Officer Jeffrey Kaminski

They always talked up the first day in the Academy like it was the start of a new world.  Little did they know just how right they would be.

I'll remember it for the rest of my life: my first day in the uniform, a badge on my chest and a firearm at my side.  My childhood fantasy now a reality.  That day was supposed to be all about protecting and serving, about swelling with pride and dignity, about making my little town - messed up as it is - a better place.

But the world had other ideas.

The calls started to come in at about noon.  Mass disturbances all over the area.  People attacking each other like animals.  Men, women, and children lumbering around with blood gushing down their chins, eyes glazed over, limbs slack at their side.  I thought it was a prank at first - a welcome to the force freak-out.  But it was too big, too elaborate, and ultimately, too much.

We did the best we could with what we had, which was never much to begin with.  But the masses, even as slow and stupid as they were, could not be pushed back.  The calls came in at noon - the town fell by nightfall.

I've been on the run ever since, checking in with groups as I pass by, never staying long.  It's a lonely life, but it's the life I'm used to.  I never thought I would be thankful to have a mom who died and a dad who went to jail and left me all but an orphan, forced to fend for myself.  Strange how even the shitty things can prove to be a blessing.  Maybe it was all meant to be.  Maybe dear old Mom and Dad knew something I didn't.

Maybe we were all fucked to begin with.