In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak by ichael Elliott

mouth and the back of my head.

 
    Paul
double-checked his pistol to make sure that everything was as it should be. I
looked at him and then over to the other two waiting for a signal to open the
door. I took a deep breath and as quickly as I could I turned the handle and
pulled it open as far as I could.

 
    I
could hear Scott as he started to make his way out of the garage. I heard
Trevor shout something that I can’t recall and then I heard the gunshot much
sooner then I was expecting. Paul had fired a bullet right into Scott’s chest
that had knocked him to the ground. He didn’t appear to be moving at all, in
fact we actually thought that we had killed him. We were just beginning to
discuss what to do with the body when I saw the arms reach out and grab a hold
of Trevor’s wrists. Scott was back on his feet and he had a hold of Trevor.

 
    He
had a firm grip on both of Trevor’s arms and he had them both pinned to the
side of his body. That was when I saw Cody raise the bat high above his head
and bring it down with incredible force into Scott’s right arm. The bones cracked
like a tree branch and Scott’s arm went limp giving Trevor an opportunity to
pull away. Cody took another swing, driving the barrel of the bat into Scott’s
shoulder sending him spinning away from us.

 
    Paul
stepped forward and fired another shot at him while he was getting up off   the ground. He barely flinched as the
bullet entered his shoulder. He was coming back for us and Paul was visibly
shaken. I was starting to worry that he was going to freeze up again. But
instead he fired a third shot into Scott’s stomach and nothing happened. He
started to panic. His next three shots missed entirely and he was forced to
reload. We needed to buy him some time.

 
    Trevor
charged at Scott and swung his axe directly into his right kneecap. The impact
of the blow brought Scott down to the ground as his leg gave way from
underneath him. But Scott pushed himself back up onto one knee and that was
when I stepped up and took a swing with the bat. I struck him right in the jaw
and it sent him flying back onto the ground. His jaw clearly shattered on
impact, yet he still kept trying to get back up, trying to kill us.

 
    Trevor
stepped on one of his arms and I stepped firmly down on his other. We had him
pinned to the ground as Paul approached with his gun, now fully loaded and
ready to fire. He stood over Scott and took aim again, that time he was aiming
right for his head. Paul said something under his breath and squeezed the
trigger. The gun fired and in an instant there was a bullet-sized hole right
above Scott’s left eye. The blood that oozed out of the wound was darker then
any blood I had ever seen. It was almost brownish in color and looked thicker
then it should have been. After that he stopped trying to get up. I swear we
still waited a few minutes just to make sure and I remember Trevor telling all
of us that we did what needed to be done as we stood there.

 
    It
didn’t take long before a few of the others arrived. Adam and Ray had heard all
of the gunshots and wanted to make sure that everything was all right. They had
completely ignored our request to stay upstairs. But I really didn’t care, I
was just grateful it was all over.

 
    Cody
wanted to hold a small funeral service for him which we all agreed would be a
good idea. But first we needed to find a place to dispose of his infected body.
That was until we heard Kerri come running out to meet us screaming about how
Bruce had stopped breathing.

 
    We
all raced to the back room to find Shannon and Sandy inside the cage trying to
revive Bruce. A crowd had formed around the entrance of the area and they were
all watching as Shannon tried to get Bruce’s heart beating again. Paul pushed
his way through the crowd. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked her to
back away. Shannon stood up with a confused look on her face, but she never
said a word.

 
    That
was