“Shhhh.” Wes whispered to John. “Get down. Do it slowly.”

“What!?” John whisper-asked.

“Shut up!” Wes whisper-answered, never taking his eyes off whatever had gotten his attention out beyond the camp, out past the marker five feet in front of him, out into the seemingly endless black of open ground. He cocked his head slightly to the right, trying for a better listen. (more…)

Ted worked the pump on the twelve-gauge, waited until his target was ten feet away, and squeezed the trigger.  His shoulder, toughened against the kick of the shotgun, jarred back briefly and another useless set of rotting arms and legs dropped to the ground.

“Careful, Ted, they’re starting to pile.” (more…)

It gets cold in January.  Cold and windy.  On this particular night, it wasn’t a steady wind like you usually got, but gusty.  Just when you thought it had backed off, it blasted you.  This led to more frigid air finding its way into coats, under hats, up nostrils.

And Mikey had another two hours on watch.  He hated being up in the middle of the night, and the cold was just the cherry on top of the whole crap sundae. (more…)