Not sure if zombies are still en vouge but I came across a story I started with my dad years ago. I may have to finally finish it. If for no other reason, just for the closure. It’s pretty solid, besides.

From afar everything seemed normal, but as I got closer I could tell something had changed. The normally orderly hospital was chaotic. There were cars everywhere, their drivers having ignored predefined lines and rules. Many of them were either still running or had been left with doors open, windows down. One car had music playing loudly, Highway to Hell, ACDC. I pulled my pistol from my waistband and held it to my side not wanting to be targeted by a trigger happy guard or someone. In spite of all the cars there were far fewer people than I expected. A few were leaving when I got there, hurrying out of the building, into their cars, and off to anywhere else. None were going into the hospital. A warm feeling swept over me. One that said I was right.

         I stopped when I saw a cop laying over the hood of his car. He was slumped over on his belly, gun lying at his feet, lights spinning on his squad car. I approached slowly.

         “Hey, sir!” I shouted to get his attention. Then I asked the same stupid question anyone else might ask even though I knew better. “Are you all right?” Of course he wasn’t all right. Anyone who was all right, wouldn’t be slumped over the hood of their car. Still, when I got a bit closer he moved slightly so I thought maybe I had roused him.

         “Hey man. What’s going on here?” Another stupid question. I was on a roll. Then I did what I knew I should never do. I reached over and placed my hand on his shoulder to see if I could help him up. He spun around with a sudden burst of energy knocking me off balance and causing me to trip and fall backwards.

         He confirmed what I had known to be true since I left the lake. His eyes were dull and discolored. His mouth snarled inhumanly, and he grunted and groaned like a person with a terrible stomach ache. Furthermore he raised his arms in an effort to attack me. If I had not been ready and expecting what I saw I dare say he would have bit me there and I would not have been around to write this account, but as it was I had been prepared for this. I raised my pistol and fired two rounds into his forehead. From that range it was not all that impressive a shot but it was enough. He collapsed onto the ground in a heap. There was blood, but it did not pour from his wounds, just leaked out. Zombie.

         I gathered his pistol, and grabbed the shotgun from his car—assault style, flashlight on it. Nice. I took off the cop’s belt and wrapped it around my waist, holstering the pistol. I put all the rounds I could find in my new belt and smiled. As I was taking those things off a dead cop, that I shot in the forehead, it occurred to me that normally what I was doing would be considered stealing. I didn’t hesitate however, because it was a new day. In the day of the zombie you didn’t worry about taking things that didn’t belong to you. No one trying to survive a zombie apocalypse could fret over such things. In days like that you had to do everything you could in order to survive. Nothing else mattered. Besides with all the  I envisioned myself appearing like many of the heroes in action movies. Looking badass.

         I imagine it seems strange to smile at a time like that, but I couldn’t help myself. I had spent hours considering the very disaster I found myself in and I was prepared. I knew what to do, and when a man knows what he has to do there is no fear in him. It is as Erasmus said, “in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.” I was the one-eyed-man. The only one with a plan. I was the king.

         I couldn’t enjoy the moment for long as screams escaped the hospital. I considered leaving, I had no obligation to save anyone from certain death, but I was the one eyed man.

         Shotgun in hand and adrenaline pumping in my veins I moved around the cop car and towards the hospital lobby. I could see bodies on the ground outside. It meant more had gotten out already. There was no telling how many really. Could have been hundreds already.

         The automatic sliding doors opened revealing my dream come true. The lobby was large and open with a large counter in the center and various hallways and elevators leading people to the specific wing they needed. There were people or maybe they were already zombies, stumbling around. I took a deep breath; this was what I had been waiting for.