Outbreak Chapter 5

Brendon tried calling his family one more time to check on things down there but the phone lines were still tied up. It dawned on him that the internet may still be working so he retrieved his laptop from his room and fired it up. Sure enough their internet connection was still working fine. The news feeds on his homepage were filled with headlines about what was going on in his city. He didn't have any new e-mails from his family but there was one message in his inbox from his good friend Justin Wiggins. Justin had sent out the e-mail to a number of their friends and it simply told them to sign into the old messenger they had used back in high school along with his screen name. Brendon had grown out of using the old messenger shortly after graduating high school but he still had the program installed on his computer since he had used it a little to communicate with his family while he was in Iraq. He went ahead and signed in, nobody from his family was online but he saw that Wiggins and their friend Andrew Griffin were both signed on.
Seconds after signing on he got an invite from Griffin to join a chat room. He hadn't used a chat room in years and he hoped that the version of the messenger he had installed would still be able to support one. He accepted and upon entering the chat saw that both Griffin and Wiggins were already in the room.

Griffin1865: Hey man you been watching the news?

CavalryRecon242: Yeah, Aidan and I had to run into a few of them before hearing about what was going on

LTWiggins04: You both ok?

CavalryRecon242: Little shaken but you should see the other guys

Griffin1865: So you actually took some of those people out?

CavalryRecon242: Well... just one actually, more by accident than anything else. They can take buckshot to the chest but they can't survive a KaBar to the head.

LTWiggins04: Sounds a little too close

CavalryRecon242: It was... How are you guys doing?

LTWiggins04: Locked and cocked here, not too many of them on my side of town yet.

Griffin1865: James and I are both armed at our place, so far we've kept them out but we have a lot of windows to cover.

CavalryRecon242: Aidan, Rebecca and I are doing good here, we broke out a couple of the guns just to be safe. They're in our building but can't get into the apartment.

Brunkow2004 has just joined the chat

CavalryRecon242: Hey Ethan, you and Julie doing ok?

Brunkow2004: I'm alright, just locked in my house. Julie is out of town visiting family.

LTWiggins04: You have any guns there?

Brunkow2004: I have my old trap shotgun here but only about fifty trap loads and a box of shells for turkey hunting.

CavalryRecon242: That should do fine up close, you heard to shoot them in the head right?

Brunkow2004: Yeah I caught that on the news, haven't had to do it yet.

Brunkow2004: I kinda want to get somewhere safer, I'm alone here and my house has a lot of windows and no second floor.

Griffin1865: I feel the same way, maybe we could all meet up for safety?

CavalryRecon242: Sounds good to me, you two's houses don't sound ideal and I have some of those people pounding on my door

LTWiggins04: My place it is, the south side isn't bad yet and my apartment is on the third floor

Oshenloger1234 has just joined the chat

Oshenloger1234: Guys I don't know what to do

Griffin1865: You have anybody else or any guns with you?

Oshenloger1234: I have my shotgun in my closet but my roommates aren't home.

CavalryRecon242: Well all of us are going to meet up at Wiggins' apartment, you should grab your shotgun and head there

Oshenloger1234: I can do that, I just hope I can make it there

LTWiggins04: You will, is there anyone who doesn't remember how to get here?

Griffin1865: Guess not, everyone should make sure to bring a pack of food with them, there's no telling how long we'll all have to stay there

CavalryRecon242: Hey Wiggins, do you still have that rope ladder you bought a while back in case of a fire in the stairwell?

LTWiggins04: Yeah, why?

CavalryRecon242: Well these guys are pretty persistent, it looks like they'll pound on a door until it breaks down or their arms break. Maybe you should lower the ladder from your balcony and get to barricading your door.

LTWiggins04: Sounds good to me, I'll post out on the balcony with my AR-15 and keep an eye out for you guys.

Griffin1865: k, we'll be heading out here in about fifteen minutes, we just have to grab a few things

Oshenloger: I want to get out of here so I'm gonna leave right away

Brunkow2004: I'm leaving now to

CavalryRecon242: It might take us a little while to head out, I'm gonna try to load the three of us up with all of my guns, but we'll make some noise when we get there.

LTWiggins04: Ok, I'll see everyone when you get here.

Griffin1865: Good luck everyone