Day 51

It got pretty hairy today, I had to go out again to get supplies because the pub snacks I have been living on have all gone. I didn't take my camcorder this time because the battery is dead, not to mention I was so distracted with getting everything on film last time that I missed the zombie that appeared right in front of me. I was lucky I had a gun on me, but unlucky in that firing off the gun alerted every walking corpse to my location. So how did it go I hear you ask, well it could have gone better, because I didn't make it back home, I am actually hiding out in the back of a mobile phone shop along with a survivor I met on my travels. Let me explain to you all how it all started.

I woke up as usual this morning, yet again with that familiar feeling of dread, knowing that I had to venture out into the world of the dead. I still haven't recovered properly from the last time I went out and that was over 3 weeks ago. The smell of rot and decay was overwhelming from up here, god knows how bad it is on ground level. I decided to make a face mask out of an old scarf to at least lower the chances of inhaling the indescribable stench of death. I packed some things I needed, like the pistol I recovered from the dead soldier, a knife and a first aid kit. I didn't ant to pack my bag too much with survival gear as I wouldn't be able to bring much back with me. So again I unlocked the front door, and was welcomed with a vacuum of clean air, that didn't smell of sweat and warm body smell. I took the same route down the stairs and completely forgot about Robyn, Well I forgot until her body appeared on the stairwell where I left her. The flies really had gone to town on her, the smell punched me in the face so hard that I nearly passed out. The air was filled with a thunderous buzzing sound from all the flies, there must have been thousands of them. After walking round her, I continued on my way to the 2nd floor where I knew I could get out and down the drainpipe by the overhang.
It was nice to touch down on the ground again, it was a really nice hot day, I was glad to wear a shirt, if you closed your eyes for a few seconds, everything felt perfect, keep them closed for too long and you will open them to a horde of infected feasting on your flesh. So the glory was short lived, I had things to do and didn't have time to waste enjoying the outdoors. Things were quiet, I only saw a couple of roamers in the distance, nothing immediate or threatening, after all these things are only dangerous in large numbers. I still hadn't worked out what their maximum view range was, but it seemed to be pretty close for them to recognise the difference between us and them. Providing I didn't stand out or make any fast moves I could almost blend in and walk passed them. This of course was only theory, and I didn't want to put it to the test, however from multiple news reports and my own personal experience, it all seemed to link up pretty accurately that 10 feet or further, rendered these things blind. I made it into town again, the place was exactly the same as before, the fires had gone out and the bomb crators had filled with rain water. There were a few stragglers, I walked around them quietly and slowly, my hand tightly gripping onto the gun. I was ready and waiting for any attack, my body had gone through a vigorous fitness regime, all undergone in my living room. If I stayed alive, it was because I had spent weeks preparing myself, I respected and feared my enemy.

I made it back to the weatherspoons pub that I stocked up on before, yet it was no good, someone visited after me and cleared out everything I couldn't carry. I didn't even bother trying to double check, whoever it was had help and lots of it, there was no point in wasting time trying to find scraps because there weren't going to be any. I was a bit disheartened and upset that i didn't carry more the first time, yet even if I carried 3 bags full of stuff, I would still need to come out at some point. I kicked myself into gear as I was exposed and didn't have time to mess about, so after turning around I noticed the Wilkinson Store looked untouched.
I realised it looked untouched for a reason and that was because it was. For most it was a furniture and gardening store, good for quilts, lampshades and the odd shovel, but what most people overlooked was that one isle sold snacks and drinks. The door was shut and locked, but the whole shop was just a long window, I could even walk along side the shop and see the snack isle and it was fully stocked. I then realised that if I was to get in there, I wouldn't be able to do it quietly, I didn't have a key so I had to break the glass. After checking the area to find it completely dead, I spent the next few minutes contemplating what I was going to do.
The plan was pretty simple, break the glass, then charge towards the snacks, pack as much of it into my bag as humanly possible, not being picky or selective, just grab, pack, and grab some more. If I was quick I could have a stocked up bag within 30 seconds and be out before I drew a crowd. So after checking again I decided it was now or never, so I drew the pistol, took aim at the glass and fired twice. I forgot just how loud that damn gun actually was, the 2nd shot made my ears ring, the glass frosted up and disintegrated onto the floor leaving a huge hole. What I didn't contemplate was the stores alarm system, It activated as soon as I entered and the ear piercing noise almost dropped me to the floor. The Alarm must have been working off of a battery or a separate emergency power system because all other power in the town was out. The noise was so painful to my already battered ears that running in a straight line was even a challenge, even so that I ended up running down the wrong isle. I ended up running down plant seeds and fertilizer to which panic sent me into a frenzy, running around like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. I didn't have time to think, it was pure animistic frustration. My brain was now aching from the high pitched screeching of the alarm. It must of been one of those new super sonic alarms that use such a high frequency that they actually cause intruders to flee in agony with a migraine only Lindsy Lohan would recognise.
In my frantic panic I managed to re find the correct isle collapsed in front of the crisps and drinks and begun to stuff as much of them in my bag as possible. I tried to take more of the fizzy drinks because liquid was more important than food. I managed to bag a good handful of warm Coke, Lilt and Cherry Tango. I also managed to get me some chocolate as much as I could pile in. Trying to avoid the crisps a bit because i had lived on those for weeks and to be honest was getting sick of them, I managed to bag about 4-6 packs anyway.
By now I could feel my hearing starting to go, this meant that by staying in here for much longer would mean permanent damage so I had to get out. So I charged for the open hole I made earlier to find that a horde of zombies had started closing in. God knows where these bastards came from, they must all have been laying dormant on the floor until I decided to wake them up with the biggest noise I could make. Somehow I managed to squeeze through the hole and get clear of the shop just as they began to close the gap they had made in their group attempt to surround me. My success was short lived, because as I turned to run, I tripped on some loose pavement that had been blown out from one of the bomb crators and it knocked my bad ankle I damaged earlier in the week. Not only did it knock me to the floor, but the pain caused was almost unbearable. I tried to get back onto my feet, but as soon as I put weight on my ankle it defied any attempt at running away. I was down, I was in pain and suffering from a leg injury that rendered me immobile.
All I could do was crawl on my hands and knees, trying by best not to let my foot touch the ground. Obviously in my panicked and desperate state I kept knocking the ground, only to be met with a dull scream. The horde were starting to close in on me, my cover had been blown and I had no real way of escaping them. I only had 12 rounds left in the pistol and there must have been about 20 of them. I could see more and more joining the group, all were drawn to the shop alarm system. I needed a miracle or at least a platoon of soldiers to turn up and shoot them all. My mind was racing, was I really going to die here? Would I have to feel every bite from the infected as they slowly tore me limb from limb? The thought was terrifying, I had lost control of my own fate, I was outnumbered and had no way of getting away fast enough. I looked up in front of me and I saw a figure of someone, it wasn't like the rest, he was running. The dead could barely walk so I soon realised that it was a survivor. His face was completely covered with a balaclava and wore a thick bomber jacket like the ones bouncers wear outside nightclubs. I could also see he was wearing thick gloves too.
He charged right at me, I think he called out something, but my hearing was a blur. The alarm system had completely knocked my hearing off, what with the ringing noise now taking over my head, the only other thing I could hear where rubles and echos. I can only imagine he said get up, but I shouted back that I had twisted my ankle and couldn't get up. He took both my arms and dragged me as fast as he could, my aching foot scrapped along the pavement making the pain even worse. Looking back at the horde of infected it seemed we were making ground on them. Infected had started to gather from all directions now so the danger wasn't only contained from one direction. He shouted something else in my face, again I couldn't make it out, but he pulled me up onto my feet, swung my arm over his shoulder and took my weight. We made a half attempted run for it, round the corner and into an old mobile phone shop. We were lucky in that none of the infected had seen us make it inside, my saviour pulled down the metal shutters and helped me out into the back office. Shut the main door to the shop and locked it. We were now in a backroom that doubled as a stock room, kitchen and a door that led to a toilet. There were also some stairs that led up to a possible office area. The only illumination in the room came from the candles and the light from the upstairs windows. I collapsed to the floor in pain, holding my ears, I burst into tears, again I had almost lost my life and somehow escaped death for a second time.
The guy who saved me took off his jacket that looked to be padded to prevent any bites breaking through to the skin, he then removed his balaclava and looked down at me. I stared back into his eyes, they showed the horror of someone who had fought in a bloody war and had aged 30 years. His black unkept beard hid his mouth, it looked almost as long as mine. We kind of locked into a time freeze, both of us took some deep breaths, and analyzed everything that just happened. I broke the moment by pointing to my ear and nodding a no expression to explain to him that I was deaf. He nodded back to me to show me he understood. It wasn't rocket science, after all, you could still hear the shop alarm from in here, well I didn't at first but a few hours later my hearing came back, the ringing continued and still hasn't stopped yet. At first we communicated via writing on paper, then, he decided to pull a notebook laptop off the shelf, fire it up and we spoke via the windows notepad. I am writing this from that very laptop, another one to add to my ever lasting collection.

I found out his name is Steve Samuels, he used to work in the shop for Mr Abdul who had passed on at the beginning. He too needed supplies and ended up getting cornered and decided to hide in the shop, he had the key for. He asked me if I had been bitten and requested to check me over for bites to which I showed him. We then spent a few hours talking about how we had survived this far and what we used to do before it all happened. The conversations took a long time to get through being as we had to type everything out. Before we knew it time had got on and it started to get dark. I looked at the clock on the wall and it was nearly 10pm. Steve said he was getting tired and suggested we got our head down, soon after he rolled up into the bed he had made on the floor. Since then I have been sitting here writing all this to you. My hearing is still off, I am going to get some sleep now, I hope that in the morning my ears show some signs of improvement. There is still a lot to talk about, but I need to rest. Steve seems to be a good person, I may even bring him back to my flat if he wants to come, after all I haven't spoken to anyone for over a month. I just hope Robyn doesn't have a problem with me bringing someone home.