by Al K. Line
You may as well go down into a basement without having found the light switch first.
"We need to stop, Kyle. We have to hide as soon as possible. Look what has just happened, and we thought we were safe there. At least the windows are too high for anyone to get in the church if we barricade the door."
Cassie was right.
The stained glass windows were well above the reach of a person, if the door could be sealed then they may just be alright. Assuming that the church wasn't infested with hungry zombies, of course.
They all pulled up to the small entrance that ran parallel to the graveyard and was the only open access to the church. The sign read Capel y Trig. Once again, nobody had a clue what it meant in English.
"Yeah, yeah. I know," said Mike, talking through the open window on Cassie's side of the vehicle. "I don't know what else to do though. We could drive for hours and not find anything any better. I know it's spooky as shit. And, yes, I know that this is definitely one of those places that if it were a movie we should have someone we don't know very well with us so they can be the one that is picked off first." Mike was rambling and he knew it.
Kyle jumped out and said, "Let's just go check it out, we all need a rest and we need to check on Ven and Tomas."
"Cassie, keep the car running, if we aren't out in five minutes then grab Ven and leave, we won't be coming back," said Mike.
"Be careful," said Cassie, tears running down her cheeks. She didn't know how much more of this nightmare she could take without following her sister into oblivion.
It seemed like a lifetime ago to them all, but the attack at the barn had only been twenty or so minutes previous. You could fit a lot in when you were running on zombie attack time.
Kyle and Mike grabbed their mish-mash of weapons, Mike wishing again that he had cartridges for the shotgun he had taken the previous night. The door to the chapel was ajar, a tradition of welcoming strangers not practiced much any more due to theft and vandalism. Not that there was anything to steal inside the building apart from a few ancient pews and a very uninspiring pulpit.
Mike flipped the switch for the lights just inside the entrance — nothing.
"Bloody typical," muttered Mike.
Kyle was liking this idea less and less by the second.
The good news was that the place appeared deserted, a quick glance showed there wasn't really anywhere to hide. It was a single room, bare walls of lime plaster, a rough stone floor and a cross on the back wall, nothing else. They walked around the perimeter of the room just in case, but there was no sign of life, undead, or even a mouse — for tonight it would suffice. If nothing else they all simply needed to have somewhere to check on Ven and Tomas and to maybe get some sleep. It had been days and days since Kyle had slept properly and Mike had not slept a wink the previous night due to his encounter, then subsequent long drive.
Back outside they moved the vehicles as close as possible to the chapel door and unloaded anything they could think of for as comfortable a night as possible. It was near enough pitch black by the time they finished, but a few wind-up lanterns meant they could still see inside once the vehicle's headlights were turned off. It was tempting to leave this source of light on, but they absolutely needed to make sure the batteries didn't go flat on the two vehicles.
Mike and Kyle used a few pews to barricade the only way in or out. Wedged at an angle against the door they would do a good job of preventing a person from gaining entry — they hoped.
They placed sleeping bags, pillows, blankets and more, together in the middle of the room. With the lanterns and various candles the light was enough to see by, but it certainly did nothing to dispel the gloomy atmosphere of the run-down chapel and the thought of the cemetery outside was far from comforting.
The assortment of light sources threw up twisting and dancing shadows across the rough walls and ceiling of the chapel, not helping at all to dispel the sense of gloom and foreboding the group felt.
They were all convinced they were doing the one thing that always resulted in a horrible death in the movies. If there was a trap door anywhere then they knew they were all for it.
Ven was still catatonic. You could lead her but she was far away, her brain had retreated at the idea that she had now also caused the destruction of her young child.
"Right," said Cassie, "we have to see what has happened to baby Tomas."
Nobody moved.
"Okay, let's have a look at the poor bugger," said Kyle, taking the covering away from the car seat to reveal the baby within.
A smile greeted him.
Tomas was wide awake, his chubby cheeks rosy, the pupils in his large eyes widening to try to take in his new surroundings in the gloom. He seemed near enough back to normal, but not quite. His face was a little puffy, and you could still see a slight redness following the lines where the veins had been engorged. But any discoloration was gone, he certainly didn't look like he wanted brains for his supper rather than milk. There was no comparison between Tomas' appearance and that of any zombies they had encountered, although they were still all unsure whether people were actually turned into zombies or not.
Kyle could at least find one thing out, and placed his hand over Tomas' heart. "Well, he ain't dead, that's for sure," said Kyle, relief palpable. "And he actually looks pretty happy if you ask me. Look."
Mike and Cassie peered at Tomas closely, sighs of relief following. Bos Bos sidled up, licked Tomas on the head and then promptly fell asleep, and he hadn't even had his dinner! In fact nobody had eaten since the morning, the stress of the day had meant that none of them were in the mood, or even felt hungry.
Tomas was fidgeting in the car seat, unsure why it had been dark recently and a little bemused by the fact that he had been whisked around so much. His brain had not developed enough to understand any of what was going on, he just wanted his Mom. The smile turned into a cry, and Kyle lifted him out of the seat after undoing the restraint. Tomas was held tight to Kyle, who loved the baby dearly.
He looked over at Ven.
She was staring intently at them both, the beginnings of understanding coming back to her slowly. It would take a while for her to return to normal, as normal as she could anyway, but you could see the light coming back into her eyes. Kyle fished around in the bags and pulled out a bottle of ready-to-go formula. The little guy was starving. He sucked and he sucked, and when he finished the bottle he gave out such a sudden and unexpected burp that everyone felt the mood lift — they couldn't help but smile.
All apart from Ven.
The fact that her baby appeared to be safe had not quite filtered into her brain as of yet.
They gathered together, trying to stay warm and stop the cold seeping into their bones from the frigid air and the cold stone floor.
Through the early part of the night they discussed what could have happened, and why Tomas was not now howling for brains.
The most logical explanation was that Tomas was too young to understand a lot of the images the subliminal broadcast contained. He had been exposed to it full on, but it couldn't affect him like it did others. He didn't have the experience of the imagery to relate to, his brain was still just beginning to develop, and his eyesight meant that many colors and shapes were not yet recognizable. Add to this the fact that the images moved so fast that his baby brain didn't have the capacity to even register such fast flashes and it all added up to salvation, of one form or another.
It was still very unclear what the lasting damage could be; he was simply too young for anyone to know what was going on. No doubt he would have to be closely monitored to ensure that he was not affected permanently over the long term. For now though they were all extremely relieved he had not turned into one of those infected with the virus and trying to attack anything alive in sight.
How they would have dealt with that none of them knew, or wished to even contemplate.
Cassie took the gurgling and mumbling Tomas from Kyle and unwrapped him from
the blanket to let his arms and legs have a stretch.
"Do you think Ven will be alright Cassie?" asked Kyle. "I am seriously worried about her, she's my best friend you know. Well, only friend really."
"Not any more buddy, you have us two now," said Cassie. "But yeah, she will be fine, I'm sure. Once she knows that Tomas is not a zombie she will gradually come around. It will just take a while for her brain to register it, daft cow that she is. She's done this in the past you know, when we were young."
"Really, why?"
"It's just her way of dealing with extreme stress. She just shuts everything out and goes to a safe place. You must know that she is pretty good at being extremely focused, right? Well, this is an extension of that, kind of like a trance where she can think of nothing and be safe."
"So why did she do it before?"
"Oh, I don't know, um, maybe if I stole her favorite doll and hid it," said Cassie guiltily. "When our parents told us our dog had to be put down. She zoned out for hours that day and no-one could get through to her, but she snapped out of it eventually. I think it just allows her to organize things in her subconscious, and she comes back when she thinks she can deal with the situation. If Tomas wasn't looking like he is alright then I don't know how long she could be like this. But I betcha that putting him in her arms will snap her out of it pretty quick."
"I hope so, it's not nice seeing her like this, and Tomas needs his mum too," said Kyle.
"You just wait, she'll be fine in the morning. Then she'll just be moaning about where is her make-up and did we pack the hairspray, stupid shit like that."
Kyle smiled, now that sounded more like the Ven he knew.
Cassie settled Tomas in Ven's lap and placed Ven's arms around him, holding them both tight. Bos Bos had awoken and trotted over to Ven, he licked Ven's hand, whimpered, and then lay down next to them all, hoping things would be better in the morning. Cassie stayed like that, holding them both tight, until she fell asleep. When she awoke in the morning, she found herself lying on the floor, head on a pillow, and Kyle and Mike in similar situations both snoring away fitfully. Bos Bos had crept over to Kyle in the morning and was happily using Kyle's head as a makeshift pillow, his bum just a few inches away from an oblivious Mike.
Rather him than me, thought Cassie, knowing that Bos Bos did like to let rip a smelly one now and then.
Ven was standing with Tomas in her arms, looking like her usual self and certainly back from her catatonic state. She'd awoken early, slowly registering that her baby was not dead, undead, whatever you call it — very relieved that he certainly wasn't trying to gobble brains even if he didn't have teeth yet. Ven had even managed to brush her hair and put on same basic make-up. Cassie had the foresight to bring a few of Ven's bits and pieces in, knowing it would make her sister feel a bit more normal when she came back from her 'special place'.
"Morning," said Ven.
"Morning," said Cassie. "And how is Tomas this morning?"
"He seems okay Sis, what happened?"
"You mean you don't remember?"
"Some of it, not all of it. I remember being in a daze and I remember the attack at the barn, then it gets fuzzy. I just have a picture of Tomas trying to rip his own skin off, and him being one of the infected. It's all a bit jumbled up if I'm honest." Ven looked shattered, and confused, which was more than understandable under the circumstances. But you could tell that she was through the worst and had tried to make the effort to get back to her usual self.
They chatted away quietly while the guys slept on, regaining strength and happy to know that Tomas was safe. Cassie filled her sister in on the situation, what happened at the barn, how Ven seemed catatonic, and the drive to their current location. That being a spooky chapel with a graveyard for good measure.
Ven couldn't help but smile at the description of the place they were now in, Cassie told it all in quite a dramatic way, eyes wide and exaggerated hand gestures as she described the scene yesterday evening in the rain when they first pulled up to the chapel.
"I'm so sorry Sis, sorry I bailed out like that. I guess my brain simply shut down, it was too much for me to take in. Too much after Paul, and after... well, after me starting this whole bloody zombie apocalypse in the first place. It's a lot to bear, I can tell you that. Shit, it sounds totally ridiculous to talk about zombies like they actually exist. Mental."
Cassie could tell that Ven was starting to rant a little, it was fair enough after what she had been through.
Zombies? It was fucking mental, thought Cassie.
"And one other thing," said Ven.
"What?"
"I am absolutely dying for a pee, don't suppose there is a loo here?"
Cassie beamed, now this she was going to enjoy.
"Yep, there is."
She pointed at the bucket in the far corner of the chapel.
Ven thought that maybe she would be better off facing the zombie hordes than peeing in a bucket. She liked to perform her ablutions in private, most definitely with some good solid porcelain beneath her bum, not a plastic bucket.
"Welcome to the fucking apocalypse," sighed a resigned Ven.
Cassie just smiled. Ven was definitely back to normal alright.
Through the early morning hours the gang all awoke. Kyle was ecstatic to see Ven back to her regular self, and he chatted away at double time pretty much telling her everything that Cassie already had. Ven was glad to see him, he was her best friend and she suddenly realized just how much she loved this skinny young guy.
A plan was formulated, and the decision made to go to Pentref y Melltithio and use the library there to finally find a place that would be suitable for the long term. Somewhere they could recuperate properly and try to build some kind of a future. Maybe also devise a plan to find out what state the world was in. Ven also really wanted to find out exactly what had happened to her botnet, she was now convinced there was no way that what she stole and activated could have had the effect that it did on the world and its inhabitants.
She hoped so, anyway.
Population Control
It just so happened that the British Prime Minister was posting a selfie of himself and the very hot Norwegian Prime Minister to his Instagram account when the zombie botnet was unleashed, making them both two of the first to be infected. Within seconds he was munching away on the brains of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the blond Norwegian making do with a choice selection of intestines.
A few minutes later both were shot in the head repeatedly by one of the Security staff. Scant minutes later the shooter was posting to Twitter, #zombie added to by one more person intent on sharing their news with the world, this time with good reason.
Within a few hours 10 Downing Street was devoid of life, if it had ever had any in the first place.
In home after home throughout the United Kingdom the situation was much the same. At some point that fateful Thursday evening most homes were Online to a greater or lesser degree. This virtual browsing meant death for most, if not all, of the occupants. Either through infection or by having their brains unceremoniously eaten.
In small villages, large towns, tower blocks, office buildings and untold numbers of places that people congregated, scenes of extreme violence and foul acts were repeated with endless variations on a grisly theme — infected people attacked any living person, trying to kill and devour them.
By the following morning TV and radio were off-air. The Web was a no-go zone, although this did not stop those that had survived thus far. Nobody would actually really believe that they could be infected just by going Online. As this was the only available source of information it meant that the majority of people that had managed to stay alive thus far slowly succumbed to either the lure of an Internet fix or were hunted down by the infected, intent on feeding.
Within days there was simply hardly anyone left in the world. Any built-up area was wiped out due to the high concentration of infected people and the plentiful availability of a
fresh meal. Only in rural areas, and in countries not connected to the Web with any meaningful infrastructure, was the survival rate of any real significance.
The Western world was totally decimated, many countries having between seventy to ninety nine percent connectivity, and most people going Online daily. There was much less than a single percent of the West left alive by day two, and the numbers were falling fast. In remote parts of the world the survival rate was relatively high, but over the coming days, weeks and months, they too succumbed to the zombie botnet, the infected roaming and eating as they went.
The madness that ensued after the zombie botnet was mostly due to the infected, but not exclusively. We all tend to have faith in our fellow man, assuming that under extreme duress we would all band together for the greater good, this sadly was not the case. Mass hysteria set in almost immediately. It's only the laws of the land and the fear of reprisal that keep things under control. We all accept that money is how the world runs — we work our job, get paid, then go do the weekly shop or buy a new iPhone. When we realize that our hard earned is now of no value whatsoever?
We panic.
We steal, we horde, we fight, we kill, and the weak get trampled underfoot.
And that's the better side of what happened when the world changed forever. People can do a lot worse when there is no penalty for their actions — sadly.
As soon as people realized what was happing, and it actually sank in with any meaningful reality, then the first thing they did was to panic about food and water. From small village stores run by nice Mrs. Jones, to large out of town supermarkets, they were all set upon by anyone with the means to do so, which was a depressingly small number. Panic ruled, fights broke out, most people were looking out for themselves and their families and there were not many exceptions. Sure, you had people looking out for neighbors if they were still alive, but with fear overtaking most people that accepted the reality of the situation they mostly made a break for sources of sustenance — intent on taking home as much as they could.
