The Swamp by R Yates Page B

travels across the state.
                  He had been living a quiet life in retirement before this had all happened; He spent his days fulfilling his lifelong passion of being an artist.
                  The day of the president’s address, he had been working on a found art piece as he listened in shock. Before the commander in chief’s words were even done, he heard someone pounding on his door.
                  It had been the army going door to door instituting a mandatory evacuation of the area. He was made to leave his house on a moment’s notice, and taken by bus to a train station, where he and hundreds of others were loaded up into box cars and sent to a heavily fortified prison complex outside of Inverness, Florida. Eventually A nearby gated community and a commercial area was connected by a hastily built wall to give them more room.
                  He and several thousand others stayed there guarded by a mixed group of soldiers and law enforcement until the inevitable had happened and the place was over run.
                  He had gotten out and stolen a vehicle he found and started north with some others. They had to fight their way across Florida, and had eventually split up to go their own ways.
                  Paul had been lucky after that, he had traveled the states panhandle and had been able to avoid most of the major cities and their hordes of infected, and eventually found his brother.
                  They had stayed at his cabin for a couple of weeks, but lack of food had flushed them out and they were working their way back when they had encountered the kid and the met Sam.
                  Sam quickly told his story, and then Mom gave a condensed version of her own and about the situation her other son was in back at the farm. Sam could see how much it hurt her to discuss it, and wasn’t surprised at some of the details she left out.
                  They eventually went to bed, and Sam again laid there unable to sleep at first, his mind a buzz of activity, eventually exhaustion took him and he fell asleep.
                  He found himself still at the ranger’s house when he dreamed that night, but he was again all alone. Outside he could hear the angry clicking of teeth and moaning that meant the presence of the undead.
                  He rushed outside to find the world dark, not even a moon to light the way and the sky was black in the absence of even the stars. All around him he could hear the dead moving around inside the fence, but none attacked him, in fact they didn’t even seem to notice he was there. He could see them moving in the scant light that spilled through the windows from inside
                  He listened for a few minutes as his eyes adjusted, then turned to go inside. The closed door puzzled him, He looked at the door knob, but even as he stared, he couldn’t quite remember what it was. He pushed on the door, but it wouldn’t open, it was latched securely.
                  He made his way over to the large front window and peered in, nothing moved in the dimly lit house, but on the far wall he could see himself in the mirror that hung there.
                  The face that stared back at him had hollow, sunken eyes. His skin was the green of bad pork, and a black fluid leaked from the corners of his mouth. He tried to scream but all that came out was a long moan.
                  He awoke and reached for his gun on the nightstand as he sprang to his feet to rush outside and fight the undead.
                  As he reached for the door, he heard his mother’s voice call out from the other side, “Sam, are you all right? I heard a scream.”
                  Her voice pushed back the terror of the dream and his stupor cleared. “Yes Mom, I am fine, It was just a dream.” He told