Gabe Kohlson moved away from the monitors. "Heart rate is dropping, don't you think..." He stopped as the monitor began to chime softly. Before he could get fully turned around the chiming turned into a strident alarm that rose and fell. "Dammit," Kohlson said as he finished his turn."What is it," David Johns wheeled his chair across the short space of the control room. His outstretched hands caught him at the counter top and slowed him at Kohlson's monitor."Flat lined," Kohlson said as he pushed a button on the wall to confirm what the doctors one level up already knew. Clayton Hunter was dead."I see it," Doctor Ed Adams replied over the ceiling speakers. The staff called him Doctor Christmas for his long white beard and oversize belly. "Berty and I are on the way.""Lot of good that will do," Johns muttered.Kohlson turned to him. "Go on in... Do CPR if you want... They don't pay me enough to do it. I don't know what that shit...

John watched as Bear helped the girls move their sleeping bags and back packs over to a clear space on the factory floor. He didn't see what Madison saw in Cammy, but it was her choice, and she wouldn't get a second chance with him. He came close to slamming his fist into the cement floor.Not frustrated at all, he told himself. Not even a little.He was about to roll out his sleeping bag and go to sleep, maybe tomorrow would have a different spin, he thought briefly, when Bear walked over and dropped down in a squat next to him. He moved so fast and easy for a big man. "Hey," John was startled into saying.Bear smiled. "Didn't mean to startle you... Thought you saw me coming.""No... No, you didn't startle me at all," John lied.Bear nodded. He cleared his throat a little. "Maddy and I talked a little... This place is safe, but it isn't where we need to be, so we thought we'd light out... Tomorrow... Jersey, maybe further, either...

Bob and Jan Dove are also with us. I don't know what I would do without Jan. She is level headed where I am impulsive, a thinker; where I tend to just act. A good balance. Bob has an idea of rebuilding his peoples' lands. He's Native American, and so is Jan. It sounded crazy when he first said it, but after I thought about it, it began to make sense to me.Lydia is the other member of our party. She hates me. That's because Tom wants me, and she wants Tom. Maybe that will fix itself before I have to fix it by leaving and going on my own.Today we decided to see if the city was any better on the other side of the river. It isn't. We crossed the river, the Black river, on a railroad trestle. There is a traffic bridge, and it looks passable, but it's clogged with cars and some of those cars look purposely placed to block it off. That creeped me out.We walked across the trestle, carefully, and went up State street. There's a store...

Billy paced the hallway, trying to think it out, telling himself they had to leave soon. Telling himself it was the right thing to do. The problem was that he was not used to doing the right thing. So unused to it, in fact, that he wasn't sure he wanted to try... should try.The world had been turned upside down for the last few days. There was no official word that anything was wrong at all, but someone had fucked up. Of that he had no doubt at all.The police? Gone. Fire department? Ditto. Army? Well, wasn't the National Guard supposed to show up when the shit hit the fan? But so far the army had not raised a finger to do anything for them at all. There was a base right over by the airport near the Los Angeles Freeway, but there had been no sign of them.He lived on the north side, a high rise that had been new sometime back in the seventies. He had gone up to the roof twice during the day and looked over the city.It appeared to be dead. There...

THE ZOMBIE KILLERS: MISSION ZEROSeptember 16thThe Old State CampgroundsThe state park sign was overgrown, sun faded and leaning at the side of the road.The four trucks sat idling just inside the treeline of the old narrow road that lead down into the campground. The drivers door of the second truck in line popped open, and Beth, wearing military style fatigues and carrying a wire stock machine pistol, walked up to the driver's side of the lead truck and tapped on the glass.Billy looked up from the map he was reading. "Beth, Just checking out this map. I think this is right." His finger jabbed at a spot on the map that had been circled with red ink. "This used to be a state park. It's early. I thought we should stop, plan where we go next.""Good a place as any, I guess," Beth said. She looked up, staring down along the gloomy road and into the abandoned campground."What?" Billy asked.Beth shook her head. "Nerves are...