Group Story Write - "3 Days After"

[jaybird]

I'm a moar zombie and I approve this message .

[Camera_Guy]

Cool, thanks for the contribution we are about to receive.

[jaybird]

Someone remind me, are they headed for Alaska or Colorado? Are they planning just to homestead there or is there some other goal to their destination? I may have to do some internet leg work for what I have planned. I wanna do an update, but I want to make sure I have all my facts straight before making the plunge.

[Camera_Guy]

I think it's like Colorado area or maybe some island some where

[jaybird]

Thanks. In a bit I will brush up on the last couple of chapters and see if I can't work something out for today. I could use a little bit of alcoholic inspiration, too .

[jclaudii]

Jaybird, I had them traveling to CO as a "goal" to see about a place Inez seen while out motorcycling in the country. The place I had in mind was a wilderness area with a power dam near by to provide some electricity. I was just going to try and get them there, I have not put thought into the story pass that point, but I am eagerly awaiting your post so I can read it and start writing some more on this. I'm waiting on writing the next installment because I know you have several chapters already done!

That is awesome that others have pitched in!

[jaybird]

I'm sorry, Jclaudii. I don't have several chapters just yet. I'm working on hammering out the details (which you just included a whopper of a piece ). I will try very hard to get you something TODAY, because I know it can be very unpleasant to be made to wait. If I have made your reading that much more enjoyable on an individual level and I agree it so nice that we have managed to revive what had been a relatively successful thread.

[Spanky]

MOAR???

[XD]

The way I read it was they where heading for Bellingham. Only Bellingham that is an Island I know of is in WA.

I'll see about working on the story a bit. It'll probably be short as the Bambi-Pat dynamic is at a key developmental point and I'm not really able to play that out.

[jclaudii]

The night at the station was pretty boring thought Pat as he was first up for guard duty. He decided that he would set up on top of the pump canopy while Jacob and Jeremy setup on top of the store. The vehicles were still in the wagon train barrier that gave them some sense of protection.

He had his station all set up with a rifle on top of an ice chest full of soda, even though they were not cold and were of an inferior brand, a swivel chair, a pair of binoculars and a night vision monocular. He was heating himself up a can of Dinty Moore soup when he heard the first faint sound of vehicles in the distance. He left the can on the small pump style Coleman stove to continue warming while he flashed a red keychain light at Jacob. It got his attention and he held up his ear as well and Pat confirmed he heard it too. He motioned for Jacob to come over for a moment instead of using the radios.

Jacob came running across low using the semi top as a bridge hearing some grumblings coming from the sleeping inside. Once he made it to the canopy and got used to the shaking it did, he walked over to Pats station.

“Nice, Beef Stew! Hey, can we borrow that stove when your done?”

“Sure, if you even know how to use it. This one don’t take propane.” He snorted back.

“I’ll figure it out, so what’s up, you hear the vehicles too. Sounds like there is more than one of them off to the south I think.”

“Yea I hear them; It sounds like about like 4 maybe 5 vehicles. I don’t see any light though. Let’s keep an extra eye out in that direction and see if we can see any light.”

“Alright, it could be a survivor group like ours but they travel at night instead of the day.”

“Yea it could be, but it could also be The Company or even some not so nice people traveling together looking for people like us to steal from. We always have to be prepared for the worst first and if it does not come true, then we should be excited that things turned out for the better.”

“Perhaps, but I like to think more on the positive side that more people are alive than we think. Good people. All the good people couldn’t have died in the early stages, they probably just hunkered down until it was safe to come out.”

“Jacob, when is it ‘safe to come out’? These things have been everywhere we have gone so far, and I fear they are going to be where we are going as well. I just hope whomever out there is friendly and not a threat to our little group. I don’t want to get caught with my pants down again” as he smiled up at Jacob.
“Yea I suppose not, you really do have a knack for getting yourself in a predicament. I decided to group up with you to at least try and keep you out of trouble. We’ll see how that goes.”

“How’s the new kid working out, Looks like Inez told him to follow you around?”

“He’s doing good, he is basically just excited to be in the presence of younger people who are out doing something instead of just bunkered down. He told me he has tons of ideas on how to protect our alternative energy sites when we get to them. He was a member of a college lead energy race, he mainly worked on the structural components and drive line of the car, but worked closely with the computer and electrical guys to get the car going. So he knows his way around our shit I guess. He’s already re-wired the battery system in the semi to better utilize a more efficient inverter we had lying in our junk. He and Hue have a laptop setup and running motion sensing cameras now as well. They are still working out the kinks of the system, but hopefully they can be setup to monitor areas we can’t see.”

“Cool, well it looks like he’s motioning for you.”

“Okay, don’t spill the beans about the security system yet, he wants to when it is actually working and tested.”

“No prob. Let me know if your see anything okay. Here….Take this I’m done with it.” As Pat removed his boiling can of stew.

“Thanks.”

Pat watched Jacob go back over to where he was while he enjoyed the savory flavor and warmth of hot stew on a cool night. He cracked open a Shasta soda and started drinking it with big gulps. “Damn, these still are not good..What I would give for a case or two of Coca-Cola in a glass bottle!”.

All through the night, he listened to the sound of engines moving from the south to the east, directly in the direction they were going, to turning around again and headed North, to above their location. He also observed the sounds of gunfire every now and then and would look over to Jacob to make sure he heard the same thing. At about 2 am, the next guards came up to relieve all three. Jeff, Larry, and Ruth took over their stations.

Pat just Climbed in the Jeep and reclined the seat back when sleep instantly took him over. He awoke to the sound of the Semi starting and Inez yelling “we head out in 10 minutes, Be ready in 10 minutes!”.

[Morphace]

Nice Addition. Thank you.

[jclaudii]

Pat was then greeted by the passengers of his vehicle awakening.

“What time is it?” said Jacob as he awoke trying to stretch in the confines of the Jeep.

“Aww, I was sleeping soooo good” said Bubba who took the time to try and remove some slobber from Emily’s shoulder he was sleeping on with his hand.
“Eww, Aiden, you’re a drooler, Let me out…I gotta Pee!” as Emily reached for the handle.
Everyone pretty much followed her lead and found their own private spot. Bubba of course followed Pat to his private area.

“Hey, where we going today? I thought about it last night and I think Emily was right, I don’t think that was my daddy. We have traveled too far and gone to many places for him to find us here. So I think he’s still out there somewhere. What are we eating for breakfast, I’m hungry.” As he finished and buttoned up and headed off in the direction of the Semi to snag a snack; not waiting on Pats reply.

“Okay….little buddy…glad we had that talk” as he saw Bubba go around the corner.

With everyone eating what they could find, especially some fresh fruit they found in the bed of a truck the day before, they had the majority of their days travel outlined on a map.

“Oh yea”, as Jacob spoke up, “we heard vehicles last night, but did not ever see any lights. I’m guessing they were pretty far off.

“Yea we heard them too” said Jeff and Larry with Ruth nodding in agreement.. “This morning they sounded like they were behind us, the direction we just came. And we couldn’t hear them anymore at about dawn. Either they bedded down or went out of range. We heard some gunfire as well”

“hmm..Well there is a town up head about 25 miles and there are several smaller towns on a country road that travels pretty much around our current location” Inez said as she looked at the map. “We’ll just look out for signs of them and get off on to a different road up at the intersection at about our 100 mile mark. I want to keep everyone in a tight line today. I figure we only got about 3 days left till we get to the damn site in the Forest Service Area. Were leaving in 5 minutes!”

They were on the road for around 45 minutes when they first started seeing signs that someone has been through this area recently. There were more dead zombies lying in the roads and driveways of houses as well as one vehicle that had hit a tree with the lights still on.

Inez stopped the convoy and most people got out and set up a perimeter of sorts while she went to investigate.

Pat, John, Bubba, Bambi, and Bo all looked at the Nissan pathfinder with two doors open with dome lights on and air bags deployed, a few gun shot holes, three good tires, and the gas tank open. “What do we have here” said Inez as she looked in the window of the SUV to the rear cargo area. There were three bodies back there, if they were alive or dead she did not know.

“I don’t know if there alive, but we should at least check”, said Bo.

“Yea, you guys cover from the sides, John your with me” As she reached her hand for the handle to the rear gate. She jerked the handle upwards fast and retreated to a firing position with her pistol covering the slowly increasing hole of the SUV as the gate went up. The bodies did not move. She asked to borrow the SKS John had and poked one, and it still did not move. After moving in a little closer so she could see their heads, she noticed at least one gunshot wound on each body in the temple.

“Looks all clear, these girls all died from gun shot wounds to the head. They are also bound and gagged both feet and hands and look pretty beat up too. All the gear in the rear is missing except for a few rounds here and there of loose ammo. I’m guessing whoever you guys were hearing last night, this was either one of theirs or some unlucky people trying to get away from them.”

“Damn, that pisses me off so bad Inez, I can’t stand people who abuse women this way.” Said Bo. “Those fuckers must pay!”

“Bo Calm down, at least they died here and not get tortured for days or years into the future. Had we known we may have tired to save them, but we didn’t. Lets just grab anything useful and head on. Since the last you heard of them they were behind us, lets hope they continue in that direction.” As Inez headed back towards the semi.

Pat and Bo started walking back towards the vehicles.
“Damn, Pat, this is just shi….crap” he said as he tried to watch his language around bubba who was staying back as Pat had gestured him to do so. “My mother when I was a kid was attacked like this once, she almost didn’t make it. From that point on never had anything good to say to someone who laid a finger on a lady!”

“I understand Bo, Lets just keep moving, All we can focus on right now is ourselves, these children and folks to somewhere semi-safe and then we can see about taking out people like this. Lets get a move on, this place is freaky!” he said as he opened the door for Bubba.

They made good time on this trip having traversed a total of about 280 miles in 6 ½ hours. They detoured off on a country road that had more curves than the state route that hit the bigger towns. There were still cows in pastures in this part of the country.

“At least not everything is lost” said pat as he pointed to a couple of deer drinking out of a pond in a pasture to his passengers.

“Look, it even has babies” said Emily as she looked on at the wildlife around them. This part of the world didn’t seem to have lost that much. But then again, how much farther are they going and if it is anything like this, then there may be a chance for them she thought to herself.

Not more than a few miles down the road had Pat said that, Inez came over the radio. “Pat, need you up front, Tankers drop to the rear, everyone else lock and load!”
“What the Fuc…crap is going on.” As he pulled into the ditch to pass the slowing vehicles, it became clear they were not alone in this part of the country. Up ahead he could see a line of debris from mangled cars, trees, fencing, steel pipe, and sand bags that someone had blocked this section of the road off. In the middle of the debris was a fairly good sized dozer he guessed was the gate.

“it looks like the block is just on the road and the ditches, Looks like they rely on the steep terrain of the ditch to keep people from going around.” Said Jacob in the passenger seat who was scanning the distance for threats. “You see that embankment over there, I think we are being watched.” He told Pat as he pointed his hand in the direction below the window line to a knoll off to the front right of their location.

Inez was already out and behind the cover of one of the vehicles doing her scanning when she head the sound of ATV’s coming in their direction. Pat just pulled up to her when the first one came into view about 250 yards out.

“Here they come, Pat, you just keep the kiddos safe, I’ll see if we can work our way out of this one.” She pushed the button to her mic “I need shooters on top of the truck. And some spread out underneath it. Be ready for anything.” As soon as she got off the mic, the first shot rang out from the direction of the ATV’s who were now about 160 yards out. Soon after that the front blockade had people appear behind the dozer blade with rifles and shotguns aimed in their direction. “Hold your fire, don’t fire yet till I give the signal” “Pat, Why don’t you move to the other side, kids get in the floor!” she said as she tried not to roll her eyes at him for staying in the path of danger.

“Right!” he said as he floored the Jeep and spun it around in front of the semi to the opposite side of the approaching ATV’s. This of course sent off bursts of fire from both directions as the Jeep was making a run for it, or so it appeared. Everyone took cover while the burst of fire came from both the front and the side. The ATV shots where everywhere while the front fire actually did seem to keep a few pinned down. Bullets flew by, shattered windows, impaled sheet metal, and impaled tires. When the ATV’s were about 50 yards away, Inez spoke into the mike “FIRE NOW NOW NOW, FRONT AND SIDES! ATV’s FIRST!

[jaybird]

The gunfire from above and below the truck cascaded down on the ATV's, knocking several of the riders off their mounts.

The gunmen hiding near the 'Dozer fared a little better by taking cover behind the blade of the vehicle. They still took three casualties. One got hit in the left knee and the right of his pelvis, another was hit repeatedly in the stomach and lower abdomen. Both were on the ground screaming in pain. Their third compatriot wasn't so lucky, if you could call what happened to his friends "lucky". He caught a whole face full. It looked something like that guy whose body was turned over for triage in the beach scene of "Saving Pvt. Ryan".

One of the gunmen sanitized the guy whom got gut shot, and attempted to drag his other buddy behind the blade by the scruff of his neck. He was quickly dispatched by a shot to the temple by Inez.

The wedge formation Inez had the crew in was working like a dream. Most of the enemy was pinned down on both sides. Four or five were left taking cover behind their bullet-riddled ATV's (occasionally taking pot shots at the semi), the last two were still hiding behind the 'dozer blade.

Pat parked the jeep as he was told and awaited further instructions from Inez. He got on the floorboard with the kids which was kind of cramped because of his bulk. Pat thought to his man-boobed self," I really need to lose some friggin' weight, do some sit-ups or something, jeez. I look and feel like a canned blue whale underneath this steering-wheel." Bubba piped up, "Pat, shouldn't we get out and help Inez?", to which Pat answered somewhat tersely, " Hey! Get your head back down! Inez told us to stay here, and told me to take care of you. You don't wanna make Inez mad, now do ya'?". All the kids hunkered down while shaking their heads no. "All right, now sit tight. This should be over soon", Pat said.

The group continued to fire upon the the riders when they noticed that their recently deceased friends were re-animating. " This could be interesting", Inez mused out loud across the mic. Unfortunately for the riders, what with being caught up in the gun-fight, they didn't notice. Not until it was too late.

Several shamblers set upon the riders. Some of re-animates were cut down a second time by what few were left alive, but most were laid low by their cadaverous comrades. "Redirect all fire toward the front", Inez ordered. The two remaining men took off from behind the dozer in the direction of the woods. Only one made it. The one whom didn't had his back peppered with rounds to the spine, lungs, and kidneys.

The group was then ordered to decimate the zombies by Inez. After she checked over the mic to make sure everyone was alive and accounted for, they checked to make sure the enemy were all dead. They were... save one: the guy whom got shot in the knee and pelvis behind the dozer blade. "I need someone to help me interrogate the prisoner", Inez said, "Bo, will you do the honors". Bo smiled an evil little grin...

[T-Boon]

Yay, I thought this had died ! Keep it goin

[jaybird]

Thanks!I'll try . I might need to ask around for some advice on the next piece, othwise I have to fudge some things regarding tracking.

[jaybird]

" All right", said Bo making clear to everyone he wanted a little pay-back for what happened to his mother years ago," I'll help". As he stepped forward, Inez ordered the rest of the group to get into cover positions while Bo and she worked on the prisoner.

Inez and Bo lifted the man enough so that he would be in a seated reclining position against the 'dozer blade after Bo disarmed him. " What's your name, and what are you doing here? Why did you fire on us?", Inez demanded. The man said nothing. Inez asked again. Still no answer, this time with a hard smirk on his face directed toward Inez.

Before Inez said anything about any rough stuff, Bo slammed the toe of his boot into the man's solar plexus, followed quickly with a stomp of his heel on to his already injured knee.

"Augh!!", the man moaned hoarsely. He would've screamed, but he didn't have the breath. He fell over on his side and turned pale as a sheet, looking as though he were going to throw up.

Bo looked like he was going to throw another kick when Inez stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder saying, "OK Bo, that's enough.... for the moment". Inez then redirected her speech toward the man on the ground, "So...feel like talking now, tough guy"? Clutching his knee in his hands, with sweat beading off his forehead and upper lip the man rasped," Aaronson. Steve Aaronson. We were just trying to survive out here during this craziness. The world looked like was gonna end, so Earl and the rest of us decided that we'd hole up here and take what we needed to survive."

"Who is Earl?", Inez asked. Bo then interjected, aiming his weapon," You weren't 'SURVIVING'-you were fuckin' stealing, robbing and murdering, you raider piece of shit!". "BO! Calm down!", Inez said impatiently, never taking her eyes off of the Steve. "I'll ask again, who is Earl?", Inez continued. "He's my hunting buddy. He worked in construction. He has a cabin about 5 miles away from here. He ran off into the woods", Steve declared in fear.

"That's all we needed to know", said Bo angrily as he suddenly raised his weapon and fired two shots into the man's temple and brow.

Inez just stared at him for a moment before saying " No Bo, that was most certainly NOT all we needed to know. We don't know how skilled a woodsman Earl is, nor do we know in exactly what direction the cabin is within 5 miles. I know you're angry, that's why I picked you to help me with this interrogation, but we can't afford to be so impulsive. Not if we're going to get through this. Do you understand?!". Bo nodded yes, and when Inez was sure he understood she shouted out to everyone else, "All right now, everyone converge on me! We're going to separate into two groups. One group will search for the cabin, the other will help me track down Earl".

[Curious101]

Good story, i hope it will continue.
You guys and gals keep up the good work!

[Curious101]

did this one go poof?
would a few Moars help?
Moar Moar Moar!!!!!!

[Sgt.Joe_ST.Ragman]

The various paths that had been used to move to and from the cabin were not very difficult to find, and soon afterward the group assigned to that task had settled into a nice vantage point where they could both observe the cabin and discuss their next careful step. Bo, in charge, decided to wait after being counseled about his impulsiveness only a short time before. The other group was led by Inez and it found itself on the horns of a dilemma. After following a fairly easily defined track for some time, the group came across a very muddy ATV trail and the tracks seemed to disappear. They could either turn left or right like the ATV trail run or attempt to find some indicator of where Earl had travelled. Inez had never really talked about it much before but she had quite a bit of experience cutting sign, having spent 3 summers with her great-uncle Chief Claudius Grapevine-Moo, before getting into modeling Guess jeans and 511 Tactical thongs. Moving back to the place where the track was last seen (PLS) Inez began to slice off a long willow branch to use as a tracking stick.

“What are you doing?” Pat asked.

Inez replied, “I am cutting a tracking stick to measure his footprint and stride. Split up and then walk left and right on this side and the other side of the ATV trail to see if you can find any other footprints that look like this one.”

About 10 minutes later, Pat motioned that he had found a print. Inez slowly worked her way to where Pat was standing and then recognized that he had indeed found the correct print but somehow Earl had crossed the muddy ATV trail without leaving a mark or getting mud on his feet. For a few minutes Inez worked it around in her mind, and then she walked back to the original PLS and began to look around. “Stupid nitwit,” she thought to herself when she noticed how the stride got longer just before getting to the ATV trail and then there was a 3-inch hole in the ground.

Back with Pat now she saw that the imprints where deeper on this side at first and then gradually fainter.

“What is it?” Pat asked.

Inez answered, with a grim face. “Back on that side I can see that he started taking greater strides and landing heavier on the balls of his feet. Just before he reached the ATV trail I found a shatter break of a lightweight oak branch so I would venture to say that he pole vaulted the ATV trail and this guy knows what he is doing. See the deep impact here and then the prints return to normal?”

“Yeah, I do, what now?” said Pat.

Inez hovered over the last track for a minute, and then placed one end of the tracking stick on the toe of the track. From here, she maneuvered the stick left and right in a 60-degree arc until her eye indicated the next step. Then, she marked both the edge of the heel and the edge of the next steps’ toe and cut her stick to match. With this, she could just move and use the stick, held with both hands under her giant Texas-rodeo belt buckle, to indicate the next step until her eye could begin picking them up with ease.

For 10 minutes they followed Earl’s sign until they came to a sandy area where it appeared that earl had just stopped after being meant by a man coming from the other direction. As it appeared, the two had shuffled around for a moment there in the middle of the sand and then simply disappeared.

Inez could barely stifle a laugh.

“What’s so humorous,” Pat asked?

Inez answered with another laugh. “I think he just played the most basic trick he could to determine where he stands against us.”

“Say what?” asked Pat.

“Look, he stopped here for a minute and made a few footprints, and then headed in that direction walking backwards. It is a basic, elementary trick. He probably thinks if we got to this point we would either not get it, or figure it out and think he is stupid. My guess is that now he will work some real trick.”

Sure enough, with 20 yards she found a disk pressure release, indicating a speed change and now Earl’s toes were pointing forward. Leading her group she picked up the pace. Soon, the strides began to lengthen as Earl must have decided to increase the distance between them. As her group picked up their pace as well, Inez suddenly had a premonition and yelled, “Stop!”

It is difficult to explain how or why the gut feeling works with people but there are some that learn to trust their instincts. Inez was one of these people. Her Great-Great Granny Weatherall had taught her to analyze that beatific moment. Slowly scanning from left to right ahead of them, she found what she thought she might see. In the incredible randomness that is nature, she saw a small stick perpendicular in the ground, with 2 others left below it to form a Y. This she knew to be a friend signal, something to be seen only by those knowing what it is, to indicate that there was some trouble being caused in the area. Back stepping a bit, she found a large rock and threw it ahead her as far as she could. With a large swishing sound, a huge branch sprang across the trail. With huge sharpened stakes protruding from it, the man trap would have easily taken out most of the small group. Inez finally let out some air, realizing that she had been holding her breath.

Now moving forward, she indicated the long strides to her group and explained that Earl had quite obviously made it look like he had began to run in hope of falsely encouraging those pursuing him to do the same. If they had, they would have been impaled on the large branch that was bent back to spring across the trail once the lever that held it was broken. The lever had been held in place by a piece of wire, which she then found lying across the trail.

Picking up the length of wire, she noticed it was copper, and turning to Pat, asked, "Hey, you ever seen wire this thin?"

Pat examined the wire. "Wow, the only wire even close to having this thin of a diameter came spooled in the back of a TOW.

"TOW?" Inez asked.

"Yes, a tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire-guided missile. A wire like this played out behind the rocket for several thousand meters so that the guy that shot it can send commands directly to the rocket until impact," Pat responded.

Just then, Pat said, “Hey, you guys hear that?”

Stopping now, all of them could just barely hear what sounded like music. Proceeding cautiously forward, they noticed that the Evergreen trees were getting thicker, and there, in a small opening, an old cabin.

Pat came closer to Inez and said, “Funny, but I think I know that song. “Can you hear it.”

By this time, the entire group could hear the words clearly. It sounded as if someone was chanting:

Be it sight, sound, smell or touch
There's something inside that means so much

The sight of the touch
Or the scent of the sound
Or the strength of an oak
With roots deep in the ground

The wonder of flowers to be covered
And then to burst up
Through tarmac
To the sun again

Or to fly to the sun
Without burning a wing
To lie in a meadow
And hear the grass sing

To have all these things
In our memories hoard
And to use them
To help us
To find...

Pat whispered again, “it’s Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues.”

Inez grew impatient. Thinking it might be another trap, and worried that the other group had not contacted her for some time, she crept forward to see if she could position herself to see through a small window on the side of the cabin. Approaching the cabin, the music became louder and she could hear talking. The music was clear to her now too as the song “Ride My See Saw” began playing. It was from an old 70’s album, “In Search of the Lost Chord.”

Ride, ride my see-saw
Take this place
On this trip
Just for me

Ride, take a free ride
Take my place
Have my seat
It's for free

I worked like a slave for years
Sweat so hard just to end my fears
Not to end my life a poor man
But by now, I know I should have run

Glancing quickly into the window, her eyes nearly popped out of her head. There stood Bo and the members of his group, and Earl, each laughing as they raised large 40 ounce bottles of what appeared to be Miller Genuine Draft into the air as if to make a toast.

Inez, relaxing somewhat but also a bit bewildered, then made what would have been her first dangerous mistake in a different situation. She farted. At the sound of a loud popcorn fart outside the window, Bo turned and saw her, and then motioned for her to enter the cabin.

She gathered her group and entered, and for the next 90 minutes she and her group listened to Earl tell his story. And this is how the woodsman Earl joined their travelling band of misfits.

[jaybird]

Uh... Earl is a BAD GUY whom is bleeding to death, Ragman. As was his crew. I was still trying to work the tracking details into the story, but since you've gotten here ahead I hope you have a great explanation for the change of heart.

[ZMace]

Well... since it looks like he got himself banned, even if he had a good explanation, we won't see it.

[BritishZedHunter]

hahahaha, what a fantastic story, ive just read the whole thing in one sitting. all i can say is that it is a work of pure genius. i need more now!!!!!!!!!!!

[jaybird]

Well... since it looks like he got himself banned, even if he had a good explanation, we won't see it.

Well, maybe I can salvage this after all .

[maldon007]

edit: Had to write something... but didnt want to mess anything up, so I figured a side story might be good.



==============================================================================
Side story, Bubba's dad-

"...Sure you could wait till you get a raise before you buy a policy... but things can happen ya know?" Gabe Smith was saying to some sucker on the other end of the line.
"Gabe..." Charles, two desks over, yelled ", have you seen what’s going on?"
Gabe held his hand over the phone mic "What, what?"
"Fuckin towel heads again... probably, CNN is saying a biological attack... but FOX says bomb Iran immediately..."
"What the fucking... why the hell didn’t someone let me know?" Gabe spouted ", is it here? ...in the city??"
"Uh, maybe... sounds like stuff going on all over the eastern..." Charles’s blather trailed off in Gabe's head, as he thought "Good excuse to go home" already heading for the door.

"Good thing most everyone in the office breaks the "no radios" rule, or he would never have heard, dick head boss" Gabe was thinking, as he filed into the loud gaggle of people, all trying to get out of the building.
"Is it a terrorist attack?..."
"Are we supposed to evacuate?..."
"Will we still get paid for a full day?..."
Are some of the things he was hearing as he pushed and bumped through the crowd. "Ah, staircase!" he thought ", few of these fatties will be running down 5 flights." He made a left, or as much of a left as he could... eventually getting to the stairwell. He had been right, only a trickle of the jogger types were heading down.

Maybe 5 minutes later he hit the street, he could see the entrance to the highway a few blocks down... he always knew if it would be an easy ride home by how backed up it looked as he left the building. Traffic was actually not moving at all... past his building and as far as he could see the other way.
"Hmmm... long walk, but its gotta be faster than sitting perfectly still" he chuckled. "Better call Cindy and let her know I will be a while."

He pulled out his cell, saw he had missed 12 calls, all from home..."Crap!" He hit 1 and waited "Hello?" Cindy answered on the first ring, sounding frantic. "Hey babe, everything ok there?" Gabe asked.
"God no!" she cried ", have you seen the news?"
"Well, not much...sounds like some kind of attack, should be safe were you are though... I shouldn’t be too long" he lied, knowing she would freak if he told her he was walking home.
Ok...ok, get home as quick as you can, and be safe." she said and I love you!"
"Alright babe, see you soon... keep Aiden away from the tube, he doesn’t need to see... whatever is happening" Gabe finished with an "I love you to" and closed the phone.

He had never walked home, but knew the area well enough. Cutting between buildings and jogging between gridlocked cars, he figured he would cut the 15 miles by car, down to maybe 10, on foot. Part of the short cut was crossing a pedestrian bridge over the river, it was 2 or 3 miles south of the highway crossing, profit!

He stopped for a sec to catch his breath it the apex of the crossing, after trying to jog up the spiral walkway... "Shouldn’t have let the Golds membership expire" he thought.
"Is that... oh hell!" Gabe stared down into the water, what looked to be a person, was splashing around... going under, then back up... "Hey!! Are you OK?" Gabe yelled down from the bridge. The man (seemed to be a man, anyway) should have heard, his head was mostly out of the water, but he seemed in his own world. The river was slowly bringing him close to the far side, Gabe decided to see if he could help the dude.

Racing down the far spiral, balancing with one hand off the chain link fence that surrounded the entire crossing now and then, he stepped off the landing just as the guy seemed to be getting some shore under his feet. "You alright buddy?" Gabe said, as he jogged over to see if he could help.
The dude looked up, with what seemed almost like... recognition? He was struggling in the mud of the shore, one foot, then the other sinking in the mud, then pulling out.
Gabe took in the scene, no shoes, missing left sleeve, some sort of wound on the left shoulder... somehow not out of breath, after flailing in the water for quite a while... freaky.
"Uh... dude, want me to call someone for you?" Gabe asked, feeling very noble.
The guy was trying to climb up the bank, but getting caught in the weeds on the shore. He tripped once, elbows in the mud... strange way to fall... never taking his eyes off Gabe.
Gabe was starting to get a "crazy" vibe from this guy, and was starting to question getting too close.
"Listen bud, I’m gonna call and get some help for you, but you look like you got it under control for now, huh?"
No answer, just a funny stare, and constant motion... crawling, trying to get up, just steady moving towards Gabe.
About that time Gabe felt his phone vibrate... saved by the buzz.
"Ok, man... I gotta get going, family is waiting... running late, with all that’s going on." Gabe was backing up, the crazy looking guy seemed to distress over this, though still not saying anything. Then he let out a sound... a moan?... maybe a grunt/moan? Kind of reminded Gabe of a mute or a retard, trying to say something very important.
Ah, now Gabe understood... poor retard, fell in the river & barely got out alive. Both hands up now, like a kid running to his mommy, but stumbling toward Gabe... I’m not his damn mommy... I wish his mommy was here, Gabe thought.

He reached out, figuring the spaz would take his hand, he did almost have a "happy" look on his face now that Gabe stopped backing up, must be relieved to have someone helping him. The tard grabbed his hand & pulled it quickly towards his mouth... Gabe yanked his hand away, didn’t really want spit & slobber all over his hand, regardless of how thankful the guy was. "Ughhhhhh!!" The guy yelled, a decidedly unhappy look now fixed on his grayish face. He lurched at Gabe now, hands in claw like shapes, some spittle now dripping from his mouth... that was now open, in sort of... a "I’m gonna bite you" type way.

"Fuck this!" Gabe thought, easily dodging the slow lunge. Gabe turned tail & headed back up the bank, to the roadway above. He looked back as he topped the hill, the crazy tard was trudging after, grunting & groaning in a very pissed off fashion... As the hill began to get steep, he went to all fours, still never taking his eyes off Gabe.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Gabe headed off towards home, looking back a few times... leaving the retard far behind as he jogged. "fucking crazy bastard!... whatcha get for trying to be nice" he thought, then he remembered the phone.
Checking it, he saw a few more missed calls from home, he pressed 1 as he walked briskly.
"Hey, saw you called, is everything..." Cindy cut him off "Gabe... God, where are you!!... we need you here!!!"
Gabe heard fear in her voice he had never heard before "I’m on the way... had to hoof it, traffic was dead stop... what the hell is going on??"
"They are saying people are being attacked everywhere!" she sounded like she might be crying "...Aiden said he saw strangers out back, he is scared!"
Gabe trying to think... "If there is someone in our yard, call the cops, now!"
"I tried... recordings are all I got... do you know the neighbors number?... the gun nut guy?" Cindy said, sobbing now.
"Listen babe, lock all the doors & windows... stay INSIDE! I will be home as fast as I can... I will try the police from my phone to." Gabe added "...And don’t bother with that looser next door, he’s probably more dangerous than anyone wondering around the neighborhood."
"God Gabe, please get here... " Gabe heard banging in the background "Someone is at the door... I’m going to look" Cindy said.
"wait babe... " no answer, she must have the phone down at her side "...Strange looking woman outside, never seen her before" Cindy said into the phone "Oh... she sees me in the window... God, she fell off the porch trying to reach the window, I think..."
"Cindy, get a weapon...knife of something, and get away from the window!" No answer... she is not listening again. CRASH... glass pieces hitting tile... "Cindy!!" Gabe yelled into the phone... At the same time, he heard Cindy yelling "let go you crazy bitch!!... ouch! fuck!! FUCK!!!"

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Will try to finish later... or someone else can jump in, whatever


Oh yeah, if someone already gave names to anyone in this, let me know... I couldnt find names for mom, dad, or the last name of the bubba family.