cooled down enough to approach. Not that I'm going to return to it, I expect the Red to do that. If I were her I would surely go back and see if there were any survivors and count the number of charred corpses. She is crazy though, driven by violent impulses and a murderous craving for human flesh.

  If she returns to the building she burned down to see if she killed us or not doesn't matter. Allan and I will stay quiet and out of sight for another couple of days. Let the bitch think we're dead or have fled. Then she won't be expecting me when I kill her.

  The only other thing I wanted to write about today is what Allan brought home for food. I came back from scouting the town last night, just after dark, to find Allan munching on dry dog food straight from the bag like he was eating potato chips. He just shrugged at me and offered me some when he saw my inquisitive look. He explained to me that when he was a kid they had a dog. Naturally, he had gotten curious one day and decided to see what the food they gave the beagle tasted like. It was dry, kind of bland and reminded him of cheap corn chips, minus the salt and with a hint of meat flavor. Those little bone shaped dog treats tasted mostly like cardboard and the chicken flavored dog snacks tasted like crap he told me. I think I'll take his word on that.

  There wasn't
much to be scavenged from the houses and food was food. The rice we had found was in short supply and there is no way we're going to light a fire to cook any up at night time. Dog food. Won't kill us or make us sick if we don't eat a lot of it at once. Cold rice and kibbles.

  I have got to kill that bitch soon so I can raid whatever is left in the supermarket.

  Friday, March 7, 2013

  It's done.

  I killed her.

  I spent the whole day waiting and watching silently from a small insurance office that had a good view of the Post Office.

  I waited until the sun started to dip below the tree line, thinking that I should start making way back to camp. The rear door to the building opened up and I almost missed it entirely. The crazy woman's skin was completely red colored, I know this because she wasn't wearing a single scrap of clothing. The only thing she had was an AK hanging over her shoulder and a large gauze bandage on her left side from where I had shot her. Her thick black hair was matted and unwashed. She actually had a decent figure. She might have been pretty before she became infected. I'm sure she never expected to die like she did. She should have died of old age with a ton of grandchildren, instead of having her