The Long Road

three day's have passed now and im still on this damn plane. I'm just waiting to get home to my wife and three kids. I was deployed in Afghanistan for two years as a staff sergeant of the marine core. After two years I get to go home and leave that horrible place. every night the sounds of gun fire and air drops canceling out the sweet noise of silence. most people say i need help but after this all I want is peace and quiet. i've lost some good man out there to which I called friends but now they're six feet under without the world saying thank you for their efforts. the closer I get home the more I feel happy and joyful to be back. A couple of hours pass on this wretched plane. as I look out the window I see lights of the cities and darkness of the few. at 0500 we finally arrived at lackland air force base. this is my drop off point then taking another flight on a smaller plane back home to Flagstaff, Arizona. its a nice little city or town to raise your kids at. at 1200 I finally arrived at Flagstaff's airport. my wife and kids dont know im here I told them I was coming home next month so I can surprise them. I asked my old friend Kegan Slayton to pick me from the airport and drop me off at my house. he was the first to see me when I came back home like he would greet me if we were in school still. he served in the airforce a year before I was deployed out to Afghanistan. he is also married to his high school girlfriend deja. they had two little rascals that are just like him. its a nice Saturday afternoon partially cloudy over head and not to hot. I finally arrived to my house after eating out with kegan. I step out of the car and see no one is home right now just perfect for the surprise.

I got ready and toke a shower to freshen up when I here the car pull up into the drive way I hurry up to get downstairs. at this time it was 1700 when they came home. I stood in the middle of the dark living room waiting for them. I hear the keys going into the lock anf the door opening up. I see my whole family in front of me, I see her reaching for the light switch. as she flicked it and the light came on I said 'did you miss me'. I see the kids run towards me yelling 'daddy' and giving me a hug but as I look at my wife Lillian I see tears and a smile on her face. i get up after the kids got off me and walked over to here saying 'you miss me little trouble maker' I reach down pushing her chin up and looking into her eyes smiling. as I lean in for a kiss she jumps into my arms and wraps her legs around my waist. as I begin to kiss her on the lips feeling their warmth for the first time in year's she hugs me tightly and dosent let go while whispering into my ears 'I love you'. I smile and say 'I love you to' while the tears roll down my face of pure happiness. the night was growing old all the kids feell asleep on me and my wife feel asleep in my arms. just a perfect night when I came home.

the day after seemed normal enough like any other day in are lifes. I go out and walk around town looking for a job to keep me busy for the mean time. my oldest son Daniel came in and walk up to me as if he knew where exactly I was. next week the boy was turning sixteen on july 7. I had a special surprise for him on that day a 70's Dodge Charger I've been building up for this day for him. we both walk together back home talking and telling stories of the past to him. when we arrived home my wife was making supper I didn't realize what the time was. I walk over to her kiss her on the cheek and ask what shes making. she replied 'chicken and rice with corn and green beans' I replied back 'smells delicious'. it's been to long since I had a nice home cooked meal and a table to eat on. as the night grew old I changed into something more comfortable and layed next to my wife in bed. I grabed the newspaper reading through it until something caught my eye in the latest news section. I read through it and noticed that a man was bitten by another man like he was crazed. I paid no attention to it at first until it started happening more often.

what I didn't know was that the government was doing experimental practices on the citizens of this town. this all started a year ago working on bio weapons to take into war to make men feel no pain make them stronger and faster. everyday seemed to get worse and worse. you hear about it on the news saying people have gone missing. most people didn't pay no attention to it like it was normal here. a week has passed and its my son Daniels birthday today. he brought me his report card with 4 four A's and two B's. I told him I would give him his present if he got 3 A's on his next report card. the day seemed to go by quick by the end of it I gave him the keys to his present. he went to the garage to find a covered vehicle. he started to laugh in excitement and when he pulled of the cover I say him cry with tears of happiness. he turned to me mumbling 'thank you dad' I walked over and gave him a hug and kissed his for head. I told him to start it up. he turned it over and the sound from the engine was like a symphony of sweetness came out. it sounded like a roar from a lion I haven't seen him this happy since I came home from deployment. after we talked about the rules for him driving I sent him to bed. i stopped in my other son's room hes eleven and I named him after me. after I wished Chris goodnight I went to my daughters room kissed her night and said 'goodnight Lillian.' after I washed up I kissed my wife asleep and went to bed.

it was 0500 when I woke up im just used to it from the marine's. I got up and went for my daily run but today seemed different like there was no vehicles on the road today. it seemed dead and lonesome when I was out. I stopped by the gas station to pick up a drink and a newspaper. I ran back home which was a easy mile away. I got home my wife greeted me with a kiss and a good morning. I sat at the table read the paper the head news line was 'Terror in the streets'. the story was about a dead man walks again out of the morg. to people reported to be bitten by this so called zombie-fide man. as I leave the house I see a man walk by almost like hes motionless. I walk up to greet him and said 'a fine morning isn't' he turned to me looking lifeless and his eyes white and soulless. he started to growl like a dog and lunged at me snapping his jaws. I push him away threatening to call the police on him. the man lunged at me again so my initial reaction was to push him away, this time the man fall to the ground. as he slowly got up he growled more and ran towards me in horrendous speed. I turned quickly to room back into the house and shut the door. I hear him clawing at the door hearing his every breathe and growl agaist the door. suddenly it stopped and I see the man walking away slowly from the door. Lillian comes to ask whats wrong I said 'that man just tried to bite me'. she looked outside and said 'what man'. I look out the window and I dont see him anymore. 'he was just there' as a second passed I looked away from the window. than in a flash of thunderous explosion i look back he jumped through the window and fell to the ground.

as I look startled at this man he beganed to run at me again this time I used self defense to protect my self. as he lunged at me I turned to his side grabed his arm and flipped him over me and looked him into a arm hold. as he bagan to attack me with his other arm I hear the kids come downstairs I tell Lillian to take them back upstairs and hide them selfs away. as this man began to try to bite me again I slowly added pressure to his arm but it wasn't affecting him. I continued to add pressure until I heard a snap in his arm and the bone came out. the man screamed in a horrendous tone. I let go of him to get up and make sure he wont get upstairs. he slowly rises up from the ground like nothing happened. I noticed that I left my pistol downstairs to clean it. I keep a magazine on me if I can reach the gun maybe I can make this man leave. as I run towards the gun the man is still trying to get up. as I cock and load it I say to the man 'dont come any closer sir' as a warning. he proceeds to step forward slowly I say again 'dont come any closer or ill shoot'. the man continues forward so I fire a warning shoot to show im being serious. as he continues forward I shoot out his knee cap but it didnt affect him to keep walking towards me. I shoot out his other knee but no affect again so I began to shoot away it toke three more bullets two to the chest and one to the head.

I head upstairs to see if my family is okay. I hear ruckus outside and screaming i look out the window seeing people being chased by other people like they were crazed or something. I grabbed the kids and rushed them to the car out back. I run back inside to grab some water, food and some ammunition. as I get back to the car my wife isn't there. I look around and ran back upstairs. I see that she was grabbing a suit case that must of been there for months like she knew what was happening before it happened. I grabbed her and the suit case and ran for the car. I can still hear screams and crys from the streets. as we pull out of the drive way I hear gun shots being fired and terror from all around I turn the wheel and speed away from the area hitting a few people by accident. we turn on the radio to the news apparently there's reports from all over the U.S. at this time my mission was to get away from here and find safety. after about 20 minutes of driving we make it to the outer part of the city were there is less people.