Z...OMG?

What a fucking day.

Look, I know that I'm not even supposed to be blogging today, but due to extenuating circumstances, I think I can cut myself a break. Besides, I don't even know if there will be a tomorrow.

Jesus, my arm hurts. And my leg is itchinhg so freaking badly. God. I hoep to hell that I am able to 1) finish this entry and 23) ...Actually, I don't know what I want to do beyond finish this entry. I'm typing in a hurry because of everything that is/has gone down, and also because I'm worried about losing power and not having it be able to load. Man, that would just be the icing on top of the shit-cake of this day, wouldn't it/

So, the day started off more or less normally. I mean, it's Friday. The 13th. So, even though I don't buy into any of hte superstition, there alwasy is an element of weirdness to the day, ya know? It's that whole 'perception creates realiity' aspect. Because (someP people expect ...whatever, it kinda puts it into the air.? If that makes any sense. It makded saense to me. At least when I first had the thought.

Anyway. Day started normally. Went to work, and had many people wihs me an early happy birthday - heh. Yeah. I'm turning 33 tomorrow (assuming i make it) so this is the last day I'll ever be 32. But I gotta say, I don't really like the birthday present the world has given me sof ar.

Point? Man. I know I was never a coheerent story-teller, but I just can. not focus on my thouhts today. Mayperhaps I'm in a state of semi-shock? That would makes ense. The other possibilty ...is one I don't really want to think too mcuh about. I mearn. >.you konw. Yet. (So itchy!)

So, before everything went fubar, the day was turning into a good one. Lots of birhtday waishes, and everyone was offering to take me out to lunch. Tommmie won out, because he'd promised me earlier in the week, so, there ya go. Yay for free food, is waht I walways say. And, god. I could really go for a burger right about now. Or some chicken. Meat. I wonder whatsi n the firdge..

I'll check in a mintue.

Around 1130, Tommiea nd I and art all went ot go to lunch. I chose Applebees because I was wanting to eat good in the neighborhood. (Heh.) But when we gto there, we could tell soomthing was ...wrong. First, there were about a billigon people outside the restaurant. And there were police cars all ofer the place. We pulled into the aprkeing lont, and tried to make aour way to the front rof the restaruaran, but the croewd satarted turning back because the cops were shotint the place down. We found out via the crownd, and I think one of the cops that there had been an some osrtof attack inside the building. some homelyess guy or somthing had gone inside and started just ...biting people? Pretty freaky. At that point, i started ot get a starange feeling of deja vu that i've ahd all day long and can't quite shake...

soanyway we decided that since we ouldnt eat at that place, we would head toward the mall to dine there.

tunrs out, that applesbess ewasn't the only place in town where biting folks was going on.

we never did get to the maml, because the roadas there were blocakeded from different police blockaeds at various points in the city. the traffic was alvet afda.a..adf

ontheweay therere, though, we saw this, like, dog...that.. id ont'wknow it was...some kinda of mutant sor osthineg, because it looked like ti had it's fucktng entrails ahing out of its guts and waltking down the road, groeawling at paeople and bareking angd tryienr to atteak everytone. it was reaelly fuckinte groos, actually. and kindat esad at teh same itme.

bytehos potine, though, i wase toatally satraving, and all hte pelaces thate we were tryint toe get to kept being either shuteonw or had people at thems creaming or fightine eachother or ...it was asa theouh the whole city had stareted ot go insane.
atommeis' cellep heone reant though, and he got some text messagese that prettyenuch told us the teisuation that wtas goitn on. and...it souneds even crazya now to say it, but it's not a hoax.n to after everythihnt that i've seen toeay.
it's zomebine.s fucknt zombies.
the people who haee deied are reaninmiating and tey ocme back hungyr for the flesh of the living.
apparently, teoo, its neot just hujans. any mammal thaet getsa bitten sor scratched 9liek ie did - gur i'tll gets to that point in a bintute) apparentely dies anda then reaninmenateds into eone of the horde of living dead. jesus. just like the movies.
bridas and lzareads and insecst and fisah, are, acroding to hte news repotss, immune somehow. itsa just a mamala hting. so, yay for that? Did ya hear that, dinosarus? You get to have ryour workd back!

so we were drivtinta round all stareting to get freaking out, and also, you know, hungry, and the traffic was getting worse everywhere we were going - peoplke honiking at us and cutting everyone off, and there was a cop car blockade at Flamingo and Rainboaw where the cops that were standing tou tehre had shotguns, and they totally blew this guy's head off. This montster's head, is houslt dasy, because he was not a ugy at that point. And then at atht other point, he wasn't antyhign.

i treid to call home, but when i called, the line was buys, which made me really panicky. it old tomore that iwantedt o go back to athe staiton and take my van home, and artesais the same thing - only,k ouknow, he wanted to go to hishome, nost mine. ha ah .

god. acan i finshe hits? Itam aos hungry.. aica...i . i ate angel.j sut now. he was lyint at my feetand i pikced him up,and bit him on his bely, he scratchedd me , of course, tand tryed to run awya from me, but I held him harder, and took a few more bites out of his guts, which sounds really disgusting, but he soon stopped squirming, and now that i've had some MEAT in my mouth, I'm feeling much better, and able to think a little clearer.
I am sorry that I ate the cat, though. He probably didn't deserve that. (But mostly, if we're being honest, I'm upset that there wasn't more of him to last. He was big, but it turned out that a lot of it truly was fur. And now that I don't have him around anymore, what am I going to eat when I get hungry again? Eh. I'll figure it out. Lickorish is, I presume, somewhere around here.)

So anyway. We got back to the station, and by that time, it's all over CNN and the local news stations are covering it (and again I thought to myself, "This seems really familiar..."). And the people who haven't already left the station are there trying to stay calm and collected. The three of us were grilled on what we saw on our excursion, and we learned what everyone else had seen from the news.
Basically - what I already said.
Undead mammals, worldwide, the 'disease' seems to pass via bites and scratches, and takes about 45 minutes to an hour to 'convert' someone that has been infected. The only way to keep them down is to destroy the nervous system (meaning, of course, the brain.It's always the brain.)

The government(s) are telling people to stay inside unless absolutely necessary, and martial law had been declared in several areas.

CCloser to home, it turned out that Martha and Billy left as soon as what was happening was made clear (I assumed they probably went to get drunk). Kim, Regina, and Sherry all left for their families as well. Tom (new guy Tom, not my boss Tommie) was ordering people to stay calm, to get make-shift weapons so that the doors could be guarded against intruding zombies, and was stockpiling the food from the snack machines and fridges.

I tried calling home several more times, but still got the busy signal each time. I checked my email and found an email from Steph that simply read, "Please come home when you can." I emailed her back saying, "I keep calling, but get a busy signal. If you get this, call me on my cell. I'm on my way home now, but the roads are bad. I'll see you when I get there. ily, P@"

I surreptitiously made my way through the station -avoiding Tom and his newfound dictatorship - and said my goodbyes to everyone.I then mdae my way to the van, and began to make the drive home.

The trip through what has quickly become an anarchy-filled war-zone was surprisingly uneventful. I only made it to Desert Inn and the strip before I simply could not go any further due to the ammount of traffic and crowds and police. The number of zombies I saw while in the car numbered in the 30s...

I got out of the air-conditioned van, and the heat was instantly near-unbearable.
I began walking toward home, sticking to the middle of the crowd, not saying anything, but taking in what others were saying:
"Governemtn's fault."
"End times"
"Friday the 13th."
"Saw one take out three buddies of mine."
"Oh My god. Oh My god. Oh My god."

A good precetenage of us, like me, were just silent.
Every once in a while, a zombie would approach our herd, and people would take off running. Not a lot of camaraderie there. It was much more 'every man for himslf'. Fortunately, the zombies are really slow. They're easy to outrun, even in 100 degree weather, and by me, a guy who enver runs. Plus, they're pretty stupid. I think they dn't have very good senses, either - dude. they're dead! - because one time I simply hid behind a telephone pole nad one that was really close to me (it was around 4:30 at that point...I'd been walking for over two hours, and I was exhasusted) just got confused and walked away.

During the walk, sometimes poeople had animals with them. Dogs from their cars,mostly. The canines were good companions. They were like detectors of approaching zombies, by barking furiously whenver one of the ghouls got nearby.
Once i got off the main roads, into our neighborhood, I was alone in my walk. Whenever I saw a copule of zombies appraoching from the other direction, i'd give them wide neough berth that I culd easily avoid them and outrun them if needed.
...i'mg getingg hungry again.
So, I got home around 6, and the door was open. the fphone was off the hook (not in *that* way) and the place was a shambles.
Steph was sitting ont thcouch. I ran to her and aske dher, "What happenede/ Are you okay/ whereware teh girls/?"

She said, "shouldtn've gone to wal-mart', and she sounded ..not all good.
my stoucamch dropped when i started to realzied waht had hapened. "Where are the girsl?" I aseked again.
She pointed back toward the bedrooms, and i saw the doors were closed, and i could here soem thumping noises. "Are they//?"
Steph nodded, withe tearsi nher eyes.
Beginingn to cry, i said, 'ANre are you??'
she noedded again.
I held out my armas and said, "bite me, too."

She stood up and bit my arm, hdard.

"ilveyou." i told her.
;Iand ilove youl." she told me.
She headed back to be withe the rils.
"Illbe right there,; I tld her. "I jst want to blog first."