Dear Reader/Raider,

By the time that you come across my book that I intentionally arranged to be within immediate sight, opened specifically to this page, I will probably be gone.

Panic will have completely taken over cities as the population is decimated by ranks of infected that multiply at a substantial rate. Just like everybody else in the world, I couldn’t contain my excitement at the possibility of this happening in reality. Between the multitude of films readily available, the infinite stockpile of games only a click or a game store away, and that popular show about the sheriff and his family trudging through the apocalypse, zombies were already everywhere. It’s too bad that I won’t be able to see much of it first hand.

I am the unsung story of the zombie apocalypse.

I am one of the first victims.

It's a shame that I couldn't properly prepare myself, under the circumstances. It all happened while I was stocking the shelves at my corner store market. Some jerk barged through the doors, reeking of alcohol and burning flesh. He looked panicked by how he scrambled to grab his wares (a bottle of alcohol and gauze dressings) before he collapsed on the sales floor. Reasonably, I assumed it was just a junkie, which wasn't uncommon for our town. Nonetheless, I approached the man to check on him. He was unresponsive, but still breathing.

As I walked away to call an ambulance, a cold hand grabbed my ankle. I felt teeth slice into my calf and pull away meat and skin alike. My leg poured warmth down my sock as I screamed, successfully pulling away from his grasp. Luckily, the cashier desk was close enough to crawl toward.

I hoisted myself up to a staggered stance from behind the desk and reached into the middle drawer.

My attacker had come to a stance and was approaching me, uttering a gutteral moan the entire way. Filtering through the stacks of paperwork and supplies in the drawer, I finally found my Glock 43 and turned it toward the him. I fired a round squarely into his chest, though you wouldn't know it from his unphased pace. A second round grazed just below his collarbone, but he had approached the desk opposite me, unharmed.

He crashed his hands down attempting to grab me. I slipped as I stepped backward and fired a third round into his forehead. The man slid from the table and collapsed to the floor.

Breathing heavily, hands shaking, I managed to a knee to look over the desk. It seemed only after that shot that the attacker ceased to move.

The wound in my calf started to feel like fire licking up and down my leg as I stood. I staggered to this place in my office to dress my calf with a discontinued shirt and a bottle of peroxide I kept in the office.

In the hours since the attack, I had locked the doors, as you will have noticed, and closed myself into the manager office.

I do not know how much time I have left.

I was really looking forward to surviving well into the outbreak, but I won't be needing anything in the store much longer. If you get here to loot early enough, you might be lucky and money will have some purpose. I even left a sticky note with the combination to the safe; have at it. I don't care anymore. I don't have a wife or children. My friends and I went our separate ways years ago.

But you don't care about any of that, do you? You're just here for the free stuff. Did you even come into the office to see if anyone was alive and needed help? I bet you didn't. And even if you did, once you saw the safe combination you used it and made your leave. I would wage the cash you stole from me that you took my gun, didn't you? I hope you did, and I hope I get my revenge.

Will I keep my senses once I am reduced to being one of the walking dead? I hope so. I long to see your eyes bulge as I pull you toward my open jaws. It would be beyond satisfying to hear your screams, to feel the moment my teeth break your skin. To feel the warmth you harbor inside as muscle tears from skin, sinew from bone. I crave to know what your life essence tastes like. If the gods are fair, this fate will come true. And I couldn't be any happier.

I look forward to eating you soon.