I told you that we would be leaving and since we are on real time, somewhat real-time, my writings will be after the fact as tit happens, just like it was in the first diary that I wrote years ago. Remember if I ever quit writing then you know that I am dead and no one is around to finish the story. But hey I have been pretty lucky so far and years later here I am still writing…

So Dogg and I are at an airstrip in Kansas as we are getting nearer to Colorado. We stopped to refuel and look for any interesting weapons in the town nearby. We almost got more than we bargained for as we discovered the town…

After we landed the little airstrip was empty, but it had lots of fuel and airports always have hand pumps to transfer fuel with in case it is needed. I decided to take an extra pump along with us as I forgot the one that I had at the other town. After filling the plane, Dogg and I decided to walk to town about a kilometer away and see if there was anything that we could use or find. Who knows there may be a human there…

We entered the town and it was a typical small American town and had a town square that surrounded a small court house. That meant that we were in a county seat at the very least and that could also mean that we might find interesting things here in the way of weapons and such…

The town was very clean and that gave me an uneasy feeling. A clean town means someone working on it to keep it clean. Zombies do not clean as normality and this town had no skeletons or trash anywhere. In fact we did not see a Zombie anywhere…

Dogg and I stood in the middle of the town square looking at the court house and someone behind us cleared their throat…

I literally jumped out of my skin and I thought Dogg was gonna faint. This person or thing sneaked up on us and we never heard it. We turned quickly and I drew my sword as I turned. Dogg started to growl and we realized that we faced about a thousand Zombies. All very well dressed and clean and tidy…

The one that cleared his throat started to talk to us and I realized that this was the first Leader Zombie that I have seen in 6 years. He almost looked totally human and it brought back memories of Ben the Zombie…

The leader Zombie raised his hand and asked us not to attack as all it would do is to cause unnecessary blood shed. He told us his name was Ralph and that he was the only intelligent Zombie here. The others just followed what he said, but he said that there was a bad group of Zombies (About 25 of them) that I had to watch out for. They wandered the streets at night and did not listen to what he had to say or cared about anything, but killing and eating, even eating Zombies…

That stunned me because Zombies did not eat Zombies. Eating a Zombie does not normally provide substance to sustain Zombie life and it is against the Zombie code of laws…

He said, as they surrounded us completely at that moment, “I have a deal for you.” He then said, “We want the bad Zombies out of our town and as we have Zombie pacts not to kill each other and killing other Zombies goes against the Zombie code of laws! Could you do us a favor and then you can take what you want and leave quietly!”

I asked, “What is the favor!” (I already knew!)

“Kill the 25 Zombies that upset our applecart here in this little town and we would be most thankful!” said the Leader Zombie…

I then looked around at the Zombies surrounding us and realized that they even had wounds stitched up and they were bathed! Unlike any Zombie that I have seen except a Zombie like Ben…

I realized that this leader Zombie was trying to hold onto a simulance of humanity as it once was, a long time ago. He had succeeded fairly well. I understood him and where he came from and I also knew that what ever was wrong with these other Zombies was more than he was telling me. I realized that he was desperate and trying to work out a deal, instead of everyone dying…

I then said, “Ralph! This is Dogg and my name is Stryker! We will be glad to help you out!”

Then Ralph turned pale and that is hard for a living dead to do…

He started to stutter and looked at me and then at Dogg as recognition covered his face. He stumbled backwards and fell. I started to walk toward him to help him and he started to scream, not to kill him. He then covered his eyes with his arm and waited to die…

I just stared at him and all the rest of the Zombies started to moan and mill about. I told Ralph get up and control the Zombies or we will have a big mess. He peaked out from under his arm and looked at me as if to say you really will not kill me? I looked at him as, don’t be an idiot and get up…

I told Ralph do not threaten anymore and all is cool. If he was smart just get the Zombies to go away and do what they do all the time in the town. After a few minutes Ralph had all the Zombies under control and they had gone away. I then told Ralph that we are gonna sit and talk and he is gonna tell me the truth…

So they found Dogg some dog treats and me a sealed jar of juice. Then I got the real truth about the Zombies that were bothering the town Zombies…

It seems that these town Zombies could not go out at night as it seems that at dusk about 25 Zombies that hid from the sun came out at night to feed upon anything that they could find. A Zombie was not even safe from these blood thirsty creatures…

I had images of a Vampire Zombie and such…

Ralph said that these Zombies appeared about two years ago and that the population of the town has been cut in half by them. Now to me killing the Zombies or any Zombie was not a bad thing, but what was killing the Zombies in the town was a real bad thing and the lessor of the two evils was a town of organized Zombies, living happily forever after…

I told Ralph that we needed to see the local gun store and did he have a furniture store around the town? I was amazed at seeing Zombies cleaning the town and sweeping the streets. I could close my eyes and almost remember what it was like in the old days…

I am going to stop there for today and finish tomorrow. I still hurt and need some rest as we had a terrible time with the Vampire Zombies! They were unlike any Zombie that we have encountered and they scared me as to the prospects that Zombies may be mutating on their own on the planet…

Dogg has a Vampire Zombie head that he just loves and it has the nastiest looking fangs I have every seen on a humanoid face…

See you tomorrow before we take off to Denver Colorado…

Stryker
The Zombie Source Code…