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into any zombie antique dealers.
    The vehicle that I had my eye on from the roof of Starbucks sat parked in front of the shop across the road from the shop where I now stood in. The odd thing about the antique shop was that none of the windows had been busted out ... so I felt a tiny bit safer than I had at Starbucks. I was going to have to make a run for the SUV and hope that I was right about the keys being left in the ignition. I tightened my grip on my gun and knife and jerked the door open … and froze . I hadn’t noticed as I stood in the store, but above the door there was a large bell attached, so that when people entered, the store owner would hear them from the back room. I had just rung the fucking dinner bell. And sure enough, from the right side of the building came two zombies and from the left came one zombie lit up like a flame thrower. I ran.
    I made it across the street quickly and as I glanced into the window I saw the keys dangling in the ignition. I smiled and grabbed the door handle only to find it locked. Just about that time, the first zombie caught up with me.
    “Oh shit,” I screeched as I aimed for the head and pulled the trigger. The zombie fell backward immediately and I quickly pointed my gun at the backseat window and shot. As soon as I did, another zombie lunged for me, with his mouth already opened wide. I stumbled back slightly as I pulled the trigger, catching the zombie point-blank in the face. As soon as she went down, I scrambled to shove my arm as far as possible into the window to try and get the locks open, not caring that my arm was getting all scraped and cut up in the process. I was reaching as far as I could, my heart likely to explode out of my chest at any second because I saw zombie-torch-dude coming up on me in my peripheral vision. My finger skimmed the button and I heard all the locks pop open. I swung open the door and skidded inside just as the zombie-on-fire crashed into the door and pounded his fists against my window. Each thump against the window pounded through my skull as I reached to start the SUV, each fist that smashed against the glass, left behind chunks of melted and charred skin and bloody smears.
    The engine turned over immediately and I could have cried from pure relief. I slammed the vehicle into drive and pressed the gas like my life depended on it … and it did. Not even the blast of Justin Bieber’s Baby coming through the speaker system could wipe the smile off of my face. No, I turned the volume up full blast, held on tightly to the steering wheel as I navigated around as many obstacles as possible and ran over bodies if I had to, laughing the whole time as tears streamed down my face. I glanced in the rearview mirror when I was almost all the way out of the roughest part of town and saw at least two dozen bodies lurching out of alleyways and out into the open. Several of them were on fire. I might not have cleaned out all the zombies in town, but I sure as hell put a dent in their numbers before I left.
     
     
    ΅
     
    I took the time to pull over and load more bullets into my gun before I drove into my old neighborhood. Well, neighborhood didn’t really fit any longer … warzone seemed much more appropriate. Everything as far as I could see was completely destroyed from the huge airplane that fell from the sky and landed in my residential neighborhood. The burnt trees and houses looked like a group of tornadoes made of lava had touched down and leveled everything thing in their path. Anxiety pitted the center of my stomach as I pulled in front of my house. I cut off the engine and stepped out of my commandeered vehicle and shoved the keys into my pocket. A zombie lumbered around the side of my neighbor’s house as soon as I shut the door. With a jolt, I recognized Mr. Howe … he still wore his pajamas and only one shoe, just like I’d last seen him.
    I swallowed back tears and stuffed my gun into the holster on my leg. He began moving