She told him he was going to be a father, but that was 141 days ago.  They hadn’t been together long—five or six months or so.  Maynard knew that he loved her and in a soul mate kind of way, no matter how many days on the calendar it had been.  And he knew she loved him in that kind of way too.  There was talk of marriage, getting a bigger place, and maybe even a dog.

The news started reporting about people getting sick all over the country—high fevers, rotting flesh, even reports of cannibalism.  They lived in a big city so it seemed safe, but it wasn’t.  People started rioting, looting, and swarms of infected started popping up all over.  As the days went by, it became clear the city wasn’t safe.  But Maynard knew no where was really going to be safe.

They packed up enough supplies and necessities for a road trip to anywhere—to somewhere she would feel safe.  Getting out of the city wasn’t as easy as it seemed and the car ran out of gas while they were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  Maynard fought and scraped all his life, but it was nothing like the fight in store for him.

It was all sort of blur after that.  They met up with a group of non-infected and traveled around the country just trying to avoid the outbreak.  The group finally settled on a nice iron-fenced campground in a luscious forest.  It felt safe.  But it wasn’t.

Three nights after everyone settled in, a hoard came out of the woods onto the camp.  They piled on top of each other until a flesh ladder for the last twenty or thirty biters crested over the fence.  Five people were already dead by the time anyone knew what was happening—and fifteen more by sunrise.  At least that was what Maynard would guess—but that was 109 days ago.

He was on his own after that.  With just the clothes on his back, Maynard spent his days savaging for supplies and tending to a nasty wound he sustained escaping the doomed campground.  That was until he heard about Arklay, an island sanctuary.  It was a rough go alone, but he made it alone.  That was 4 days ago.

• This topic was modified 9 years ago by  Maynard Barlow.