Ch.1: Before It All Happened

Those times were the times when we thought we were going to have a successful and happy life. Living in a surburban house in Los Angeles was me, my wife Bertha and our 4-year-old daughter Abbie. Just a standard, happy family, living the American Dream.

It's not that we didn't know about the whole zombie catastrophe when it started. A failed attempt of creating living matter had resulted in a new virus-one that was said to kill people and reanimate them into ravenous, heartless cannibals. But we were not concerned. It all happened at the East Coast, a government research lab in Florida. We assumed the problem would be put down before it reached California, all the way on the West Coast, where we lived. Only... It didn't go the way we expected. And that was why we were hit by this outbreak so badly-we were unprepared.

Ch.2: Ignorance

It had been a calm month since the outbreak happened. Bertha kept consoling me to leave Los Angeles and get to somewhere safe, but every time, every single time, I refused. I simply thought that we could just fortify our home and stock up on supplies without even having to move from where we were. Now I wondered how I could have been so ignorant.

Bertha was getting more and more nervous by every passing day. She couldn't sleep at night, she kept dreaming about zombies breaking into our house and screaming out loud. I had to put her back to sleep almost every night after her nightmares. Abbie kept asking me what happened, and every time I told her that it would be fine. But I could tell she wasn't convinced.

Now that I think about it, I was taken aback by my unprofessional behaviour back then. The fall of New York and Chicago didn't even concern me. Those were large cities, difficult to take down by humans with high-tech weapons, let alone zombies with nothing but a virus. But I was stupid. Ignorant. I still remember the moment when trouble really struck us.

Oh, how I wished we had just left before that.

Ch.3: The Run

It was about 6 in the evening. I was sitting on my favourite armchair, watching Abbie play with her dolls. She was so sweet when she played. It's always a pleasure to watch her.

Soon, I heard keys turn in the lock, and Bertha stepped in, with a newspaper tucked under her arm.

'Hey, Berth'.' I said, smiling my 'whaddup' smile at her. She didn't smile back as usual.

'It's official,' she said. 'The outbreak has spread to Nevada, right next to us. Major cities like Las Vegas are already overrun. This time, you can't say no. We've got to go.'

'Fine, if you insist,' I reluctantly said, getting up. 'Abbie, take everything you need in the long term. We are getting out of here. Come on, Berth. Let's pack up.'

It has been a few hours since we had left home in our minivan, but yet we were still stuck on the highway. There were just too many evacuees. I saw cars, vans, trucks, RVs, even a firetruck-anything people could get into and drive. They were all over the highway, stretching to the horizon, stuck bumper to bumper. People were yelling, honking their horns at each other. Suddenly I heard gunshot. I didn't pay much attention to it. Just a random scuffle between the civilians and the police, I assumed. But then I started hearing more. I heard different guns now, M-4s and Kalashnikovs, with some screaming now. And that's when I saw them.

Swarms of bloody, rotten bodies were shambling along the highway, with a few trying to get into the vehicles. I saw one smash effortlessly right through a van's windscreen, and I realised that windscreens were no protection to us. 'Bertha! Come on, let's go!' I yelled. 'Abbie! We gotta go! Abbie!' She was fast asleep. It was already close to midnight then. 'I'll get all the stuff I can from the trunk! You carry Abbie as we run!' I ran to the back and snatched some canned food, a med kit, and some ammo for my grandpa's Kalashnikov. He had used it during the Cold War and had given it to me before he died. Handy weapon, he said. Bertha, with Abbie on her shoulder, beckoned me to hurry. I looked behind and saw a zombie right next to our car. I drew out my grandpa's weapon and blasted its head off. Then I spun around and sprinted. We didn't remember the details of our run-we were too dazed. Me, Bertha, Abbie-the three of us, speeding back to our city-Los Angeles.

Ch.4: Scavengers

The run that night was hectic. We were nearly killed in many occasions-we almost got run over by a Humvee, almost got shot by a frightened dude with a rocket launcher, and of course, the stampeding crowd, scared out of their skins and driving like mad.

We had found a spot to hole up in-a grocery store. It was full of food, and that was basically heaven to us. All we needed to do was fortify the place and go out for supplies every now and then. But there was one close moment. Abbie, who was already terrified, was scared by every single object and sound. When the electric systems of the city failed and the lights went out-Jesus Christ, she screamed so loudly that she actually brought a few zombies around the corner.

Life in the store was simple, but not bad. I'd tell stories to Abbie as she sat in Bertha's lap. We'd talk about how to celebrate once the apocalypse was over. And every night, we'd sit around our portable radio at dinner and plan our next move.

I was responsible for getting supplies, and that means whenever we were running low on food, water or ammo, I had to venture out into the open ground, filled with zombies. I raided everything-from stores and restaurants to garbage bins and vehicles, in hope to find something useful to us. I did strike lucky a few times, like once I found a whole crate of guns and ammo in the back of this banged-up military truck. And I'm glad to say we held out pretty well in that store as well. I used to be an engineer, and fortifying the place was no issue for me. Another perk was that zombies were extremely slow-so slow that we could just walk faster than them. This weakness did wonders for our chances of survival.

Things were actually going well for us then. I started getting more and more optimistic, thinking that maybe this wasn't so bad at all. Abbie and Bertha were no longer paranoid about zombies after a few days in the city.

We were making plans to leave Los Angeles (or what's left of it) once the situation improved a little. Canada was a nice choice for us-cold enough to freeze the zombies, while being not that far from us, and we heard through the radio that it was holding up very well due to its military. We were very lucky as Americans-great place to stay in right above us. Some countries were not that lucky, though. Britain's capital, London, was close to falling. Kazakhstan was basically an island in the middle of the sea of zombies-surrounded by Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan-all heavily infested. Poor Kazakhstan-just waiting to be ruined. That's the worst feeling ever-when you know you could die soon, but not knowing when.

We were not just going to survive-we were going to live!

Ch.5: The Siege

Bertha checked into our supplies as we ate corned beef out of tins.

'We're almost out of food again,' she said. 'Can you grab some more later?'

'Okay. Just let me finish this,' I said, scraping the bottom of the tin with my spoon for any last scraps. Food was scarce in the city, so we made sure we ate every last bit. After that, I stood up, made sure my Kalashnikov was loaded, picked it up and went towards the door, waving at Abbie and Bertha.

It was surprisingly sunny today. Apocalypses were always stereotyped as ruins of a city with a cloudy, dark sky. Apparently that was not true. I kept silent as I crept out into the open. At this moment, I realised that I had never taken the time to take in what's around me.

I could see the highway which we ran along that night, completely jammed with abandoned vehicles. I could see the office building I used to work in, still burning slightly from the insane night. The US Bank tower, the cylindrical landmark skyscraper, was leaning slightly. That was Los Angeles, after the zombies hit it. Gone in no time. I was overwhelmed by how vulnerable civilisation was. A tiny virus, and it was destroyed.

I had to get a move on. I ventured further than I had last time, into some stores I had never seen before. I saw another grocery store similar to the one we were staying in. I tested the door. It was locked. I had no choice but to kick it in. The noise was horrible. 'Gotta move fast,' I thought to myself. 'They can be here anytime.' I grabbed some canned beans, tinned fish, and a few bottles of water, which were, thankfully, still not expired. 'Great, now let's get back.' I thought.

I crept out back into the street. Suddenly I heard moans. I whipped around and saw a giant crowd of zombies, lumbering slowly but steadily towards me. I ran, but quickly encountered another horde. I turned to an alleyway, but it was choked with zombies as well. There was no other way I could see.

This was a siege. I was surrounded.

Ch.6: Potential

I didn't have much time to decide. Quickly, I ducked into the alleyway and mowed down all the zombies in my way. Then I pulled as many bins and dumpsters as I can in front of me to form a temporary barrier against the raging horde of zombies, and that bought me time to climb up a pipe on a building.

The climb was horrible. I had never climbed like this before, and my muscles felt like they were about to explode. But after a few moments of agony, I managed to haul myself up onto the building. I looked down and caught a glimpse of a massive sea of zombies, all frantically trying to reach up at me. Thank God zombies couldn't climb. Then I started to formulate a way out of there.

I could see our store on that side. That means I had to jump across the alleyway to get to the other side so I could get back. At first I hesitated. Then I threw all my things over to the other side. I retracted a few paces. Then I sprinted-and leapt. I barely managed to grab hold of the buildings side, and pulled myself up. Then I grabbed my stuff and climbed down the fire escape. And I sprinted until I got back to our store. I burst through the door and slumped over in relief. Bertha and Abbie just stared at me like I was the weirdest guy they had ever seen.

Yeah, I never knew I could do that. All my adult life, I'd been sitting in an office chair, working away at a computer.

Now I knew I could.

Ch.7: Raid

We heard fighter jets as we were having lunch.

'What's that, daddy?' Abbie asked, looking at me curiously.

'Planes.' I smiled.

'Can I see them? Just for a few seconds?'

'Sure.'

I held her as we went out. We both looked up and saw a squadron of Harriers streaming above the city. I figured they were here to patrol.

'Woah...' she muttered, completely awestruck. She had never seen these planes before, let alone Harriers, which could hover.

They had stopped above the business district. They didn't keep going as I had expected. Suddenly, I saw a bright streak hurtling down from the squadron. It caught the flimsy structure of the US Bank Tower right in the middle and brought the entire top of the building crashing down. This wasn't a patrol. Not at all. It was a raid!

'Bertha! Get down to the basement! Now!' I followed her down, carrying Abbie, and slammed the door shut. And we shielded Abbie from the blasts. I felt a round land above us, sending bits of cement showering down. Jars and bottles rocked and fell from shelves.

Finally, the bombings stopped. I went over and opened the door, and almost got blown away by the pungent smell of smoke. I ventured further out and looked around. Our store was completely destroyed.

We stood next to each other as we watched our city burn. Abbie was weeping, while we simply stood spellbound.

Ch.8: Jackpot

Los Angeles was too damaged for us to live in. We decided to leave about half an hour after the raid.

'That's it,' I said. 'We're packing up and leaving soon.'

'We don't need to,' Bertha said. 'We can still possibly live here. We just need a new shelter, that's all.'

'We can't stay here,' I countered. 'The bombings have damaged too much of Los Angeles for it to be any use for us. Such a long air raid has probably destroyed all means of supplies and cover. Without any source of supplies or physical cover, we won't last long here.'

Bertha was silent. Finally, she agreed. We picked up what was left of our supplies and left, leaving Los Angeles behind us as it burned. Abbie was scared of leaving the store, and I had to carry her for her to calm down.

We walked for hours, searching every single structure on our way. Eventually, we found a roadside town.

'We might have a chance here.' Bertha said, turning to me.

'We can't risk it, Bertha,' I said. 'There could be a ton of zombies inside. I'd say we do a quick search of the place and leave quickly.'

Bertha agreed, and we split ways. I made sure to give her one of the pistols and some ammo for it I found in that military truck. I searched a house, an old-looking structure. There was nothing useful.

We searched for quite a long time, and still we found nothing. We begun to lose hope. Bertha actually suggested leaving.

'Wait, Bertha, just this one more building.' I said.

I broke into a garage on the outskirts of the town. It was really dark inside, and I had to feel my way around. I brushed my hand against a torch. I tried it and it lit the whole room, revealing an RV with canisters of fuel on its roof.

Oh my God.

'Bertha, you'd want to see this.' I said. Leading Abbie into the dim room, she simply stared at the vehicle in front of us.

'You're not serious, right?', she stuttered.

'Nope. The engine seems to be okay,' I said, pulling up the hood. 'It's just a bit rusty, that's all. Now let's fuel this thing.'

'Oh, God.' Bertha muttered. 'We'd hit a jackpot.'

Ch.9: Road Trip

We had put all of our stuff into the RV we found and driven away. Before that, I had found a few things to fortify the vehicle. I found some wire mesh for boarding up the windows, some used vehicle parts as iron plates that can sturdy the doors, and even a bulldozer blade to put up front. I had to weld it to the RV, and thank God there was a welding kit in the garage. Then we hopped in and left.

We passed quite a lot of objects that, to be honest, made me a bit sad. I saw a family of zombies, still stuck in their SUV. They tried to claw at me as we drove by them. I saw a wooden shack with 'SOS' painted on its roof, and a man who was staring right at us as he was consumed by a horde of zombies. Occasionally, we hear squadrons of fighter jets above us, probably off to bomb more places. And most of all, we saw military checkpoints, where we all had to get off and get scanned for infection. Abbie hated the sniffer dogs there. They were large and intimidating, and once we saw them barking away at a man behind us. He kicked and yelled as the soldiers carried him away and tossed him into a van.

We decided to get as far away as we can from all cities and towns, then plan our next move. Thankfully the radio in the RV still worked, so we could still listen for information.

Finally we found a good spot to stop. I got out, muscles cramped from all those hours driving the RV. Bertha was comforting Abbie, telling her that everything was going to be fine. We made a fire and had tinned fish for dinner that night. Then I stood guard as Bertha and Abbie went back to the RV and fell asleep.

Ch.10: America Has Fallen

Canada was where we were headed. We chose there, as like I have said before, it wasn't far from us, and cold enough to freeze the zombies. So, we headed north first thing in the morning.

So far, none of us had been infected by any zombies, and our RV was quite sturdy against zombies. I knew it as we once ran into a massive horde of zombies. I told Abbie to look away. Then I plowed though the crowd with the dozer blade in front of the RV. I heard fists slamming against the side of the vehicle, but the doors didn't give way. So, our chances of survival was very high if we were careful.

But the worst thing that could happen happened.

We were cruising along a straight country road at a pretty good speed. We didn't need to worry about fuel, as we had stocked up on fuel at the garage-enough to get us to Canada. Once we got there, we can even contribute to Canada by giving their military our RV for steel. Who knows, maybe they had invented a type of multipurpose melee weapon and needed steel. And that's when the report came in.

'Washington D.C. is being engulfed by extremely large groups of zombies,' came the frantic voice of a reporter. 'We are reporting live from a helicopter above the president's residence, the White House. The guards are doing their best to hold off the hordes of zombies which seem to keep coming, but they look to be failing to do so. The zombies are now inside the lawn and the president is in danger. They are now breaking into the White House's left wing, and...' I switched radio stations. 'Reports are coming in from all over the country that Washington D.C. is in grave danger, close to being overrun. The president is trapped in the White House as hordes of zombies are attacking the left wing. Much of the capital is now overrun, and it may fall anytime. The fall of Washington may mean...' I heard the reporter sigh. 'May mean the fall of America. God bless us, and may America stand tall against the apocalypse.' I heard quiet sniffles. Then came a full minute of silence. Then he spoke again, his voice trembling. 'Reports have come... come from our helicopter in Washington D.C. The White House has been... has been overrun. Washington D.C. has been destroyed. America... has...'

That was enough for me. I turned off the radio and looked back at Bertha and Abbie. They simply stared into nothingness. I looked away and stopped the RV, not wanting to risk crashing because of my shock and sadness. I buried my face in my hands, staring emptily at the American national flag hanging from a short pole on the hood.

This was it. America has fallen. My heart felt like it was about to burst.

Ch.11: Anarchy

America was the first country to fall in the outbreak. It makes sense-the whole outbreak started here.

Since the American government has fallen, complete anarchy has spread among its land. Some states became independent nations, while some were conquered by these new countries. Some states were completely overrun and destroyed, leaving them as deserted wastelands, raging with zombies.

As we drove through the empty land that used to be America, I felt that there was yet another reason to leave for Canada. Without a functional government or an active military, we were very vulnerable here. The new countries, we decided, were not reliable, as they were too young and weak. That and the amount of zombies around us.

But that didn't affect us. We still had enough food and water-we just raided stores and vehicles around us. We didn't shoot zombies from the RV-we ran them over. Shooting them from the RV would mean shooting the windscreens, our only source of protection. Reinforcements only made them slightly stronger, but not strong enough to hold up against bullets.

The drive up north was rather uneventful. Abbie once tried to get me to play with her while I was driving, and that distraction made me swerve off the road and almost fall into a ditch. She never tried that again. We stopped every night and entertained each other by telling jokes or stories. We never got bored after that. But I never let them out of the vehicle. To us, the RV was the safest place in the world.

We had almost got to Canada. We were in northern Oregon, and we only had to cross Washington to get there. And we'd take it from there. Or maybe they'd built a refugee camp and had room for some more.

America was gone, but we were full of hope. However, this shenanigan that happened at the border almost shattered our dreams.

Ch.12: Safe Or Not

We had reached Washington, which was one of the states which had become independent countries. It had conquered Idaho, which was weakened a lot by the zombies and agreed to join Washington. It was also, thankfully, the last area we need to cross to get to Canada. However, due to the fact that Washington was now a country, getting through its border was not quite as easy. They required you to have a passport and an ID card, which, thankfully, I had in my wallet. They also scanned you for infection. Not to mention Abbie's hatred to those sniffer dogs. But they didn't bark at us. One actually sat down and wagged its tail at her. It even let Abbie pat its head. I guess her fear of dogs was gone.

It took us hours to get through the border. We had to fill in about ten forms, with about five which I think were unnecessary. I mean, nationality and health condition are normal things to ask about, but fertility? Model of vehicle? Good God, these new countries have a lot to learn.

But finally, we got through. We drove for two days to get past Washington (then officially known as The Democratic Federation of Washington), occasionally stopping to ask for directions. The people didn't even mind us taking some of their supplies and food, even ammo. They were nice people, unselfish and considerate. They felt sorry for us having to travel across states just to keep ourselves alive with nothing but an RV and some supplies. One particularly nice family even let us stay in their house for the night. We gave them some of our food as a thank-you gift.

It was dusk and we were driving in our RV. Suddenly, Abbie shouted.

'Look! We're almost there!'

Squinting, I began to see the faint image of the Canadian border, with Canada's national flag above it.

'Come on, we'll not stop this time. Let's go for it!' I said, stepping on the accelerator hard. I felt a judder go through the cabin as the engine roared, bringing us speeding towards the border. But then I saw flashes of guns and thousands of zombies.

'Hold on to something,' I yelled over the noise. 'We're about to bust through this wall of zombies.'

Swerving left and right past abandoned vehicles, I crushed the zombies under us. A bullet flew right through the windscreen and whizzed past my ear, but I kept going. Then two Canadian military jeeps came over and escorted us to the safety of Canada.

Safe at last. I breathed a sigh of relief.

'We're here. Canada.' I said, turning back. 'I think we... Abbie! What? ABBIE! HEY!'

The stray bullet had hit her in the stomach, and she was passed out. Bertha was trying to revive her.

'Hey! Excuse me!' I yelled at the soldiers next to us, getting off. 'We need emergency medical assistance! Now!'

Two men got in and carried Abbie away on a gurney.

'Stay strong, Abbie,' I whispered with all my might, while Bertha simply stood there and prayed.

Ch.13: Canadian Life

I sat outside the hospital room with Bertha as Abbie lay unconscious in her bed. A nurse had told us earlier that the surgery was successful and that she is in a stable condition. That calmed us down a little, but we were still nervous.

'She's up,' a nurse told us. 'You can see her, but for only a few minutes.' Bertha was through the door at the word 'You'. We dashed in and hugged her tight, overcome by relief.

'You're fine,' I finally whispered after a few seconds.

'Yes, daddy,' she said, looking up at me.

We plan to go back home after the outbreak has ended. And they didn't need our RV as well; they said they had enough resources and we could keep it if we wanted to. And of course we did-to serve as a souvenir of the disaster for our future generations.

I was glad to say that life in Canada was actually pretty nice. They fought off the zombies all day. We got to do work for food. I enrolled for fixing vehicles, which was a piece of cake for me. One day of that and we got a day's worth of food for the whole family, which was very good a deal. And we got fresh information from all over the world every day. Major news was that China had cleared out its zombies and reformed its government, which became a democracy. Middle Eastern countries like Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan had joined together to form the Middle Eastern Confederation, a brand new country. But bad news came too. Fallen countries include Israel, New Zealand, America, Chile and Indonesia. Russia, which hadn't done anything to aid its civilians, has been overthrown by rioters, and had split into five countries, but I never took the time to remember their names.

But we were safe here in Canada. For once, since the time we tried to leave, we were truly safe. We started to learn to relax and forget about the outside world, teeming with zombies.

Ch.14: Return

It has been 5 years since we had arrived in Canada. Besides working for the government, we occasionally get holidays from them. At those days, we'd get into our RV and drive around Canada. We'd visit places we'd never seen before, and even Vancouver, which we had promised to go to with Abbie a long time ago. She was definitely happy about that.

People around us kept asking to buy our RV, but we refused every time. As I said, we were going to keep it as a memorial for our family, and we'd never sell it to anyone no matter what. It was a happy five years, and we loved it.

Finally, the outbreak has been downgraded from a pandemic to an epidemic. Canada had helped clear most of America's zombies, and we were clear to return soon.

We were arranged to take a Canadian cargo plane back to Los Angeles. The moment we stepped off, I felt absolutely happy. I knew there was hardly anything to return to, but I was glad to just be home. We waited for the plane containing our RV to arrive, then hopped in and drove back to our house.

It has been mostly destroyed by the bombings, and much of the things inside had been looted. It didn't matter to us.

'Home at last,' I said.

'Now what?' asked Bertha, turning to me.

'We wait,' I replied, smiling slightly. 'We wait for the restoration. We shall rebuild, nothing shall stand in humanity's way.'

'You're one confident man, ain't ya?' Bertha laughed, nudging me.

'Why not?'

We decided to drive around more before we planned anything else. We drove around the business district, but we were mostly blocked off by debris. We turned around and drove to the store we had claimed so long ago.

'This looks so familiar,' Bertha said.

'Yep,' I answered. 'This was where we had holed up in that time.'

We had got to the top of a hill to watch the sun set over the city.

'So...' Bertha sighed.

'So.' I replied aimlessly. A convoy of Humvees and armoured vehicles rushed by us, speeding towards the city. 'Everything will be alright now.' The sun had sunken to the horizon, rays of sun shining between crumbling, deserted buildings. 'Forget everything. Just sit back and relax.'

At ease. No stress. Free. This was all we had wanted-ever, ever wanted all our lives.