Back to sleeping in small closet spaces in run down buildings.

I miss the office building already.

It's hard to explain, but here seems to be more zombies than usual wandering the streets. It's making it much harder to get around than previously.

Something bad has happened.

I'm not sure how, but a few zombies have seemed to figure out that I am up here. I've always been very careful about being seen especially coming and going and standing in the windows, but I must have slipped up.

Fortunately there are only a handful, maybe 5 or 6 trying to knock down the front doors, and even once they get through that they need to fight through the several locked doors to get all the way up here. It will take them quite some time.

However I think it would be wise for me to leave. That way I can either lure them away, or once they manage to get inside they'll find I'm gone and hopefully they'll move on. I've got enough stuff packed to last me at least a week. But I'll return for the rest once everything seems clear.

I'm off and I'll keep you posted via my phone.

I know it's been quite some time sense I last posted anything, but I've found it hard to be motivated to do much lately.

The sight of those grocery stores and in turn the futility of my existence... Well it's just depressing. How can I continue to go on without any other human beings. It all seems pointless.

And to top it off the nights are starting to get cold and I don't think the heat still works in this place.

A Newly Remodeled Grocery Store

I've only just now returned from my trip out to get more food. Fortunately I can consider it a success, although it was very stressful, and it makes me worried of my ability to find food in the near future.

As I reported earlier a few zombies destroyed the closest grocery store that I knew of, so I spent the better part of the day seeking out a new source of food. I fortunately found a very large supermarket still well stocked. Although it is a good two hour trek from my current location. I took my time and brought back plenty to eat, but I may need to consider moving closer in the long run.

This, however, is secondary to what I found to be a way more fascinating discovery. On my way back I happened to take a few streets which took me passed the old "destroyed" grocery store. And low and behold it is a working flesh and brains store. They weren't destroying it at all, they were renovating it. There were new shelves lined with rows and rows of brains and a few zombies walking around dropping body parts in grocery carts. It was really quite interesting.

Now of course for the bad news. Part of the reason that I had to go so far for food was because so many of the other grocery stores were stripped bear from the initial outbreak or were destroyed much like my old food store was. It would seem they are slowly turning all of these places in to zombie grocery stores. Again, fascinating, but I'm just not sure where that leaves me. It would seem they are trying to turn the world over to themselves which in turn could drive me and the human race extinct. As I said earlier I brought back plenty of food, perhaps enough to last me months if I ration it correctly. But I'm going to need to come up with a more long term plan.... If that's even possible.

I have officially arrived at my last meal. Mmmmmm canned beans. I have to make a trip back outside in order to get more. I only just remembered this morning that a few zombies destroyed the grocery store down the street. I will have to see if I can find a new stock.

I'll set out within the hour.

On a side note I've been spending a great deal of time observing the neighborhood from the roof of the office building. All seems to be normal. Zombies coming and going on a schedule. Perhaps next time I head out I'll see if I can follow one and see where they are going everyday.

Last night I dreamed of the guide and his family, and when I woke up I found myself lonelier than ever. Having seen a life with others of their kind has reminded me of what I lost. For so long just trying to survive has preoccupied any desire I have to interact with other people.

Perhaps I can figure out how to communicate with them... No that's a crazy thought. I must come to terms that I am the last of my kind.....

I've made it back. It was difficult journey. Not because of length or terrain or any of the typical reasons a journey would be difficult, but because I found a world of zombies out there and it took every bit of energy and time to not get eaten. There were a few close calls, but fortunately nothing that I didn't overcome. I spent a great deal of time hiding to avoid conflict, but the following is a record of everything I saw.

I made my way to a small suburban community, just on the outskirts of town. No more than 1 or 2 miles from the office building I currently call home. As I made my way there I found the population getting thicker and thicker, although not any thicker than anything I've experienced to date. When I arrived to the area, things seemed pretty dead. A few zombies wandering here and there in a small downtown commercial area, nothing that proved to me that they were anything more than mindless wanderers. I took a look around the area. Many of the homes seemed quite, but I didn't venture into them, mostly because I don't like walking into small cramped spaces that I'm unfamiliar with. Perhaps it is by product of a zombie apocalypse, but I think I may be a little claustrophobic.

I'm not sure the exact time, my guess would be somewhere in the vicinity of 3pm, is when I arrived. I was ready to call the trip a failure when suddenly the streets started getting swamped with zombies. After a moment of panic I found a hiding spot in a dumpster down an alley. It took me awhile to have the guts to peak out, but when I did I saw hordes and hordes of them wandering the streets. I'm still not positive where they came from, but it's almost as if they were all just coming home. Casually walking the streets moaning and waving to one another as if they recognized some zombies but not others. Needless to say the social interactions surprised me, but what surprised me even more was when I caught site of the guide.

I recognized him at once, and was even more confused and surprised to watch him pick up a small zombie girl and hug her. I can now say without a shadow of a doubt that zombies are social creatures who communicate and acknowledge the existence of their fellow zombies. It's something that I hope would be true, or at least crossed my mind now and again, but until this point I saw no proof.

After what was roughly and hour or so the groups thinned and by late evening the streets were quiet again. I spent the night in my hiding place and witnessed another surge of activity in the morning. I have noted in previous posts that they are creatures of habit, and that seemed to hold true with everything I was witnessing, but roughly the same time that afternoon another surge of activity hit, and I once again saw the guide again. He met the small child zombie again and walked off with her and an older female zombie. They looked as if they were a family. I can't say for sure if they were just acting on older leaned behavior, or if they had some type of zombie social contract worked out, but I can confidently say they had some form of bond.

The next day I emerged from my hiding place and found a new and better place to hide that would allow me to follow the guide and his family after their meeting. It was tough to pursue them while avoiding contact with other zombies, but somehow I managed to follow them to a small single story house in the middle of a quaint residential street. There I observed the guide come and go at approximately the same time every day. And each night I was there the three of them sat at a table and consumed human flesh. It was gross, but I found it hard to turn my eyes due to the awe of watching them sit down to a family meal every night. I even witnessed the girl out in the front yard playing with dolls.

Of course I saw all of this from a far, but it was clear to me that they were communicating with groans and signals, which although meant very little to me, obviously were things that they each understood themselves. I never saw them lay down to sleep, but nights were always very quiet, and I can only presume it is because they were in bed. All in all they functioned exactly as humans did before apocalypse, aside from the need to eat human flesh and brains and they seemed not to care about keeping anything clean or neat. There cloths were always tattered and stained in blood and they didn't do much more than throw the bones of their meals in the back yard.

To be honest I found the whole thing fascinating and in a strange way comforting. Even though I was not interacting with them, it was good to see that some social interaction was occurring in a world where humans no longer lived. I would have liked to stay longer, but I was running out of food and the nights outside were getting colder and colder. I set out of a food run while I was there, but I was unsuccessful.

I had little trouble returning and have enough food here at the office for a few days. So for now I will rest and set out in a few days to restock. And then I will plan another trip to my friends new house. I think there is still more I can learn.

I am currently posting from my cell phone. I do not have the time to explain all that I have seen since arriving to what I can only really describe as a community of zombies clearly living a "normal" life.

I plan to stay at least another day, as dangerous as a trip that it has been. But I will tell you that I have found the "the guide". The initial zombie which began me on this whole journey resides here, with a family. To be honest I'm a little surprised I could recognize him in the horde, but I am certain it is him.

For now I have to save my time and energy in order to survive here, but I will write more once I return to the safety of office building.

I spent the morning scouting the see able area from the roof of the building.

There appears to be a neighborhood, not more than I'd guess 2 or 3 miles away that was extremely active. It's appeared to have quieted down at this point, but it was flooded with zombies earlier. I can't even imagine where they have gone at this point.

Of course this idea is a very risky one. The area is right on the out skirts of the city and is mostly one and two story houses. There will be few places to hide, and I am, in a manner of speaking, headed into the belly of the beast. Hopefully that will remain a metaphor and not a reality.

But at this point I need to find out what these creatures are all about. I have little else to live for at this point. It's been months, if not over a year that I have not had contact with another human being. I don't have much to lose.

I'll spend the rest of the day gathering supplies for traveling. Although it is close I feel as though I'll have to move slowly to be safe and it could turn into a multiple day trip. I'll plan to leave around this time tomorrow, when it appears their numbers are more thin.

I'm off. It's is approximately 10:30am. I've been watching the neighborhood all morning and the crowds have appeared to dissipate. I think now will be the safest time to move.

I'll keep you posted.

Arrrggggg!!!! The confusion continues.

I've spent the last few days accepting there was nothing more to understand about the zombie than what every Hollywood movie has lead me to believe. They are unintelligent mindless beings interested only in eating my brains. So debating my next step in this lonely apocalyptic wasteland I observed two zombies out the window communicating back and forth. Hand gestures and all. I wasn't too quick to assume there was anything more to this them just dumb animals mimicking a past they can't really remember, until one of them actually pulled out a piece of paper and a pen.

Obviously I am several stories up and could not make out what was written, but after it was written he pointed off in a direction, and the other zombie wandered off with what I can only assume was written directions.

I've bounced back and forth with the theory that these are intelligent creatures. And although I'm not willing to jump right back on the wagon, I do think further observation is in order. Perhaps I need to go further away and find a more thickly populated area. I have a pretty good view from the top of the building, and with my binoculars perhaps I'll find an appropriate place.

Taking a Break

I'll be honest. After last night I'm scarred to leave the office. I think I fooled myself into believing I could understand these things. Perhaps that's not true and I'm better off just staying in doors. I think I'll take it easy for the next couple of days.

I'm back to the office, but something very strange occurred tonight. I thought I was starting to wrap my brain around these creatures. Or at least starting to realize that there is more to them then mindless destruction. But....

I decided once I left earlier these evening that I'd go over to the grocery store again. As I've come to realize they seem to be creatures of habit, and that is where I first realized communication seems possible. Just as I assumed my two zombie friends who I saw only a few days were at the grocery store again. Only as I snuck out of the shadows from across the street avoiding direct contact with the few zombies wandering the streets, I saw through the grocery store windows that those two same zombies were mindlessly tearing the grocery store apart.

They were knocking the food off the shelves and tearing the posters and signs off the walls and just generally trashing the place.

I panicked slightly as I realized a lot of my potential food source was being destroyed, and I too quickly came into the open which caught there attention. I had no problem at all getting away. As I've mentioned several times they are very slow, and they were inside while I was outside. In some way it turned into a blessing, as I lead them away from the store and double backed so I could load up on all the non perishable food I could carry.

But it's not the close call that bothers me. It's the fact that they were acting mindlessly again. Just destroying things for the sake of destroying things. Half the time it seems that they move with purpose the other half of the time they appear to be mindless. It's maddening. And I have to think upon it for awhile.

Headed out again. This time a bit earlier in the day. I'll see if that helps with the research.