Terminus_The End of The World As We Know It

by Lee Ragans

  Terminus

  The End of the World As We Know it.

  By

  Lee Ragans

  Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Ted planned for everything

  Brian

  Ven Diagrams

  Left Behind

  On Pointe

  Karen and the Boys

  Carter’s Tale

  The Big Chicken

  A New Hope

  The Land and the People

  Introduction

  Perhaps there is something in our genetic memory that clamors for a world where we must struggle for our very existence. Maybe it is the memory from our ancestors who had to overcome a world that gave them nothing but an environment and creatures that wanted to kill them. Maybe it is just a reaction to the industrialized world that makes people into machines and resources instead of individuals. Maybe we have become bored being on the top of the food chain for so long?

  Whatever the reason, post-apocalyptic fiction has existed as long as there has been writing. In the 1950s it was alien invasion we feared. In the 1960s it was monsters. In the 1970s it was disease that ended the world. The zombie era is currently thriving and thanks to Kirkman the South is the setting for the most popular zombie fiction ever written. For completeness can toss in the Book of Revelation. It really provided a big end of the world scenario all others have copied since.

  At this point you may be asking, “So if Kirkman did it why are you writing in this genre?” Fair question. The short answer is that I think there is another story to tell. The longer version is that I do not like the world presented. People not working together and every turn it just gets worse. The lack of an explanation is also cloying.

  In a world where most of the population is dead, and a good portion of those dead is trying to eat you there are challenges. But there are opportunities as well. The major opportunity is to work with strangers and trust.

  In our modern society, we almost never deal with strangers. We know everyone we talk to each day. In a world where 99% of the population is dead, you are probably only going to see strangers.

  I have always disliked the idea that people will turn to violence the second they see someone else. If you spend days running from corpses that are trying to rip you to shreds, you will hug the first person you see. You may not let them go.

  All that said, Kirkman’s world is a great backdrop for drama. The Romero world is a great world for a monster movie. I am interested in the characters and the relationships.

  I have made my attempt at telling the stories of the few survivors in what is left of Atlanta, GA. I was inspired by the style of World War Z, and since this started from a Novella, I thought, might as well write some more novellas and short stories.

  After several tries, I weaved this into a narrative that tells a story and gives the reader a wide view of this world. For those that care the setting unfolds, but it is based on Atlanta, GA in the year 2015 at the start. The new dome was under construction, the old dome was in use. The city was starting to build new buildings, and the world fell apart.

  The locations are real places and depending on when you read this some locations will have changed, but that is what happens when you use a real place.

  Everyone has prepared for the end, though they may not know what form it will take. CNN prepared for it before they went on air.

  ”We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event. We'll play the National Anthem only one time, on the first of June [the day CNN launched], and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God To Thee' before we sign off.”

  - Ted Turner

  If you are so inclined here is an article about the CNN end of world video. http://jalopnik.com/this-is-the-video-cnn-will-play-when-the-world-ends-1677511538

  Ted planned for everything

  The camera pulled back showing Kristi Paul with her hair pulled back in a ponytail and wearing a sweatshirt with the CNN logo and jeans. She sat down and held a stack of hand-written notes mixed with printed pages.

  “Good evening. Well, not good. Let’s drop the pretense. Things have gone from bad to worse, and there is no upside. We have no idea how many are left to see this, but before we make a run for it with some kind soldiers who agreed to protect us while we send out this last report.

  The last feeds we received from New York, showed that the city was lost. Mid-town was lost within days, and now 7 weeks since the outbreak began we estimate that only 1% of the world population is still alive.”

  Video ran in the background showing fires and hordes of zombies.

  The disease hit New York City and spread quickly. Those that died from the initial disease rose and attacked others. At first, it looked like police and hastily organized militias were winning. The tide turned quickly after just a few days, and the city fell. From the video, it appears that large groups of corpses were in the subway system, those fed into the sealed off apartments buildings.

  “Los Angeles was no better.”

  As the outbreak hit LA public gatherings stopped, but quickly people protested the shutdowns and those protests turned into a feeding ground for corpses. The spread through the city took longer than New York but central services collapsed and the major highways that are impassable on a good day, were hopelessly clogged.

  “We lost our own on air…”

  Viewers watched in horror as Anderson died on-air and the cameras rolled as he rose and attacked his assistant who was desperately trying to do CPR as the paramedics were busy elsewhere. Social media exploded that it was just a ratings trick, and Anderson was fine. The horrified crew in New York left and never went back to work.

  “I am extremely lucky that was not considered an A-lister and got to stay here in Atlanta. We have no word of any staff or on-Air Talent being alive in New York. Thanks Jeff for ignoring me. Hope you are more alive than your employees.”

  Kristi looked up from her notes, “For those not good at math, that means maybe 7 million people are left alive on the globe. We started the year with 7.5 billion. Not good times people. Frankly, these are the end times.

  “We want to tell you everything we know. I can only hope it keeps someone alive.”

  “The outbreak started and spread around the world in just hours. The infected dead come back to life and act on instinct trying to kill and eat. They can only be killed by penetrating the brain and causing severe injury. Blunt force is best, but bullets work too. A word of warning, if you only damage the brain, they will not stop. These are not your movie zombies. They are tough to kill.”

  “Those with compromised immune systems or certain drug users turned without dying. Meth seemed to speed up the process. People with HIV/AIDS or as we learned, people using PREP, turned slowly, but they turned without dying first.”

  “The government released no statements and any ideas that is some kind of biological weapon are just that, speculation... It makes sense, but there is no evidence. The best supposition is that this could be a virus, but frankly, everyone who would be able to figure that out is most likely dead.”

  “Water sources can be trusted, but just to be safe, boil water if you can. Remember the filtration systems we are used to having are offline. If you still have water in your homes, it is probably gravity fed. Bathe with it, but do not drink it without boiling.”

  “Animals do not appear to be affected by this. That is fortunate for those that can hunt. This is going to sound awful, but one of the soldiers reminded me that there are a lot of house pets in cities. They will become feral if left alone. If you can�
�t use them for security, they are a source of food.”

  Kristi shuddered then shaking her head, “Fuck! It is the end of the world. I am probably going to have to kill and cook my girls dog before the month is out.”

  She looked into the camera, “There is only one thing that matters now. Life. Help each other. Help yourself so you can help others. I don’t know if I can even believe in God after all of this. I don’t think it matters anymore. Help each other. We are about to sign off here.”

  “When Ted envisioned a 24-hour news channel he knew the one way it would go off the air is if it were the end of the world. Ted thought of everything. Here is the video he prepared for the end of it all. We will leave it running in a loop. We will repeat all of this in a loop. It should continue until the generators give out in a few days. We took over all of the transponders under Tuner’s Control. If you were expecting to watch Family Guy until everything ended on TBS, I suggest you grab the DVDs.”

  The Video plays, Ted Turner is speaking,

  “We'll be on, and we will cover the end of the world, live, and that will be our last event. We'll play the National Anthem only one time, on the first of June [the day CNN launched], and when the end of the world comes, we'll play 'Nearer My God to Thee' before we sign off.”

  Ted’s image fades, and a shot of the mansion with a military band in front begins to play ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ in an old 4:3 video format. It is the end of the world, no engineers bothered to clean up or reformat the video.

  The signal stayed on for 4 days. The last generator gave out, and the last television news channel died along with society.

  Brian

  Gary and Martha were very upset watching the new in the living room on the big television. I looked I thought it was a zombie movie, but they told me it was the news.

  Martha moved me back to my room, and I organized my movies and picked one to watch. I watched Pacific Rim. I like the robots.

  The sound from the living room was loud. I closed my door. I kept the volume low on the movie. It was okay.

  I got ready to go to work. It was my day to make the icing. I preferred cutting day, but Mr. Mike said we had to do each job in the rotation. Gary told me that work was closed. The disease going around was like a snowstorm. Everything was closed.

  There was no ice. I knew they were hiding something from me. I am not stupid.

  I put my backpack down and said, I was going to do my chores early so I could watch movies.

  Martha said that I could skip sweeping the back deck today. I could see the leaves. It needed sleeping. She said I needed to stay inside.

  Instead of movies, I put the news on very low. I read everything. It was just like the movie ‘Zombieland.’ But there were no rules. They just had advice on how to stay alive. It was boring.

  Killing zombies was obvious. You hit them hard in the head or shoot them. You don’t let anyone take your food. Why was everyone upset?

  Electricity went off the next day. I was not allowed to go outside. Martha and Gary were very upset.

  Dinner was smaller than usual. I asked if was on a diet. Martha said we were out of food. Gary got mad when I asked why we did not go to the grocery store. There was food there in Zombie movies. They were both mad. I ate my sandwich and went to my room.

  Looking out of my window, I could see some neighbors leaving. They packed their cars and drove away. One family did not close their garage doors. I could see they left a bat. How could they leave a good zombie killing weapon like that?

  I woke up the next morning, and Martha said Gary was sick. He was running a fever. She looked ill too. It was like the new said. They were going to die and become zombies.

  I went in to see Gary. He grabbed my arm and told me to go to the city and find soldier or police if something happened. I knew he meant when they die. When people get the zombie disease, they die.

  I checked all the windows. Our neighbors were all gone. We were the only people on the street. I saw a zombie walk by at noon. It was ugly, but not scary.

  Gary died at night. He killed Martha. I hit zombie Gary with a frying pan from the kitchen until he was no longer moving. It did not bury Gary and Martha. They were not my parents. My parents were buried across town. I left them on the bed.

  In the morning, I put underwear and socks in my backpack and the Blue Ray of Battleship. If I found a player, I would watch it.

  I tied my shoes tight and got the baseball bat from the garage across the street.

  I walked into the city. It took me 3 days. I was very hungry when I met the other people I lived with.

  Ven Diagrams

  Things were good most days. I had always had asthma, but the meds worked, and allergy shots helped. A few months before the outbreak I had a serious Asthma attack while hiking on the Appalachian Trail that put me in the hospital for 2 weeks. I had never had anything that serious. It changed my life.

  My friends were all active. Hiking, dancing, and long hours of drinking and using party as a verb. I went from a person who was never home to a person that never left my couch. I went to work. I went home. I occasionally went to the gym, but nothing like I used to. I was scared.

  When I was in the hospital, my boyfriend visited once. When I got home, he came by once and when it was clear that I was not the sporty party girl he started dating. I could see it in his eyes that he did not want to deal with my health problems. I hoped it would pass. He actually broke up with me over a text. I should have known better than to date a guy named Brad that I met at the gym, but you live and learn.

  My doctor asked how I was doing, and I said fine. He was worried about my mental health. I got tired of his asking about my hikes and parties. I started lying to get him to stop asking. I am sure he was onto something, but I did not care.

  I started reading like when I was young, and I did not want a boyfriend. Not after the Chad experience. I had Netflix and a comfortable blanket.

  When the outbreak hit, I did not notice. I was taking an extended vacation from my job. I considered not going back, but I was not sure how I would pay my rent. My parents would have offered to pay if I asked, but I only talked to them once a month at a big Sunday dinner. We made a big show of being a loving family. It fooled everyone. Sometimes it fooled me.

  When my mom showed up at my door screaming, I found out the world had ended. I put down my Kindle and let my mother in. She was covered in blood and would not stop yelling.

  I should have panicked, but I didn’t. I thought she was somehow overreacting. It just did not make sense.

  Sitting at the dinner table, she told me that my father had been eaten by the neighbor. And she ran here. That was the unbelievable part. My parents lived 12 miles away. I looked at her feet, and she had worn out shoes, and she was shaking. I helped her to the shower and turned on the water. I left to get some clothes for her, and I expected she would have taken off the bloody clothes. Instead, she just stood there.

  I helped her into the water and took off her clothes. It was then that I saw the bite marks on her arms. I stared. She sat down on the water and cried.

  That night she died in the bed with me. A burning fever. I tried to call 911 but got no help. I asked neighbors for help. They were leaving. I put on the TV to see CNN showing a loop of the end of the world.

  I watched my mother rise from the dead a few hours later just like they were saying on TV. She hissed and tried to bite me. I dodged the slow corpse of what had been my mother. After jumping over my bed, I led her to the hallway and pushed my way past back into my apartment. Slamming the door behind me and locking the deadbolt, I just shut down.

  I watched the loop on CNN until the electricity went out. It did not affect me that much at first. I had been living the shut-in life for a year. I had canned food. I was just eating it cold now.

  At some point, my dead mother wandered off. I stayed inside until I was out of food. I put on my hiking gear. I packed 3 pairs of yoga pants, 3 t-shirts, and 5 sets of underwear. I shou
ld have packed more socks. I knew better, but 5 pairs were all I put in. I hit the road. I moved slowly and ran from one corpse after another.

  After a few days of moving from building got building, I found 3 people like me. They were left behind too. But, that is another story.

  Left Behind

  Not that Story, A Zombie Story

  0

  It seems weird to say it, but we were ready. Well, as ready as you can be for your friends and family to become ravenous undead monsters trying to kill you. It was as if the years of movies, television, and books about undead rising from their graves was a message sent back through time to get us ready or maybe a divine message to warn us. Either way, when the first stories of killer rabies started in New York, Beijing, Moscow, LA, and London hit the web we all knew.