Z Day: Survival of the Fittest

by Newton, Reece

  Martin sat down in front of the door and told us that he came from London and that he'd managed to get down to Clacton on his motorbike, he said that the Army were everywhere patrolling London and all the major cities. He said that no one had a clue where it had started and that it wasn't just the UK but the world. The Army weren't helping things in London, though their presence was probably reassuring to the general public the advice they were giving was for people to get as far away from populated areas and cities as possible. Martin told me that there were tanks, lots of them and it was shaping up to be a full scale war. He told me that radio transmissions were advising people to relocate to coastal areas and wait as help was already on the way.

  Martin stopped talking about what was essentially the apocalypse and unexpectedly asked Gina why she was admitted to the hospital in the first place but she was too upset and traumatized to answer, his gaze moved on to me, but before he could ask I staggered to my feet and told him that I had an idea, I didn't but it was my only option to put the question aside for now at least. I made up a plan right then and there on the spot to tie two of the repaired trolleys together and fill them with supplies, then to ram the trolleys straight threw the zombies. I thought it was quite ridiculous at the time but he actually agreed and he went to grab the trolleys from the back room. I got the supplies, there weren't too many supplies to gather in a department store but I managed to clear the shelves of hammers, saws, nails, a staple gun, a nail gun and anything of use that I could find.

  Martin found a pack of chocolates in the back room he said they were out of date but none of us seemed to care. We devoured the chocolates, they were the nicest chocolates I'd had in years. After eating, we tied the trolleys together securely. We were now ready to face them, me and Gina took a trolley handle each while martin began taking the shelves off of the door. We knew it was only a matter of seconds before they would break down the doors, I handed Martin an axe, took a deep breath and prepared myself for what was about to happen.

  The door started to crumble, we moved the trolleys back slightly and Martin stood in front of us. The axe was tightly gripped in his hand and I could see that he was trembling. They forced their way through the doors, Martin smashed a few of them in the head with his axe before realizing that his efforts were futile. There were too many of them so he ran back behind us and myself and Gina charged forwards smashing the trolley into them. We managed to get past the crowd of them injuring some as we went but Martin got too caught up trying to kill a few of them and as I looked back they were surrounding him. One of them grabbed hold of my top he almost ripped me away from Gina but I managed to grab a pole from inside the trolley and I pushed it through the zombies head, a dirty, muddy coloured blood covered my hands. Usually I would have gotten pleasure from killing but I just didn't feel any urges to kill, in fact killing that …...that thing really disgusted me, if anything protecting Gina was my main concern.

  We kept running and when we finally looked back they had stopped chasing us and had started to crowd around Martin. He fired his revolver and shouted at us to keep running, I put my hand in Gina's and told her not to look back.

  After running for a while and watching Gina shed a few tears we came to Clacton train station, there were bodies strewn all over the place and zombies devouring flesh like they were nothing . I looked over to Gina , and she put the brakes on both the trolleys, she then grabbed a pole and went to kill them, I held her back but I didn't have a clue what to do next. it was all so surreal all I knew was that we had to find somewhere safe that had supplies.

  Keeping Gina safe was the only thing stopping my urges now. I grabbed a nail gun and an axe from the trolleys and told gina to stay put, suddenly a crashing sound came from the station and we watched in shock as a train careered straight through the concrete onto the road and let out a huge groan as it tumbled onto its side. The body of a man came flying through the front window. I told Gina to stay there once more and I went to see if there was anyone still alive. I began shooting a few zombies with the nail gun on my way. I was a surprisingly good shot (I think I got four in the head though i missed two of them completely). I saw the body of the middle aged man that had flown through the front window, I checked his pulse, he was dead. I climbed in through the window to see if there were any more survivors.

  When I got inside the train I saw two more bodies, a young woman and a teenage girl. I checked both of them for a pulse but there was nothing they were dead with unspeakable injuries on them. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at them and I'm a killer!

  There was a sparkling pink case next to the teenage girl, inside was a camcorder I didn't think it would work after the train crash but I turned it on and to my surprise it worked, I looked at the latest video which was that day at 3.40 a.m. The video began with a crowd of people running and someone recording the zombies that were chasing them, they looked so angry. It was in London, I could see the London eye in flames in the background. Suddenly it fell to the ground making a loud screeching sound as it did so. I fast forwarded a few minutes and they were at London train station still with tons of zombies everywhere and people being eaten alive. I could hear the girl who was filming breathing, she sounded out of breath. I'm sure I would be running that fast I never have been very fit. The camera went on to film what i assumed was the girl's Mum and Dad. It was the same two people that were in the train wreck. They all got on the nearest train which must have been to Clacton, there were blockades and guards but they couldn't stop a thing, tons of people were getting through the blockade. There were zombies all over the place biting people and turning them into zombies. The people in the video that had been bitten were falling to the floor and having what seemed to be fits, then they were getting back to their feet with a noticeable loss of colour to their face and a crazed look in their eyes. They had turned within seconds but Martin said it could take up to 24 hours. Then the video showed them getting on the train with others already hiding inside. The girl shut the door just before a zombie ran to the door banging on it spitting blood all over it. The three of them ran to the driving control room where the train driver lay fitting, the girl's father had pulled a handgun from his belt and shot him in the head and now he sat in the driver's seat with the controls in front of him. The girl's mum shut the door and locked it. Then the dad began to start the train, I could see he didn't know what he was doing and the train made a loud clanging noise and then a high pitched piercing sound. The camera turned to the window where all the zombies were staring at the train, then they all began to sprint towards the train screaming. The camera went to the window of the locked door. The zombies had got into the train, the people hiding inside were crying and screaming, there was no hope for them, I had to fast forward a few more minutes, I couldn't bear to see all those people being eaten alive, you probably think i'm a killer, I should like it but that really wasn't the case at all. Protecting Gina was stopping my urges, I really liked her and I would do anything to protect her she was the only thing I cared for at that moment in time. When I pressed play again on the video they had left the station now there were zombies following the train in the distance, there were hundreds of them on their way here to Clacton. Tons of them were already running around the streets (at least I knew not to follow the train tracks which had been my initial idea).

  The only option left to us now was to find somewhere safe to stay and wait it out in the hope that the zombies would pass through Clacton. I stopped the video and went back to Gina, I told her about the video, she looked really nervous. We took the trolley and walked for a while longer.

  We soon realised that if we wanted to survive we needed help and a safe place to stay. We went into the middle of town. Gina was shaking she was so scared I'd never seen her like this, she had the same look in her eye as the men that I had killed, I didn't know what it was at the time but now I think I do. Each of my victims had and the same look which I most probably had right at this very moment, it was a look of no hope, no
thing left to do but fight and to keep ourselves safe. We were going to the safest place she knew. Near Clacton, St Osyth tower, it had a metal door and you could see over the top to look out. On the way there we must have killed over twenty zombies and they don't die easy! The walk there was so tiring I didn't have a clue where we were but gina showed me the way. Everywhere seemed so deserted I found it quite peaceful really. When we finally got there we had the best news for a long time there were four survivors inside Gina was so happy to see people that wouldn't rip the flesh from her skin. They were at a caravan park next to the tower, they were scared that we would take over the tower at first but after us pleading with them to let us stay at the tower they finally did. They realised that we were just trying to survive In this crazy old world full of flesh eating monsters. The main problem was that hundreds of zombies were on their way to Clacton and we would be sitting ducks in a tower with not much food or drink and only a baseball bat, a pole and a gun without ammunition. The only weapons the people from the caravan park had were a knife, Lynda one of the women found some nunchucks, Barry the man that saved them all had a gun and Brenda a quite obnoxious women had a knife also sally had a frying pan she was more quiet. If there was one thing I knew about what to do in this apocalyptic world was always carry a weapon whether it be a crowbar a gun or even a screw driver your chances of killing a zombie with your bare hands is very unlikely, unless you're a hench body builder and the zombie had no teeth even then it wasn't a 100% that you would be able to kill it without weapons. The people from the caravan park were all okay people they were just ordinary boring people and even with all this going on they were just so boring. We had a choice get more weapons and risk our lives or worse turn into a flesh eating zombie, I don't think anyone knew how it all started but one thing was for sure the world would never go back to normal. None of us had any family now, they had either been eaten or turned into zombies. We were all complete strangers to each other I wondered why it was us that were we spared. I'm not important, I've killed people, I don't deserve to live the only good thing I have ever done was raise my son Chris. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me and I suppose part of the reason why I killed was because of my son's death. I had him at a young age so I really clicked with him and his mum Claire was lovely, she was what you might call my high school sweetheart we had been friends since necessary and our relationship grew from there. After being with me for a few years she went off with some spanish man a couple of years older than her and she left our son with me. She didn't even know he was dead I couldn't get in contact with her for all I knew she could have died. The last time I saw her she was out of her mind on drugs it was the spanish bloke that got her into it all. She wasn't the girl I had known and loved. Our son was run over by a bus, the same bus I was on. I didn't know what happened until everyone got out, then I saw him. I didn't know what to do, I fell to my knees and sobbed for hours on end. My boy that I loved more than anything, the only person I cared about and he was gone. We were so close, I didn't even know why he was there, he should have been at school. He must have been bunking school to see his mates. I just remember seeing his body and all the blood gushing from his head, I held him in my arms and I remember his little finger twitched when I said I loved him. Now I realise that even if I could have saved him it was better he die as him and not like a diseased animal they call a zombie. I still dream of him every night. I wonder what it would have been like if he was here with me now in this zombie ridden world. It's better him be dead than witness this horror. I don't think he would have coped, he was already a nervous wreck after his mum left.

  We decided that we were going to risk it and go out tomorrow morning to get some supplies. We all stayed next to the door in the tower that night, it had been a very weird day. I stayed awake most of that night thinking about my son and trying to get my head around what had happened to the world. When we got up the next morning we all woke up to no food or drink. We were all so thirsty and hungry but me and gina were used to no eating really, we only got dinner and that was if we were lucky so in a way we had an advantage we felt fine while they were starving. I couldn't really careless about them as long as me and Gina were safe that's all I cared about. An hour after getting up we got our weapons and prepared to go in search of supplies. The others wished this was a dream while I was relieved to be out of the hospital. When we finally plucked up the courage to open the door there were three of them just outside Lynda was actually good at killing them, she stabbed one in the head and broke one's neck. She's only twenty-one but her killing skills were phenomenal, the world's only been like this for a two days but I think she got a rush out of killing them. I killed the other one she was huge and really old, I put the knife straight through her skull then smashed It's head open with a baseball bat. Every time I killed one I felt like gina knew I was a killer, but that didn't stop me from killing them it was so satisfying even though my urges were gone it still felt good. We walked along the road until we came to a corner shop in Jaywick it was locked up but the baseball bat came in handy for more than just killing zombies. As we entered the room we could smell a dead body but we all just went down separate aisles to get supplies hoping that the body wasn't in our isle. It ended up that it was martin the man who saved me and Gina from the zombies outside the department store. What smelt dead was really an alive zombie, he sunk his teeth straight into martin’s legs. He screamed, Lynda threw a knife at his head then she rolled up his trousers up and a blue line was slowly going up his body. It looked like a vain, it kept going up his body until it got to his head I made Gina stand back. It was sad, Gina was so happy to see he was alive and then in seconds he was turning into one of them. The blue line is like a timer, you know when it gets to your head you are going to turn into a zombie. I pinned him down and Gina shoved a piece of glass in his head with tears in her eyes, she already thought he had died once. We took the supplies and found some car keys under the checkout counter. We went outside and after a while we managed to find the car. It was a citroen xsara picasso I always loved cars. I must say this car is pretty good in the apocalypse not as good as a land rover would be or a truck but it was good. We drove back to the tower with the supplies, dodging a few zombies on the way. I quite enjoyed dodging them, it was like a video game. It was very amusing well I thought so but the others were still upset from seeing martin turn into a zombie. Gina was really shaken up from having to shove a piece of glass into his head. I could see her hands trembling and tears fell from his face. Barry put his arm round her and comforted her. I actually felt kind of jealous, I'd never been jealous not once throughout my entire life. It felt quite strange really but it made me realise how much I loved her. We were chased on the way back to the tower by four zombies, they just wouldn't give up they had chased us all the way back to the tower. When we got back to the tower I could see the zombies they were still running after us. The other survivors went in, but me and sally stayed outside and waited for the four zombies to come to us. Lynda handed me a frying pan and then she went back inside without saying a single word. Sally grabbed her pocket knife from inside of her high black boots, it surprised me to see she had a knife. Sally really didn't look like the type of person to carry a weapon even if it was the zombie apocalypse. when the zombies caught up with us she charged towards them with her knife I followed closely behind her, shocked by how she was acting. She knifed one of them in the head, it was old and tall and had blood gushing from his head. Then she went on to the next one her skills really were remarkable. It was like she was a hitman or an assassin, even when she was killing them she joked about me and Gina. She really pissed me off, I was sensitive about Gina I loved her. There was only one zombie left, I whacked Sally round the head and I let the zombie plunge his teeth into her shoulder. I hit zombie repeatedly in the head with the frying pan until the ground beneath me was covered in thick red blood. I grabbed Sally's body and shoved it up against the tower. I called the others, they came out and rushed to
the ground I told them that she was bitten then fainted. To my surprise they believed me. They all seemed to be, well basically, stupid. In this new kind of world you needed to be a liar, and a very convincing one like myself. You need to remember the lies until the day you die, you really don't want to get caught. One stupid little lie could end up saving your life or ending it. By now every remaining member of our group was in tears. Barry grabbed her body and carried it to the rooftop. With the sternest of looks on his face, her threw her down. A tear fell from his face on to the edge of the tower beneath him, I didn't know why he didn't just leave her outside. He stumbled down the stairs, looking like he was going to faint. I didn't understand why he was so upset. She was a stranger to him, just an ordinary boring person. Barry grabbed his nunchucks from down stairs, then he ran out the front door. He started to scream, then he opened the car door and began to bib the horn. Zombies began charging out of nowhere. He started to kill them all one by one. Deformed body parts were all over the floor, Lynda and I grabbed our knives and went to help him. Gina sat on the first step just looking at the pool of blood, too shaken up to help us. After we had killed most of the flesh eaters around the tower, Barry dropped his weapon and walked up to the beach. I went to speak to him and Lynda went to comfort Gina. They were still a bit uncomfortable speaking to me and Gina because they didn't know anything about us, apart from the fact that we came from a mental asylum (which isn't the best place to come from if you need people to trust you).

  When I went down to the beach I didn't really know what to say, I just saw him sitting there throwing pebbles into the ocean. I knew Sally must have meant something to him, they must have been having an affair or something. I sat next to him and I told him about my son Chris and why I was in at the insane asylum. I think it made him realise that before the outbreak his life was okay (well compared to mine) at least. We both walked back to the tower feeling quite depressed, we didn't really talk much on the way back it felt like we had to be quite in memory of Sally.