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now, mainly because I didn't think it was safe to until we reached somewhere secure. There are three of us now. Darren is 15, and is a smart kid who showed up at the cabin we were in at about 4 a.m. on the 27th. He was driving a totally trashed Honda Civic, and he stopped right outside the front door and tried to get in. We had heard him coming (Sarah has been a real light sleeper since this started) and when he stepped up on the front porch I opened the door and pointed the gun at him. He just about shit his pants when he saw the gun barrel in his face, and started babbling about not shooting him and that they were right behind him. I grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. Once I had the door secure again we killed the lights and I looked out the windows into the darkness. Sarah took the kid into the kitchen, shushing him several times, while I tried to get my eyes readjusted to the darkness.
    At first I didn't see anything, but after about ten minutes I finally did. Sure enough, the kid had somehow led a small group of shambling dead things right to us. I wasn't totally sure in the dark, but it looked like about 5 or 6 of them. They were back by the main road that led to the cabin, and were walking unsteadily towards us.
    I had no idea what to do. Sarah and I had talked about it, and decided that if it came to it, we would try not to use the gun for fear that the noise would attract other undead. We saw a report on CNN that they were attracted to the sight and sound of living humans, so we went up the stairs and stayed quiet.
    Darren told us he had been traveling with his family when the dead had risen, and they had hidden in a hotel in Edmonton while the chaos took that city as well. Finally they had realised that they were going to be trapped if they stayed, and took their car and tried to flee. Only Darren made it out. His parents and brother were killed by those things a day before he showed up with us. He's kind of in shock, Sarah says, and she's doing her best to look after him.
    We got no sleep that night, and by morning there were ten of them outside, walking back and forth, thumping on the walls, or investigating the garage. One of them spotted me looking through a crack in the plywood and got really excited, trying to pull the plywood down. His expression didn’t change, but his activity level went way up. We had a few scary minutes, but the plywood held, and the dead dumbass went back to stalking the porch.
    We could smell them too. The stench of decay was so strong it made us choke.
    By the evening there were 15, and we started to get the idea that bugging out would be a great idea. I came up with a plan, but we waited until morning again to implement it. We slept in shifts, with either myself or Sarah always awake and holding the gun. We packed all the food and water we could, plus some flares, extra clothes, and things like knives and the fire-axe, into some backpacks and set them by the front door. Then I went upstairs to the back porch, a good ten feet above the ground there, and opened the door and started hollering. Sure enough, those dumb dead things came around to see what the problem was. As soon as they saw me they all let up this god-awful noise. And the smell! I gagged, and had to retreat inside for a moment. When I went back out they were all still moaning and waving arms at me, but I was safe well above them. Sarah called saying that they were all away from the cars out front now. I counted seventeen of them.
    I ran back down, and as soon as they heard me coming, Sarah and Darren opened the door and grabbed gear. We all three ran out to the Explorer and got in, throwing the packs in back. By the time the undead realised we were outside I had the engine going and was backing away down the drive. As I turned around in the yard one of them came around the corner of the house and started to half-run after us. It was the fastest I had seen one move so far, but it was nowhere near quick enough to catch