The night was foggy, quiet, and no one was awake. Sitting on the balcony, I saw a helicopter flying over the pitch-black city. You could only see the helicopter’s light. Just then, bang, the helicopter blows into flames and smoke, and the ground shakes. I run inside as fast as I can and grab my dog, Charlie.

I get in the car and drive off. When I get to the edge of the city, the streets are closed. Standing there, shaking, there is no way in and no way out. As I drive back to my house, I see it. People are going crazy around me. I try to get back home but there are too many people stopping my track, banging on my windows. I realize these people aren’t human, almost the undead coming back to life. Unknown of what comes next, I floor it, going faster than I thought my Ford Focus could go.

Terrified, I made it back home. I grab my shotgun from the basement ready for anything. “Tap” “tap” “tap” they’re here. I try to hold them off as well as I can but there are too many of them. It’s the end, I lay there making my peace, just as I see the light. Something grabs me, it drags me out as it puts a bag over my head. I get thrown in the back of a car. All I can hear is chaos throughout the streets–gunshots, screams, flames.

After many hours of driving, I hear a voice.

“Grab him and tie him up!”

All I can think about is my dog. I feel hands grab me. They pin me to a chair with my hands tied as they rip the bag off my head. Trees, Nature, Fresh Air…confused.

They ask me what my name is. “Eric,” I say with fear in my voice.

“Well Eric,” they say, “This isn’t Chicago anymore, it’s Utah.”

“Across the country?!” I say with anger running through my body. I break the ropes tying me to the chair. I swing, with a balled-up fist and a stiff arm, and I hit him. I can feel his face around my fist as I push through.

“BANG!” Another person had unknowingly come around the car and shot me in the foot with a shotgun. I fell to the ground, clutching my foot, yelling, “What did you do with my dog!”

“What dog?” They say.

“The dog that was with me that night!” I say while my foot continues to bleed. Just then we hear a noise from the woods.

“They’re here,” the man says as they grab me and throw me into the back of their truck. As we speed off away from the woods, all I can think about is my dog. After about an hour of driving, we stopped at a supermarket and that’s when I tried to make a run for it. I stand up and try to jump out of the truck, but my legs are tied together. I trip and bust my head on the concrete.

“He’s trying to escape!” They say as they hop out of the truck. They grab me, bring me into the supermarket, and lay me on the floor as we see undead coming from the back of the store, feasting on the old employees.

“We gotta get out of here!” They say while shooting the creatures. One by one they pile in from the back of the store.

As I lay there, I could feel my time coming to an end. Then I hear a bark from my left as I feel a tongue touch my face. I open my eyes, seeing him, Charlie. He found me. Out of nowhere, I feel myself gain all the strength back to stand up. I tell Charlie to run. We both run as fast as we can even with my foot still having a bullet in it. As we get out of the store, I see the men that kidnapped me, lifeless on the ground. I steal their shotgun and their keys. “Get in!” I yell to Charlie as I open the door. He hops in and we speed off, hitting a few undead on the way.

As I drive, I hear a faint voice, almost a person trying to get my attention. It seems like it’s close to me. I stopped the car and searched for the sound. After a few minutes of looking, I check the glove box to see a walkie-talkie with someone on the other end. Overjoyed, I yell through the walkie-talkie. They say they are in the city of Chicago surrounded by the undead. “I’m on my way,” I say as I start up the engine.

I make it back to the city but nothing, it’s all run down with undead everywhere. Unknown of what to do, I drive through, hitting all the undead that get in my way. I make it to the biggest building to look over the roof to see if I see anyone. When I make it up there, I see people, and they look nice. They point a gun at me while telling me to get down. I show them the walkie-talkie and they are in disbelief that I found them. After I’m greeted, a lady who seems to be a medic rushes over to me asking if I’ve been bitten. I say “no” and she looks down to see the bullet wound in my foot. “Wow!” She says as she bandages it up. We go inside the building, and I tell them everything that happened. Just as they are about to say something, the building shakes. An earthquake had begun, and the building collapsed as I fell into a pile of rubble, unconscious.

To be continued…