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.I stood still, not knowing what to do.I had no gun on me or weapons of any kind.I bent down and picked up a four foot long, fallen tree branch on my left.The branch was heavy and thick enough to repel the zombie for a few seconds.In my short experience with the living dead, I figured flight was definitely better than fight.The zombie lurched out of the shadows and into the pale light.The figure was male, tall and looked like he’d worked out in his previous life.He would have been younger than me and had a trendy long haircut a few weeks ago.Now, his hair was matted in clumps, hanging around his head.Congealed blood plastered his fringe to his forehead.Chunks of his cheek and left eyebrow were missing as well as the tip of his nose.His lips curled back revealing broken teeth.The white eyeballs fixed firmly on me.I readied myself, grabbing the tree branch like a baseball bat.I had to take the guy down with the first blow.I noticed a Nikon camera still dangling on a strap around his chest.Maybe he’d been a tourist around here before the epidemic struck.At least he didn’t have to worry about his visa expiring now.The big guy came within ten feet, then nine.All my senses told me to run back to the RV and get a gun or get Eazy to get a gun or both.The big zombie swatted the air like he was trying to clear away a swarm of invisible flies.I was breathing heavily and nervously bounced on the balls of my feet.I hadn’t come into close quarters on my own with a zombie for a few days and hoped I could still muster the strength and willpower to survive.I briefly wondered where the buckled golf club, I’d used in the early days was.I mentally lined up the distance between us and tried to get an angle where the tree branch would hit the head and cause maximum impact.Blows to the big guy’s arms were no good.The thicket rustled to the left and Spot hurled himself out of cover and began dancing around the big zombie, yapping and trying to nip his ankles.“No, Spot,” I hissed.“Back off.”The big zombie looked down at Spot, slightly confused.I didn’t want the dog to bite the walking corpse and draw blood.I hadn’t seen any infected animals and didn’t know if they could contract the virus.I figured biting anything infected with such a life changing disease would come to no good, no matter what or who you were.The big guy bent at the waist and took a swat at Spot.The dog was quick and darted out of range of the huge hand.The big zombie was in a perfect position for me, bent at the waist with his arms dangling down by his knees and head tilted forward.I took a huge backward swing and hoped the blow was going to be worthy of a home run.The tree branch cracked into the side of the big guy’s head, making a satisfying “thonk” sound.Two things happened at the same time.The big zombie sunk to his knees from the blow and the tree branch broke into two short, useless pieces.I hoped the big zombie would stay down on the ground.He didn’t.He thrashed around, obviously stunned, down but not out on his hands and knees.Spot leapt on the zombie’s back and frenziedly shook the ripped shirt between his teeth.“Oh, shit.Spot get off, now,” I commanded to no avail.I threw the stump of the tree branch which clunked off the side of the zombie’s head and moved to grab the dog.I snatched up the snarling Spot in my arms and turned to run back to the RV.I felt enormous hands grasp my left ankle and shin from behind.I tried to pull away but the strength in the big guy’s hands and arms was immense.Spot wriggled in my arms, yapping and snarling, trying to break free to get at our attacker once more.I lost balance and tumbled face first into the grass.I kicked out frantically, trying to shake the vice like grip from around my leg.The big guy rose to his knees and shuffled closer towards me with his jaws wide and teeth bared.I didn’t know whether to let Spot go or hang on tight.It looked like one or neither of us was going to make it back to the RV.The big zombie held my leg in place, pinning me to the ground with all his weight.He shuffled on his knees closer to my face, moving his giant hands up to my thigh and hips.He wanted to taste bare flesh.Biting through clothes wouldn’t make a clean enough incision to taste warm, flowing, living blood.I hurriedly looked around on the ground next to me for a loose rock or tree branch or anything I could use for a weapon.Only long, green grass surrounded me.I felt the rise of panic, fear, humiliation, resignation and regret of unfulfilled and unresolved situations.My bladder threatened to release its contents.I wriggled, bucked and twisted but still the relentless grip didn’t cease.I realized my other self was right.I was a pathetic, useless piece of shit wriggling around in the dirt like a worm in my last living moments.A series of pop sounds rang through the early morning air and the big zombie’s hands went limp around my leg.I turned my head and saw blood running down his face before he slumped sideways and rolled onto his back.“What the hell…?” I muttered.“Are you injured or bitten?” a voice asked from somewhere.I twisted around the ground and saw Dr.Soames standing in the grass with his small pistol, still smoking, pointed at my head.“No…no, it didn’t get me in the end,” I stammered, clutching Spot close to my chest.“You got here just in time.You saved me…us.”“Stay where you are,” Soames ordered, still leveling the gun at me.He walked over to the prone zombie and briefly made certain he was dead then came slowly closer, looking me up and down as I lay on the ground.Soames slowly checked my legs, arms and face, then checked Spot for bites or scratches.When he was satisfied he replaced his pistol in a shoulder holster.“The dog didn’t bite the infected person, did he?”“He bit the guy’s shirt but didn’t draw blood,” I explained.“Okay,” Soames said, seeming satisfied.He offered me a hand and hauled me to my feet.We stood silently watching the pale sun rise for a few moments.“Thanks for coming to our rescue,” I sighed, hearing the emotion in my own voice.“I didn’t sleep very well in the car and heard the dog barking,” he said.We started to walk slowly back towards the RV
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