Earth's Survivors Series

Candace ~ March 7th The streets are a mess. I've spent too much of the last week hiding inside my apartment. Most of my friends, and that's a joke, I didn't have anyone I could actually call a friend; So I guess I would say most of my acquaintances believed my grandparents were alive and that I lived here with them. They weren't. I didn't. I kind of let that belief grow, fostered it, I guess. I planted the seed by saying it was my Nana Pans' apartment. You can see the Asian in me, so it made sense to them that she was my Nana. But I look more like I'm a Native American than African American and Japanese. It's just the way the blood mixed, as my father used to say. But Native American or Asian, they could see it in my face. And this neighborhood is predominantly Asian. Mostly older people. There were two older Asian women that lived in the building. They probably believed one of those women was my Nana, and I didn't correct them. I can't tell you why I did that. I guess I wanted that separation. I didn't want them, anyone, to get to know me well. My plan had been to dance, earn enough money for school - Criminal Justice - and go back to Syracuse. Pretend none of this part of my life had ever happened. Some plan. It seemed workable. I wondered over what Jimmy V. had said to me. Did he see something in me that I didn't, or was he just generalizing? It doesn't matter now I suppose. My Grandmother passed away two years ago. The apartment she had lived in was just a part of the building that she owned. Nana Pan, my mother's mother, had rented the rest  of the building out. The man who had lived with her was not my Grandfather - he had died before I was born - but her brother who had come ten years before from Japan. They spoke little English. People outside of the neighborhood often thought they were man and wife. She didn't bother correcting them, my mother had told me. Nana Pan thought that most Americans were superficial and really didn't care, so what was the use in explaining anything to them? Maybe that's where I got my deceptiveness from. I had left the house as it was. Collected rents through an agency. For all anyone knew, I was just another tenant. Of course Jimmy V. had known. He had mentioned it to me. But Jimmy knew everything there was to know about everyone. That was part of his business. It probably kept him alive. So I stayed and waited. I believed someone would show up and tell me what to do. But no one did. I saw a few people wander by yesterday, probably looking for other people, but I stayed inside. I don't know why, what all my reasons were. A lot of fear, I think. There have been earthquakes. The house is damaged. I went outside today and really looked at it. It is off the foundation and leaning. I should have gotten out of it the other night when I knew it was bad. It's just dumb luck it hasn't fallen in on me and killed me. It doesn't matter now though. I met a few others today, and I'm leaving with them. I don't know if I'll stay with them. I really don't know what to expect from life anymore. I'm taking this and my gun with me. Writing this made me feel alive. I don't know how better to say it. I'll write more here I think. I just don't know when, or where I'll be.

Earth's Survivors Apocalypse follows survivors of a worldwide catastrophe. A meteorite that was supposed to miss the earth completely, hits and becomes the cap to a series of events that destroy the world as we know it. Police, fire, politicians, military, governments: All gone. Hopes, dreams, tomorrows: All buried in a desperate struggle to survive. From L.A. To Manhattan the cities, governments have toppled and lawlessness is the rule. The dead lay in the streets while gangs fight for control of what is left. Small groups band together for safety and begin to leave the ravaged cities behind in search of a future that can once again hold promise... ... It was the most tired I had ever been. I laid my head down and I was gone for a little while... The sun is down all the way here. I went back upstairs. Nothing on the horizon. That time of evening when the sun is down and the moon has yet to rise. Very dark. Can't see anything in any direction. Thought they must be all sleeping in the barn, but I heard some movements out near where I... Never mind what I did there, I'll get to that soon enough, I guess. I only heard it once, but I know damn well it's one of them... Some of them... I don't believe the whiskey is going to make it to daylight, but I have a feeling I'm not going to make it to daylight either... Feeling funny now, not myself... I'll try to get this done... It was the 15th when I came awake in that truck. Hot, but desert heat... September 15th It was late afternoon when Johnny awoke. Somewhere in the day Lana had wound up beside him. He lay still, unwilling to let her go, his hand was curled protectively around her. Lana moved and he felt the sleep leave her body. One moment soft and willing, the next a live wire. "You didn't cop a feel did you?" Lana asked in a mumbled half sleepy voice. "Lana, can't you ever just say something like, good morning?" She twisted her head around and smiled. The secret smile she rarely ever gave out. "Good late afternoon," she said and the smile slipped away. There was still something there, but it wasn't that secret, vulnerable glimpse into her heart that it was usually. She stretched, yawned, and her feet came up against the door. "Next vehicle we get is an SUV so we have some place to sleep too." "I don't know, I kind of liked this," Johnny said before he could shut his mouth down. Lana laughed and it was the unguarded Lana once more. "As long as you know what the deal is." She twisted her head once more, and then her entire body so she was looking directly into his eyes. "I... I know the deal," Johnny said. The press of her body was maddening. "We really don't need to talk it out?" Johnny shook his head and looked away. "I'm a little too old for you, Lana. I know." Her eyes became sad. "Let me just say these few things." She took a deep breath and then began to speak. "I am attracted to you. I considered sleeping with you before you became my friend, before I knew it couldn't work between us. I even considered it after... Maybe ten minutes ago too, but it would cost me a friend because it wouldn't mean to me what it would mean to you. It has nothing to do with age or anything else." She held his eyes as if willing him to understand. "It's like you see me as this fragile little princess, and I am so far from that, Johnny. So far. I can't see why you try to see me that way." She laughed. "It's a thing men do. Like... Like that is love, you see? Instead of love just being about all the other stuff... The things I admire about you, you about me. The things in common, the things that we share, the parts of you and me that are real that end up in the mix... But no, I'm a princess, unattainable beauty, something to worship, and it has nothing to do with what I really am at all. I have lived that way, tried to live up to that. It's not possible... The man I need is out there, I hope. Just someone that looks at me as me." She watched his eyes...

It was about an hour and a half past sunset when Mike took over one of the perimeter guard posts from Susan. It was simply the far corner of the garage complex that overlooked a field and the highway beyond it. "Quiet?" He asked. "Pretty much. The dog... what's that dog's name anyway?" she asked. "He doesn't have one," Mike admitted. "We, uh... we just call him The Dog, you know. He survived. He got through it same as us; he made it, you know. He's The Dog." Mike finished lamely. "Oh. Sounds like a little guilt there, Mike. Maybe we should all get together and name it," Susan suggested. Mike nodded. "Well, anyway... The Dog kept looking off towards the highway. He didn't, like, bark or anything. I thought maybe deer, cows, something else. But with the meat drying, it could have drawn anything at all. The fires and so many people should be enough to keep anything away. Even if it's wolves, they'll probably stay away, right? I just thought you should know about it." Mike nodded. "Could be something, but you're probably right. Most likely it's nothing. I imagine the smell of the meat will draw every carnivore in the area. That's okay as long as they don't try to bother us. There will be plenty of scraps when we're gone." Susan nodded this time. "Mike," she hesitated and Mike nodded for her to continue. "Well, I wondered what you thought about Jan and Bob's idea of settling in the wilderness. You know, deep in the middle of nowhere... a new Nation." Mike nodded slowly. "I think they really want to do it. I think they really believe in it, Susan," he shrugged. Her eyes questioned him. "Okay... and... And I wish I could believe in it the way they do. Not that I believe it won't work. I think anything we do will take hard work, a good deal of hard work," he shrugged again. "And I think they'll put the work in, I really do. Maybe you're asking me what I want to do, and I can't tell you that. I don't know... I haven't decided. It's something Candace and I would have to take the time to sit down and decide, and we just haven't had the time to do that." "You know, in my head the old world was selfish. It was all about selfish. The me-generation? Something like that. And I'm not saying I was any better. I wasn't. Oh, I had my friends, and I helped them when I could, but when it came down to push or shove, it was me. It was me, and a lot of the people I knew, worked for, with, associated with, were the same way. Social on the surface, but scratch that surface and it's a different story. Push or shove... and not an overly hard push or shove either." He looked at her and Susan nodded. "At least for me it's been that way. I guess I sound cynical. But it's not that way anymore. I'm not that way anymore. It's not about me. It's about me and Candace. And it really isn't about us either. It's deeper. There are people here I've really come to care about. I mean really care about." Susan nodded. "Everyone I knew was too busy living to think about how they were living," she said. Apparently everyone was more appreciative of people now, not just himself, he thought. He turned his attention to the field and the highway. After his eyes became accustomed to the darkness, he could see the dark shapes of cattle grazing in the field, a few deer mixed in with them. He thought about what he had just said, how much he felt for Candace. How for the next few nights they would have a real bed. His mind filled with thoughts of her. He almost missed the radio call, almost wrote it off as one of their own, until he realized it wasn't. ~ "Hello the camp," the voice repeated. Mike unclasped the radio from his belt and raised it to his mouth and spoke. "I guess you mean us," he said more calmly than he felt. "I do," the voice answered....

On The Road Night Bear and Beth They came through the roof... Bear was talking to Beth, leaned against the door frame, staring out at the night black parking lot, when the first zombie dropped from the ceiling of the store behind them. There were four of them outside the vehicles talking or keeping watch on the parking lot. Bear and Beth, Mac and Billy. When the first one dropped Billy spun around and clubbed it to the ground. But the rest came so fast that they could not hope to easily and quickly pick them off. Beth raised her machine pistol straight up and began firing into the roof. The light from the lanterns didn't penetrate the darkness all the way to the ceiling, so there was no way to see how many there were or even where they were. She found herself wishing she still had the flashlight taped to the rifle barrel. Six dropped and Bear had to wait for them to come at him so he could be sure of shooting them and not accidentally shooting into the trucks. Billy ran from truck to truck pounding on the doors and window glass, waking everyone up. Bear reversed the stock of his rifle and ran at the Zombie in front of him. He clubbed his head flat and then reversed the rifle and shot him through the head once he was on the floor. Six more UN-dead dropped from the darkness above, one right after the other. Two landed on Bears truck, and he heard Cammy scream from inside. One stood from the roof, preparing to leap at Billy as he ran towards Don and Ginny's truck, and Bear shot him off the roof of the truck. He fell right onto one of the kerosene lanterns and the flames shot up immediately, running under and up the side of Don and Ginny's truck where the kerosene had splashed. It seemed like less than a second to Bear before the truck and the stock in the aisle behind that truck went up in flames. The line of flame rolled away into the store, catching the merchandise on the shelves as it went. Beth shot another zombie as it dropped from the ceiling and landed nearly in front of her. Don's truck started, and a second later Don's eyes showed just above the dashboard as he dropped the truck into gear and lurched forward. Bear jumped at Billy knocking him out of the way as the truck roared by with scant inches to spare. They both rolled, came up and Billy fired low, taking the legs out from under one of the dead. Bear gained his feet, spun towards the front and watched Don's truck smash dead center into one of the piles of pallets and tires. It was already burning, flames shooting from under the truck and up the sides, the flames had fanned when Don had dropped it in gear and driven from the store. The truck hit, bounced, and then came back down hard on the tires and pallets. Sparks flew high into the sky. The truck bounced twice more, Bear saw Don's head bounce off the side window, and then the truck veered sharply to the left and roared off into the parking lot covered in flames. A second later the sound of the crash came to them as the truck slammed into several cars in the lot and came to a fast halt. Bear forced himself to turn away. He couldn't afford the luxury of watching something he could do nothing about.

It happened so fast, Mike told himself later, that no one had had any time to react. They had heard nothing. Two watches were posted, Nellie and Tim on opposite ends of the circle. Nellie facing the highway, Tim looking back towards the mall. Molly had just stood up to walk over and talk to Nellie when the shot had come. The flat, loud crack of a high powered rifle. Mike's head spun hard as it automatically turned at the sound and tried to duck at the same time. And he saw Nellie falling and falling, and it seemed as though there were a fog around her head for a second and then it was gone, and in the silence he could hear blood pattering to the pavement. Molly screamed and started to run, but Ronnie tackled her to the ground. Chloe and Bear were up, machine pistols in their hands, crouched low, running for that side of the circle. Mike, Josh and Tim ran behind them, crouched over as they ran for the truck where Nellie lay on the ground. Mike made the truck, peered up over the fender, and the man was in plain sight. A fat Biker looking type standing next to an SUV pulled down onto the side of the highway. The man began to raise his rifle once more when all four of them opened up on him. He dropped instantly but no one stopped firing. The machine pistols chewed holes through the thin sheet metal of the SUV, blew the windows out and flattened both tires on the side facing them. The fire power lasted only a brief few seconds, but all of them had emptied their clips. They had all shot a second clip home before they had stopped to even draw a breath, but the momentum had ceased, and they all stood silently a moment longer, their eyes moving over the biker where he lay beside the truck. Mike forced himself to look over at Nellie. The back of her head was gone. Her eyes were open and clear, as if she could see him, as if she were looking back at him. "He's dead," he said to Ronnie. Molly fought her way free, scratching and biting, and ran to Nellie. She stopped just short of her, looked down at her for a moment, and then collapsed next to her sobbing. She pulled her toward her and tried to cradle her head, but looked down at the blood and gore that covered her hands as they slipped off her body. Her own machine pistol hung at her side. She jerked it up quickly and fumbled with the safety. "Molly," Mike said in a loud startled voice. The tears flooded from her eyes. "Fucker killed me too," she whispered. "Molly," Mike said again. He started for her. "This whole world is so crazy," Molly said. She finally got the safety off. It seemed like minutes to Mike as he replayed it later, but it was only a split second from the time she had wrenched the pistol free to where she had thumbed off the safety. He had thought... She means to make sure Nellie doesn't come back. Hard, but necessary. But Nellie wasn't going to come back. That was clear. His feet were moving. Carrying him toward her. Her eyes lifted and met his own briefly, and something there told him a different story, and he knew, but knowing did him no good. It didn't speed his feet, or help the words from his mouth any faster. Molly bought the barrel up, pulled the strap from her shoulder and just as quickly reversed the barrel, putting it in her mouth. She looked at Mike once more. Blinked. "Jesus Christ, Molly!" Mike screamed. She pulled the trigger.

A scream cut off the conversation and both men turned quickly back to the monitor. Clayton Hunter was sitting up on the steel table: Arms drooping at his side; mouth yawning. Doctor Christmas had backed away until he had met the wall behind him. Nurse Berty was nowhere to be seen. "What the f*ck... What the f*ck. Get a camera on the floor... Maybe she fainted," Kohlson said. "Got it," Johns agreed. He stabbed at the keys on his keyboard and a view of the table at an angle appeared. Nurse Bertie's leg could be seen, angled away from the table, skirt hiked high. The camera paused briefly and then the view began to shift as Johns manipulated the camera angle. Her face came into view: Mouth open, blood seeping from one corner. "Doctor," Kohlson called over the speaker system. Outside the airlocks had clicked on and the air was cycling. Good, he thought, in twenty minutes the Calvary would be here. "Doctor Adams?" The doctor finally took his eyes off Clayton Hunter and turned toward one of the cameras. On the table Clayton Hunter leaned forward and tumbled off the edge of the table. At the same instant the air purifier quit cycling and three armed men in gas masks stepped into the airlock. "Jesus," Johns sputtered into his headset microphone, "You guys can't do that shit. That air has to be worked!" Three more men stepped through the lock and the door to the autopsy room opened as well as the door to the control room. A split second later the rifles in their hands began to roar. The sound was louder than Kohlson expected in the enclosed space. He clasped his hands over his ears, but it did little good...

Mike drove the barrel of his gun into the zombies head, and only barely got it lined up to do it before he found himself on the ground, the zombie biting at him as he went down, missing by scant inches. Mike pulled the trigger and the zombies head exploded in a spray of black. Almost like a fog in the air that seemed to hang there, Mike thought, as he made it back to his feet. He ran at another zombie climbing over the hood of a truck near him. He realized then that the fog had stayed with him. In his eyes, he knew, and he hoped that Bear was right, that it could not infect him that way. He squeezed the trigger briefly and the zombie climbing over the truck flew back from the hood. He stiffened his knees to slow his momentum and the coming collision with the fender of the truck. He managed to catch himself without losing his balance and sprawling over the hood of the truck. He got himself turned and Chloe began to scream: Even as he began to turn he knew the zombie's from the woods were gone. That had been a distraction. He began to think then that they had thought out their attack. Later he was positive. Chloe's rifle came up and she fired almost as soon as Mike had found her with his eyes. Mike's head spun trying to track what she was watching. He saw it all in a short burst. Less than a second. Two zombies scrambled over the hood of one of their own trucks. Alice was between them. Already bitten. They gnashed their teeth and bit as they tried to drag her off. She clawed and fought. Mike's own gun started up but another spoke from behind him. All three blew apart in front of him and then the silence fell hard for a few seconds. The stench of expired gunpowder hung in the air. A blue-gray haze heavy in the air. The daylight was hanging on by a thread. Alice's body slid off the hood of the truck and slumped to the ground. The next gunshot came as a surprise. Mike spun around to find George collapsing to the ground. One hand held to his stomach. Blood streaming over his fingers as he toppled over. Brad, Alice's brother turned to Bear and his rifle started to come up. Ronnie yelled Bear's Name. The words came from Ronnie's mouth at nearly the same time that his rifle bucked in his hands. Mike watched it all happen in slow motion. He had simply reacted. Bear finished turning and watched as Brad flew back and slammed into the fender of a nearby car. His eyes moved from Brad to Ronnie whose rifle was still clutched tightly in his hands. Barrel smoking. He had called out Bear's name and then fired. Chloe rushed over to George but he was clearly gone. Debbie came from a crouch near the fender of a truck and stumbled to her feet. Her eyes were wide and shocked. The others stood slowly and looked around. The dead were gone. Run off into the shadows of the lot, faded back into the trees. Chloe began to stand from where she had crouched by George. She had not made it fully to her feet when his leg twitched and he started to move, his hand reaching out to grab at her. Three rifles spoke quickly and his head blew apart splattering Chloe as she tried to spring back, too late. She collapsed onto the ground and began to sob. Debbie came over, pulled her into her arms and began to cry softly with her. Mike spun and kicked the fender of a truck with one heavy boot, crushing it inward. "Easy, baby," Bear said in his bass rumble. "Easy." He turned from Mike, walked to Chloe and pulled her to her feet. "Crying don't cut it," he told her. "I'd like to give you that luxury, but I can't. Out here this is the way it is. I've lived with it for the last several months." He pulled Debbie up too. "You had to do it and you did. And a good goddamn thing you did it fast too... No telling how many more of us might have gotten dead if you hadn't." He turned to George and Brad where they lay crumpled on the ground. "Did anybody see what that was about?"

The Earth's Survivors series follows a group of people in an apocalyp[tic world. Governments are gone. Military is gone. There is no protection of any kind. Gangs and strong men rule what is left. In a formerly wild areaof the North American content a small group of survivors have begun again. Far from the destroyed cities and relying on old world knowledge to begin again, this group of people is building what they call a New Nation. From the ground up and survivors from all over are trickling in little by little to join them. Other survivors are putting together other areas, but the Nation seems to be rising above all the others.

The Earth has been rocked by a catastrophic event of immense proportions. Over 90% of the human population has been wiped out, leaving the survivors fighting tooth and nail to stay alive. The dead now walk among us, transformed by a government-released virus meant to enhance human resilience. However, this virus has backfired, causing the dead to rise and evolve, with a singular goal in their decaying minds - world domination and annihilation of the living. In the urban centers, the undead are multiplying rapidly, gaining intelligence as they adapt and change. Their relentless pursuit is to conquer the world and eradicate all who stand in their way. Yet, the living face a different threat - other survivors. As they struggle to secure resources like food and water, they are oblivious to a new apocalypse brewing around them - the Apocalypse of the Undead. With scarcity looming, they must navigate through the harsh winter, fend off rival survivor groups, and plan an escape to the southern lands come spring to rebuild society. However, a tyrannical force in Los Angeles seeks to subjugate our group, enslaving them for their own gain. Escaping may be a slim chance, but it's a chance they must take to survive.