Entry 31

I am not quite sure what time it was. All I know is that I bolted out of bed in a panic as an explosion shook the apartment. It was quite a bit before my brain finally was able to catch up with the events. When it finally pierced the fog of terror all I could do was laugh.

The stupid stairway had finally collapsed in the middle of the night!

It took awhile to finally calm down enough to fall back asleep. Once I did, I slept till it was already light out. As I performed the morning ritual of checking the apartments I was debating what to do.

With both stairways down no more zombies should be able to get to me. I had not seen any on my floor either time I was outside, so it was possible I was already alone up here. I wondered if I should use the pistol if I did find any. The noise had been my greatest concern, but they had already shown they could not easily track a sound. Even if the zombies did figure out where it came from, they could not reach me. Still, taking any unneeded risks probably was not the best choice. The pistol still was the safer option for protecting myself. So regardless of how I wanted to dispatch any I found, the pistol was in hand as I opened the door.

I carefully walked around the second story, peeking around each corner as I came to it. The few zombies on the streets were oblivious. As I began checking apartment doors not one had glanced up. As I tried door after door I quickly realized that I was not sure how to get into the apartments. They were all locked; it had not been a problem before as I was cutting into them. Every door on the second floor was locked. It looked like I would still be cutting into them all. I thought about picking the locks; I had picked the gun safe lock, how much different could a door lock be? Plus, someday I might need to get into a place where picking the lock would be the only option. In fact, if I wanted to get into the apartments upstairs, there might not be a way to cut into them.

After examining the staircase which finally collapsed last night, I headed to the other set of stairs. After carefully testing the stairway to ensure it was strong enough, I began to carefully climb to the third story. The walkway was clear of zombies so I quietly started walking around the building. No doors were open on this side so I headed to the other side. As I peeked around the corner I saw a zombie at the far corner. It was actually staring down in the direction of the fallen staircase. It was two-thirds of the way down the walk, close enough that I figured I could get it with the pistol. I considered heading back for the spear, but with the narrow walkway I would not have much room to work with. I gripped the pistol, turned on the laser site and softly stepped out from the corner.

The head shot was pretty much exclaimed as the best shot from video games, books, and the news. Without a thought, I led the red dot to its rotting head. I watched the dot move with each rapid breath and shake as my hands trembled. I began to take long, slow breaths trying to steady myself. Focusing on holding the dot steady, I took another breath. With the dot as still as I could make it I began to pull the trigger back. There was a soft click, then a loud crack as the gun fired. The recoil pressed the gun back into my hands bringing the barrel and the dot up, away from the collapsing zombie. I watched for a moment, ensuring it was really down, before I lowered the gun and cautiously approached.

All it took was a strong shove from my foot and I sent it off the balcony. I did not watch it fall, but the sickening thud a second later told me it had fallen to the ground. I checked the third story doors and then headed back to my apartment. I spent the rest of the day trying to pick the lock to apartment 206. I had limited success but I figured it would take time like the other.

After dinner I headed into my room and tried to block the image of the creature from my mind. I wondered if anyone would ever know what happened to the human race. Just as we had once wondered about the Aztec empire, would a visitor stop and wonder? How could a society be so vast and vanish overnight?