Laughter. The sound drifted in and out of my head. Where had I heard it before? Certainly not recently. There had been the been the panic then quiet, then nothing. I trudged slowly down the black asphalt road and watched as my feet scraped along the ground. My sneakers had long been worn away from days of walking. The hunger pains started to tear at my stomach again. I would need to eat again and soon. Laugher. This time I concentrated on the sound and tried to remember. Flashes of color began shooting through my rotting brain as well. A birthday party! The color must have been balloons, yes that was it. The sound of a car engine roared in the distance. But, whose party was it? It wasn't mine because mine was in the winter, December 15 to be exact .... or was it November? I wracked my maggot ridden brain but to no avail. The sound of laughter echoed in my ears again, but this time it sounded close. Maybe I wouldn't need to remember. I quickened my pace and came to a hole in the building. I crawled through and limped through the darkness. Whose birthday was it? My wife maybe? Was I even married before the bite? I knew that slowly but surely my brain was turning to sludge and leaking out of my ears. Glass shattered under my bare feet ,but I felt no pain. A light flashed in my eyes. Was it real or was I imagining again? Bang!!!!! The sound of a gunshot broke the silence. I looked down at my torso as my small intestine slid out of stomach followed by some spurting blood. It splattered on the dark linoleum and soon slowed to a drip from the hole. I tore my eyes away from the black, infected entrails into the barrel of a gun held by a young boy. The hunger pains started again and I lurched towards him, he squealed as he pulled the trigger again. This time the gun clicked and no fire came out of the barrel. Maybe a misfire. From the darkness another figure emerged. A man in a black rain jacket. He grabbed the child away from me, and pulled out another gun. Was he the boy's father? Then the answer came to me as he pulled the trigger. The birthday, the laughter, the balloons, it was all for my son..... My son's birthday. How I wished I could hear his voice one more time. Then everything slid out of focus and I was flying.