Day 35

Strader wanders down the streets of Rochester, Minnesota. He has armed himself with a gun and a cross bow. He remembers joking with Jimmy about the types of weapons that they would use when the zombie apocalypse happened, with a cross bow you could reuse the bow, eventually guns when would run out of bullets. That was before Jimmy had changed into a zombie and essentially wiped out half of the hospital only hours after being admitted. He and Andy had managed to escape, but the ICU section of the hospital was shut down. The National News was reporting it as a biohazard, but the entire city knew better. The hospital had been overrun.

The nurses and doctors who had managed to escape cleaned their wounds with alcohol and stitched the wounds…hoping that the alcohol swabs would be enough. For some reason that doesn't sound like enough to me Strader had thought, although he was thankful that he had already left the hospital instead of seeing one of his best friends go bat-shit and kill at least five people. The nurses and doctors who had been in contact had changed into the same monsters that his friend had become. The Governor demanded a state wide evacuation, Strader doesn't know how many have escaped, and he doesn't want to imagine the number of infected had spread.

There were enough of the zombies running around to make him want to carry a weapon the minimal people he had encountered were the same. He must have passed only a dozen people on the main street. The rest were in their cars only leaving to sprint to a store then sprint back, then drive away. Others are peeping through their windows like soldiers looking over the edge of a trench. These were the ones who were too stubborn to leave, like the ones who stayed behind during an evacuation for a hurricane.

Then he noticed them, three people wandering down the streets together looking absolutely lost as they move cautiously through the chaos, no weapons visible. Strader's hero complex gets the best of him, and he begins to move towards the group. I can't believe these morons have lasted this long.

One of the men cheers with delight and runs into the nearest grocery store. "Wait, Benjamin!" the woman screams. She was tall with a thin build, curly blonde hair yanked back into a ponytail she pushed her glasses up on her nose before chasing the older man into the store. The other man who looked just a few years older than his deceased son, pushes just above shoulder length wavy hair out of his face and makes an exasperated movement before running after them.

Strader runs the rest of the way and hears a scream "Oh hello!" They managed to kill one of the creatures without using a weapon? He didn't hear gunfire and there was not an obvious weapon on them.

He skids to a stop at the door way of the corner market to find an obviously foreign man with two six packs of beer in his hand. The woman, who also looks a little older than a girl makes a face palm motion while the other man mutters "ballocks"

"Are you serious?" the young woman demands. "What if one of those things had been in here?"

A movement from behind the counter and the ding of the cash register as it falls to the ground cuts the girl off as a zombie climbs over the counter and begins to stumble towards the three.

Strader grabs the gun from the waist band of his pants and shoots the monster twice before it falls to the ground, unmoving.

The three of them turn quickly and stare at him.

"Thanks" the older man manages to stutter.

"I-is it dead?" the blonde asks.

Strader shoot the thing in the head one more time just in case. "It should be now"

"Should be?" the young man asks.

When the girl starts moving cautiously towards the body of the former man, the boy tries to grab her but misses. All the men stand a safe distance away just in case as she takes two vials out of the canvas tribal print messenger bag that she had around her shoulders.

"What the hell are you doing?" Strader demands. At least she is smart enough to sit in a ready to run position instead of kneeling next to it.

She pulls on a pair of latex gloves that were also in her bag as she shoots him one of those I am not fucking stupid looks. Placing the vial to the head wound of the slightly overweight manager of the store; she manages to get a sample of the thick, goopy blood leaking from the head wound. She hands it to the younger man who has just pulled a pair of gloves over his hands and is holding a piece of gauze to wipe the bloody residue off the outside of the vial.

She then looks at Strader. "What are the odds of you having a knife on you?"

Strader pulls out his Gerber multi-tool, digs through the multiple gadgets until he reaches the knife then hands it to her.

He watches in disgust as she uses his knife to pry up the part of the skull where the bullet had entered. Strader looks away, knowing that she is taking a sample of the brain matter, or whatever it is in the monster's head.

"You had better sanitize that thing"

She once again gives him that obviously look before handing the vial to the young boy who repeats the same process. The two removes their gloves, the same way he had been taught in his EMT course, then wipe both iodine and alcohol on one their hands. What smells like bleach is poured on his knife.

"It should be clean. Just don't cut yourself or for any reason eat off of it" she says as she hands the knife back to him.

"Should be?" Strader asks.

The older man who has remained silent speaks "Who are you anyway?" He has a foreign accent and

"Who are you three anyways?" Strader counters.

"We're scientists and we are trying to figure out what this thing is" the older man responds

"I'm Abigail, this is Riley and Benjamin" the blonde quickly interjects.

"Strader" Damn, he had promised himself not to interact with other people…they have all managed to die or attack him.

"Riley you have two hands. Get two more 6 packs" Benjamin demands.

"You can't be bloody serious. We have to fight and possibly out run these things and all you can think about is your beer?"

"Beer and liquor have become a pretty solid coping skill, I'm surprised that there is any left in here." Strader explains as he finally replaces his gun.

"That's because Medusa over here has been guarding the store." Riley nudges the zombie with the toe of his shoe.

Benjamin gives him a grateful nod. "Besides lass, you were just mentioning how you wanted a beer."

"That was before we got attacked by that!" she points out obviously wondering what the hell is wrong with this man.

Strader agrees "I think you need to get your priorities straight."

"If you were an Irish man, you would understand. It's a shame there is no Guinness"

"It's not as good here anyway. Looks like you three don't have any weapons. Why didn't you take any?" Strader demands

"Do I look like I know how to use a gun. We came from the Mayo Clinic, we don't have any." Benjamin replies as he hands two more six-packs to the girl. "Remember, there are plenty of others who would love a beer too."

Strader can't help but agree with that statement. "I'll help you three get back"

"Thank you." Riley says.

Strader grunts in response watching as Benjamin shoves two more six packs in Riley's hands before leading the way. "Right, we should be off then."

The other three members quickly followed him out the door.

"How many infected have you seen?" Riley asks

"Too many" Strader answers.

"How many have you killed?"

"Too many"

"Have you seen anyone change?"

"Yep."

"What happened?" Abigail interrupts

"He had a seizure, a cough, foaming at the mouth. He was irritable. Then he died. We performed CPR on him for about thirty minutes before he came back and attacked and then ate his wife"

"You're one of the men who were originally attacked at that trailhead aren't you" it's a statement.

"Then my buddy Jimmy got attacked, bitten and all scratched up. He was transported to the nearest hospital. He was in the ICU for 8 hours. He changed before attacking. the entire ICU was shut down and locked. Everyone knows that he managed to turn at least a few before the security guards were able to stop him. It isn't much of a secret anymore."

"We've been following the news. It's spreading through the United States way too fast now." Benjamin says

"What did the nurses and doctors who were attacked and escape do?" Riley asks.

"Sanitized the wounds and then stitched them up

Abigail furrows her eyebrows. He noticed that she had one green and one brown eye, that was interesting.

"Did it work?"

"I don't think so. The things in the hospital eventually escaped, the governor-" Strader begins.

"Declared a state of emergency, and evacuated the state. Who knows how many people who were infected made it out." Riley interrupts.

The four continue their journey climbing over the bodies of the dead both zombies and humans. Frantic men and women run from their vehicles into stores and back again, more than once almost knocking the scientists and the outdoors man down as they desperately tried to get from point A to point B.

The scream of a woman from inside a convenient store forces them to break into a run.

"Oh my God" Abigail says as she covers her ears, the woman's screams become weaker and weaker. Strader isn't sure if it's the fact that they are running away or the zombies eating her alive, the same way that a lion ate a buffalo while it was still bleating for its heard.

"I don't know you three got here…can you get back?"

"Come with us" Abigail blurts.

Strader turns to walk away "Thanks sweetheart, but I don't think I am the scientist type"

"No…but you are the fighter type" Riley explains.

Strader can't help but agree with that one.

"Please…odds are we are going to need another sample. You could help us all and possibly help save the world" Abigail says, the girl sounds desperate.

Strader sighs "I don't think that you want me on your team. Science was never my strong suit."

"But you have seen what this looks like. You have interacted and killed the things, I think that you could help" Abigail begs.

Strader can't help but agree with that one. And the look that Riley is giving him reminds him of his son.

Strader hesitates. He turns to walk away, makes it about twenty paces before he turns to look over his shoulder. The threesome look at him in dismay. "Fine." he already knows that this is going to be a horrible idea as he walks back.

Abigail gives him a dazzling smile while Riley and Benjamin smiles brightly and Riley steps forward to shake his hand.

"Thanks mate" he said.

Strader nods and follows the three into the research center.