It was a warm summer morning when the U.S. Navy Destroyer, the USS Arleigh Burke rolled into port at Norfolk, Virginia. Master Chief John Hickory was standing at the Bow of the ship. John was a tall man of about 6’ 3’’ with a muscular build. His military cut was colored with brown. Behind him approached his younger brother James Hickory, James was not as muscular as his brother but just as tall. “Soon we will be back to normal, all the barbecues, swimming, work, family and games, no more combat.” James started the two men stood silently for a while longer then John replied saying “That's the good life isn’t it.” The ship had just come to a halt at the port while the crew stayed to finish up docking John, James, and three others left to get a jump start on being back to America. When they got off the ship they we welcomed by a shocking sight, silence filled the docks. There was nobody, no workers, sailors, soldiers, guards, or commanders. Buildings were abandoned, guard stations abandoned, cars not moving along the road by the port. The wind went through our ears like a whisper. Trash was littered by the group's feet as they ventured further into the port.

There was nobody in sight, although in the distance one in the group spotted a man. The man they saw looked crippled struggling to walk stumbling, however the group advanced to talk to the crippled man. When they got closer the man they spotted looked like a walking corpse partially covered in a type of fungus. The man looked at the group then slowly though it was particularly fast for the crippled corpse. Just then a loud shot rang out over the docks. The man that was charging them was shot straight in the head and fell straight back. Then they heard another man shouting for the group to follow him. With only slight hesitation the group followed the man who was running so to keep up they had to run as well. While running they saw many more people that looked similar to the one that was shot. It was amazing how much they looked like corpses, all partially covered in fungus. The corpses started to follow the group. John saw the thing that they were running towards It was a huge aircraft carrier; he spotted the name it was the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. The man opened the Door and told everyone to get inside and once everyone was in shut the door.

“Are you guys stupid or something!” shouted the man that had brought them into the ship. “You walked straight up to an infected, you nearly died, Do you even know what you're doing!”
“Slow down, what is going on? Who are you? and what happened out there?” nearly shouted John
‘’My name is Glen. This is our home the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. You people really don’t know what is going on here do you?”
“No we don’t. Hopefully you could fill us in”
“So it started about a year and a half ago when a tanker went down in the bay of the Potomac river. It was staged to look like an accident but leaked information points to the idea of sabotage. After the crash, the disease started; the disease was a fungus that started on the shore of the river. Those who caught the disease were prone to many symptoms, the last was not death but life. After you died from the disease you came back or at least your body does; the infected walking corpse craves living flesh. Of course walking flesh eaters caused panic, panic caused military action, military action caused more panic, more panic caused raiders, and so on. There were rebellions, battles, looting, killing, robbing, and just stupid senseless loss of life. Communities like this one were set up. If you want more information you are going to have to talk to the commissioner, he is upstairs in the bridge just follow the signs.”
“Thanks for the help.” stated John. With that John and James went up to talk to the commissioner; on the way they passed people that looked tired, depressed, and just miserable. When they finally got to the bridge they could see all the world from the window. They looked out to see nothing but empty streets, burning houses, destroyed buildings, and infected walking the streets like cattle roaming.
“Welcome!” the commissioner started, “welcome to our humble ship. What can I do for you?” the commissioner was tall with an eye patch, dirty face, brown hair and was covered in a large trench coat.

“How about Information, what can you tell us about Baltimore?” replied John
“Baltimore is a pretty rough place now and days. Most of the big gangs that were kicked out of D.C. by the NAS go there.” Stated the Commissioner
“Who is the NAS?”
“The NAS is the New American Society. They have taken over the D.C. area to start America over again.”
“My family is in Baltimore. What is the best way for me to get there?”
“You are going to have to take the highway through D.C.. There is a running jeep in the warehouse 45. Also, take some ammo, guns, food, and clean water. Remember, don’t drink unpurified water, if you do, you will get infected and become one of them.”
“Thanks for the help.” John and james met their group on the main flight deck and started to tell them about the situation. “Who is coming with me to Baltimore?” asked John. There were only two volunteers out of the seven, James and Kyle. Kyle is a good family friend to the Hickorys. The group received their gear from Glen, including ammo, food, medicine, and purified water. As soon as they were geared up they left the ship, the other four decided to stay on the aircraft carrier. The group carefully wandered through the shipyard looking for the jeep that the commissioner gave to them. They suddenly paused when they heard what sounded like gunshots. They peered around the corner to see two people, shooting at more infected. The men they found were surrounded when the group got there, as the men were wearing improvised armor on their armor a symbol was painted on; that symbol was a double headed bear. The men continued to shoot as the infected closed around them. after the shots ceased to ring out the group left. As they left they heard the screams of the two men they left behind. “Search these buildings see if we can find anything, especially the jeep.” John said. The men searched the buildings when they heard Kyle shout “hey over here I found the Jeep!” The group got to the jeep
“Let’s see if this thing works,” said James
“Let’s hope,” said Kyle. James hopped into the jeep and turned the key and the engine roared to life. The group jumped in and started to drive to Baltimore
…

They were going through Washington D.C. when their gas was empty. “Search the surrounding area for a gas station.” John said as the group split apart. They searched for anything useful. John was walking past what looked like a war zone. The buildings to the left and right were all but demolished. John heard his brother's voice on the two way radio that they found on the way to DC, “I got a gas station and about 5 gallons of fuel.”
he said over the radio. The men got back to the jeep and as they were filling up the jeep Kyle heard a click and pressure on the back of his head. “Hands up!” shouted a man. As John got up he saw the man pointing a gun to back of Kyle's head. There were three others all wearing the same symbol, a double headed bear. The men tied up the three of them and tossed them to the ground by the jeep. “Who are you working for!” the man that appeared to be the leader said, he was tall with short brown blond mix. The man continued to question Kyle; however, he stayed silent. The man became enraged and punched Kyle in the face, Kyle’s head reared back from the punch. He then pulled out his gun and pointed at him again. “Who are you working for spy!?’’
“I told you nobody’’ the answer didn’t satisfy the man and he hit Kyle across the face with the hilt of his gun.
“I’ll ask one more time who are you working for spy?’’
“I said, I am not a spy.’’ slowly said Kyle. Just then a deafening blast came from the barrel of the gun and Kyle’s now lifeless body dropped to the ground.
“So who wants to tell me who you're working for?” said the man responsible for Kyle’s death. All this time James and John were working on cutting their ropes with their knives, and as soon as he finished his statement they punched their guards in the head knocking them out cold. They then grabbed their guns and meet the leader’s gun staring them in the face. They stood still staring at each other through the sights of their pistols. “Drop your weapon,” said John through the silence. Instead of dropping the gun the man made it ready to fire and as soon as he was going to pull the trigger James fired off three rounds in the man's chest. John looked through and looted the man that his brother killed while James checked on Kyle. John approached his brother holding Kyle in his arms. “He’s gone,” said James, “he’s actually gone,” James slowly let down his body and walked over to the man he killed, and kicked his lifeless body. He kept kicking until his brother pulled him away. “Kyle would want us to find our family.” said John
“I guess you're right” returned James. The two brothers finished filling up the jeep and went back on the road again.
…
They made it to the residential zone of Baltimore when the jeep died. when they got out they knew exactly where they were. They were just a few blocks from their parent’s house. They were walking along the block when they ran into about five or six infected. They pulled out their guns and shot one round each. the infected started to charge them and they continued to shoot at them until all the infected were dead or officially dead now. they got to their parent’s home. they knocked and when they heard no answer they smashed down the door only to find an empty house and a note. The note read this
“John and James,
if you are looking for us we went to the quarantine zone in M&T Bank Stadium. John, your wife and kids are there too. We are not hurt, we left after the breakout under military advice.”
“we have to get there now!” shouted James after reading the note.
“the stadium isn’t far from here we can get there before dark if we hurry.” John said, “let’s get going” they searched the house for anything that they could use and left the house. They walked down many blocks that were filled with trash and debris. They finally made it to the stadium. Military guards were stationed at the gate and humvees with troops at the machinegun turret.
“I.D. pleases” The chief guard said
“I am master Chief John Hickory of the  USS Arleigh Burke.”
“I am lieutenant James hickory also aboard the Arleigh Burke.” The guard saluted and waved them into the stadium. They went to what looked like an information tent and asked where their family was. They pointed them in the direction and they walked across the stadium. “JOHN!” shouted a man from the distance
“Dad!” replied James and John simultaneously they ran towards their family.
“where is mom?” asked James
“She… She didn’t… didn’t make it…” Tears filled the eyes of their dad “she died on the way here… she was killed by one of the infercted.”
“It’s okay we are all here now.” said James
“John!” shouted a woman from the distance. It was his wife they ran and hugged each other. However this was short lived after everyone was reunited they heard a fury of gunshots outside. There was a wave of soldiers running to the front door of the stadium. John ran to see what was happening and who was attacking them. When he could see outside he could only see the banner of the enemy. A double headed bear.