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Cowboys, and now a wartime tale. Hurrah. ^^

Keep it up, ladies and gentlemens. cool

Bizarre meeting-your-best-friend story!! Interesting!

It'll be up to the votes, o'course...

Good work, everyone!! I'm still getting more items; Keep it rolling!

Don't let all my fishing be in vain!!! wink

I am writing one ... but it might take a few days to put up.. ^.^

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O_O

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SPOON! ^_^

this is taking forever. >.<
does noone in gaia want to write stories about missing thumbs?! D:
lol. whered you get the ending anyway?

I wrote it. :>)

All was quiet on the western front. The world had gone from speeding out of control to barely turning in a matter of hours. The dead stood still as God had intended. The city stood silent, no cars moved, no animals called out, newspapers floated in the streets. Only days earlier the world had been chaotic and noisy, always busy.

I had always wanted more, more money or friends or things. It didn't matter what I just wanted more. I had never thought much of what I had. My girlfriend was just kind of there. My best friend was a good guy but I wanted a better one. I had a good job as an editor of a fairly large magazine. My loft was well furnished and comfortable. But, I didn't want any of it. Alice was pretty good to me, but she often snapped me out of day dreams of what could have been and what could be.

About a week ago I was headed home from work, waiting at a red light, when suddenly a car went careening into the intersection crashing into the wrong side of traffic. The driver sat perfectly still, head resting on the deployed airbag. I hurled myself out of the taxi I was in, ignoring the driver's yells, and ran to the accident. Something compelled me to help, an action that normally wasn't in my character.

"Are you all right? Can you move?", I half shouted as I opened the door.

With out any warning the driver lunged at me. Hands grasping at the air, mouth snapping at. The man's seat belt saved me that day, I realize now. His eyes were milky and dead, his skin pale, the gash across his forehead not even bleeding. He let out a deep, animalistic moan, as he struggled to escape from his confinement.

I was terrified yet completely entranced by this vision of death, I couldn't even hear the screams as those who had followed me turned and ran. This was it, the chance I needed for life to get spiced up. How foolish I was just a few days ago.

I ran back to my taxi, now deserted by the terrified driver, slide into the driver seat and sped back to my apartment. Every intersection had a similar scene to mine, but most had gruesome results, as the grotesques devoured the flesh of those who had hoped to aid them. Ambulance lights danced on the stationary vehicles as the drivers themselves began to lurch in undeath, after having attempted to save those already turning.

I slammed on my brakes as I got to my building. The walking dead had already begun to hunt for the living. The police had blocked off streets with cars and where firing on those who marched on, unheeding of the demands the cops barked at them. Had these people never paid attention to a zombie movie. The head! Aim for the head! I rushed into my building and ran up the stairs. I hurdled up them two and three at a time as I progressed up to the fifth floor. I approached my door, gasping for breath, and fumbled for my keys. As the locks clicked into place, I heard a dreadful moan from the other side of my door. Alice. Damn. Moans began to echo through the building as if being beckoned to my door. The fists of the dead make wet thumps as they slam into the doors that now barricade them into their once expensive high rise mausoleum.

I decided to progress slowly down the stairs, unsure of what attention may have been brought my way. I could still hear moaning from above, but was getting anxious as the moans began to get closer from below. As I rounded the third flight of stairs I saw one. The eyes didn't seem to focus as the head snapped towards me, the face partially ripped off the right side and hanging loosely to the dripping muscle. It's mouth opened and it lunged after me. I evaded to the right, leaning to far and flipping over the railing. My back roared in agony as I collided with the stairs. Get up. Get up. Run.
I got up. I ran. I hurled myself down the stairwell, into the lobby. The recently dead lurched around me. Adrenaline pulsed through me, letting me continue my frantic rush for the outside.

My taxi sat right outside the building, still running. My next stop was my buddy Ron. I drove, weaving past the many motionless vehicles that clogged the streets, clotting intersections like veins. Cars drove past me as others attempted to escape from the city while I headed towards the very heart. Why had Ron wanted to live so far in? As I drove I made sure to slam the car into any lurchers that made their way into the streets. I learned this was a bad idea when suddenly and without warning the car rolled to a halt, steam pouring out of the engine. Great. Would have to continue on foot for 15 blocks. Can't trust cars that could have a horrible surprise in the back seat. The sun began to disappear as night began to creep over the city.

I made my way down the street keeping my distance from anything I couldn't see under. I gave alleyways a wide berth as I passed them. The undead could be heard shambling around. I stayed as quiet as possible. I knew their vision had faded, theirs eyes dying with most of the brain. I was more worried about being heard or smelled. Ten more blocks. I tripped on a severed arm, hitting the pavement hard. The shambling stops. I slowly raise myself up. The shambling begins again as their surprisingly attuned sense of hearing pinpoints my location. I start to sprint. A low guttural moan is heard from behind. Several similar moans are heard, all from surrounding areas. The clang of trash cans behind knocked over and the lids being kicked echo out of alleys on both sides. I run, my legs aching and lungs burning. Five blocks left. I hurdle over toppled hot dog carts. Thank the Lord for high school track team. I spot the building. It's not far now. I pull from deep down, draw on what remains of my reserves. I slow down, drawing for breath I can't find. My mind stops. I can barely hear the moans, but their definitely getting closer. Legs stop, glued in place as the torso keeps moving. I collapse. The world darkens.

My eyes opened. MY EYES OPENED. I'm alive. I can think. I looked around. I didn't recognize the place I was in. My head was pounding. Suddenly my brain shot into fourth gear. I heard moans and shambling lurkers beyond my sight. The door was hammered shut, but the frame was starting to bulge inward. It might last another hour at the most. I notice someone sitting across from me. He was sitting calmly, sipping a cup of coffee. When he looked at me he raised the mug, tipped his head and continued to drink.

"Howdy. You've been out for a good 8 hours now. Want some coffee?"

His words sounded like poorly acted lines pulled straight from a B-movie.

"Yeah, coffee sounds good. I take it black.", I groaned as I sat up, my back remembering the stairs it had collided with.

"Good, that's the only way it gets served here. Just out of curiosity, why did you run deeper into the city?", he asked, the question looming in the air. He was expecting a tale of valiant effort.

"I was headed to my friends apartment, to get some help.", I responded as the man handed a piping hot mug of java, "Just out of curiosity, who are you?"

"Name's James. And you are-"

He was cut of by the groan of the door starting to give. James dropped his cup as he hurried from his seat and out of the room, the sound of it shattering drowned out by the moans and the door frame starting to splinter. He hurried back into the room hold a power drill and wooden boards. James quickly, with the look of an experienced carpenter about it, drill boards into place strengthening the door frame.

"This place won't be safe much longer. Their stronger than they look. I was at the gym when the break started. I watched a guy who benched 250 get pushed to the ground."

It made sense. Without the brain sending the needed signals, the muscles could work till they turned to dust, no fear of pain holding them back.

"What floor are we on?", this was the kind of information that I needed to know.

"Top floor. Halls are packed full of 'em though."

"Do you have a saw?", I petitioned quizzically.

"Yup, what do you have planned?"

With in moment we where at work, sawing our way through the floor and ripping up boards as we progressed. I peeked into the apartment below. Empty. I eased my way into the room. As soon as I was down James quickly followed. We set to work on this floor. I heard the door above us suddenly collapse. As my attention shifted I felt a burst of pain. James had sawed off my left thumb! Damn! Expletive deleted! I rushed around the room looking for something to stop the bleeding. Paper towels, hand towels, string, and three safety pins later I was back to work.

Floor after floor, we continued down. Sometimes we had to decapitate a zombie that was positioned directly below us waiting arms outstretched, like a child waiting for its mother to lift it up. Finally out the window the street was sprawled out before us. Less zombies then I had thought it would have. They must have progressed up stairs while I was out. Good. I looked out the peep hole. The area visible was empty. I opened the door. The stifling silence of this floor was made eerier by the many open doors, some of which had been forced inward. James and I stepped out into the hall and still nothing. I lifted the crowbar I had found while searching for a first-aid kit. The only noise came from above as the zombies marched into the holes we had made, hitting floors with wet, sloppy thuds. There was no one left alive in this building but me and James. I knew it instinctively. And had already learned to trust my gut.

We headed out into the streets, walking patiently, conserving the energy we had. Three blocks away we raided a mini-mart, grabbing some supplies. We marched on like this till noon, when we came across the first pack I had seen since the night before. James moved first, bolting down the nearest side street. Before I could even think, I was following him. He quickly darted around the next corner. I sped up. As I continued down the corner a had grabbed my shoulder and pulled me against the wall. James had pulled next to a dumpster and signaled for quiet. We sat still. The slight groaning of the decaying limbs as they walked began to pass.

Several minutes passed. We continued. Every mini-mart we passed we raided for non-perishable goods. Soon we had canned food and bags jerky and chips galore. We marched on.

Suddenly a thought grasped me and I turned to James, "Where are we headed?"

"Judging by the street, looks like we are going to the docks."

The docks. Good. We could take a ship, and hopefully make it towards a safe place, across the sea somewhere. I sped up. No, traveling was out of the question. There was no guarantee that this plague was not so wide spread as to have encompassed most of the world. The docks still worked though. We hurried along, ignoring the sounds of the lurking undead. Night was coming soon, and I didn't want to be caught outside when they had the advantage.

"James, how far are the docks?", I dared a whisper to my companion.

"Only a few more blocks. They should be visible soon."

I didn't know the area well, so I let James lead on. He had a better sense of direction. I took charge when we encountered any trouble. While he was most definitely better than me physically, I was a quick study. I had already developed a strategy for each encounter by they time he decided to act. I used cans as a distraction braking up groups then dealing with the stragglers with swift sure blows to the head. The skulls had decayed faster than should have been normal. Maybe a side effect of the plague? It didn't matter, as long as they went down easy.

We made camp in a dumpster. The lids would be nearly be impossible for a zombie to manage and the trash actually made a comfortable bed for our aching backs.

I woke first. I listened patiently for any signs of the undead. It was perfectly silent. Of course. The trash's awful pungent odor had covered ours. A surprising bonus that I hadn't considered. As we left we kept to the alleyways, deciding that any live traffic might have pulled them out to the streets. We were vary wrong. As we rounded a corner we spotted a group of rapidly decayed zombies tearing apart the disemboweled corpse of what appeared to be a young woman. She had been dead for sometime apparently, as her head and upper torso pulled at the lower half of her body, feasting on her own unchanged intestines. I wretched over as my stomach tried to force up all the nothing I had eaten recently. My dry heaving pulled the attention of some towards us.

"Run!!!", James yelled as he grabbed my arm and ran.

We ran. Our feet carried us like the wind. The poetic imagery was lost on me at the time as sheer terror gripped and twisted my insides. We ran. The animal moans echoed out from nearby streets. We were going to die. We couldn't out run all of them, and eventually we would run into them. Those thoughts were the only thing running through my mind. And then, appearing suddenly, a burst of sunlight in my never ending night, I saw ships. Boats, yachts, cruise liners, and skiffs of all sizes loomed in my view.

We ran. I rushed towards a large, ship covered in containers. It made perfect sense. It would have little space beneath deck and be extremely hard for the zombies to enter. We were home free. We rushed up the ramp leading on board the ship. Undead were following us as we turned. Practically reading each others minds we reached for the ramp. We pushed. We strained every fiber of muscle we could use. We dropped the into the bay. We had made it.

The remains of the afternoon were spent searching the ship, from top to bottom, and didn't find a single rotting body. In the captain's room I found a bottle of whiskey. I didn't drink much but it was a special occasion. I headed back up to the deck and the sunset, handing my new found friend and sidekick a glass. We worked really well together. We seemed to think on the same wave length.

I took another shot of whiskey and smirked at the sunset.

Horseshoes and hand grenades. Potatoes and gravy. Black and white. That's about how we worked, despite everything, worked. We liked it that way too.

I still might pay him back for my thumb.

hoo-boy, let's see...

It was a cool summer's eve, i was outside, staring at the sunset. It was all normal, for about 5 minutes. Everything went black, then exploded into bright light. My eyes took a few minutes too adjust, and when they did, i wish they hadn't. An ugly green pug looking animal was snarling in my face. I tried to scramble back but my hands and feet were chained to the floor, no that wasn't right, i wasn't on a floor, i was on a table. And the animal was simply a trick played by my eyes. It was actually a bright light. So bright, in fact, i couldn't look directly at it. When i looked around i saw some creatures around me, i tried to suppress a scream but it came out anyway. The creatures around me looked like four legged purple dinosaurs, with test-tubes. "Hakergsor! Hakergsor!" I heard one of the creatures yell, jumping up and down. Something flew out of the test-tube and hit me. I almost puked. It was blood, human, blood. I suddenly was aware of breathing behind me, and tried to look. When i did i saw a head of shaggy, blonde hair, nothing else. I tried to pull free but the chains just got tighter, so i stopped pulling. What happened next is still a blur. I heard sizzling, then the clink of metal on metal. I saw the head move up, bending over and getting off the table. The "scientists" were trying to hold it back, but either they were weak or it was strong, because it easily knocked them down, then headed for me. I braced for impact, but instead i felt a pressure come off of my wrists and heard a gruff voice say "come", so i did. I then saw that the head of hair belonged to a body, human, luckily. "Who are you?" I asked. "My name is brian, and before you ask, we're breaking out of here." I didn't complain. I could almost picture my mom on the phone to the police filing a missing persons report. I nearly bumped into brian as he stopped short. I looked past him and saw robots, with guns. I turned to run but there were robots behind us also. Brian pointed up, i looked up, i saw an air duct. "i can't-" "i can" brian said, jumping up, ripping the grate off and climbing inside, putting a hand down to me. I grabbed it, as the robots started shooting. We crawled, dodging lasers being shot through the metal of the duct. Brian found a metal pan and grabbed it as a shield. I grabbed a bar of a grate that had fallen out as a weapon. We jumped down the next grate. Big mistake. There were hundreds of robots, but behind them there was a door, the door out, brian had told me. Then the robots fired. I dove behind brian, but quickly realized that would do no good. I threw my bar, which crashed into one of the robots, making the others pause. Perfect. I grabbed the bar and smashed another robot, releasing a bar and taking out another two robots. Brian was deflecting shots back at the robots. A laser was charging at me, and by some miracle, i was able to block it with my bar, taking out a robot. One of the shots fired brian deflected right into my thumb. I was too pumped with adrenaline to notice, though. Soon we had fought a path to the door, but there was a lock. We could smash it, but it would take time. Time enough for the robots to kill us. Then i noticed something, it looked like a grenade, but bluish in color. I didn't care. I dove at it, ripped off the top and chucked it. "RUN!" i yelled, and we both sprinted down the hall. We heard a bang, and ran back. the robots were dead. All of them. I swung at the lock a few times and ripped it off. I opened the door and saw a vortex. "where will this take us?" i asked "wherever we were before abduction" brian answered "will i ever see you again?" i don't know, i don't know." And with that brian stepped through the vortex and was gone. I did the same, and landed on my butt, staring at the sunset, with two differences. A cup of whiskey in my hand, and i finally realized i had no thumb. I still didn't know where i had been, or what those creatures were, but oh well. I was home now.
I took a shot of whiskey and smirked at the sunset.

Horseshoes and hand grenades. Potatoes and gravy. Black and white. That's about how we worked, despite everything, worked. We liked it that way too.

I still might pay him back for my thumb.

(i'm not sure if it exactly fits the ending, but i still say it's pretty good. and i changed the ending the tiniest bit, is that ok? i changed "another" to "a", in case you don't see it sweatdrop )