"Who the h.e.l.l is that?" Jack asked.

"I don"t know."

We were too far away, the dust was too thick. They could"ve been civilians. They could"ve been military.

Jack stopped the Humvee. "Are they here for Maria?"

"How would they know she"s even there?"

"Maybe she made contact with the radio?"

"Yeah maybe."

I picked up the radio and turned it on.

It was full of static.

Jack s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of my hand. "Maria! Are you there?"

More static.

No answer.

"I don"t think they"re here for Maria," I whispered.

The reality was there was nothing we could do. It was like watching a tsunami roll into sh.o.r.e. Jack drove the Humvee as close as he dared. Initially we had been anxious and nervous to pack up and get out of the city.

But now we were witnessing our worst nightmare play out right before our eyes.

It was a convoy of some sort.

A motorcade.

They had somehow gotten themselves surrounded. They had driven up to the stadium. Maybe they figured they could hide there. Seek refuge. Same as we did. Maybe our barricades were their ultimate down fall. I can imagine it clearly. They were driving fast. Foot to the floor. They would"ve been pushing sixty miles per hour. Driving as fast as they dared through the dust storm.

Visibility low.

They saw the stadium.

They drove up to it.

They became trapped.

Once they stopped moving, once they lost momentum, the swarm of infected over ran them.

Like a tsunami.

It was unstoppable.

I told jack to park the Humvee. I opened the door and climbed to the roof.

We watched. Helpless.

The horde. It was ma.s.sive.

The number of infected in this city just keeps growing. Thousands surrounded the stadium. They had pushed some of the cars over. Most of the people in the convoy chose to run for their lives. But they did not get far. They were immediately tackled to the ground.

Ripped limb from limb.

Eaten alive.

I couldn"t see if they were soldiers or civilians or police officers.

The dust storm was too thick.

Jack was shaking his head. "We should never have left her," Jack whispered, a strain in his voice. "What have we done?"

"We had no choice," I answered. "We did the right thing. This was unforeseeable."

"What if they get inside!? What happens then, huh?"

"They won"t get inside. We secured the stadium. We locked all the entry points. We barricaded the tunnels. They won"t get in."

"So what the h.e.l.l do we do now?"

"I don"t know."

"You don"t know? You"re the soldier, Kenji! You have to know what to do! We have to go and get her."

Everything happened so quickly. Everything has gone to h.e.l.l. "Look, you need to keep your voice down. We need to stay calm. The barricades should hold."

"Should? For how long? We need to go and get her."

"How the h.e.l.l are we going to do that?"

"I don"t know. We need to think of something. We need to think fast."

Jack was right. Who knew how long the barricades would hold?

"We need guns," I said. "Lots of guns. Lots of ammo. We could pick them off from a safe distance. Thin the herd so to speak."

Overhead we heard what sounded like a helicopter fly into the city. We both looked up, but the dust storm obscured our view.

"What the h.e.l.l is going on?" Jack said.

I took a deep breath. "I don"t know. Maybe the military is trying to reclaim certain areas of the city? I just don"t know."

Jack grabbed me by the shoulders. "Kenji, we need to do something. We need a plan. You tell me what to do and I will follow you. I will do whatever it takes. But we need to go right now. We need to save Maria. We can"t let the infected get to her. We can"t."

I nodded. "We have to go back into the city."

Jack immediately jumped down off the roof and sat in the driver"s seat. He wasn"t wasting any more time.

I sat next to him in the front pa.s.senger seat. I told him to wait.

I needed to write this down.

He gave me a look that said we didn"t have time. But then he relented. He understood. So we sat in silence. I wrote. He kept watch. We were both lost in our own world - if only for a fleeting moment.

I told jack about the letter I wrote for Rebecca. I told him that I kept in my top pocket next to my heart. I told him that I thought it brought me good luck.

"Good," he said. "We"re gonna need all the luck we can get."

"I gave it to her back in the casino," I said. "I don"t have it anymore."

"Oh. Well maybe your journal can bring us good luck instead. Maybe it can be our good luck charm."

"Yeah, maybe. I guess it has been through a lot with me."

I looked at the journal in my hands. It"s more of a notepad really. And it has been through a lot. I"ve only had it for a month. I flicked through the pages. It"s kind of sad that some of them have been ruined from water damage. But I guess it"s not the worst thing in the world.

I put my pen to the page.

I write...

We won"t give up.

We can"t give up.

We need a freakin miracle. And I must admit I"m almost at my wits end here. I"m so close to just collapsing. But then I look at Jack. He is one tough dude. He will never give up. Not for Maria. Not for me. He is one of the bravest guys I have ever known.

So we"re going back into the city. It is quite literally the last place I want to go, the last place we should dare to go. But we need to find another machine gun if we want any chance of clearing out that horde of infected. The horde keeps growing and growing. They appear to be multiplying. More and more join the ma.s.sive crowd every minute, every pa.s.sing second. We need to do something now or they"ll find Maria. They"ll find her and eat her alive.

We"ve tried using the radio to contact Maria a couple more times but it"s not working. Must be out of range. We can"t get any closer. It"s too dangerous.

A few days ago I thought I was losing my mind. And I guess I really was. The one thing keeping me sane was Jack and Maria. They are my friends. They are keeping me together. Giving me strength.

I scribble in this journal. It gives me strength as well.

It is time to go.

OUT NOW.

The Secret Apocalypse (Book 1).

Extinction Level (Book 2).

Where The Dead Men Lie (Book 3).

COMING SOON.

TORN APART.

BOOK 4 IN THE SECRET APOCALYPSE SERIES.

For More Info visit 2012 by James Harden.

This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer"s imagination or have been used fict.i.tiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.

Table of Contents

Attn: Commander Satoru Yoshida Subject: Transcript Interception Cla.s.sification: Above Top Secret Feb 10th - Fate and the choices we make.

Feb 8th - Darling Harbor Surrounded Chaos.

Only the strong survive Hope Calm on the outside. Freaking out on the inside.

Pa.s.s the ammunition Exposed We"re gonna need a bigger boat Timing is everything The Return of Jack Going deeper into the city. Risking everything.

The Dead City It"s not safe on the streets.

The Sydney Town Hall.

Feb 9th - Grocery store raid. And more conversations with the dead.

We go hungry for another night.

Feb 10th - They"re back Time to Go High Ground Mono means one. And rail means rail.

A Final Stand The Tower.

Feb 11th - A room with a view Rest Feb 14th - V is for Valentine On writing Feb 20th - The choices we make Feb 23rd - We should be dead Escape from Sydney Tower and the Tunnel of Doom Sydney Cricket Ground Rest and Recover I am haunted March 1st - The choices we make Dust Storm or h.e.l.l on Earth March 2nd - Straight to h.e.l.l Nothing in life is free Survivors.

Broken Fate OUT NOW.

COMING SOON.

Copyright Table of Contents Attn: Commander Satoru Yoshida Subject: Transcript Interception Cla.s.sification: Above Top Secret Feb 10th - Fate and the choices we make.

Feb 8th - Darling Harbor Surrounded Chaos.