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[Mathew Breubaker's adventure so far]

Mathew slow slinked alongside the building, keeping low and out of sight from the rotting meatbags that moaned and roamed in the middle of the street. The stench they gave off drove Mathew just as nuts as the noise they made, the groaning and cry for food, for warm flesh.

There was a hunting store three blocks down from where Mathew now stood. He had been fine so far, but after a near brush with death the week before, he decided he wanted a gun. The cold led pipe in his hand just wasn't enough anymore. On a search for food the week prior, a deadhead took a bite out of his jacket, millimeters from his skin.

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Matt surveyed the city street. He need across the intersection about fifty feet ahead, but between him and it stood four undead people. Two of the deadheads were fully decked out in suits, one even clutched a briefcase in his hand. They were business men before the apocalypse. The third was once a homeless guy, either that or his clothes had just worn since he had become infected. The man still had a scraggly beard and his clothes were ragged and full of holes. The fourth and last undead was completely nude aside from a partial sleeve that hung around it's wrist.

An abandoned car sat at the side of the road and Mathew saw an opportunity in it. He ran quickly behind the car, trying to stay quiet and low to the ground to stay out of sight and out from under their noses. Except one of the businessmen doesn't have a nose, not that it matters...

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Mathew peeked over the top of the car, now only a few yards from the deadheads. Mathew gagged when he saw businessman up close. The side the it had turned away from Mathew before was now revealed and was grotesque, bloodsoaked, frayed flesh dangled over an exposed ribcage. The deadhead's organs were shriveled and rotting behind their red stained cell. Mathew took several deep breaths and pushed forward, constantly looking over his shoulder to make sure the monsters were not following.

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Now only a block away, Mathew picked up the pace. After seeing the zombies a few blocks back, he was becoming anxious, "A pistol, a slingshot, anything better than a freaking metal pipe."

Mathew ran forward. As he passed an alley he heard a faint moan. He muttered a curse word and continued forward. Mathew quickly checked over his shoulders as he burst through the front door of Frank's Firearm Depot of the corner of 3rd and Winston.

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Whoever Frank was, he didn't have good lighting for his shop. The entire store was dim, illuminated by what little light was showing through the windows from the moon. Mathew scanned the room for the undead the best he could in the dark. Nothing seemed to be afoot. Mathew took a deep breath of relief and grinned at the candystore of firearms in front of him. For some reason this place was never ransacked like most of the stores.

Mathew moved deeper into the store, making straight for the countered, a glass case full of pistols. He stopped a few steps short and grimaced. A putrid odor turned the air bitter. It was the scent of death. Mathew had noticed it before, but the streets were soaked in that smell. This stench however, was strong. A deeper moan turned Mathew's attention to the door behind the counter. "s**t," he muttered.

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Okay, gotta pick something good. A pistol of course, holds plenty of ammo, easy to carry...which one though? Mathew look over the guns in the glass counter case. Constantly he looked up, checking the door to back, watching to see zombie Frank walk through wanting a meal. Mathew was hesistant even to breathe.

He continued through his thought process on the pistol, the 9mm his fast, hold more...I think. Mathew tried to think back on all the movies and video games he played. Between work and school he hadn't much time for things, but it was like riding a bike, you never forget. The revolver only holds six shots, sometimes eight. Slow reload, but very strong...and loud. "Nine mill it is then," He whispered. Mathew looked at the case, fiddling with the handle on the back, trying to open it. "Damn...it's locked."

A creak and a moan from Frank in the back room froze Mathew's blood and locked his gaze on the door.

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"I need a key. I need a goddamn key." All of the weapons in Frank's Firearms Depot were under lock and key. No wonder this place wasn't looted; plexi glass and locks. Mathew slowly walked behind the counter. Suddenly a large moaning man burst through the back door. Flailing his arms about, he ran towards Mathew. Avoiding the charge, the undead man crashed into the glass counter, flipping over top of it...but not breaking it...The man quickly rose again.

The large zombie man was obviously Frank. Mathew watched the man aimlessly walk around. Doesn't he see...me? That's when Matt noticed Frank's face. Two holes in his face gave it away. Frank had no eyes. He must have lost them to another deadman, Mathew thought. Studying deadFrank, a beacon appeared. Dangling from the gunshop owner's belt was a key, most likely the key to the guncase.

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Mathew slowly stepped towards the blind zombie, reaching out for the key that hung from its belt. Slow and quiet, careful and quiet. A board creaked under Mathew's foot and deadFrank roared, flailing and running in the sounds direction. Quickly, Mathew sidestepped, avoiding his charge. After a short and silent breath of relief, Matt again reached for the key to the guncase. Suddenly, deadFrank swung out his arm, striking Mathew in the shoulder. "Son of a b***h!" Mathew fell backward. Frank stumbled forward, moaning as he stepped. "Fine then!" Mathew took the led pipe he held in his hand and smacked the zombie's right knee. As deadFrank fell to the ground Mathew jumped to his feet. With a strong downward blow to Frank's face, the zombie stopped moving. "I tried to do it the freaking easy way, but no." Mathew pulled the key off the corpse's belt and walked over to the glass case that held the prize.

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It was as he had hoped. The deadhead inside the gunshop was the owner and the key it had was that of the guncase. As Mathew cracked the counter's seal a grin that spread from ear to ear appeared on his face.

The weight of the 9mm, fifteen round pistol was heavier than he expected...and it even wasn't loaded yet. A couple dozen boxes of bullets were stacked on a shelf set on the wall behind the gun case. Mathew grabbed a box and a clip for his newly acquired gun. He found two more clips on the lower shelf of the gun case. Matt filled the clip in his gun and the two extras. He then tucked the gun into the jacket pocket.

[Acquired 9mm Pistol plus to Clips]
[46 bullets remain]

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Mathew walked back outside and looked up at the blinking sign above the shop. It hadn't been lit up before. "Must've happened when Frank crashed around in there." He had hit the ground rather hard earlier. It must have jostled something to make the Frank's Firearm Depot sign light. Mathew shrugged and started to walk back the direction he came. In the distance he heard a groan. Looking down the street Mathew saw the source. Scatter about down the road were half a dozen deadheads. "s**t, the light attracted them." Mathew cursed Frank's shop under his breath and started running the opposite direction.

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Mathew was running down Winston Avenue, running from the half dozen undead that were coming. Frank's Firearm Depot was happily behind him now and Matt had his sights on heading home, or what he now called home. "I'll take Winston to Cherryview, then cut over to Lasko drive. If I circle back to Pineview I should be alright." Assuming there were no more deadheads along the way.

The cries of the dead were significantly more silent. Mathew assumed the zombies stuck around the gunshop, attracted to the luminous glow like moths to a porch light.

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The gun was for his protection, but Mathew did not want to have to return to that gunshop again. Bullets were precious commotities. "I guess it's the lead pipe unless absolutely necessary." Mathew shook his head as he realized he was talking to himself again. It would worry him if he hadn't been on his own for awhile. Mathew had scoured nearly a dozen blocks surrounding his appartment and found no one. Those who hadn't been turned into the undead had left the city.

Mathew turned left, quickly walking south on Cherryview lane.

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Mathew ran down Cherryview, looking for the alley that led to Lasko drive. "It should be here some..." A moan caught his attention. From a building across the street an undead woman stepped out from the building. Instantly the deadhead saw Mathew.

She came barreling across the road in his direction. Mathew took his lead pipe and swung, bashing the zombie across the chest. The monster fell on her back. Mathew stabbed the end of the pipe through the undead woman's right eye. A gurgle and twitch preceded the silence of Cherryview lane.

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Mathew looked up and down the road, looking for more deadheads. "I'll be damned if I'm getting jumped by a groaning pile of flesh." Mathew's temper began to show through as his outing frustrated him. "Good freaking grief." First I gets roadblocked by four zombies, then deadFrank goes on a blind rampage...and now some rotting pain in my a** tries to eat me..."I hate zombies. I really do"

Mathew pulled the pipe from the corpse's face, tapping it on the cement to get off some of the remains of her right eye. Mathew sighed deeply and shook his head when he noticed several feet down from where he stood was the alley, the shortcut he sought. Mathew smiled and said under his breath, "Bout freaking time."

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Like a bat out of Hell, Mathew ran for the alleyway. He was stopped in his tracks as he entered. Cutting the alley in half was a chainlink fence, but that was a meaningless obstacle. The real problem was the seven zombies standing on the opposite side of that fence. You've got to be kidding me. Mathew was in shock, not so much surprised as angered and unsure as to how to handle the situation. Do I find another way or...The pistol grew heavier in Mathew's pocket.

Mathew leaned against the brick wall of the alleyway, "I really, really hate zombies."He stood there watching the several dead mindlessly walk about the other end of the alley, bumping into one another, moaning like the animals they were. "Bastards," Mathew muttered under his breath. As he cursed them, two of the zombies noticed his presence, smelling him or hearing him. They began to moan louder than the others and bang on the fence.

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"Ah son of a--" The fence was falling apart. The cross bar at the top had fallen and the chainlink was faltering. Mathew slowly stepped backwards out of the alley. A loud moan from his left startled him. "Dammit." Several more zombies were moving towards Mathew. I've been out here too long. They've got my scent.

Staying out in the open for too long was dangerous. After a while, the undead would gather, catching the scent of any living creatures. Mathew under their nose.

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Mathew started running down the street, abandoning his "shortcut" to escape the deadheads. The longway home was alright. Surviving was at the top of his list, not taking every possible shortcut. Of course a shortcut would increase survival...

At the end of Cherryview was Dyden Avenue. "Almost home."

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It wouldn't matter if a deadhead did show itself. Home, if it could still be called such, was only a few blocks away, and Mathew had no intention of stopping til he was their. He would either pass by the deadheads or he would let them have a taste of the lead pipe.

Without the shortcut, Mathew would have to run two extra blocks, Dyden to Amberway, then to Malbrook. After Malbrook is Pineview. At the end of Pineview was home, his apartment building. "Up the fire escape and I'm free of Hell...for a bit." Dyden avenue hadn't been invaded by the dead. Mathew couldn't tell if it was relief or exhaustion as he took a deep breath.

He cautiously peeked around the corner of Dyden and Amberway, searching the open street for deadheads. "Clear." Mathew started jogging down Amberway.

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Sadly, Amberway was not as pleasent as Dyden avenue. An abandon metro bus was on the side of the road. The rancid smell of the dead was thick in the air creating an ominous, sick tension inside Mathew. His run slowed to a walk. Amberway was a sort of shopping district, lined with a few restaurants, two small markets and several clothing shops. Before the outbreak, Amberway was a very busy, very populated avenue. "Breeding ground for dead--"

Ulhhnnnnn...

The bus masked half the avenue from Mathew's view, but he know the source of the noise was behind it. He knew the source of the noise was that of the undead.

Another moan stopped Mathew in his tracks. It was louder and deep than the last. There's more than one... From behind the bus stumbled out three deadheads that were all heading for Mathew. "Ah holy hell."

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