<strong>June 1 (Day 10), 8:12 p.m. - Mall, Downtown</strong><br/>Caitlin Walker and Carl Johnson were running as silently as they could, doing their best not to draw unwanted attention. Thirty minutes ago they had lost the other two members of their scavenge group and Carl had lost everything he cared about.<br/><br/>Neither of them gave it any thought right now though, being distracted led to making mistakes and making another mistake was the last either one of them could afford at this point.<br/><br/>“In here,” Caitlin whispered, pointing to a big hole in the glass window, which was left behind by other raiders.<br/><br/>Being careful not to cut themselves on the sharp edges of the glass, or to step on the broken glass on the ground and create unwanted noise, Caitlin stepped inside, followed by Carl. His overweight body had considerably more trouble to do so than Caitlin's athletic form and despite his best efforts he still received a minor cut on his shoulder, making him utter a soft curse, despite being a priest. All of the food and water supplies were already stripped of the shelves, leaving only non edible and useless products behind.<br/><br/>It wasn't the shelves Caitlin was interested in though, she knew there had to be supplies in stock in the back of the store, where customers weren't allowed to go.<br/><br/>Some of the lights were still working and flickered irregularly, adding to the eeriness of the scene. Apart from the flickering of the lights it was deathly quiet. Even the usual sounds of birds were absent. Caitlin still wasn't used to the quiet outside, in a busy metropolis as New Angeles life went on 24/7, there was<em>always</em>noise of cars and people outside, but not tonight. Or the night before...<br/><br/>Focusing on the task at hand, Caitlin hoped to find at least a vending machine with candy bars. Though snacks weren't healthy, they did at least give them the much needed energy. Having only had a meager breakfast this morning, her stomach was rumbling in protest.<br/><br/>Though Caitlin could almost walk without making a sound, Carl was quite a bit noisier and clumsier. He tripped over some broken can on the floor, kicking the item away and breaking the silence with a nearly deafening noise as he fell on the ground. Caitlin winced at the loud sounds and hoped that they didn't attract any unwanted attention, but luckily nobody seemed to have noticed them. Carl struggled to his feet, with a heavy sigh and softly muttering some foul language, he rejoined Caitlin, who was breaking away a lock on a door with her crowbar.<br/><br/>Success...<br/><br/>When they opened the door they found a room with a whole supply of stocks that would be enough to last a dozen survivors for several weeks. They packed as many food cans, Spa Blue bottles and candy bars as possible in their backpacks, Carl taking the majority of the load. Caitlin also hid away as many of the cans as she could in desk drawers of the offices further down the hall. She doubted that the supplies in this supermarket would last very long, now that these doors were opened. Other survivors would come to the same conclusions as she had and search for supplies. The more that was hidden away now, the more that she hoped would be saved for later use.<br/><br/>They locked the doors as well as possible, trying to make it seem undisturbed and left to explore the rest of the mall, hoping to find some other useful items.<br/><br/>When they came to a store with hunting supplies, Carl indicated that he had to take a rest. His stamina wasn't as good as Caitlin's and his heavy breathing indicated that he was worn out.<br/><br/>Unfortunately most useful weapons in this shop were already stolen, especially all of the big knives. After some searching Caitlin did, however, find a a Swiss pocketknife with a lot of useful tools. Putting it away in her trousers pocket, she sat next to Carl and unwrapped a Snickers bar, offering Carl a Mars bar as well. They chewed their treat in silence, giving Caitlin a moment to consider all that had happened in the past week...<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 24 (Day 2), 4:15 p.m. - Mercy Hospital</strong><br/>There had been a steady stream of patients all day long coming into Mercy Hospital, some more sickly than others, but all sharing the same symptoms. Some sort of task force that was investigating this new epidemic had decided that all new patients that shared these symptoms were to be diverted to Mercy Hospital, while all non critical patients were to be released and go home. Those who needed critical attention would be transported by ambulance to the other hospitals as much as possible.<br/><br/>Caitlin had volunteered to escort a patient to Angel Hospital. The patient had been in a car accident and needed surgery. Officially a doctor had to go with him, but Mercy Hospital simply couldn't spare any and since Caitlin had proven in the past that she could keep a patient stable long enough for the doctors to operate on him, her request was approved. Truth be told, Caitlin was afraid of getting infected by this new epidemic she had heard her colleagues talk about and had avoided contact with anybody that as so much coughed, or sneezed in the wrong way. She had jumped at the opportunity to get out of Mercy Hospital and do her duty as a nurse elsewhere.<br/><br/>Thankfully the rest of her workday at Angel Hospital ended without incident, after which she had gone home to her fiancé, Rick Patterson. She had met him at college and they had been a couple for several years, until he popped the big question a month ago. Rick was the son of a rich banker and with his athletic frame, short, blond hair, blue eyes and wide smile, he was pretty much the dream of every girl. Or perhaps not every girl, but at least all her girlfriends envied her to no end. On top of that, his father had, despite the financial crisis, still a considerable amount of wealth and it looked like her life couldn't get better. She was sure she would lead a happy life with her husband-to-be, while doing a job she loved doing. Perhaps in several years from now they'd start a family and would move out of the big city to somewhere more easy-going.<br/><br/>As she told about her day at work, she had relaxed in his comforting embrace on the couch, only paying half attention to the series playing on television. After cooking them a wonderful meal they had gone to bed early that night and made passionate love, before falling asleep exhausted.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 25 (Day 3), 8:03 a.m. - Angel Hospital</strong><br/>Caitlin had missed the news the previous night in which the Mayor had told about the curfew and state of martial law, but it was impossible to miss that news on the radio in the morning. She had still felt obliged to do her duty as a nurse, but when she arrived at the hospital that morning there were several police cars and a SWAT van outside. Having police cars over was a regular occurrence, however, a SWAT van definitely was not.<br/><br/>Apparently there had been some incident at intensive care. Caitlin had remembered how Angel Hospital also housed several of the infected and she had realized that this could be the start of something much worse. Curious as to how bad it could be, she had gone up to the nurse station of the intensive care level and watched the security monitors; in one of the room she saw blood all over the floor and a violated corpse with human bite marks. It had made her face turn white as a sheet. Combined with the news she had heard in the morning, she decided to turn around and skip work for the rest of the day.<br/><br/>In the chaos with her temporary transfer to Angel Hospital she had doubted that she'd be missed anyway and she had headed for the grocery store instead. She had wanted to hoard as many useful supplies as she could, before other people would realize the same thing she did and the supplies would be gone. If this epidemic turned out to be nothing bad after all, then they would have surplus supplies for several weeks, but if her premonitions turned out to be true, then at least they'd have enough water and food to get by for a while. She had to admit to herself that she was coward, but with the city under lock down and no way to get out, she was forced to make do with what she had.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 26 (Day 4), 8:09 a.m. - Angel Hospital</strong><br/>Rick had convinced her to go to work, despite the incident at Angel Hospital in the morning, nothing else had happened there and her patients and colleagues needed her help. Reluctantly she had agreed with him. The evening before she had been frightened that the end of the world was upon them at any moment and it had taken Rick a lot of time to soothe her. He hadn't looked to pleased at all the supplies she had bought either, but she was glad that he had let that go.<br/><br/>When she arrived at the hospital she wasn't allowed to go in, being halted outside by the police. Yesterday it had only been a small group of law enforcement that was present, but today their numbers had grown significantly. There was an emergency hospital set up in a close-by park and the police requested that she'd help out there. There were a lot of wounded people that needed help, mostly due to traffic accidents.<br/><br/>Caitlin remembered how she had thought that something more was going at the hospital that the police wasn't telling her, but it was impossible to get any closer. Instead she set those thoughts aside and did her best to apply first aid to all the wounded people. She was pleased to see that there weren't any people who were unconscious or vomiting blood, but despite the mouth mask she was given by one of her colleagues, she had still stayed far away from anybody that was coughing, or sneezing, finding all sorts of excuses not to get near them.<br/><br/>The rest of her work day had gone by without further incident, apart from the fact that it had been a totally bizarre situation to work in an outdoors hospital, in what was usually a lovely park. She had worked much longer than she normally did as well and pulled a double shift. She had felt guilty about having skipped work the previous day and hoped to make up for it now.<br/><br/>There had been several reports in the city of crazed people, who apparently had turned cannibalistic, but she hadn't seen any of them herself. The idea seemed too unreal anyway, despite what she had seen with her own eyes the previous day.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 2:44 a.m. - Caitlin &amp; Rick's Apartment, Downtown</strong><br/>The riots had started night and despite being in a relative quiet part of the city, all the noise of protesting people outside had still terrified Caitlin. Rick hadn't seemed too sure of himself either and though he did his best to reassure Caitlin, she had felt that he was just a scared and had only put up a brave face to soothe her. Especially the terrified screams of people under attack had frightened them both to no end.<br/><br/>She had begged him that they would find a way to get out of the city the next morning, or at least away from downtown and move to the quieter outskirts. Rick had agreed with her and that night they packed all the essential supplies they thought that they needed for a prolonged stay elsewhere, being ready to move out at the dawn of light. If they couldn't make it past the road blocks, then they would at least find a safer place to stay at.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 27 (Day 5), 7:53 a.m. - Caitlin &amp; Rick's Apartment, Downtown</strong><br/>They had only had a fitful sleep of maybe two hours, if that, before Caitlin and Rick took the supplies to their SUV, which was parked in the garage located at the basement level of their apartment building.<br/><br/>Rick drove the car outside the parking garage onto the streets. Though it was quiet now, it was easy to see that there had been quite the battle the night before. They were shocked to see mutilated corpses laying in the streets and Rick had thrown up at the sight of them, nearly crashing their car into a parked one at the side of the street. With a concerned voice Caitlin had asked him if he was okay and helped him get out of his soiled shirt, throwing it out the window, after she got it off him.<br/><br/>They had driven through the lanes of the city, as fast as Rick dared to go and he avoided hitting the many abandoned cars, but eventually they had to stop at a blocked intersection. There had been a big crash there involving multiple cars and if their car had been smaller then they might have been able to drive over the sidewalk, but as it was their car was simply too big and there was no way around the obstruction, unless they continued on foot.<br/><br/>After a short, but intense discussion, that was exactly what they decided to do. Their car was full with supplies, but it had simply been to much to take with them on foot. Caitlin had had the sense to bring a backpack and gym bag too, which they now stuffed full with supplies. Additionally, Rick had a baseball bat made of steel with him, while Caitlin carried a crowbar. They weren't the best of weapons, but they had to make do with what was available to them and they could dish out some decent damage like this if anybody attacked them.<br/><br/>After locking the car, they went on their way. They hadn't even walked for three hundred meters, when they came across a middle aged man in a tattered business suite. He was standing eerily quiet, as if he was observing them. He had a nasty bite mark on his thigh and had obviously been in a fight with somebody. Half the buttons of his shirt were torn away and his pants was ripped.<br/><br/>Rick had taken a step forward and had asked if they could help him, but instead of answering, the man threw his arms wildly in the air, running to them at full speed. Rick had been too surprised to react and hit the fucker with his baseball bat...<br/><br/>If only he had done so he might have still been with her...<br/><br/>Instead, by the time Rick was ready to react it had already been too late. The crazed person had thrown himself at Rick and attacked his throat, biting through the arteries, which resulted in a fountain of blood that spurted from his throat. Caitlin had been less indecisive and hit the crazy person full in the head with her crowbar, making the guy's head twist at an unnatural angle, instantly killing him. After she had pulled him off her fiancé, she had done her best to apply first aid to her lover, but it had already been too late. With a guttering voice Rick had tried to tell her something, but with his vocal cords cut and him drowning in his own blood, she couldn't make out what he was trying to say. She liked to think that he was expressing his love for her, while he was choking to death.<br/><br/>Caitlin hadn't known what to do next, she didn't want to leave Rick behind like this, but she wasn't strong enough to carry his body either. She stood around, unable to make up her mind, when Rick's body unexpectedly twitched and he suddenly opened his eyes. However, instead of the scared look she expected in his eyes, there had been something else...<br/><br/>His facial expression was twisted in a strange, not quite human way and he had the same crazed look in his eyes as the businessman had. Rick sat up, trying to grab her and realizing that her lover was gone, she swung the crowbar at the temple of his head, right next to his ear. A sick crack followed and she had to lever the crowbar out of his head, but now Rick was truly gone.<br/><br/>Though dazed by what had just happened, survival instinct had taken over and Caitlin figured she should search for a safe place to stay at. Several times she had to run away from other crazed people, her good stamina allowing her to escape unscathed.<br/><br/>Seventeen minutes later Caitlin stumbled upon a church. Though the front doors were heavily fortified, she hoped to find a way in through a side entrance. As luck would have it, the local priest, Carl Johnson, saw her trying to get in. Later he had told her that he wouldn't have allowed her access if she had shown any kind of wound, but since she hadn't and since was obviously much fitter than the infected that were coughing and stumbling around, he had allowed her in.<br/><br/>Caitlin didn't remember much about the rest of the day, she had spent most of it crying and grieving for her loss. She realized that her once perfect life would never be the same again...<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 28 (Day 6), 10:28 a.m. - Catholic church, Downtown</strong><br/>The next day Caitlin had helped out in the church, by taking care of the few wounded people present. Carl had taken great care to ensure that there weren't any bite wounds on the people he allowed in. It was mostly scratches and bruises that people had gained in their haste to escape, that Caitlin had to patch up.<br/><br/>Since Caitlin was also a good cook she helped out with preparing the meals. Basically she did anything she could to occupy her mind from what happened the day before. At the same time Carl held continuous services for his flock to spread the word of the Lord and offer comfort to those around him. Outside the civil unrest continued and the group of eighteen survivors experienced several frightening moments. They could hear the zombies, as they were now calling the crazed people, lurking around the building, until they were distracted by something else and ran away.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 29 (Day 7), 9:32 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown</strong><br/>Supplies had run out on May 29 and people were growing hungry. Up until then they had been rationing the supplies that people had brought with them and drank the wine from the church that was normally used for the services, but now they were completely out. The people at the church realized they had to scavenge for food on a daily basis from now on, or they'd starve to death. Carl had come with the excuse of having to care for the remaining, frightened people and how he was a priest and not a fighter, so he was excluded.<br/><br/>Caitlin, however, did volunteer to go and two groups of four people each were quickly formed. She was armed with her crowbar, while one of the survivors in her group had a gun and the other two were armed with makeshift weapons. Each group would visit a different mall to increase the chance of finding useful supplies.<br/><br/>Initially Caitlin's raid had gone well, but on the way back the zombies had spotted them. The two men with makeshift weapons hadn't made it, while Caitlin and the gunman survived to live the tale. Thankfully they had brought stuffed backpacks with them, since the other group didn't return at all.<br/><br/><strong>May 30 (Day 8), 11:57 a.m. - Catholic church, Downtown</strong><br/>The eight day had been the worst one yet. Things had taken a turn for the ugly and gangs were shooting at everything that moved and didn't wear their sign. The fourteen remaining survivors had made sure that the church was well barricaded and be made to look as uninteresting as possible. They had spent the majority of the day in the basement below ground, locked away behind a heavy oak door, as the church took several hits and they heard the stained windows breaking, much to the dismay of Carl.<br/><br/><br/><strong>May 31 (Day 9), 8:11 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown</strong><br/>Supplies had run out again and though there were still fights going on outside, the gunfire was becoming increasingly rarer, until it had ceased in the evening. Not a shot had been fired for the past hour and the survivors in the church had agreed to organize another scavenge hunt, once more with two groups. Despite the arguments Carl had uttered two days earlier, he did admit to being a pretty good with a gun and reluctantly agreed to go with Caitlin's group. It had been obvious to her that he preferred the relative safety that his church offered, but she had lied to him that she knew of a good place that was safe to raid. He had bought her lie and gone with her group.<br/><br/>Caitlin's group would raid the same mall as before, while the gunman of her previous group would lead another group and visit a local supermarket. Carl was armed with an old revolver, while the other two members of her group had armed themselves with large, heavy candleholders. The things were about a meter big and could do quite some damage if they hit you in the head.<br/><br/>During the raid there were a couple of close calls, but both raid groups returned unscathed, although they didn't nearly get the amount of supplies that they needed.<br/><br/><br/><strong>Today, June 1 (Day 10), 7:34 p.m. - Catholic church, Downtown</strong><br/>Caitlin had noticed that the zombies were easier to avoid in the evening than during the day. She hypothesized that zombies had poor eyesight and probably couldn't see as well in the night as they could. It was only a theory and one that could very well be wrong, but the others agreed that it had some sense to it.<br/><br/>As such the raid groups had decided to go out in the evening again. The previous evening the other raid group had found some explosives and prepared a bomb that they could use in an emergency situation. Though the thing looked very amateurish to Caitlin, she didn't doubt it's explosive potential.<br/><br/>Her group had just left the church and was only fifty meters away when disaster struck. Something had gone wrong with the bomb of the second group and the thing exploded in, or near, the door opening. Caitlin had her back turned to the church when it went off, so what exactly happened was a mystery to her, but when she turned around she saw that several heavily wounded people lay on the ground. The doorway seemed damaged beyond repair. Realizing that shit would hit the fan quickly, she turned around and searched for cover. The first thing she saw was a truck that was toppled over and had its back doors unlocked.<br/><br/>Two of her fellow raiders ran back to the church to see what assistance they could offer to the screaming wounded and Carl was about to go after them, but Caitlin pulled strongly on his sleeve, nearly making him topple over.<br/><br/>She remembered how she hissed with an insistent tone, “We have to hide! Now!”<br/><br/>That was probably what saved both their lives, since it didn't take long for the zombies to get drawn the location of the explosion and burning fire. Thankfully it wasn't the zombie horde of thousands that she had expected, but there were still well over a hundred zombies running towards the church, attacking the remaining survivors.<br/><br/>Caitlin had to slap Carl hard across the face to make him forget about his stupid church and get his attention. She felt appalled that he cared more about the building than the wounded people, who were now eaten alive.<br/><br/>Together they thought up a new plan of survival. First they would get supplies as they had wanted to get originally and next they would search for a new safe house to hide in. After that, they'd just have to come up with a new plan of attack.<br/><br/>That all happened thirty minutes ago and as Caitlin finished her second candy bar, she hoped that they would find some other survivors to team up with. There was safety in numbers and your chances for survival increased if you found others with useful skills.