Free Zomblog II by T. W. Brown Page A

gunfight went down about midday today. I heard shooting that seemed constant for almost five minutes. That is a long time when you are talking about bullets flying. There were a lot of fully-automatic weapons being used. From my vantage point, I couldn’t see anything except a bit of smoke in the distance. I watched a few walking meat-bags stumble down the empty streets in that direction, but from the numbers I’ve seen since reaching Portland, what’s twenty or a hundred more?
     
    Wednesday, December 24
     
    I wrote the date and stared at it for at least ten minutes until I realized what today is. I used to bitch about crowded stores and doing my last minute shopping. I always put it off. And every year I complained about it. I always vowed to be more organized next year.
    Next year isn’t ever going to come now.
     
    Thursday, December 25
     
    Lynn started crying about ten minutes ago and won’t stop. I might be forced into doing something very unpleasant. Those things are everywhere outside.
     
     
     
    God forgive me. I had no choice. I couldn’t just leave her and let those things get her and turn her into one of them. If I’d left, simply walked out the door and ran, that is exactly what would’ve happened. I–
    Shit! They’re coming!
     
    Saturday, December 27
     
    It feels strange to write this with Victor and Adam mere feet away. If I do this, I’ll have to either tell Victor everything to his face, or not let him see the notebooks anymore. He’s been so interested in everything that Sam (and ultimately I) went through. And these entries have been open for anybody to read this whole time, I don’t see being able to keep them from him—or anybody else for that matter. Besides, I think Jonathan knows, and I’m pretty sure Victor suspects. They haven’t asked me more than if I knew what happened to Lynn. I said that a bunch of those things surrounded us inside the house and that she hadn’t made it. But, I did say I ensured she wouldn’t come back as one of those things. That was a really incomplete answer.
    So here’s what happened:
    When I woke up, Lynn was still just sitting in that corner rocking back and forth. Only, now she was crying. At first it was just an annoying whimper. Then it got hysterical. I jumped up and scurried over to her. First I grabbed her arms and kept telling her to look at me and that everything would be okay. It didn’t seem to help. I assured her that I knew Jenifer had Adam and that I’d seen them breaking clear, only in the opposite direction we’d carved out. They’d gone north to our south. That didn’t help either. I tried to hug her, to hold her, but that didn’t help either.
    Then I heard them . At first it was just a raspy moan. Next, it was a crunching of broken glass and I heard footsteps close by, just outside. I crawled to the closest busted out window, next to where Coach was standing with teeth barred and hackles raised. A few dozen zombies were converging on our building. And that was just from the view of this one vantage point. I scurried down the hall and to another window, this one looking out back deeper into the neighborhood. It only got worse.
    I returned to Lynn. By now, Coach was getting edgy. He kept looking at the stairs leading down, then back to me as if to say, “Let’s get moving!” I shook her, then I slapped her. Nothing seemed to get through. She kept crying, and it only got louder.
    I heard the noise that forced my hand. A thud and crash. They were inside! Coach began growling now and standing at the top of the stairs to block the way. I put my face right in Lynn’s, nose-to-nose. “We have to go,” I pleaded. “If you ever want to see Baby Adam and Victor, we have to run. Now!”
    She didn’t even seem to recognize that I was there. She stared straight ahead, crying hysterically. Coach barked, then lunged down the stairs. I heard a lot of racket between the moans, groans, barks, and snarls. And, I heard footsteps coming up