by Al K. Line
Sarlic sat back in his chair. He had been tensed up watching the destruction being reported around the globe before the TV died. He imagined the whole newsroom was now dead, or soon would be. He smiled, feeling a greater joy than he had in what seemed like a lifetime. Finally he had done something to really change the world, the world and all the pathetic people in it.
He reached over to the small side table beside him, his hand steady for the first time in days. Grimacing, he opened the child proof cap of the bottle of tablets and took each one slowly into his mouth. Washing each one down with a large gulp of single malt, he rejoiced and pictured the world burning around him.
It was a good day, and it was his last. Those fuckers.
T-bone Anyone?
"God, where do you start?" Cassie asked.
Even for Ven, the woman that knew pretty much every gadget there was, and was already having withdrawal symptoms from her app based existence, the kitchen was kind of overwhelming.
"There you go buddy," Ven cooed, placing little Tomas down on the kitchen island smack bang in the middle of the expansive room, snug in his portable car seat and blinking at the number of shiny objects around him.
"Okay, first things first, let's see if we can shut all these blinds." Ven hunted around the room, there seemed to be controls for everything, as well as a rather substantial master control touchpad tablet on the island too.
Talk about overkill.
She found a panel of switches on the wall to the right of the full height glass doors that led out onto the infinity deck. She pressed it.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
It was the outside light. She quickly flipped the switch, hoping she hadn't just given away the fact the place was now occupied. She tried the next switch — hoping it was for the windows — they all turned black instantly. The next along also brought blinds down for the windows.
Checking the fridge they found nothing but wine plus a few soft drinks, so far so good. The freezer was packed though. There were any number of different steaks, ready meals, various homemade meals that had obviously been a part of a larger meal and the leftovers saved, and plenty of bread, bagels and even frozen milk and ice-cream. If they could hole up here for a while then they were all going to be very happy indeed. Ven actually felt refreshed, somewhat back to normal after the horrors of the last few days — the swim and the fact they were in a house much more suited to her tastes and desires had allowed her to relax a little.
Looking around the kitchen the sisters felt a little out of their depth. There were so many damn gadgets it was hard to know which did what or which switch turned what appliance on. It seemed like even the ovens (yes, there were two) had some form of remote control and could be turned on and off and set to timer by an app.
Ven tried to explain.
"An app for the oven?" Cassie asked incredulous. "What for?"
"So that if you are out you can turn it on before you get in. I have something similar for the heating back home," replied Ven.
Cassie couldn't get her head around it and was more confident than ever that she was glad she'd moved away from the technological rat-race when she did.
"Why wouldn't you just turn the bloody thing on when you got home? Or set the timer by hand on the oven or the bloody heating before you went out?"
"Well, um, it's just more convenient I guess," said Ven, suddenly thinking about just how many apps she had and whether they really did make life easier, or just that little bit more complicated. These were not nice thoughts for her, she didn't want to doubt the technology she had grown so accustomed to using.
Right then and there it hit her that all of that was so very much in the past. Jesus, no blogs, no Online news, no Facebook, Twitter or movie streaming. Had she really destroyed it all? She felt giddy.
"You okay Sis?" asked Cassie, guiding her to a bar stool at the expansive central kitchen island.
"Fine, fine, just felt a little lightheaded is all," she lied. What had she done, how could she have done all of this and not gone mad with the knowledge?
"If you're sure. Right," Cassie squealed, "what do you want for your tea then? I think I will cook up something special for us and the boys, we deserve it. Look, I think that is a microwave, I can defrost steaks?" she said, pointing to a rather menacing looking black oblong at shoulder height in one of the many ceiling height cupboards.
"Sounds great."
"Let's get this bad boy up and running then. I am going to cook you the best steak you ever had."
Cassie fussed about in the freezer, settling on four huge rib-eyes. After a lot of opening and closing of doors she found suitable cooking pans and utensils.
Bos Bos came trotting in, amazed at himself for not realizing sooner that someone would probably drop all their food on the floor so he could clean up. It hadn't happened yet in his six years of life but he lived in hope.
"Let the culinary delights begin," said Cassie. Looking very pleased with herself that she had managed to work out how to use the microwave and had rammed the steaks in to defrost.
"Oh, hello Bos Bos. You hungry too? Can he have one Sis? He has been a very good boy?" Cassie beamed at the dog, patting his head.
Thump, thump.
"Sure, why not? He has been amazing these last few days actually," replied Ven.
Thump, thump.
She grabbed another one out of the freezer and stuffed it into the microwave with the others, busying herself with the touch cooktop, getting a few frying pans ready. Generally pottering about happily.
The women were feeling more relaxed by the minute. The place was nice, even Cassie had to admit that. Warm, light to scare away the demons, with plenty of supplies for them all.
Even Bos Bos loved the new kitchen. He wasn't a gadget kind of dog but if there were steaks and other goodies he was a happy boy.
After showering and the swim in the underground grotto they both felt like new women. Cassie had been spared the worst of the horrors but the incident with the motorhome had really shaken her up. Ven, with the weight of the world on her shoulders felt herself gradually uncoiling somewhat. She knew that with a good night's sleep she could begin to puzzle out exactly what had gone so wrong. She just needed time. She knew for damn sure that she needed to find a way to be able to gain access to the Web without becoming infected herself. She felt sure that she could, somehow. She simply had to know what had really happened. What set of images had actually been sent out by the botnet, and what else had gone wrong to make it quite as invasive as it had become?
Pondering all this she absentmindedly turned the tablet on the countertop face down, better safe than sorry. She looked around the room with new eyes, trying to spy anything that could potentially do them harm. It was hard to know what was Online and what wasn't anymore. Fridges could order your shopping for you when you got low on items, lights, TVs and just about everything else could be controlled automatically via apps. Systems could learn your habits and control your heating system based on when you went to bed and rose, even tell if someone was home or not and act accordingly.
Although the room was hi-tech in the extreme, a lot was obviously based around apps on personal devices or the tablet on the island countertop. She felt very relieved they had unplugged the WiFi the minute they got into the house, at least that was safe. But the fact remained that data may have still been downloaded onto the device, she stared at it accusingly, and finally got up and put it in a top cupboard, just to be doubly sure. One thing she had learned was that it was much better to be overly cautious than to risk infection.
An incredible thump hit the glass doors. Another, then another. Cassie screamed, dropping the frying pan she was holding, a large knob of butter splashing to the shiny porcelain tiled floor — causing her to nearly slip in it as she began moving away from the doors.
"What the fuck?" then Ven remembered. "The light, it must have been the light," she said. Realization dawned across both of their faces. Someone — some thing — had obvi
ously understood that the light meant people were at the property. It didn't sound like a friendly neighbor asking to borrow a pint of milk or a cup of flour.
"Kyle, Mike, come quick," Ven screamed, just as the door exploded in a shower of broken glass and all hell broke loose.
An absolutely manic man sprinted into the room, ripping open his arms on the broken shards left in the frame of the sliding doors. He wore working clothes that were crusted stiff with blood, gray matter, feces, urine and other disgusting things you wouldn't even want to think about.
He was rabid, face almost purple with swollen knots of veins running down his neck under his shirt. Cuts, bruises, rips and loose bits of skin made him your worst nightmare come real, his bloodshot eyes taking in the scene in the kitchen in an instant.
He lunged immediately for baby Tomas, a sick smile spreading across his face as his swollen and distorted tongue licked his gore stained lips, small gobbets of flesh stuck to his teeth already rotting and fouling the air even more. Ven jumped in front of him just in time, as the infected slammed into her, pushing her against the countertop of the island. She fell back until she was almost lying flat on her back next to her baby boy.
Then it was over, as quickly as it had began. The infected slumped sideways, Kyle's mace stuck into the side of his head, a look of concern on his face. Mike was right there next to him, checking the doors, looking over at Cassie to make sure she was okay. He eyed the infected dubiously, no longer so sure that he wouldn't just get up and try to attack them all over again. He didn't move even when Mike nudged him with his boot.
He was dead.
Undead and dead again. Whatever it was you said if you killed someone that had already died and come back and you killed them again.
What a clusterfuck!
"Well, I guess the holiday is over then," announced Mike, saying what they all felt. "We can't stay here, we gotta go, who knows how many more of them are out there. Let's do it — now — and no arguments. We can think while we drive, if we get surrounded here with the doors missing we are not going to come out of this well. I know we have the basement, but if we get stuck down there with no food then we are as good as dead anyway, so let's go."
No one argued.
"What's that?" asked Cassie, pointing to the rising black tower coming out of the center of the island countertop. Ven watched as if from underwater, as if still in the pool in the basement, as the black monolith continued its steady rise from the work surface and eating area. Her life fell apart before her very eyes as recognition sank in. Before she could wade through the thick treacle that the air had become music was blasting out of the TV that had risen, fully connected to a wireless hub somewhere inside the house that they had obviously overlooked in their haste to get safe and enjoy the comforts the property had to offer.
Some girl band was blaring out something she had never heard before on the default channel — YouTube.
Before she could grab Tomas he had caught a glimpse of the botnet's work, playing the subliminal message in an ad in the top right hand corner of the screen.
"Nobody look, it might be infected with the botnet," she screamed, slamming her free arm into the back of the screen, breaking the thin hinges that held the screen to the base, while she simultaneously grabbed the portable car seat, swinging Tomas away from the source of the infection.
"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck," Ven whimpered. Tears streaming down her face. The weight of the world crushing down on her shoulders. She was on the verge of spiraling down into the depths of hell.
"Is he okay, did he see it, was there anything on it?" asked Cassie. All too aware now of the dangers of the zombie botnet and what fate held for those unfortunate enough to get a glimpse of its ultimate message.
"I don't know," she sobbed, as everyone gathered around, peering in at the little guy.
Everyone held their breath. Time had stopped for them all, the risk of attack forgotten, the baby's well-being their only concern at the moment.
Little Tomas gave them a sweet and angelic smile in return, a beatific look of pure innocence on his pudgy little face that only babies possess. Everyone gasped, and sighed in relief.
Then, without warning veins bulged at his neck, his face began to swell and his eyes turned bloodshot. A vile liquid dribbled from the corner of his mouth and the first words he ever truly spoke came clearly from his swollen lips, "Momomomom... mom," baby Tomas implored.
Right before his airways closed and Ven's heart broke into a million pieces.
The End
Zombie 2.0
(Zombie Botnet — Book 2)
Al K. Line
Copyright © 2014 Al K. Line
A Trip to the Library
The sweeping expanse of stone steps that fronted the imposing library building in Pentref y Melltithio, a small town in central Wales, had been cleaned daily for centuries. Now those historic steps were littered with the detritus of human remains. Pint upon pint of blood, and worse, had irreversibly stained the centuries worn stone.
Bodies, putrefying and swollen with gas, basking in the unusually warm British summer, were scattered in all directions.
Kyle and Mike pulled up in front of the building in Ven's Subaru, aghast at just how different even this small town was to the quiet country lanes they had become accustomed to. In just five days the world had gone from a living population of well in excess of seven billion, to less than one percent of the human race left uninfected. Mostly in parts of the world where they didn't even have enough to drink, let alone worry about whether they could check Twitter or not to see if #zombie was still trending.
It was, of course, there was nothing else left to talk about any more.
Only a handful of people could now access the Web anyway, most that tried were infected within seconds by the zombie botnet — they never even had time to see if there were any funny memes on Facebook.
The United Kingdom, where it had all begun, was a ruined country. Towns, villages, cities, anywhere that people normally congregated, were no-go zones. If you knew what was good for you.
Which is why Kyle and Mike still couldn't quite come to terms with the fact that they were risking life, and most certainly limb, to go to a fucking library. This library was the pride of the county, one of the best in Wales. Its size, and wealth of literature contained within, far exceeded what you would expect to be found in a small town numbering inhabitants in the low thousands. Make that population thirty six now, most residents having either been infected by the zombie botnet or eaten by those that had been infected.
The building was one of those quirks all too common throughout the UK. A prominent local landowner had commissioned it in the early eighteen hundreds — dedicated to his family and his title. Never mind that at the time people were too busy to read the books within, slaving away in his fields, tied to the old tithe system and struggling to survive. He was rich and wanted a monument to his greatness. Books were amassed, favors were traded, and Pentref y Melltithio became renowned for having one of the most well respected libraries in all of Wales. Although the family it was built to honor and immortalize had long ago fallen into obscurity. Scandal and poverty being the result of a lack of wise investment and a change in the law regarding just how much you could expect the peasant farmer to produce for you.
"I didn't even know that people still went to the library," said Kyle. "Why would you bother? Didn't people just look shit up Online, or buy from Amazon for their Kindles?"
"Fucking hell Kyle, you kids are on another planet. Look, not everyone has a bloody Kindle or Kobo or fucking i-whatever you twat, and there is such a thing as leading a more sociable life. You know, where you actually have to talk to other people, and anyway, some folks like to read books actually printed, you know, on paper."
"Alright, jeez, it just all seems so primitive. I guess it's for the poor people then, ones that can't afford to buy books?"
Mike just looked at Kyle, and gave him one of those stares. Many a grown man ha
d backed away from such a steely glance; Kyle seemed completely oblivious.
"Twat," said Mike under his breath, mainly because it made him feel better and not like an old man. Even though he was only in his early forties.
"So what's the deal with libraries then? They have every book there is, or what?"
For a man of twenty one Kyle was incredibly dense about certain aspects of life for the average person. Kyle spent, or had spent, most of his time either walking around parks or in his room making illegal programs to hack into various places he shouldn't be. It meant he was not what you would call worldly-wise.
"Look Kyle, of course they don't have every fucking book there is you dick-head. There are over a hundred and seventy million books in print, and who the fuck knows how many more in digital form now that any idiot can write and publish a book — even if it's shit. So no, they aren't all in this fucking building." Mike was amazed at the missing knowledge of those not at least in their thirties when it came to old institutions such as the library service. Mike's age was showing when he realized just how normal libraries were, and how much a part of life they were, for most people of his generation.
Shit, what the fuck happened to the world?
In case you hadn't noticed, Mike was not in the best of moods this morning. He had not had the best few days and even though he slept well the previous evening, going to a library still seemed like utter madness. Plus, waking up to find a tubby dog's bum in your face is not the nicest way to greet the day — unless you are another dog, or need therapy.
British libraries are a major institution going back hundreds of years. Until the zombie botnet was unleashed there were over four thousand open libraries spread throughout the United Kingdom. The number dwindling a few hundred each year, as the Web became more and more the place for people to buy their reading matter — often in digital format. But libraries were an important part of many people's lives, a social outlet as well as a place to explore and find unexpected new authors, do research, read complimentary daily newspapers, or use one of the many free computers that had excellent connectivity to the Web.
