by Nathan Ward
THE FOLIAGE
By Nathan Ward
The Foliage by Nathan Ward
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
The Foliage Copyright ©Nathan Ward 2016
Cover art ©Nathan Ward 2016
A Kindle original © Nathan Ward 2016
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to add a special thanks to Cheryl, for helping to bring this book to life.
DEDICATION
To Joshua Levett
Thank you for the conversations, and the inspiration, that led to this book.
THE FOLIAGE
Introduction:
The year is 2018; the world has been ravaged by something monstrous, something that was never anticipated. We lived in a world that was falling apart before everything changed - some consider what’s happened as an act of the Devil and this is now the land of Hell in which we walk, but majority would vote against that - most will see that this is true and rightful freedom over everything, a freedom that us as a race have always deserved...
Chapter 1 – State of Play
“Exactly 1 month ago all normality was lost, the structure of living broke down and the idea of a working community dissolved. Having a paid job is a thing of the past now, which also means a lack of produce flow all over the world. This has forced the planets people in to the dark, where we began.
Earth, England, Suffolk… the east coast, home to what once was thousands, in fact seventy thousand in its prime but now the population consists of a mere few hundred, taking refuge, surviving.
The foliage on the ground is fresh, the sun is warm, the trees are blooming, I guess we never thought we would have to live like this, using natural resources to tell the time but it sure does make you appreciate our nature, to think there was a time where animals and trees were executed for fun and self indulgence, well that time is long gone… I’m Josh by the way, telling my story…of how the human race returned into existence...”
A burning flame ate away at the twigs and branches of the crafted camp fire, and then a bowl of water was thrown over the blaze, extinguishing it. The man who threw the water then turned and headed towards a camp site – the site was huge, consisting of at least forty people, tents, fires, luggage positioned around to give the impression of a reformed community, an attempt at normality.
Within the camp, the people were sitting around cooking tins of beans, chatting among one another, each one different from the other, some welding guns others cooking up lunch hand hunted meats, rabbits and deer when they were lucky, but being by the coast, fish was always a more common dish among the peoples.
Josh the camp leader, a strong but short guy with a heavy beard, walked up beside Austin who seemed quite his opposite with his long hippy hair, and he was busy tapping hell out of his hand held game console, it had Game Boy inscribed on the back plate.
“That’s a blast from the past OZ! How did you manage to get that working?” Josh asked in surprise.
“Last of the batteries, ain't it?” he replied.
“You not gonna try save them for later?”
“Well I thought they’ll only die, might as well get some usage out of them,”Austin said,”I used to play this with my boy, you remember those boring Sunday afternoons? Spent hours on this...”
Josh laughed.
“I was probably doing the same, it's been that long that I cant even remember, sad isn’t it… not being able to remember the simple things.”
They exchanged a glance, and sadness reflected in a twin gaze that matched an understanding of loss.
“Maybe it doesn’t matter, as long as you never forget Steph and the kids, I dread to think where life is heading, but…on that note, food time!” said Austin.
“Take it easy buddy,” his friend replied.
Then Josh walked away from Austin, taking a short moment to relive some precious memories, but that moment was torn away by the intensity of the camp - being a leader held many responsibilities, some that were hard to live up to - guaranteeing the survival of the entire camp was his main priority. He was pulled out of thoughts of the pain of loss as a heavy set man he knew well bumped into him.
“Josh, have you seen Graham?” asked Gene.
“It's his turn on the rota,” Josh replied, “If he's not laying in bed I bloody hope he's out getting food.”
“I just did a count up, we’re three men down, hopefully they’ve just gone together… wish they would fucking let us know!”Gene said as he looked about the camp, his thoughts beyond it, and filled with concern for the others.
“See if they’ve taken a radio, I think there’s three or four with juice in,” Josh reminded him.
Gene nodded.
“Good idea, I’ll check it out.” He turned to leave, but Josh called him back.
“Gene, keep someone with you,” he reminded him, “No wandering around alone.”
Gene ran over to a tent that housed the main equipment - medical cases, empty food crates and radios. It was then he noticed one of the radios was gone, so he grabbed one himself and swore under his breath as he flicked rapidly through the channels trying to find Graham, the group member who was supposed to be leading the daily hunt.
“This is base camp does anyone read,? If you can hear this Graham you piece of shit, respond! This is base camp, Graham respond, it's urgent!”
The missing group member named Graham – along with two others, were lurking far down in a different part of the forest in search of anything edible to take back to camp. Then the radio crackled into life as Gene's transmission came through.
Graham rolled his eyes on hearing the sound of the annoying bleeps, intermittent and feeling much like a woodpecker tapping at his temple as he wished he could just turn the damned thing off and not bother to respond.
“Pass me that fucking thing...” he said wearily, snatching the radio off one of the men, and then he spoke into it:
“Yes Gene I hear you, if you look at the fucking timetable you'll see that I'm on Bambi watch, I've got Simon and Patrick with me.”
Graham's voice came through the radio.
“Sorry Graham, that’s cool just hurry it up, we're on the move soon and gonna need every pair of hands we can haggle for this, what do you reckon the time is now?”
Graham looked to the sun, starting to dip in the sky, his face dripping with sweat from the heat.
“Must be nearly six,” he estimated, “A good day for a move, the heat should stick around tonight, very humid out here.”
“Lets hope, see you back here in a hour, keep safe.”
Graham glared down at the radio then tossed it behind him, as it hit the ground with force it shattered.
“Wanker!” he muttered under his breath.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Graham looked up, saw Patrick looking pale and shaken. The lad was a bag of nerves at the sight of the shattered radio, and Graham decided it was time for some home truths.
“You want to know why I did that? Okay, it's like this : I’ll tell you now, that man… that self indulging idiot, he's the kind of guy to watch out for – he's up his own arse more than looking out for us! He has his own priorities -Take note of all
his banjo tunes!”
“It’s a guitar, he plays a guitar,” Patrick reminded him, “And to be perfectly honest Graham, I'd rather watch out for you! Come on, we won't achieve anything by standing still. We have to keep moving.”
The three men continued their troop through the forest, as Graham hung back, still turning over all Patrick had just said. He had not expected to be handed some home truths of his own, and was far from pleased about it...
Chapter 2 - Invasion
People were gathered around a camp fire, the light was diminishing behind the tree line, and Gene was creating some musical fusion with his guitar, while everyone sat around in an awkward silence as they recalled the life before and considered the life now and wondered how they were supposed to use any sort of time intended for relaxation.
The camp had been dismantled and packed up and was ready to be transported to a new area, they never stayed more than forty-eight hours in any given place, this was to ensure no unwanted attention - forty-eight hours was an extremely short span of time but in the situation the planet faced, it was common knowledge that in some spots a person would be lucky to safely stay for just a few minutes, and so after 48 hours, the risk was not worth taking. That terrible forever moving sea of darkness approached, always...
Gene stood up and went over to Josh and Austin who were sat on the other side of the fire talking.
“They're still not back... Do you think they ran in to trouble?” he asked, casting a glance about them as he took in the fact that the light was now fading rapidly, and then he gave a heavy sigh, “We can't give them much longer, we need to be on the move, we’re running out of sunlight.”
“I'd give them one last buzz on the radio,” Josh told him, “But just ten minutes – that's all we can spare.”
Just then another camp member walked over from her tent. She was tall and lean and her fair hair reached her shoulders, and once she had looked youthful but this new life had played hell with her looks and aged her fast. Lines were etched about her eyes and she already carried battle scars in badly healed gashed on the back on her hand and carried another on her cheek.
“We’re ready when you are, everything is packed.” she reminded him.
“Just just give us ten, then we’ll make a move, and that’s a promise,” Josh replied.
Gene headed over to where the radio tent was stood, he unpacked a radio from a bag, raised it and opened a channel and started calling out for Graham and his team.
As he paced the woodland waiting for a response, he stopped sharply, turning his head as he noticed something looming, something that seemed to be looming out of the tree...
He shook his head, dismissing fearful thoughts as over active imagination in what had been a declared safe area to camp, as he looked down at the radio once more.
Then something sharp and flesh-slicing had him, it grabbed him, splitting skin to bone as it yanked him to the ground and he gave a last cry of alarm before his throat was cut. It kept on slicing long after his blood spattered face was frozen in death and the remaining eye that had not been gouged out stared skyward to the gathering dusk, and the shadowed foliage was sprayed with a spattering of crimson that dripped like coloured rain to the floor of the forest.
The echo of Gene's final cry had travelled through the woodland, alerting Graham - but he had been busy:
A blade was now impaled in Patrick's head as he lay dead on the ground, Graham wielded the weapon with ease as he gave the handle of the knife a a firm twist and tug and he removed it fast. As the blade came out his victim, Patrick's blood sprayed on to Graham's face and clothing, but he was distracted entirely by the shrieks of Gene being torn apart.
He slowly stood up,leaving his two victims on the ground covered in deep crimson, then he grabbed both of their rucksacks and paused to take their weapons, and then he turned away from the forest and began the long walk In to a random direction of his choice that wouldn't lead him back towards the camps.
Back at camp, Josh had heard the scream and turned in the direction of the sound, the nearby groups also had also gathered behind him, staring and saying nothing because even now, each time death paid a visit, it was no less horrifying, none had lost their humanity despite the hell in which they were forced to live, that death meant nothing to them. Death was a reminder that any one of them could be next, and one day, probably would be. Perhaps everyone would die one day, they all knew it, but never voiced that fear of the end.
They all stayed there, not speaking nor blinking, looking in the direction of the scream...Now the only sound to puncture the air was the chirp of crickets, a sign of forest life that in a maddening way, was a painful reminder of how life used to be.
Josh looked on towards the blackness of the forest, seeing a light mist travelling up north towards the darkness… but suddenly figures begin to take shape out of the gloom, figures becoming more and more visible as they edged closer and closer…
“EVACUATE CAMP!” Josh yelled.
His call to flee meant hell broke out in a scattering flurry of the camps people as they began running in different directions, some making haste towards the forest while others ran towards the oncoming figures to obtain their property, folded up tents and water.
Josh, Austin and a few others mounted a rapid line defense with their weapons in an attempt to gain time for the rest of the group to evacuate the area.
As they steadied their weapons and faced the oncoming enemy, it became horribly clearer what they were:
Their faces hardly carrying a vestige of humanity nor a reminder of who they had once been, they were covered in parasitic fungus. Their mouths were dripping with chlorophyll liquid. It was the product of the UNA, which had claimed millions, and now they stood face to face with the survivors of this man made apocalypse.
Josh and his team took a swing at the front line of the invading horde, as Josh took out the first one with a sharp swing of a blade he looked up, trying to identify how many where, but he could not, but cannot, the horde seemed endless, perhaps there were hundreds. Or thousands, for all he knew…
“Retreat! we get out of here now!” Josh yelled above the sound of battle.
“Where do we go?” Austin asked him, as another of the horde fell to the ground and he stepped back, avoiding a spray of green substance that oozed from the puncture wound in its neck.
A flicker of panic shone in the eyes of the camp leader as he looked to his friend as they fought side by side.
“Anywhere! We cant stay here, can we! We do what we've always done, we run!”
With those words heard by the few who had stayed to fight, the line of defence started to back away from the oncoming hordes and head towards the exit of the forest, catching up with the camp group. As they ran, Josh turned to look back at what once had briefly been called home - at least for a short time...Then he wished he hadn't looked back, because now he could see that it was engulfed by the infected as the creatures stumbled about in the moonlight, swarming every inch of land.
Chapter 3 – The Discovery
As I run from the horde, thoughts run through my mind. Because I'm Josh, people look to me for leadership - but right now my thoughts are racing back to the past and the start of this hell:
Those on the outside would think it's just another one of those zombie stories, an urban legend, a myth... But in fact this was very real, they were a weapon, created by the UNA, a organization developed hundreds of years ago to find ways of perfecting the planet. They developed a fungus that could be engineered to stay dormant for however long they wanted. And when activated, it would unleash a bacteria causing the people of earth to fall ill… At least, those not wealthy enough to pay for treatment - a crude way of attacking the population.
But they never anticipated what came next.
The bacteria activated and infected two thirds of the population, claiming many lives including my family. One Sunday afternoon, a Sunday like any other, the world as we knew it came to an end as the sk
y was filled with a dark green mist, the next thing, fire filled the streets… And soldiers were firing, shooting down innocent people… or so I thought. The UNA didn’t see their own product evolving at the pace that it did.
They started a war.
I try to forget what happened - but the image of my child and wife being taken, flames burning through my home as I was dragged away is welded into mind as sure as I saw the flames char them to blackened bones. I struggled, I escaped and ran… never looking back out of pure fear. And here I am now, still running...
With those thoughts trapped in his head Josh ran on - and wondered if he would run until the day he died.
They scrambled out of the forest, and found a wide road on top of a cliff side with houses one side looking out to sea, they then marched as a group along the road, ever watchful even though it seemed the infected had stayed within the foliage and not attempted to follow out of the wooded area.
After a long hour of travelling, they reached a factory gate, and Austin managed to crank it open while Josh helped the rest of the group through.
On the sign post, it clearly stated this was a UNA facility - but it was entirely over run, with a small number of infected lumbering around the grounds.
They headed towards a large warehouse and eased open the door with a crowbar and what they found inside was something of a relief - inside was a more than sufficient space to set up camp for the foreseeable future.
