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I lifted it off the shelf and pulled the sheath off. It shined in my eye so bright I could almost hear it begging me to take it. I attached the chain to my belt and walked out of the store. I had taken fencing lessons briefly as a boy, as well as eight years of martial arts. I pulled it out and took a few practice swings with it. It was indeed one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. The silver and black color scheme made it so much more magnificent.

I continued walking through the mall and found a satchel to carry my wares. Upon searching other store, I found myself a new medical kit, plenty of pre-packaged foods, lighter fluid, and batteries. The moment I got batteries and loaded them in my television, I turned it on and scanned through channels. There were no broadcasts. I prayed it was because of the low channel range of the TV. In an electronics store I got myself a better television.

I eventually found a store with a glass drink container. I opened this up and filled my canteen with Powerade, since it was a better way to regain lost fluids. Upon taking various other commodities such as few pens, pencils, a calculator, and a cell phone, I made a quick stop in Kay-Bee, a toy store. I looked around at all the toys in the shop; nothing really caught my eye until I reached the action figure department.

Within they had some sort of RPG Video Game series of action figures. I found one, James Sunderland, who vaguely reminded me of myself. I ripped his blister card packaging open and took him out. I pushed his accessories in a smaller pocket of my satchel and stuck him in my right front pocket, his arms placed over my pocket’s lip. I looked down at him. "So James…" My voice cracked and I coughed up a ball of mucous. I did not think speaking again would be so painful.

I walked towards the entrance of the mall, noticing some movement. It would appear that the Zombies had discovered my position. A few of them had scuffled through the front door and looked hungry. I took a step back from my position and wielded my Kitana. I held the weapon up over my head with both hands, waiting for one to get close. When an infectee was within six feet of me, I made a large sweeping motion with my arms and hacked his head off at the neck like it was a corn stalk.

Blood sprayed out of the separated neck as the creature fell to the ground. Holding the weapon at waist height on my right side, I waited for the next attacker. I swung my blade up and severed his neck diagonally. I ran through the crowd of Zombies, hacking off heads like a Jedi Knight. As I dashed through the front door, I utilized one of their shirts to wipe the blood off my Kitana.

My journey continued, walking through the suburbs of Nebraska, which in turn lead to the suburbs of Iowa. When I was tired I took to sleeping in suburban housing. I would have watched TV, but every house I slept in had been looted. It did not take too long for me to find new food stores to replenish my supplies. As I walked through the state of Iowa, I made a new best friend: James Sunderland.

It took sixteen days to make it across Iowa and thirteen to cross Illinois, considering most days I walked about fifteen miles. I engaged Zombie targets as they came to me, and sharpened my blade every fifteen kills or ten days. Finally, in the state of Indiana, I found a suburban home that had not been looted, destroyed or burned. Within was a color television with a massive satellite dish.

I quickly located the remote control and turned it on. Obviously, my first channel was simply static. More static followed through other channels, a few had the emergency broadcast system operating, and most had not been updated since 2000. It was late into that night that I found a channel broadcasting out of god knows where in the country, and there was an actual human being on live.

"This is Mark Patterson, still on the air three years into the crisis, I’m sure our viewers are tired of hearing the same old thing over and over, but people need to know we’re still here in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Latest Epidemiology figures point that the infection has taken the United States and that few safe houses are still reporting active, maybe a hundred or so. Mexico, Canada, and most of the Americas have been overtaken, excepting areas of Alaska including the CDC station in McMurdo Sound and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. Worldwide, Australia is containing their infection well, and England, Antarctica, Madagascar, Iceland, Greenland, New Guinea, and several other islands worldwide have yet to see any signs of infection due mostly to border control, corpse control, and geography. The only place that is accepting any persons of any kind is England, who is accepting only those who have British Citizenship from a few select countries. They are now accepting eight persons from France, ten persons from Germany, and thirty persons from the United States. These people must meet a certain requirement on fitness and must undergo a viral testing period before they are allowed to live within the country. They have yet to come across a single person from the United States, and say they will offer housing and food to the first five they allow. We here at the station in Huntingdon number seventeen, and we beg that anyone out there that has the appropriate documentation please come to our facility. We have with us a commercial airline pilot and the tools to counterfeit British Citizenship documentation. With this documentation, we can live out the rest of our days in security in England. Our station will stay on 24 hours a day on this channel, and our people will stay awake so someone is always on to verify our status. Please contact us if you can. Our number is 460-634-7782. We have yet to intercept a single call. Please…"

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