Damnit. I drifted off again. I looked around from where I rested, still sitting on the same crate, leaning back against the wall. I checked my watch briefly and, muttering a silent prayer that I had only been out for a couple of hours, I stood. I felt a little better. The sort of better you usually feel after a catnap. It wasn't that I really needed the sleep, but it did feel oh so good. And I had been having the most delightful dream about Rose, summer in Paris, and puppies. There was this delightful unicorn as well. Ah, I always loved how their hair was so incredibly soft. I remember I used too...<br/><br/>Wait. That's not right. Unicorns? That was when I became aware of the fact that I was clutching my head with both hands, fingers twisted in my hair, my elbows propped on the crate. Taking a few deep, somewhat calming breaths I released the near frantic grip on my skull.<i>Dear Lord. Give me strength.</i>It was a simple prayer, though certainly effective. Course, that meant that God would need to, for one, be paying any attention to this world, and two, the even smaller chance He would deign me important enough to listen to.<br/><br/>Using a time-honored skill I had honed over the years, I pushed all thought from my mind. I began to move around again, picking up where I left off. I had made several trips to this facility over the last few weeks, and so I had ran out of places to look. I hadn't taken everything at once, of course, and the armory still held a good reserve of all sorts of goodies. Mm and how good they were. My fingers traced idly over the stock of a M14A1, the most delicious little model in sight. I had several of these hidden around, keeping one on me at all times. I had frequented the shooting gallery's often, the sounds of bullet after bullet plugging into the corpses of the dead or incapacitated near-dead I had tied up like scarecrows.<br/><br/>I snickered.<i>God I am a bastard.</i>I mean, don't get me wrong, I knew what those things were. They were mindless, flesh-craving automatons. But they were human once. I recognized that. But, well, survival of the fittest and such I suppose.<br/><br/>I took my leave to go and make a check of the Humvee I kept constantly tuned and stocked, ready for my escape from this hell hole if time permitted. A speedy getaway was always nice, especially with a lovely vehicle such as that one. There's certainly something ot be said about military-grade hardware, and even moreso when you know how to properly use it. Oh, that's right, I had been in my share of military action in my time. Nothing too major, though that's just me being modest, but plenty of training to know my way around things here. And I couldn't get this nagging suspicion that I wasn't alone. "Christ," I snorted, "Course I'm not alone." There were, of course, a few thousand or so near-dead roaming about the city. Then again, perhaps it's natural to crave the company of something that wasn't trying to eat me alive, as it were. And that's when it all started. Slowly, of course, and back then I wasn't quite sure what 'it' was. For all I knew I could have been thinking it all day, or just thought of it.<br/><br/>But I digest. Er, digress. Jesus this heat is getting to me. Or is it even hot in here? I shook my head, pushing annoying thoughts away from me again. That's about when I made up my mind. I needed a change of pace, some new scenery. I stood and rechecked the back of the vehicle. Water, extra gas, guns, ammo, even a handy little katana and some knives. Yes, yes a katana. Call me nutty, which I most definitely am, but I liked the feel of it. Not always the most practical weapon but I also wasn't foolish enough to parade around with just a sword. I chuckled without any real mirth. "Well, I think it's about time we left this place, don't you ol' girl?" I said to the Humvee, speaking aloud on purpose this time. That way, it wasn't crazy, right? So I hopped in and started her up, gunning the engine a few times. I lifted a small box, fiddling with it a bit, and grinned. I headed east, no idea why, but the coast sounded nice for now. Nothing like the world ending to give a man the time to go sight seeing. As I passed the city I could hear distant explosions. My parting gift to the fiends of Greensboro. Rest in pieces you sons of bitches.