The trio stared out the window of the apartment in to the street below and one could have been forgiven for assuming that it was just three friends enjoying a relaxing sunny afternoon, the view and several beers, “Looks clear,” Jaira mumbled as she pulled her hair back in to a ponytail. Cameron grunted as he checked the Glocks for the umpteenth time. Considering the quantity of firepower he carried, people would either run from him or try to stay close for protection. Those that didn’t care about the quartet of Glock 18Cs and the Remington 1100 semiautomatic shotgun were mostly like the people who had developed an appetite for human flesh. The vest he wore was loaded with fresh clips and shells for his arsenal. The hidden weapons were few in the form of his original Desert Eagle and the combat knives in a sheath at his waist with a second tucked in to his left sleeve.

Jaira had raised an eyebrow at the arsenal he wore, “I’m guessing you are one of the new breed of non American gun nuts,” she paused, “How can you stay so calm and controlled about all of this?” The question was at best, at worst a loaded double barreled one. He knew exactly what it was to kill the zombies that were essentially cannibals that would stop at anything to taste human flesh. He was calm and controlled on the surface but that failed to reflect the turmoil and fear that he kept hidden beneath the thin veneer. Suffering an emotional or psychological meltdown would not do anyone, especially himself any good. So he did what he normally did.

He ignored the question, “We’ve got to move now, while we still have this window of opportunity. There’s no telling when those things come back and we might not be so lucky next time. The longer we stay here, the more likely they are to find us again. “

She wiped her eyes to clear tears that had yet to fall, shaking her head as Cameron breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She took a single deep breath and pulled herself together, “I’m fine.”

Cameron chuckled to himself, as he considered the fact that she was fine, “F.I.N.E – Freaked out, Insecure, Nervous, and Emotional,” he cracked the briefest hint of a smile and proceed to sling his backpack on to his shoulders, cinching down the shoulder straps before turning his attention to his two companions. Jaira was ready as she was going to be. Steven on the other hand was standing, shaking and nervous. He shrugged, and put his eye to the peephole, struggling to see down the corridor that had remained blissfully clear since their earlier encounter a half hour before.

Satisfied, he stepped out in to the corridor with the shotgun a comfortable five pounds that felt remarkably good in his hands. The tension was palatable and had merged with the salt smell of sweat and fear that was overpowering in the confines of the elevator. The elevator car was slippery due to the dark pools of semi dried blood coating almost every conceivable surface as they rode down to the car parked in front of the building.

In light of recent events, Jaira and Cameron, however unwilling had given Steven a Walther PPK. While James Bond had made the weapon recognizable and popular, in reality it was a holdout last resort back up weapon due to its marginal stopping power. Cameron carried enough firepower to level a city block – at least he liked to think so. From the elevator, they passed through the blood splattered lobby and Cameron found himself holding his breath. Jaira had turned a near angelic snow white as she looked over the carnage before turning to Cameron. His brief nod confirmed the unasked question. Steven had actually turned seaweed green, and unsuccessfully fought off the need to vacate his stomach on to the floor of the lobby, adding a pungent odor to the already nauseating concoction.

Jaira was adapting well – at least Cameron thought so, but then everyone around him seemed to think him impervious to the carnival of carnage and death taking place around them. Some were simply unable to cope as everything that they knew was erased – namely Steven. The street was clear as she leapt over the hood of the vehicle and slid in to the front passenger seat. Cameron himself was in the driver seat when Steven froze, his voice failing him as a sudden deep groan echoed through the street. The sound could not have been made by anything truly dead, or anything truly alive.

Cameron cursed under his breath as he stepped out of the vehicle and took aim with the shotgun. There’s was no real need to aim, so much as point in the right direction as the dozen of the hungry creatures shambled forward attempting to catch a petrified Steven. The skin on the closest zombie was pale and taut as if they had been stretched tight across her skull. Dark almost black blood had flown quite freely from a wound to the temple for some time drenching the white blouse and gray business suit. He gave the trigger a smooth pull.

In the dense urban surroundings, the blast of the shotgun echoed from building to building, seemingly audible for miles. Buckshot caught the creature in the chest, knocking the thing off its feet. It flailed wildly with its arms for several seconds before attempting to rise, clearly having difficulty controlling and coordinating its movements. The second cloud of metal pellets ripped through the flesh of the neck decapitating the creature.

The gunfire was an alarm clock to the numerous resurrected inhabitants, stumbling from side streets and alleys as the horde swelled in size, moaning and groaning their way towards the closest sound of life and explosive gunfire. The twin smells of cordite and burned powder filled the air, easily overpowering those of blood and death. Another cloud of buckshot scythed in to the faces of another zombie to blast its head apart. Steven stood frozen in shock as another pair of the creatures fell to the ground. Jaira lashed out with her sword, hacking arms off one of the creatures before plunging her blade in to its eye socket and scrambling the brains within. Turning she opened a rear passenger door and bundled Steven in to the vehicle. The shotgun clicked empty and he tossed it inside, “Get the car started! I’ll cover you!” he shouted.

His Glocks rose and the horde wavered for an instant as if they were pausing to asses him. He glared daggers as they advanced, shoulder to shoulder,” Come on you mindless motherfuckers!”His bullets chewed through flesh and bone with equal ease as the zombies were knocked back or killed. The clattering of his weapons on semi automatic was drowned by the roar of his Chevrolet Trailblazer’s engine. It spun a hard circle that presented the passenger door to him. Holstering one gun he jerked the door open, clambering aboard, firing wildly behind him without looking, at the steadily closing mass of dead humanity, “Go! Go! Go!”

They hemmed in around the SUV and began pounding upon the exposed windows and hood of the vehicle as Jaira floored the accelerator. For a frightening moment, they remained still until the engine finally ramped up enough power and lurched forward, cutting a swath of death through the massed ranks of zombies, knocking dozens away as many more were ground beneath the wheels of the vehicle. Winding down his window, Cameron leaned out, “Get off my car!” and fired twice, blasting the creature off the hood. It fell and slid beneath the moving tires. The vehicle high sided for a moment, as necrotic flesh turned to jelly and bones snapped underneath the vehicle’s weight as they broke free and sped away.

In the rear view mirror, Jaira saw a maimed, legless zombie, arms flailing as it hissed, seemingly out of frustration and annoyance as its fellows advanced past it, tripping and stumbling over him, but otherwise ignoring him. It reached out with twisted broken fingers to drag itself along the ground, a slow inch at a time. Although their slow stagger was obviously no match for the speed of their vehicle, the zombies demonstrating their relentless nature as the rotting gathering continued its futile pursuit.

Silence dominated the interior of the car, which proved to be a deafening silence as Cameron finally flicked on the radio. Music filled the car but did little as Portland burned around them. Black oily smoke writhed and twisted its way skyward in what could be described as orgasmic ecstasy. The aftermath of dozens of horrific accidents littered the streets where vehicles had slammed in to people, walls and through buildings. But certain scenes would leap out, and imprint themselves upon their memories like a digital camera without the delete function. As much as they wanted to look away, they actually stopped alongside an over turned bus, and stared through its cracked windows. It was a morbid and sickening curiosity as the bus load of thirty to forty children trapped within were all zombies.

Jaira pushed open her door and stepped out in to the street, “What the hell are you doing?!” asked a quivering Steven. Silence answered his question accompanied by the sounds of tearing cloth and the sparking of a lighter. Seconds later, she came running back, the bottom few inches of her simple white blouse torn away revealing smooth skin and the barest hint of a four pack of abdominal muscle. Cameron managed to tear his gaze away before he caused trouble and silently reprimanded himself as he hastily stared out the passenger window. Jaira smiled to herself. They were barely a hundred meters from the wreck the bus and its occupants came apart in a fireball.

“You just killed a bus load of children!” whispered Steven, shocked and terrified by what she had done. Cameron sat in quiet contemplation of her actions, and figured that he could understand what she had done. It was a kindest death those “children” could get, as while they looked human they were nothing more than mindless killing machines. Steven’s hand reached up and grasped Cameron’s shoulder, shaking it almost hysterically, “She’s a murderer! She just butchered a group of children!”

Cameron shook the hand from his shoulder, “I killed quite a few people back at my apartment, especially one of them which tried to eat you. I am equally guilty of murder.” Steven had proven to be their glass jaw, and Achilles heel in one package that would eventually snap, and probably get them both killed, “You better wake up! Because the world has changed and its kill, or be killed and wind up like one of those things. If you got a problem with that, we can pull over and drop you off.”

Steven was obviously unstable, “You killed people. She killed children,” he insisted, “There is a difference! We should be trying to help these people and the children aboard that bus did not have to die! But all you do is kill and nothing else!” Cameron shook his head, but said nothing else. What else could he say? The dull hum of the engine was the only sound as they cruised through the broken ruined city, finally coming up to the bridge that would lead them to safety, or at the very least relatively safety from the undead. Their departure had gotten off to a relatively rocky start but was now, a more relaxed drive. They had been forced to slow down on several occasions, trying to swerve around small knots of zombies that were clustered together.

While every station played something different, the crux of the matter was that all civilian stations were dying away, slowly but surely, one at a time. Until the only thing left, was a looping message that did little to encourage hope, “This is the emergency broadcast system for the state of Oregon. A state of emergency is now in effect and martial law has been declared by both the State and Federal authorities. All active and reserve National Guard units are to report to their nearest duty station for immediate weapon reassignment and tactical deployment. Due to the varying levels of threat, civilian personnel are recommended to barricade themselves within their homes and to avoid venturing outside. Military search and rescue teams have been dispatched to evacuate all civilians. For those who are currently in transit, or are able to do so, please make your way to the closest evacuation points. For the downtown region of Portland City, the evacuation point is Pioneer Place, Pioneer Place Mall. For the suburban districts…” and on and on the voice droned, providing a list of almost a dozen different shelters and evacuation points for the people of the state of Oregon.

Jaira finally refused to maneuver the Trailblazer around another knot of zombies as she floored the accelerator. The SUV shot towards the cluster as the speedometer jumped from forty to sixty five in the course of several gut wrenching seconds, she shouted, even though there was no way they could have heard her scream over the roar of the engine, “G-T-A mother fuckers!” In all likelihood, they turned and reacted to the sound of the engine as they swarmed towards the vehicle before being catapulted airborne, several spinning head over heels before coming to rest.

Cameron joined her in a moment of enthusiasm, “Ten points!” It was the first time anyone had laughed that day and the sound was a good, healthy one as they speed towards safety and for the first time, hope in spite of Stevens stone silence. Their last obstacle now just ahead: Morrison Bridge and its military checkpoint. Sandbags and barbed wire wrapped saw horses blocked everything but two center lanes of the road, where the ad hoc barricades circled to create a small area where guardsmen could surround the vehicle on three sides. The checkpoint was not the most impressive and looked as if it might marginally impede the death threat of a runaway Honda Civic. The presence of a trio of jungle camouflage military hummers, each mounting a .50 caliber machine guns were proof enough that the checkpoint and what it stood for meant serious business.

Jaira eased off and the vehicle slowed to a crawl, traversing the bridge, past dozens of undead that had been partially erased by massed rifle and machine gun fire. She navigated the car in to the checkpoint even as the vehicle mounted guns tracking her every movement with their heavy steel snub nosed barrels pointing straight at them. Instead of the bullhorn like shout of instructions, someone actually came up to the driver’s side of the vehicle, and spoke to them, “Please step out. We need to check and make sure nobody has been bitten.”