Free This Dying World: The End Begins by James Dean Page A

as long as long as the cell network holds.” I climbed back into car and gently closed the door.  No one roused this time.
    “Okay, just get here.  And for fucks sake be careful.  Don’t take risks you don’t have to!” He was worried, and that worried me.  Chris wasn’t the type to wear his concerns on his sleeve.
    “Really?  But I had this great idea.  Think cow tipping, but with zombies.  Or maybe zombie thunderdome?”  Honestly, I really think zombiedome would be a hit. 
    Chris sighed.  “Just get here.  Oh, and thanks for inviting everyone to my house.  You better bring beer when you get here.”
    “I’ll see what I can do.  I’ll call every six hours for as long as I can.  I’ll see if I can find a CB radio, now that I told everyone to use one.  You think you can dig one up?”
    “I think I can handle that.  We’ll talk again soon.”  The small comfort I felt in talking to my brother quickly faded as the phone fell silent.  The crushing loneliness of the dark and quiet barn made the car seem colder somehow.  I’m usually the loner type.  Quiet places usually attract antisocial creatures such as myself.  However, given the circumstances the need for human interaction overrode my natural hermit tendencies.
    I turned the radio back on.  I didn’t want to wake Abby again, but she was already deep into her nightly coma, and I needed the background noise.  The same raspy voice filled the cabin again.  However something had changed.  He sounded desperate, almost frantic.
     
    “According to our sources on the ground, the crisis has suddenly and without explanation escalated exponentially.  Earlier instructions for people to make their way to evacuation centers have been rescinded.  Current estimates place the number of safe zones that have been overrun at over eighty-five percent.”
     
    Sometimes I hate it when I’m right.
    I expected it would happen, but knowing it doesn’t make the pill easier to swallow.  The places those poor people thought to be safe havens had become their tombs.
     
    “Automatic gunfire can be heard around our studios.  Sources inside city hall tell us all police and military units are retreating.  Defensive lines have fallen, and all remaining forces are currently attempting to regroup outside of the city.  When asked for a comment from the mayor, we were informed the mayor is currently unaccounted for.”
     
    Not a total loss then , I thought to myself.  Yeah I know, it’s a horrible thought.  I wish I could say I felt guilty for thinking it.
     
    “If you are just joining us, as of 10:30 this evening, CDC officials as well as members from the World Health Organization have confirmed that bodies of the recently deceased are returning to life.  Those who have died for any reason will, in a matter of minutes to hours, return and attack the living.  It was also confirmed the reanimated bodies are eating the flesh of those they attack.
    Officials claim the only known method of dealing with the ghouls is severe trauma to the brain.  The brain seems to be the driving force of the corpses, so damaging the brain will stop the creatures.  If the brain tissue has been destroyed after death, reanimation will not occur.  Folks, I know this sounds like it has been ripped directly from the movies, but it is the truth.  The dead are rising.
    The city of Chicago has become a war zone.  From the studio window we can see fires burning out of control across the horizon.  Traffic is at a virtual standstill as accidents and abandoned checkpoints clog the streets.  From our vantage point we can see the infected in almost all streets and alleys.  Ladies and gentleman, they are everywhere.
    This is a story that is playing out all over the world.  All international travel to and from the United Stated has been cancelled as officials try and gain control of this crisis.  European authorities have also banned travel across countries in an effort to control