Caffeine

Short story involving the living dead. Written for a contest.

Caffeine... That's the one thing I want most right now. Well, that's the most practical thing I want anyway. An end to this living hell or some sleep would be better. The only end will come when one of us wins. With the way things are looking, I fear it will be them. Which means that no one will ever read this. Unless those things somehow learn how to read.
    Well, no point in continuing that train of thought. This should be about me and my own perspective on this war.
    I didn't really watch the news or read the newspaper back then. Not that back then really was all that long ago, despite feeling like an entire lifetime. If I had known sooner, I'm not sure it if would have helped or not. I guess I could have gone somewhere else. But where?
    Sorry, I'm having trouble keeping my train of thought. Since I didn't read the newspaper or watch the news, it was too late for me to do anything when I did find out. At least I wasn't the only one. That sounds horrible, but at least the others provided some comfort for awhile.
    Yes, the others... I went to work as usual. Most people didn't. Of course they didn't. We were in the midst of a crisis. Just some of us didn't know about it. Some of them hadn't had time to find out, while others simply didn't care until happened.
    What did happen, really? We're still trying to figure that out. Some of us think that an asteroid fell with some sort of alien virus that mutated them.  The idea is fun at least. It should be. I've seen some variation of it in hundreds of movies.
    Others think that some lab rat escaped and contaminated people. It sounds similar to some of the theories on the chupacabra at least. Except we do have proof that zombies are real. More proof than we'd ever need.
    There are some who believe this is God's judgment upon the human race. Yeah, I'm sure the book of Revelation mentions zombies somewhere. "Behold, the Earth opened up and the living dead began to rise. In their hunger, they began to feast upon the living." I didn't even make that up. Some guy on a corner gave me a pamphlet saying that. I probably should have offered to help him when the zombies began pulling him apart. Instead, I just watched as organs flew and his blood began to stain the streets. I couldn't help to think it served him right. He should have been watching out instead of proclaiming all that "The End is Near" crap. Of course the end is near. Any idiot can see that.
    Another group believes that the zombies are the next step in the evolution of humans. Right... While I do agree that we were on our way to becoming mindless idiots unable to move faster than 1 mph, I don't believe that's the next step of human evolution. It seems the opposite direction to me. I mean, most of us don't even think of them as human any more anyway.
    Then there's my favorite of the theories. The zombies already existed for centuries. They had just stayed hidden and allowed their numbers to grow. I could almost believe that one. Except that they don't show enough intelligence for that. Can they even reproduce? The thought is just disgusting for me...
    Oh. I forgot to talk about the group again. Sorry. Almost sixty hours without sleep is taking its toll on me. If I don't get some soon, I'll either go insane or they'll get me. Right. The group...
    Yeah. The group started out fairly large. There were twenty of us from work. When we found out, we found others from nearby buildings to join us. The chaos was just starting then. People had just started stealing. It wasn't necessary then. It was sort of a hate crime against their own. But it seems that some people will use anything as an excuse to feed their greed...
    Once we had a group of almost one hundred, we took up residence in this building. It was the one we decided would be the easiest to defend. Sure, we could have simply gone to our own homes. But we knew that we'd be safer in a group. Plus, none of us had families to go home to. Those who did knew before us. They had something to care for. Something to protect. We only had ourselves.
    Not now. We have made our own family now. It's unfortunate that we've already lost some. The first night we learned not to sleep. I had seen lots of zombie movies. Sure, some of them were accurate in many ways. But, these are different in some ways too. It's like they have a hive mind or something. And while we sleep, they know. In fact, it's like they have some mental power over us while we sleep. A group of twelve walked out and into their arms while we slept. If it hadn't been for another's sacrifice, the zombies would've gotten us all.
    It's only been four days. How can we ever survive even the rest of the month? How can I even survive the rest of the day? I must keep my mind active. I must stay awake. Maybe this afternoon we can get some chains to tie some of us down. Maybe then we can sleep. Please let it work...

Author's Note

It's supposed to disjointed in parts.