Derik's grandparent's house - 5:49 A.M.

Derik closed the wooden and glass door quietly, letting it click shut, and then turned to face the twelve women that were either standing or sitting in his grandmother's living room. All the loose weapons and equipment were now on the counter in this room, away from the grabbing hands of young children.

Also in there were two teenage boys, one fourteen and the other seventeen, and four teenage girls, one fourteen, two fifteen, and one eighteen.

The women varied in age, though most of them were in their thirties. Two, though, were in their forties, and one grey haired lady claimed to be seventy six.

"All right, here's the deal," Derik began quietly, then speaking up louder so that everybody could hear him. "While this is a time of crisis I would like to remind you that this is not your house, though it may come to be over time. As such I would like to lay out some rules: First of all, nobody is to take any of the trinkets that my grandparents have collected over the years and left in their house. All of the small items are to be brought upstairs and put in my grandma's office. This brings me to the second rule: No children are allowed upstairs unsupervised, and no body is allowed in my grandparent's bedroom. Theirs is the on with the red carpet and pink curtains with the TV.

"Now, though, that I'm done bitching and moaning about those things, I would like to explain everything else about this house. First of all, the makeshift barricades that my friend and I have set up are not extremely strong, and I would hate to see them tested in the first place. I would like some help in making them stronger in the coming days, but right now it is more important that we sort out supplies. Now, there is food here, but before you all came it was still only enough to get myself and my friends through a month at the most. Now, I know that you have brought supplies with you, and it seems that there was a lot, but we are probably going to need to ration anyways. Now, to achieve this end I suggest that all food is moved up to the second story part of the apartment with people taking turns guarding it.

"Second... Uh, ok, second. I have plenty of beds and blankets and such, but only enough for so many people. Now, I saw that you brought those sorts of things with you as well, so the only question, really, is where to put everybody. Now, I suggest that we get as many people as possible in the two upstairs bedrooms that I'm letting you all stay in, I think that we can fit about half the people up there. The rest will fit in living room, I think.

"And, last order of business... Weapons. Now, I'm going to say this now: I don't give a damn what your policies and opinions on weapons are. All weapons not in use are to be kept in here on the counter. If there is not enough space for all the guns then put what don't fit on the floor in front of the television. I do not want to see any guns within arms reach of children. I don't care if you're the parent and feel that they know how to use a gun and should get one - nobody outside of this room besides Zane and Breanne gets a gun. If you have a weapon gun in the house I want it in a holster or slung over a shoulder. If you don't have a sling or holster then keep it pointed at the ground and unloaded until you get outside. Now, I need someone to stay in here to keep an eye on the weapons and make sure that everyone that wants one knows how to use it. Do I have any volunteers?"

Everybody was quiet for a moment, soaking it all in. Then the old grey-haired lady spoke up and said, "I'll do it. I don't feel much like moving around, but I know how to use any gun. I'll stay in here and watch them."

"All right, that sounds good to me. Now, does anybody have any questions?" Derik asked the assembled people.

Immediately one of the teenage boys spoke up and said, "Yea. What if I don't want to take your bullshit you fuckin' dictator?"

Derik looked at the boy a moment, took in his Neanderthal forehead and stocky build and brown height, and then replied by saying, "Then leave. If you don't want to take it then head out there on your own. You can have a gun and some food, I don't care, but if you're going to cause trouble then leave, else I shoot you myself."

The boy was quiet.

Then one of the ladies, a thirty year old woman, asked, "How is this place still powered? I thought that the power was out in this part of town."

"Oh, yea... I'd forgotten about that," Derik said. "Yea, my grandpa set up a generator in the garage over there. He also has a bank of batteries that will keep things running for quite a while. However, I'm gonna have to say no television, as I - we - don't have unlimited amounts of fuel. But, yes, while you're here you get the luxury of electricity. Also, as long as we have electricity we have water, as my grandpa set up pump up in the river. Any other questions?"

"Yea..." piped up another lady. "What's the long-term plan?"

"Well, I don't have any specifics, really. I mean, of course the end result should be to get the hell out of here I don't know how we'll go about that yet, and I'm not going to figure that out until the guys that left in the jeep get back. If they don't get back within twenty-four hours then I'll call up a meeting. Anything else?"

Nobody said anything.

"Ok, then. If you could all go and help the younger kids out in setting things up, that would be nice. And, don't forget, if anyone has any questions just come to me, I'll be happy to answer them," he said as he opened the door and held it open for the people as they left.

After the last of them had left Breanne came in, and Derik closed the door behind them.

"So you know how to use a gun, ma'am?" he asked the old lady.

"Yes, I sure as hell do. I was raised here and I'm an NRA member - of course I know how to use firearms!" the old lady chuckled. "Now, honey, do you want to take a gun or not?"

"Oh, yea, I'm gonna be taking one in a moment here. First, though, what's your name?" Derik asked her.

"Oh. Well, I'm Heather. Now, are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend there?" she asked, grinning.

Derik ran a hand through his hair and chuckled, and then replied, "Heather, this is Breanne. Breanne, Heather. And, she is not my girlfriend." He leaned over and mock whispered to Heather, "I only wish she was."

This elicited a chuckle from the old woman.

Now that the talking was done with Derik turned and looked at the weapons laid out on the counter. While he did have his revolver Derik wanted a rifle for other occasions. After looking over the weapons he decided that the only good choice that his conscience would agree with was his grandpa's .270 rifle. Though it didn't have a scope it would work just fine - iron sights were more than adequate for most shooting.

Not only that, but the rifle already had a good sling attached to it. So he grabbed it, checked the chamber so as to be sure that it was empty, and then slung it over his back, barrel pointing towards the ceiling. Then he took the Russian's vest from the corner of the living room and then proceeded to take everything out of the various pouches and straps. Breanne and Heather talked this whole time.

By the time he had emptied everything Derik had built up a pretty good-sized pile of magazines for the Russian's weapons, as well as several hand grenades and some various other pieces of equipment.

Then he put the vest on, letting it hang from his shoulders. It fit surprisingly well and wasn't as bulky as Derik had expected it to be.

"Breanne, Heather?" he asked the two women, interrupting their conversation. "Could you guys tie the straps that I - ah... Cut?"

The two of them looked at Derik a moment and then said, "Sure, hold your arms out," and began tying the cut straps together. About thirty seconds later four good knots were holding the vest together, and Derik was able to put five boxes of ammunition for his rifle and two for his revolver in the various pouches, and he suspected that more could fit.

"Well, don't you look fancy!" exclaimed Breanne.

"Yea, yea. I know I do. I'm awesome like that. Now, Breanne, if you could... stay here and keep Heather company, I guess? I'm gonna go and see how Ernie's doing," Derik said.

He then opened the door, exited the room, and closed it behind him, the bells on the doorknob jingling slightly.

As Derik walked through the other living room he watched as some of the older women helped the children move the small knick-knacks upstairs and set up their sleeping areas. The children there did seem to be quite young, some of them being only five, while others were looking to be pre-teens.

Derik then strode through the apartment and watched as a harried looking woman with brown hair helped some more children move the food up into the second floor of the apartment. As he walked by her he smiled and nodded his approval, and she returned the smile.

Derik then opened the door and hopped onto the grass, and as he was closing the door behind him something touched him on the shoulder, causing Derik to jump away and hit the thing away to ground.

It was then that he realized that the thing was the hand of one of the fifteen year old girls that had been in the room earlier. His face went red with embarrassment while he studied, or rather, ogled, her long, graceful face, her silky shoulder length hair, her smooth and freckled skin.

"I- I'm really sorry about that," Derik stammered.

"Oh, it's alright," the girl said. "I'm a bit jumpy myself. By the way, uh... shit, I forgot your name, but I liked your speech. Very authoritative for someone who was younger than pretty much everybody in there." It was then that she offered Derik a beautiful smile.

"Name's Derik," he said. "And, thanks, I guess."

"Yea, sorry about forgetting... It's just that I've been a bit stressed lately... Though, who hasn't, right? Anyways, I'd better get inside before my mom yells at me." She turned to go inside, but before she did she turned back and said, "My name's Olivia, by the way. Anyways, I'll talk to you later, Derik."

As she opened the door and headed into the house Derik got to study the rest of Olivia. Namely, he studied the way her waist tapered to meet her hips, and the way that her ass seemed to be curved just right.

After he had come back to his senses Derik padded through the grass to the ladder and began climbing it, though he did so slowly. When he got to the top Ernie looked at him funnily and raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason that you're wearing that thing?" he asked.

"Yea..." Derik said. "It's way easier to carry ammunition in this thing, and it fits very well. At least, I think so. So, how you doing up here, man? Tired? Hungry?"

"Well, yea, of course I'm tired! Anyways, how's everything going down there? You want me to help rough anybody up?"

"Oh, yea, like I'd need help beating the crap out of any of them. Naw, they're all being good. At least, nobody has rebelled yet. I'm ready for them, though. There's one guy, older than either of us, who spoke out against my speech. Called me a dictator... But I think that he's inspired me! I'm totally gonna go buy a fake mustache and a drab green uniform now."

"Hah, yea... Alright, well, I'll stay up here for maybe an hour or two longer. Plus, some food would be pretty sweet, if you could manage that," Ernie said, giving Derik a hopeful thumbs up.

"Yea, yea... Does some fruit sound good? I don't think that cooking something would be too smart an idea right now... There might be a sandwich in the refrigerator that I could bring you," Derik thought.

"Yea, that sounds good. What do you have to drink?" Ernie asked.

"Ah, I'll just bring you up a Pepsi. That'll work for you, right? Right."

"Right. Well, at least I got a say in the matter."

As Derik started down the ladder he said, "Ha, me give you a choice? You only wish!"

1428 Hans Way - 6:45

Jason tried to take a nap lying on the porch swing, but he was having as much luck as he'd had inside. Occasionally one of the undead would come by and would be dispatched by a single shot, sometimes two.

Not only that, but Jason had the image of the helicopter being struck by the missile imprinted on his mind - it was there every time he closed his eyes.

The air was dead still in the hills at the moment, and all noises carried extremely far. Mostly there were a few gunshots, the occasional scream, and a lot of the undead's moaning.

Then they could hear a storm of fire start up, hundreds and hundreds of gunshots, and the occasional of rumbling explosion.

'What ever it is,' he thought to himself, 'It'll come this way eventually. No need to investigate it.'

The Eastern Approach to Fairbanks - 6:46

Sergeant McKellan watched the faces of the other men in his helicopter. There were ten of them in all, eight armed with M16A2 assault rifles. The other two were armed with an M249 SAW and an M240B.

"Everybody in back, get ready to jump. We're dropping you at the cordon line," the pilot yelled back to the ten men as the helicopter pulled up to a hover and then dropped slowly to the ground.

As soon as it hit dirt they were off, McKellan and his men, their boots pounding onto the dirt next to the road. As soon as they were out the large helicopter pulled away back into the air, turning back to pick up more men from Eielson.

"Hey, over here, move it move it!" someone yelled at the assembled men, waving his arms.

All around were helicopters of all sorts, Russian and American, dropping off troops and equipment and firing weapons into the undead up the road. Various land vehicles were around as well, armored transports, tanks, jeeps, the whole lot.

The cordon itself was a hastily erected line of ten foot tall sandbag walls and towers, with men literally lining the ramparts with rifles.

On top of every tower were a a giant pair of speakers, each of them droning on and on with a loud bass note that vibrated the air, a strange undertone to the sound of gunfire and vehicles.

From the landing pad McKellan and his men were ushered to the road where men were being directed about into lines of twenty men abreast with a vehicle between each line.

The line seemed to go on for hundreds of feet, stretching out towards the gate of the cordon.

As McKellan and his men stood waiting one of the organizers came over and tapped him on the shoulder, and then pointed to his wrist and said, "Ten minutes until we open the gates and move in. You need anything before you and your men go in, Sergeant?"

"No, we're fine, but we only have ten men in our line! Any reason for that?" McKellan asked him as he motioned towards the empty space to his right.

"Oh, shit," the organizer said looking around for men to grab. "Just a second, Sergeant," he said as he ran off to find some men to fill the space.

About a minute later ten Russians jogged over, black Abakan rifles cradled in their arms. As they lined up their squad leader came to stand next to McKellan, and he turned over and put forth a hand, searching for words in his head.

"Sergeant," he started, "I am Vosya. It is honor to fighting be with you today."

McKellan took the Russian's hand and replied in just as choppy Russian, saying, "Good to be fighting with you today, Vosya. I'm McKellan." That's what he thought he said, anyways.

Ten minutes later there was a grinding noise towards the front of the line and then the convoy began to move at a snail's pace towards the city in the river valley below.

It took ten minutes for McKellan's line to make it to the gate as they followed the Humvee in front of them, but once they were there McKellan was able to marvel at the three meter tall and ten meter wide metal gate that was now moved off to one side. The ground here shook with the force of the bass note being played, and it disoriented McKellan for a moment.

This was forgotten as he made it out the cordon and saw something that would stay in his mind forever as a scar.

There were no trees or distinguishable features about the ground for one hundred meters beyond the sandbag walls, it had all been bombed out hours earlier to provide a clear line of sight for the defenders. The ground was also covered with hundreds and hundreds of elongated lumps that were strangely still, and the ground seemed to be very dark red.

Apparently the artillery had been fired to clear away large pockets of the walking stiffs several times as McKellan walked over several dismembered arms, legs, and other body parts.

Gunfire was heard up ahead continually, but McKellan kept marching without seeing any walking dead. No, the ones that he walked by were all dead.

Even when the convoy made its way away from the no man's land and into the forested area McKellan still saw no undead, but the gunshots from up ahead were continual, and the bodies still littered the ground as he passed.

Nearly forty-five minutes after the start of the foray McKellan passed a line of twenty men marching along the side of the road - back to the cordon. Vosya watched this two, and he wondered out loud, "Where they are going, do you think?"

McKellan thought on it for five minutes while the gunfire ahead increased in amount and the Convoy slowed to a crawl. When another line of soldiers trudged back along the side of the massive column, obviously lacking any ammunition he realized what the strategy was.

They were simply sending line after line towards the undead, and once that line ran out of ammunition it was sent back, but if it was all the way back to the Cordon McKellan wasn't sure. After one more line passed by McKellan came across the three vehicles that were associated with the three infantry lines.

On a pull-out by the road there they were, one BTR-90, one Humvee, and one two and a half ton truck. The truck was simply parked on the side of the pull-out, and the BTR was facing down the road, while the Humvee was facing the other way. Five men were busy unloading crates of supplies from the two and a half ton truck.

Five other men were busy dragging mutilated bloody corpses into one corner that was sheltered by earth on three sides, piling them up.

It was nearly an hour later when McKellan watched the line in front of him break away, exhausted, their munitions spent. The BMP with them pulled away as well, leaving nothing between McKellan's line and a mass of the shambling undead ahead. McKellan now understood why the line had stopped so often, as moving while firing at the figures would have been nearly impossible and impractical. Rather, McKellan organized it so that the Russians would move forwards ten feet and fire while the Americans moved forwards ten feet. While they were moving forwards they would occasionally pop off a shot.

After five minutes they had already burned through a fifth of their ammunition and had left a trail of bodies in their wake.

The push into Fairbanks had begun - undead casualties were nearing the five-thousand mark, Russian casualties were at four, and American casualties were at eight. This was only beginning.

Derik's grandparent's house - 9:36 A.M.

Derrik hauled the mattress up the ladder while Ernie pushed from below.

"Come on, you bastard, pull your part, dammit," Ernie half-yelled up at Derik.

"I'm pullin', man, just give me a second, I've just got to get up on the roof," Derik replied.

An hour ago Derik and Ernie had decided that just sitting on the fairly steep roof was just too dangerous, so they went back over to the neighbor's garage from earlier and stole more two by fours, two sheet of plywood, and several mattresses. Three of the mattresses went into the house for people to sleep on, but the fourth was currently being hauled up to the roof where the two sheets of plywood now formed a platform that was supported by a network of two by fours nailed directly to the roof. One sheet had a two by four rising up on each corner and a tarp was hanging from each of these supports, effectively creating a room to store things in and perhaps sleep in.

Derik and Ernie wrestled with the mattress for a few more minutes and finally got it on the platform.

"Shit, man," panted Derik. "Well, now that this is up here I'm set for a while. You can take the .270 back down to whats her face, I left the vest down there with her already, and I'll keep the .308 with me. Make sure they're all doin' what I told 'em to, right?"

"Yea, I will," Ernie said as he carried the rifle with him down the ladder. "I will."

Derik adjusted the mattress a bit more, made sure it was an even distance from all the edges and then set his rifle just inside the tarp room. He looked around a moment more at the sunlight shining down on him, at the green trees, at the smoke rising into the sky in the distance... And decided to lie down on the mattress and take a nap.

He lay there, letting the sun shine down upon him. He could hear everything very well now - the rustling of the leaves as a slight wind blew through them, scattered gunshots from every direction, a few moans in the distance...

Derik let himself be absorbed, and let himself drift away...

"Hello, is anybody up here?" somebody, a girl, asked.

Derik lay still for a small moment, listening to the noises that had lulled him to sleep who knew how long earlier.

"Hello?" the girl asked again. It sounded like the girl from earlier... Olivia, or whatever her name was.

'The one with the nice ass,' Derik thought to himself, grinning slightly. He wanted to get up, wanted to say something, but he was just so tired... His arms and legs felt like lead and it was like he had no will power. 'I probably should say something, though."

"Derik, you up here..? Ah, there you are," Olivia said as she pulled herself up onto the plywood platform.

Derik opened his eyes and reached through the tarp with his right arm, pulling out a large pillow that he propped himself up with.

"Yea, I'm up here," Derik said. "But... What... What are you doing up here, girl?"

"Oh, my mom, inside... She was kinda being a bitch, so I decided to come out and see who was up here," Olivia said as she dangled her legs over the river side of the platform. "...And I found you again."

"I can see," Derik said closing his eyes again.

The two were quiet for a few minutes and Derik almost fell asleep again as he listened to the leaves, the gunshots, the moans...

"So, what's your story?" Olivia asked out of the blue, turning her head to look at Derik.

"My story?" Derik thought out loud. "Well, I was in class, taking Geometry at Lathrop, and the school went to code red or whatever right after the bell rang, so everybody else was gone but Zane, Breanne, and I. We stayed there for nearly forever, ok, well, maybe a few hours, when we saw two cops run up against the front doors of the school... I ran down there, let them in, and then they took us in their squad car here. They left about an hour later and things went from there.

"And now... Here I am! On top of my grandparent's roof and taking a nap. Didn't see that one coming," Derik said as he closed his eyes again.

Olivia was quiet for a moment and then asked, "Where are your grandparents?"

"Oh, they're down on the East Coast, or somewhere in the lower forty eight like that. Grandpa's got cancer, so they're looking into treatment for it." Derik paused a moment, chuckled, and then said, "They must be shitting their pants right now if they've been watching the news."

"Oh. That... Sucks..." Olivia said as she watched a zombie stumble across the lawn of a house across the river. Apparently it was chasing after a vole.

"Yea. So, what about you?" Derik asked as he listened to the leaves rustling.

"I was sick today, actually," Olivia began. "That and I didn't want to go to school because some people were being pieces of shit... But, anyways, my mom called in and excused me and then took me into town to go shopping. While we were driving through down town we rammed the back of a car that had hit one of those... Things. God, I remember being so surprised. And then two of the things started coming for my side of the car, I don't know where they came from before that, and just before they reached my open window a man ran up and shot both of them in the head and helped me and my mother out of the car.

"From there he brought us across the bridge and to the gun store, and we hid in there with more and more people that kept arriving until down town settled down a bit. After that some people decided that it would be better to stay on the bridge - I don't know why - so we moved everything there and stayed there for hours. Then the two cops came and got us on those buses and directed us here... And here I am."

"That's my line," Derik said, but before Olivia could say anything he asked her, "What about your dad?"

"Out on the North slope," she replied. "Safe, I hope."

The two didn't say anything for quite a while. When Olivia finally did say something, asking Derik about his parents, she didn't get a reply, and when she looked she found that Derik had fallen fast asleep.

"Oh," Olivia thought to herself. "I guess I should stay up here to keep watch since he's asleep..."

Of course, she didn't exactly mind staying up there in the sun with a boy that she had only just met but was so far smitten with, even if it meant that the dead were walking.

Little did she know that this would be her last quiet moment for a long time.