Here there be zombies...

The next time I looked up from searching for weapons I saw that Bri was already jogging away the way she always did. Except this time she was only armed with a large branch instead of the shotgun I was used to seeing her with. "Dammit, Bri, where the hell are you going?" I hurried after her.

"To look around and find out what the fuck is going on," Bri told me over her shoulder like it was nothing.

I was still getting my head around just what had happened even though there was seriously no time to really worry about that. I was actually more worried about the fact that I had neither a handgun or my usual oozie I was used to having. Even with those missing aspects there was no denying wherever we were looked a hell of a lot like Blood Harvest from our favorite game. "Well, has it occurred to you that maybe running off like an idiot like you always do isn't the best idea here?" I asked more than a little impatiently.

"Then keep up!"

Hitting my best friend with my crowbar seemed like a rather attractive prospect right then. Except I somehow doubted I'd get one of my usual 'friendly fire' message flashing across my screen. Mostly because there was no screen in front of me. We were so fucked. I debated coming up with a snarky comment in response to Bri's indifference to still being in front of me but a sound off to my side distracted me. It sounded frighteningly like a hunter. Or a boomer. Or maybe a smoker. "Bri!" I hissed in hopes of not attracting whatever it was. Fortunately she heard me and turned back.

"What?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

I heard the gurgling choking sound again. "That!"

"Oh, shit." Bri hefted her big stick. "Was that a hunter?"

I shook my head. "Sounded like a smoker." The next thing I knew I saw something come flying out of the trees around us right towards Bri. I shouted and tried to go over but right then I saw more movement to my other side and realized that the zombies had most definitely come after us.

It's Not a Game Anymore...

*YYYABBB-Left Trigger*...."This shit isn't working!" I whined.

"Bri, you HAVE to push the Xbox button! My controller flashed when I did it, but I think we have to do it together, let's try again."

I consider myself to be a pretty patient and rational person, but sometimes I do dumb, outrageous shit, and when it comes to videogames, I ALWAYS do dumb, irrational shit quickly and in a hurry. Shit like throwing a gas can at the witch and lighting her on fire, jumping off of buildings, and running head first into a horde of zombies. *YYYABBB- Left Trigger-Xbox Home button*

Sirens began to go off in what sounded like the near distance, but felt like inches away, and after 2 seconds of the sound piercing our ears; I spat my gum out. Our eyes were blinded by a multitude of bright light flashes that seemed to last forever causing us to close our eyes for at least an entire minute. The air around us thickened and swirled, wrapping us in a cloud of uncertainty. And just as quickly as it began, the madness ended, and we opened our eyes.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me, this is the opening scene from Blood Harvest, like the level the from the game" I slurred, obviously in shock.

"Yup, looks that way, HOLY CRAP!" Lindley said non-nonchalantly, while simultaneously going into survival mode and beginning the search for weapons.

We searched frantically and silently for what must have been 10 minutes before coming across anything. We remained focused on the task at hand as to avoid freaking out about our situation. "It's just a game" I kept reminding myself silently.

"There's an old crowbar over here in this car; I guess it will have to do for now" Lindley whispered. She grabbed the crowbar and I wielded the large, sturdy branch I found, and just like it was any old gaming session, I took false lead, jogging 15 feet ahead of Lindley into the unknown, weapon steady. Just one thing was different today, it's not just a game anymore, we both knew and accepted it, but refused to admit it because at that moment, there was no room for our ever so common freak outs.

Trying out cheat codes

Google. Why hadn't I thought of that? "That's a great idea," I told my best friend as I grabbed my phone and started searching. The results that came up were all the usual stuff. Mostly cheat codes and a lot of random chats on cool ways to kill zombies. Bri continued her gum chewing as she waited for my verdict. I was pretty sure that in the years I'd known her I'd never called her by her full name, she'd been Bri forever and always would be.

"Find anything?" Bri looked patient but I knew she was ready to start killing some zombies. She was always ready to kill zombies.

"Usual stuff. Hang on, this is a weird entry. Just has a code but not what it's for. And the only thing the person has with it is 'try this'." I looked at Bri and shrugged.

"So let's try it," Bri said.

"What if it crashes my xbox or something?" I thought that over for a second. "Well, not that it could screw it up any more than it already is... Alright, guess we can do it." I passed over my phone and showed the code to her.

"Ok, we've got to put it in at the same time," Bri said when she finished reading what I had come up with.

I nodded. "Hope it's something good and not super lame or anything."

Left 4 Dead...For Real

“Come on, come on, WORK GODDAMNIT!” Lindley screamed at her Xbox as it sang it´s malfunctioning mechanical tune while failing to load the game we were attempting to play. “It´s thinking, just give it a second, and don´t hit it!” I mumbled, trying to muffle a giggle. After three long minutes of praying, staring, swearing, and finger crossing, the TV screen was finally graced with the presence of our favorite video game characters, Zoe, Lewis, Bill, and Francis, just mere seconds away from being mobbed by a horde of very angry and hungry zombies. “We could watch this intro scene three million times and it would never get old; which level do you want to play?” Lindley asked me, her hands gripping the Xbox controller both anxiously and excitedly. “I know I´m sick of playing the airport level, actually I´m sick of all the levels, we have played them to death. Let´s go on Google, there has to be some secret level or something that we have yet to unlock, maybe even some cheatcodes.” I responded in between my obnoxious gum chewing.