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slow moving corpses outnumbered us, we could close up and seal ourselves inside. But it felt like a steel coffin.

Our convoy was made up of three APC's, four tanks, twelve humvees, and six cargo trucks. Sixty armed soldiers accompanied the vehicles. On the way to the Olympic Center, we saw no activity of any zombies, which they were being referred to as now. When we arrived we saw hundreds of uninfected people stand outside in food lines. Police and Firefighters were everywhere and military blackhawk helicopters circled high above like vultures. We understood that they were observing any approaching dead.

What we thought was a bonfire burning about fifty yards away was actually a pile of thirty or so dead bodies. Far off in the distance on the track field we saw six dead bodies scattered around each other. It didn't seem real to us until a Tank commander began shouting on his bullhorn that he had possible enemy in sight.

Two hundred yards away, four people lumbered slowly down the street towards us. We all clamored around with our weapons aimed and our safety's off.

"Hold your fire!" A high-ranking sergeant screamed at us. "Let the tanks get them."

The tank commander opened up with his fifty-caliber machine gun and two second later what was left of the corpses dropped to the ground. The crowd of refuges who had been forced to leave their homes the night prior erupted with applause. For the moment, morale was high. I felt sick.

As the days passed, the tanks machine guns racked up about thirty kills and the population of refugees at the Olympic Center tripled. We maintained excellent communication with the post, ten miles away. Our first skirmish took place inside the confines of the center.

A young woman who had been bitten the day prior died in her cot. No one noticed. I was catching up on some much needed sleep when I heard her shuffle towards me. "Can I help you?" I asked. She reached out at me, opened her mouth and let out a high-pitched cry.

I felt numb but I didn't freeze. I switched the safe off my M-16 and shot her point blank in the forehead. She dropped on my lap. Two sergeants ran over to see if I was okay. Three more zombies came walking in out of the locker room. To the rest of the military they were just oversights. People who had been bitten and died but not thrown in the bonfire. Police officers shot all three in the head. He looked like he was sobbing afterwards.

Shortly there after, Major Hanes, our military physician began checking all those who had been bitten. Soldiers and civilians alike were searched for any wounds they might have received before arriving to the Center. Five civilians were found. We confined them to a separate room and locked the door. Six hours later a young lieutenant walked in with his sidearm and disposed of them all. The bonfire outside continued to burn.

Two weeks later all was quiet. Hundreds of corpses travelling in packs of ten or less had been disposed of one at a time as they approached the center. Then for three days, nothing. Other shelters in the Colorado Springs area had reported no sightings of zombies. The decision was made to send out a lone patrol of two tanks and two humvees.

That night we listened in horror as they radioed back for reinforcements. Captain Shelton screamed that there were thousands of near the interstate. His tank had thrown its track and was immobile. His voice was drowned out by the sound of machine gunfire. Soon no more transmissions from the patrol came back. And no one from the Patrol ever returned.

A month went by. Every day we killed more and more of them. Every day Helicopters airlifted food, medicine and ammunition to the center. When one of the observation helicopters reported a mass movement of zombies heading right for us, the order was given to evacuate the people back to Fort Carson.

We were falling back.

It was a war zone. Zombies filled the streets and fires lit the sky. We shot anything that moved. Helicopters and busses came in to remove all the citizens of the Olympic Center. We watched as a squad of soldiers laying down suppressing fire across the street were surrounded and overwhelmed. Their screams could be heard over the spinning rotor blades of the helicopters.

My track had been commandeered by Alpha Company to be used as a barrier. I was without transportation and doubted the army cared how I was getting back.

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