by Birch, S. C.
“They’re not vampires, mum…” said Emily to her invisible mother.
“So, Cam!” shouted Mr. Brooker, “How are computers and things?” he asked with a smile and his eyes wide, everyone in the room knew he was being sincere.
“They’re fine...” said Cameron as he picked up his teacup and kept his laughs buried in his stomach.
“Ahh, that’s good! But I guess if they all break, you could fix them then, couldn’t you?” Mr. Brooker asked with the same amount of sincerity.
Cameron’s hands shook as he held his teacup at his face, “I guess I could.”
“Dad,” Jack whined, “it’s not computers that would break. It’s the internet. Like, that’s hundreds of people to fix that.”
“Nonsense! Don’t need hundreds! Mind the time, oh you know, what’s her name again?” Mr. Brooker started snapping his fingers to jog his memory, “Fee? What’s her name? You know the one?”
“Do you mean Agnes?” shouted Mrs. Brooker from somewhere in the house.
“Aye! Agnes, that’s it! Anyway, mind when her computer thing broke and Cam here fixed it for her? Not a lot of people can do that, son! Cameron’s the only person I know that can!” he winked over at Cameron and sipped his tea.
“Aha!” shouted Mrs. Brooker. She scuttled back down the hall, holding a bottle with a thin, yellow liquid inside, “Here you go, my love. Your Nan always used it with me when I got a scrape. And, oh my word! Your knees! What have you been doing? I swear you are always getting lumps and bumps.”
“Well, mum, it is kinda the apocalypse outside. I am gonna, you know, get scrapes and that.” said Emily as she took the bottle.
“Well, be more careful.” she said, and then, as she had stopped talking, Mrs. Brooker looked at her daughter and smiled. But her mouth dropped, her jaw slacked open, and her eyes closed themselves, “You’ve lost weight! Jack, I thought you said you have food at Owen’s. Why aren’t you eating properly? Owen? I am holding you responsible!” Mrs. Brooker screeched.
“Yes, Mrs. Brooker. Sorry.” said Owen also trying to hide his laughs behind his cup.
“So then, kids, when’re you leaving?” asked Mr. Brooker.
Jack slid his palms behind him along the thick, brown carpet and shifted his weight back, “Don’t worry, dad, we’ll leave soon.”
“Oh, son, I wasn’t meaning for you to leave, it’s just you know, we have our routine is all.”
“Even during a zombie outbreak?” asked Jack.
“Well we have had to modify it a little. But, oh now -”
Mrs. Brooker interrupted, “Simon.”
“That’s it Simon. Simon and…”
“Edna.”
“Aye! Simon and Edna. Well they still have us round for dinner. I could ask her to make extras for everyone if you want.” said Mr. Brooker with a smile.
“What? The Stevensons? Where’re they getting the food to feed you?” asked Emily.
“Their boy, whatever his name is, he goes out for them. Do you know he is a lovely boy. Just a little older than you two -” started Mr. Brooker.
“We know who he is, dad, we went to school with him” Emily interrupted with.
“Oh, so you did. He mentioned that. Anyway, he is a marvellous young boy. You should, you know, talk to him.” said Mr. Brooker with a wink or three.
Emily reeled.
“Oh now,” said Mrs. Brooker, “that is a wonderful idea. Good thinking, Rory.” Mrs. Brooker beamed down at her daughter with closed eyes.
“Err, maybe not…” said Emily. She stood up. “Grace, Lucy, come with me?” she begged and stared hard at Lucy. She knew Grace was going to follow.
“Oh, yep.” said Lucy as she bounced off the sofa and followed Emily up the hall.
“Where are you going, dear?”
“Just to my room to get stuff.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s nice. So,” Mrs. Brooker turned, eyes firmly shut, “have you seen any of those dead things yet? Do you know, me and your dad thought it was all a joke at first. Since it’s the summer.”
“How does the summer have anything to do with it?” asked a bewildered Jack.
“April fools’, of course! That’s what we thought anyway didn’t we, Rory?”
Mr. Brooker nodded, “Aye, we did. Till Em called us and told us it was real. I say, that was a shock.”
Jack shook his head, “April fools’ is in April, not July.”
“Well obviously, but you know how those news people get it wrong sometimes.” said Mr. Brooker.
“It’s true, you know,” nodded Mrs. Brooker both knowledgeable and blind, “you remember the time the news said the world would end before? And that never happened.”
Mr. Brooker nodded, “Aye, so they did. I remember that. Oh gosh, we stocked up on so much extra food didn’t we, Fee?”
Mrs. Brooker giggled a little giggle and waved her hand in the general direction of her husband’s voice, “Oh yes. So we did. My word, we dropped a small fortune on tinned food. Do you remember, Jack?”
Jack sighed at the memory; it was a tough few months early in his life living mostly on corned beef and baked beans, “Yes. I’m not forgetting that in a hurry.”
“What end of the world thing?” asked the only person in the room who didn’t have a clue what was going on.
“Oh, you know, David -”
“Daniel, dad. His name’s Daniel.”
Mr. Brooker shook his head, “Oh, sorry, son. Anyway, it was a few years ago now but -”
Jack sighed, “This is totally different, dad.”
Mr. Brooker puffed out his cheeks, “No it’s not. In fact, I can think of loads of times in my life the news said the world would end and it never did.”
“Yes, dad,” said Jack, “but they didn’t tell people that other people were eating people and that, like, a million people died.”
And by now Cameron was really struggling, “That’s a lot of people.”
Jack glared at Cameron and felt his eye twitch.
“Yes, Cameron, it is a lot of people who have turned into those…things.” said Mrs. Brooker (still blind) as though Cameron had said something incredibly wise, “So have you seen any? We haven’t seen them yet.”
“Yes, mum.” said Jack.
“Oh, how many?” asked Mr. Brooker.
“A lot.” Jack sighed.
“Ballpark figure, son?”
“Sorry.” Daniel sat forwards with his tea in hand. “You both seem really calm about all this. My parents are really worried by the whole thing. How come you’re both alright?”
“Well,” Mr. Brooker said, “the army is going to come get us soon. And we still haven’t actually seen any of those monster things yet, so it just feels like we’re under house arrest, son.”
Mrs. Brooker nodded and slammed her eyelids shut, “Yes, and we still have our normal lives. It just feels like having the flue, I suppose.”
“…Okay.” Daniel slid back in his chair. There was nothing else for him to say after that.
“Oh, dear, if your parents are having a difficult time they can come stay with us! They can take Jack’s bed.” said Mrs. Brooker at where she was sure David or Daniel was.
“They can?” asked Jack.
“Well we both had a talk and we think you and Em are best out there helping people.” said Mr. Brooker.
“So basically, you don’t want us back?” asked Jack.
“Hmm, no, not quite yet.” said Mrs. Brooker into her tea.
Jack nodded, “Okay then.”
Emily, Grace, and Lucy came back carrying large bags.
“Oh, dear, what are you doing?” asked Mrs. Brooker.
“Err, was giving them clothes to borrow for just now. I’m, like, pretty sure I said that before I left.” said Emily.
“Em, you might as well pack a bag, too. Mum and dad want us to stay with Owen.” said Jack.
“Why?” asked Emily.
“Well, dear, we do love you, your dad and me, but we both think you are be
st with your friends helping people. Oh, Jack, why don’t you pack up your stuff, too? I have some of those vacuum bag things so you can store more stuff if you want.” said Mrs. Brooker as she turned to the girls’ general direction, “You know those things are great! You can store all your coats under your bed till winter rolls round.”
Jack cut in before his mother could give them the best of housekeeping advice that she always gave to anyone of the non-male gender, “No thanks, mum, will just use a normal bag.” he heaved himself up and dragged his feet to his room.
And once there, after climbing over the detritus on his floor, Jack sat down on his bed and looked around it. It was the last time he would see those four walls. The walls he had spent his whole life in. And now he was never going to see them again. Jack sat with his hands clasped and his back hunched over for a long while. He could hear his parents talking away to his friends and every now and then shouting and laughing. Jack loved hearing them happy. He even managed a smile for the first time since coming home. Then his door knocked.
“Yeah?”
Emily pushed the door open, shut it behind herself, and sat down beside her brother.
Jack wrapped an arm around Emily’s shoulder, pulled her in, and kissed her head, “Think it’s time to go.”
Emily nodded.
Jack smiled for a moment then packed a bag. It was for pure pretences. Nothing else.
“And oh, do you remember when Sandy said that about his wife!” exclaimed Mr. Brooker.
“Oh yes! That was wicked.” said Mrs. Brooker with a smile as wicked as the apparent tale.
Jack wandered up to them, “What was?”
“Well,” said his mum looking at her eyelids, “you know Sandy and Hannah? The Gordons up the stairs?”
Jack nodded, “Yeah.”
“Well, she turned into one of those dead things. Sandy told us that he, you know, hit her head and buried her in the park.” Mrs. Brooker continued.
“Ah, that’s a shame. I like Sandy.” said Jack. He was a foul man, lightly racist, and forever furious at the world, but for some reason, Jack did genuinely like him. Maybe it was because Sandy used to swipe sweets from the local shop and hand them to Jack on the sly. It was probably that.
“Well, he said to us that when he was driving home it was the most peaceful he had ever been.” Mrs. Brooker cackled when she was done telling her story.
Mr. Brooker laughed so hard that Mortimer was forced from his lap and fell to the floor.
“He said that he was finally able to finish his crossword. Can you believe it?” Mrs. Brooker started laughing again.
“Err, okay then. Well, we should be going.” said Jack.
Everyone stood up.
“Okay, dear. Will you be round again soon?” asked Mrs. Brooker.
“Yeah, next few days or something.” said Jack. He bent down low and scooped his mum in, holding her tight. Then he spun round to his dad, “Love you, dad.” Then he and his dad hugged.
“See you soon, son. And you, Em.” Mr. Brooker said as he hugged his daughter.
There was lots of “Lovely to meet you”s from both sides, and “Lovely seeing you again”s from the Brooker parents. Jack and the girls carried their bags into their cars, then they all climbed in.
The Brooker Parents stood in the door frame and waved. Then Mr. Brooker shuffled towards his children, “Sorry. Have you got those tea bags there? You know how your mum gets.” he said with a wink.
“Yep.” said Jack. He twisted his body and picked them up from the back seat. “Here you go.”
“Cheers, son. See you both soon. And I’m liking new car by the way. Is it Owen’s?” Mr. Brooker asked.
“Yeah.” said Jack.
Mr. Brooker winked, “You will need to let me have a go at some point soon. Love you both. Oh, and I know you got a bit of a hard time over those videos, but I have never been so proud of the two of you.” he said then took the tea bags from his son with a deep smile, patted his daughters head, and wandered back to his front door.
Mr. and Mrs. Brooker waved as their children and children’s friends drove away.
“Oh. My. God! They’re fucking dealing with this whole hell of bullshit better than us fucking fucks!” Emily shouted as she lit up a cigarette.
“Fucking hell, I fucking know! Didn’t think they would be doing this goddamned fucking well.” said Jack as he raced back to their other home. The twins then spent the rest of their journey using up all the swear words that they had been denied whilst around their parents.
“Oh. My. God.” said Lucy from the other car, “Are they even real?”
Owen nodded and looked at Lucy through his mirror, “Yep. That’s Rory and Fiona Brooker in all their glory.”
“Fucking hell. They’re mad. Actually mad.” Lucy said.
“Yeah,” Cameron nodded, “that they are.”
“I can sort of see where Emily and Jack get it from.” said Daniel.
“But our two are amplified. Their parents have always been like that. And I mean always. Even that eye thing.” Owen started to laugh again at the thought, “I will never get used to that.”
“Is it painful for her?” asked Daniel.
Cameron shook his head, “No. It’s all psychological.”
***
When they arrived back at the house, Emily and Jack again waited for Owen to pull up and open the gates. He pressed the remote on his dashboard and the gates creaked open. They parked their cars, stretched, and sighed as they got out. After a while the girls all got clean and crawled into pyjamas from The Brooker House. Jack spent a long time wandering around until he fell asleep on the quadruple sized mattress in the Fort Room. Emily sat in that room, just the two of them, watching Jack for so long. She wasn’t sure how long she had been there, or even when it had happened, but Emily noticed that the sunset had flooded the room with a warm pink and gold glow. It truly was peaceful – and Emily soaked in every second.
She heard footsteps in the hall and hurriedly wiped away her tears, then Owen came in and sat beside her.
“I’m sorry about yesterday.” he said.
“Yeah. Sorry I tried to stab you.” said Emily. She pushed into Owen and cuddled him.
Emily stared at her still brother, “I’m really going to miss his stupid face.” she said, then started crying.
Owen held her tight. He stroked her head and held her till she fell asleep.
Day Ten
Jack was in a unique position today. Tomorrow he was going to die. Then he was going to re-animate. Then he was going to start eating people. And he knew it was coming. Unfortunately, Jack wasn’t the only person to experience this. But the others before him who had already passed away had displayed peculiar behaviours the day before death, and there were many reasons for this.
Firstly: their bodies were going through biological, chromosomal, and chemical changes. This is like suffering the whole of puberty in one, small, twenty-four-hour period.
Secondly: they were about to die, and they knew there was nothing that could have been done. That’s a big thing to deal with.
Thirdly: they were aware they were about to lose their minds and become a flesh-obsessed corpse. This thought alone was enough to make them lose some sanity a day early.
Fourthly: they were going to start rotting. Today nails, hair, and teeth may fall out. Lesions may appear and their skin may just split open.
Fifthly: the hunger. God, that hunger. It wasn’t for flesh or humans. Just a constant and nagging hunger that wouldn’t be satiated.
Sixthly: loved ones. This is a difficult thing to endure. To know that they will be left behind. To know that they may be in danger of being eaten. To know there’s nothing you can do to help them. That one is hard.
And seventhly, but this one was unique to Jack: he was still living with people. He was about to become a serious threat to them. And Jack was going out of his mind.
It was early in the day. Jack hadn’t slept longer than three hours la
st night. The house was silent just now. No one else was awake. He had been wandering the empty halls and rooms thinking. His brain rattled with thoughts. They jolted about, zipping from one fleeting thought to another.
Do I want to die before turning? Would it be easier to just turn into a zombie and hope I don’t know it’s happening? Is there any point just drawing this out? Am I going to know I’m a zombie? Is there going to be a small, silent witness of me stuck somewhere in my brain as I eat people?
Jack went to the back patio and sat against the table. He lit a cigarette and started drumming his thumb in the air. The twitch spread through to his hand. It spread further, and now his whole arm was shaking. As he took another inhale of the cigarette he struggled to get it to his lips. His hand was now violently shaking.
Jack dropped his arm and closed his eyes tight. He concentrated on his breath, but those gnawing thoughts appeared again. He grunted and jerked his head.
“Fuck it.”
He stood up, walked to the driveway, got into the Mustang, and left.
***
Emily woke up sitting against the wall. She wriggled the blood into her back and shoulders and rubbed her sticky eyes. She let them focus then looked for Jack.
“No.” she said and jumped up.
Her breathing was erratic and panicked. She ran around the house looking for Jack.
“No-no-no!” she said as the ran to the front door and opened it.
The front gate was open. The Mustang was gone.
“Goddamn it!”
Emily ran into the house again and straight to the Fort Room where she picked up a bundle of clothes.
