Rob & Dave were returning to the station at 1am, after an uneventful 13hr shift when the call came in.
"Unit 512, do you copy?"
"Unit 512 here, over," Rob replied.
"You need to get over the Johnson place. Domestic disturbance," said Wendy.
"On our way. Any details?"
"Rick's livestock's going crazy and he's got a half eaten horse."
"Inform the chief, I'll keep you posted."
When they arrived on the scene, everything appeared to be normal.
"It seems too quiet," Dave said as he hopped out of the cruiser.
"I agree," replied Rob.
There wasn't the usual sounds of the night. No rustle of the grass, not even the chirps of crickets.
"Something's wrong," whispered Rob, drawing his gun, "call for backup."
Rob slowly approached the house while Dave radioed dispatch.
"Don't go in there!" Somebody yelled.
Rob turned toward the sound of the voice.
"It's Rick Johnson. I'm on my water tower. You & Dave need to come up here," Rick said. The left sleeve of his flannel shirt had been torn off and wrapped around his right forearm.
"Come down and tell us what's going on here."
"I'm not coming down. We were attacked by a.....a man. He mauled Barbara and started eating her. I shot him, actually emptied my rifle into him and it did little more than slow him down."
"Rick, have you been drinking tonight?" asked Dave, as he strolled up.
"Not a sip. I know this sounds crazy."
They heard moaning and saw Barbara stumbling across the darkened front porch and fall down the stairs.
"There's Barbara, she looks a little intoxicated to me," said Rob, "Dave, go talk to her. Let's get some answers."
"Righty-O," replied Dave, heading toward the house.
Rob tried to convince Rick to come down.
"Barbara, it's Deputy Summers, are you alright?" He noticed that her left arm was missing at the elbow.
Then she lunged at him.
"Get off me. What are you doing?" yelled Dave, pushing her off, "you stop right there or I'll shoot."
Barbara continued to advance on him without hesitation. He pulled his revolver and fired 6 shots into her chest. With each shot, she was forced back a step, but continued to stumble toward him, moaning. He flung his gun at her, turned and ran toward Rob.
"I don't know what's going on here but I'm going up there with Rick. You should too. I shot her 6 times and she's missing her left arm.
No sooner had Dave put his foot on the first rung of the ladder, when the man who attacked the Johnson's came stumbling out the front door, still gnawing on Barbara's severed arm.
"Go faster Dave. I'm coming up too," shouted Rob, pushing Dave up the ladder.
At the top, both men just sat there, silent, for a minute.
"What do you reckon's going on? It's not natural," asked Rick, shaken but fairly composed, considering what he just witnessed.
"I'm not sure but at least we're safe for now," Dave answered, "let's just wait till backup arrives."
"They smell like road kill."
"Do you hear that? I think there's moaning coming from the corn field," said Rob.
" You don't think there are more do you?" asked Dave.
"I don't know what to think," said Rob, "do you have ideas Rick?"
"I don't feel good, I think after the last few hours, I need to lay down and rest," Rick said, "If I doze off, wake me when your backup arrives."
"He doesn't look good. Did you see the way his face looks?"
"I know this sounds bad, but if he has what they have, we need to be ready," whispered Rob.
"Look, there's two more."
There were now four rotting, fleshing eating people (creatures) standing at the bottom of the water tower, moaning endlessly, trying to get to the three men above.
A second unit finally arrived. Sheriff Brasher & deputy Jones jumped out, guns drawn, but being grossly uninformed, were quickly overtaken and devoured.
"Now what are we going to do?" asked Dave. "Wait. Someone will come. We'll have be ready to alert them to stay in the car. We need them go get as close to us as possible. Then we can jump on the roof and be driven to safety."
"What about him?" Dave asked, pointing at Rick.
"If he can make it, he can jump too. Will you check on him?"
"Rob, I think he's dead, there's pulse. What should we do with him?"
"Leave him or push him over the side? It's up to you."
"We need sleep. You sleep first," Rob said, "I'll wake you if I need to."
Four hours passed, Rob was just about to wake Dave then he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. It was Rick.
Rick sat up, tried to stand up, and stumbled off the platform to the ground below.
"Dave get up, I need to sleep," Rob said, kicking Dave's foot.
When Dave got up, Rob told him what had happened and laid down to rest.
Two hours later, Rob woke to Dave yelling at someone to stay in the car. It was Ben Addams delivering the newspaper. Ben got out to see what the yelling was about. The people (zombies) swarmed him and started feasting.
"Let's make a run for it. They're slow."
The two men climbed down the ladder and started running......