Emily is dead. Tampa is gone. I think. Everything has changed.

Jason Duncan
Central Florida
Alone

I was working on the truck and I must have fallen asleep. I woke up to the sound of her screaming. He must not have seen me or something. He was on top of her. I have no idea where he came from. He had a gun in his pants but they were around his ankles already. He saw me running at him and tried to pull the gun. It went off and he shot her. He hit her just below the jaw. At least it was quick. I didn't have a gun on me. Shit. I thought she was having a nightmare or something. I didn't react like I should have. I beat him to death with a fire extinguisher. I don't even know where it came from. I don't remember picking it up. I don't remember hitting him with it. I just remember when I stopped. His head was caved in and so was his rib cage. I was covered in blood. His, mine, hers. All three. I don't know. We were just starting to really connect and she was opening up to me. I have no idea where this guy came from. He didn't have any gear. No pack. No weapon other than the pistol in his pants.

I covered her up at first. I was going to just stay there. Keep living there. I don't know what I was thinking. Like I could just carry on. There was no way I could clean up what was left of her enough that I wouldn't remember...wouldn't see her face when I looked around the overpass. We had only been ...what? Living together? This isn't living. We had only known each other a short time but she was my only companion. Everything, every spot, all of it, that whole overpass was shared with her. Her memory would have been everywhere.

I loaded up the truck with as much shit as I could. My plan was to just drive off and leave it all behind. One of my roof top garden was near a big cache I had created. I was planning to make that my new home of sorts. I was already planning how to clear the area around it. Maybe secure it with some makeshift walls or abandoned vehicles. I was almost off the bridge when I remembered Emily. I had just left her sitting there. I threw some clothes over her and just drove off. I thought about eating a bullet just then. How could I leave my friend like that? I walked back and sat next to her for a good while. I burned it all. Everything left, all the supplies, the fuel, the food, the weapons, the ammo, everything. Viking funeral. That made me think. That got me to the next step. Boat.

I had found a fuel barge in the bay. I poured gallons of stabilizer into it. That was my golden nugget. I never told you guys about it. Didn't really trust you in the beginning. Doesn't matter now. Nothing back there matters now.

Near the fuel barge there was another barge. I think it was originally a construction barge used to store materials for bridges or something. When I found it, the thing was beached and everything on the deck was gone. There was a tug still attached at the back of it sticking out into the water. I created my big cache inside the tug. The rooftop garden was a short walk away. It was high enough off the ground that the dead couldn't get on top. I'd be safe there until I figured out my next move.

The second day of living on the boat there was a storm. The monsoon season of Florida is now upon us pretty seriously. It storms most afternoons now but that day was the first big one. I think it was 7 or 8 days ago. I've lost track.

The storm was really a bad one. Hail and lots of thunder. The thunder is how they got so close to me. I guess the guy I lobotomized had friends. Maybe they came looking for him. Maybe they found me by accident. I don't know. I didn't ask questions. They were on the barge looking around before I had time to react. They had guns and they looked angry. Other than Emily these three guys were the first people I'd seen since leaving St. Pete but I could just tell they weren't friendly. There was something about the way they walked and looked around. They were hunting. They were not friends.

I jumped in the water. The thunder covered my noise too. They did see me as I climbed up onto the fuel barge though. The first guy yelled and told me to stop. He said "Come here." I almost stopped climbing up the side of the barge. I almost listened to the guy. I probably didn't hesitate for more than a split second but at the time it felt like hours. I kept climbing. That voice in the back of my brain screamed at me to climb. To run. To move. Flee.

I was over the top of the fuel barge and down the other side when one of them started shooting. The barge blew up. I don't know why. They always say the shit from the movies isn't true. Shooting a fuel tank doesn't make it blow up. Maybe lightning hit it. I really don't know. But it blew up. That's the last thing I remember for a little bit. I didn't die obviously. The blast must have thrown me clear enough that the flames didn't get me. I came to on some pieces of a wooden dock that were floating in the water. My back and legs were burnt hairless but not too bad other than that. I found the truck where I'd parked it a block away.

The barge was gone. The tug was gone. The rooftop garden was gone. I had other caches in the area but I didn't care. I just drove. It wasn't until about an hour later I saw the glow behind me. The fire from the barge was spreading a bit when I left. Apparently it spread pretty well. Even with the storm still raging the fire took hold. I didn't go back to check, so I can't confirm, but I'm going to say Tampa is a complete ruin. There are undoubtedly parts left untouched. It can't all be gone. But the flames were hundreds of feet in the air and covering most of my field of view behind me when they faded under the horizon.

I saw more of the dead on that drive than I could count. I avoided the big groups and plowed through the smaller ones. The fire seemed to attract them. They were walking towards the light. Even the ones I saw on side streets that didn't see me, they were heading towards the flames. I hope it wiped out a bunch of them.

I'm done with that city. I'm close to Ocala now. I haven't stopped moving yet for more than a few hours to sleep here and there. I don't know this area and I don't feel safe.

Will advise.