by Mike Muscarella

Created on: November 24, 2011   Last Updated: November 25, 2011

                Took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the night. It was dark outside, but with no streetlights- with no power at all for that matter- it was especially dark. It was almost as if the darkness had its own physical form, surrounding and consuming me to the point of where I could have punched myself right in the nose and I still wouldn’t have known it was coming. I always took for granted those streetlights and electricity, never even thinking at all that there would come a time where such luxuries would suddenly cease to exist.

                To make matters worse, on that particular night not even the stars were shining in the sky-they themselves so far away, their comforting glow as dead as the things running amok throughout the world.

                Zombies, ghouls, humanoids, they had many names, but after that point in time all those names had only one meaning, the living dead; those soulless beings had fallen, risen, spread their disease, and wanted nothing more than to integrate me and the rest of humanity into their ranks.

                One of them was creeping around outside my house. Due to lack of light I could not see it, but I could hear it stumbling about aimlessly on my front lawn, kicking rocks unknowingly and growling monotonously.  I started walking down my driveway, slowly, in an attempt to not draw attention to myself until my eyes became more focused. I had a headband with a light attached to the front; it looked ridiculous, but at the same time proved efficient so that I could wield my aluminum baseball bat with both hands.

                I slowly made my way towards the street. To the end of my driveway, past the sidewalk, I was almost there. Whatever was on my front lawn, its growling started to increase in volume, and I knew my presence had been compromised. Suddenly its footsteps went from a slow, stubborn shuffle to a swift, hasty trot. I reached for my headlight and turned it on just as the ghoul neared my position, the beam of light catching it right in the face and revealing all of its gruesome features. He was male, I knew him once,

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