Roan Mountain, a small state park located in Carter County Tennessee, was a great place to go and escape the mundane struggles of life. In terms of size, it was rather small, though it had plenty in the way of hiking trails and activities to do. One of the most highly anticipated events is the Rhododendron Feasterville, an event to celebrate the blooming of the rhododendron flowers in June. Of course, being a state park, Roan Mountain has its fair number of Rangers that live within the park year round, maintaining the park and making sure things stay safe for both visitors and campers. One of these such rangers is Tennessee native and special forces veterans, Russell K. Smith. Having retired from the U.S Special Forces at the age of 31, he became a ranger at Roan Mountain State Park shortly after where he would remain until November 7th, 2028 which would soon be known as V-Day.
Russell's POV
Everything had gone to shit so fast. One day, I was doing my job, and the next, I heard reports of some kinda infected bat things tearing people limb from limb up in Massachusetts. I guess it was a good thing my dad had drilled it into my head to be prepared for anything, and while I'm certain he weren't talkin' 'bout damn vampire zombies, he was right anyhow. It didn't take long for the situation to get worse, with the infected making their way down here within a week. I've been unfortunate enough to catch some up close looks at the bastards. It doesn't seem like they can see anything, but they sure can hear ya. One guy took a wrong step onto some glass and had his throat ripped out, poor bastard. Plenty of guns down this way and from what I've seen a shot to the head or enough large rounds center mass seems to put'em down well enough but the noise only draws more of 'em so guns are a no go. Been hold up in my house not too far from Roan Mountain, pretty secluded. I haven't had anyone come wandering by, though couldn't tell you if that's a good thing or not. The infected people, if you can even call them people anymore, can be heard screeching to one another, think I'ma call 'em Screechers, sounds better than infected.
At first, food wasn't too much of a problem. I had quite a bit of salt cured meats and canned food, though after a month or two, I had all but ran out. Tried huntin', but it looks like the Screechers have picked the place clean or at least driven the animals off. They seem to have to eat as well. Seems like I'ma need to head into town, closest store is a good twenty miles away, it'll take a while since cars are a no go, it'll take 'round six or so hours on foot, maybe more coming back if I can get a good haul. I packed up my old millitary standard issue backpack, a send-off gift from my special force buddies. It'd be hard for most to carry it when it's fully loaded, but from my time in the military, it's just like another bag for me. While guns may not be a good idea to use with Screechers around, it's worse not to have one at all so, along with my standard issue Ka-Bar, I had my 1911 Smith and Wesson chambered in .45 ACP. Along with that, I had a handmade wooden recurve bow with a couple dozen arrows with different heads. The bow was great for not only hunting but could be used to take out a lone Screecher or a couple of them if they were far enough apart without alerting others.
The Screechers have some damn good hearin', but unless you right next to one, they won't hear you walking nornally on pavement or gravel, leaves are a different story as I almost found out a few times. Heading out, I walked down the US-19E, and all the way, I'd catch glimpses of the Screechers walking around like any other animal through the woods, some even crossin' the road. Empty cars littered the road, some of them missing parts or crashed into one another. The Screechers are fast, faster than us humans at least, 'bout as fast as deer I'd say so while you could pretty easily go faster in a car, you couldn't really get around all these broken down cars. After a few hours of walking, I got to Hampton, a very small town which seemed completely abandoned, not a sign of life other than some birds and the Screechers I'd see every now and then. Never really liked Hampton. People there weren't often to welcoming to visitors, not to mention all the drug addicts but compared to how it is now, I'm still on the fence on which version i prefer.
