On the Easter Break 2013, James and I lived in London, UK for 8 years since my wife passed away from cancer. He was a friendly thirteen year old boy. He always made everyone have a good laugh. He made a lot good friends over these months at school. He had one best friend at school named Sam. He shared good laughter with James. Sam always loved to come to our house and play videogames. After four weeks later, it was time for school.
“Wake up son! Time for school” I said, as I peeked around the corner of the James’s room door.
He didn’t move at all. Still lying there like a dead man. I entered the room.
“Wake up. You are going to be late!” I warned him.
“What time is it?” He yawned trying to open his eyes.
I looked at my watch and answered, “It’s 7:30am. I’ll wait for you downstairs. I already made you some breakfast.” I walked downstairs as I took my suitcase and I was ready to go to work. After James finished his breakfast and got his school uniform. I took him to school. On the way to school, I opened the power button on the dashboard. I changed the channel to the morning news.
As I was about to change to my favourite channel, James said,” Hey dad, umm…. I want to talk to you about something.” I looked at him for a quick second and turned back to focus on the road.
“Sure son, what do you want to talk about? You seem unsure about something.”
He looked ahead and said,” In the past few months, I met up with a girl and… I think she likes me. I’m not sure if I should go out with her.”
I nodded my head and replied, “James, I want you to understand that having this kind of relationship is nothing to be afraid of. If you feel uncomfortable about going out with her, then maybe just leave it for a while until you feel confident. No rush. I don’t want you to feel pressure.”
He nodded his head and said, “Okay, maybe I should wait for a bit.”
“Ok, remember she will like you if you treat her nicely.” I said, giving him advice.
I started to focus on the radio.
The radio news reported, “There are many casualties around the city. Many people are pouring into the hospital for emergency treatment. Doctors say that these victims were injured by bites, not gun shot. The local police report that this could have some connection to the BlackGent chemical and biology research centre. We have a victim name David who was been attacked by an attacker.
“I was coming home at night and I saw a woman walking on the street. I think she was moaning or something. She looked like she was drunk. I walked towards her and asked her if she needed any help. I reached out my hand onto her shoulder. She turned around and bit me on my hand. I pushed her away and I just ran.”
There are many other victims in this hospital who had encountered the same experience as well. This is Amy Froller, your local news reporter.”
I was stunned.
James asked, very confused and worried, “Dad, what’s going on?”
“I have no idea. Don’t worry about it.” I answered.
We finally arrived at the school. James got out and waved his hand. I waved back as he entered. Many kids and teachers were entering the school for their first lesson. I drove off towards my office then 15 minutes later, I arrived. I parked my car in the parking lot, took my suitcase and locked the door. I headed towards the elevator and pushed the up button. After the elevator arrived, the door opened and I saw Mike, my friend, standing in there.
“Good morning Mike! How are you?” I asked.
“I’m well, thank you. How are you?” he asked.
“I’m well, too. But I heard the news and I’m kinda worried about it.”
He nodded his head and said, “Don’t’ worry about it.”
I arrived at my office and sat down on my chair. I started to clean up the papers that were left on my desk and began today’s work. 3 hours later, my co-worker stepped in and said,
“Tom, I have some bad news. There is a man who is lying flat on the second floor. I’m not sure if he is alive or not. Do you want to check it out?” I started to have a frightening sensation where my back started to tingle.
“A man? Lying on the floor?” I asked uncertainly.
“Yeah!” He answered.
“Okay, let’s check it out” I said as I followed him to the second floor. A lot of workers and people were gathering. I was scared even more because the man’s mouth was covered in blood.
I asked,” Did you guys call the ambulance?”
A woman shouted across the crowd, “Yes sir! I just called. They said they will arrive in 5 to 10 minutes.”
“Okay, nobody touch him.” I commanded. I turned around and headed towards my office. Mike followed me and he sighed.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“I have no idea” I said.
At 11:00am, very few people were in the office. I guessed they were still downstairs checking on that man.
I looked at the remaining people in the office and said, “Hey, I’m going to check out something!” They gave me thumbs up and continued working. I walked to the lobby of our office. As I was about to press the down button, I heard a scream coming from downstairs.
I froze and listened carefully. I got into the elevator and pressed the 3rd floor button. The elevator made a ding sound and the door opened slowly. Suddenly, I saw a lot of people screaming in the corridor. One dead man was lying on the floor. Some people were lying on top of each other in one of the rooms like they were fighting. Blood came splashing on the walls and on the glass. I was in complete shock and horror. I hit the closed button on the elevator as fast as I could after seeing this terrifying scene. The door started to close. A man came out from the room covered in blood, stared at me, and started screaming. Violently, he charged at me. Luckily, the elevator’s door just barely closed. The man kept pounding on the door with his hand as he tried to break in. I collapsed on the elevator’s floor with my back up against the wall.
“What the…”I said to myself speechlessly and scared. I could feel my body and my hands were shaking. I looked at the number on the top of the door as if it was counting down the floors like a time bomb. I heard a ding as the elevator stopped at P1. The door opened and I saw blood stains on the inside. I slowly pulled myself up. I walked cautiously towards my car. I hurried to get my keys in my pocket and I opened the car door. I got in the car and slammed the door. I turned on the engine. I looked in the rear view mirror. Suddenly, I saw a man thrown out from the elevator lobby as he landed on someone else’s car. The car trigged the burglar alarm. It made a loud noise, which echoed in the entire parking lot. Then, I saw a man walk out and look at me. He looked very weird and he started chasing towards me while screaming. I gasped and stepped on the pedal. I drove quickly out of the office parking lot onto the street. On the street, the most terrifying nightmare occurred. There were tons of car crashes and people running in all directions. There were fire spreading over buildings and cars. I drove on the Barred St and as I tried to dodge the debris of a car, another car going full speed crashed into a convenient store. There was chaos everywhere.
“OMG! What’s going on here?” I asked myself. Thinking of my son, James I thought “OMG! I need to go to the school.” I drove quickly towards James’s school. On the way, a man told me to pull over and he said, “Get out of here, there are walkers everywhere!” “Wait! Whut? Walkers? What do you mean?” I asked. He didn’t answer and just ran away. I had no idea what he was saying so I continued to drive. Many people on the side of the road were trying to run away from zombie people. A lot of people were had either been killed or got tackled by the zombies. I finally arrived at the school. I saw three police cars parked outside on the curve. I got out and locked the car door. I quickly ran to the front door of the school. As I was about to open it, I heard gunshot coming from inside.
“Oh no!” I opened the door. There were some blood stains on the lockers and walls. I was terrified but I proceeded cautiously down the corridor when I saw one body was lying on the floor. He was killed by a gunshot. I looked up and saw two police officer s with their guns pointing in my direction.
“Stop right there or I’ll shoot!” One of the police officer shouted.
“Woah! I’m not one of them! I’m here to pick up my son!” I answered back.
“Are you bitten?” He asked.
“No” I shook my head. I raised my both hands up to let them know that I meant no harm. Two officers put down their weapons. I walked cautiously towards their barricade.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
I nodded my head.
“Dad!” James shouted as he appeared from one of the classrooms and he ran towards me and hugged me.
“James! Omg, thank god you are alright” I nearly cried when I hugged him. I saw other kids and teachers were in the classroom keeping their heads down.
“What’s going on?” I asked one of the police officers.
“Well, Ms. Johnson called the police because there is a crazy man who tried to break the door down. We arrived and told him to stop. He turned around and started running towards us. He screamed in a loud pitched voice. He started to spit out some blood out from his mouth. We shot him and took him down.” He said.
I tried to get an image in my head but it didn’t make sense.
“Okay, but listen I don’t think this is the end. I have a feeling that the whole city will be in danger,” I warned them.
“Don’t worry! We will escort all the teachers and kids to a safe location,” one of the police officer answered.
“Okay, I will bring James home, so we can prepare to leave this city,” I said.
“Alright, sounds good. There is a refugee centre just north of us. Follow the highway and it will lead you straight there. By the way, you are a good father. James is lucky to have you!” he said with a smile. “You guys take care!”
“Cheers!” I said as I shook his hand.
We left the school and got into the car. Once we were at home, we barricaded all the windows and doors with heavy wood and metal to keep away from the attackers. That night, I made myself and James a nice dinner. I also decided to make a weapon; just in case any attackers wanted to attack us. James went to bed first. After a moment, I sat down next to him on the side of the bed to say good night. He said goodnight, too. I went to my bedroom. I closed the door and went to bed at 9:30pm. I put my bat at the side of the bed. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
The following morning, I woke up and looked out the window. I saw tons of military helicopters flying over the town and the city. I got up quickly and ran towards James’ room. I entered the room and James was still lying on the bed sleeping like a dead man, again!
“James!” I shouted.
“Okay, okay! Sorry dad, I kissed her...” He suddenly awoke and sat up very fast in an awkward pause looking forward. He tried to catch his breath. I looked at him for one minute, confused. I could see three dots on top of James‘s head like cartoon characters when they don’t know what to say. I could see his face was red. I think he was embarrassed. I smiled and looked at the watch.
“We gotta go!” I said. After 10 minutes, we put all the stuff onto our Range Rover and we hopped in. I drove out on the street. More people were trying to run away from something. On the way to the intersection, James saw Sam trying to escape from the walkers. He pointed and I pulled the car to the side of the road. I told James to stay in the car and wait for me. I got off with a bat and ran towards the walkers. I smacked their head hard, so blood was flying everywhere. Sam was shocked and was sitting on the ground looking at the dead bodies.
“Come on! Let’s get outta here!” I said reaching my right hand to him. I pulled him off the floor. We entered the car quickly. Then, 3 walkers came out of nowhere trying to break into the car. They bashed their hands on the side of the car and I could hear the scratching noise. I stepped on the pedal and drove quickly onto the highway. The walkers all fell down from the speed of the car. There were tons of cars trying to get out of the city but many of them didn’t make it through. Many helicopters flew over the area and landed somewhere north of us. A lot of people couldn’t drive their cars, so they immediately stepped out and ran towards the safe zone which was on the other side of the bridge. I stopped my car in front of the checkpoint. One military officer approached. I opened my car window.
“How many people you got in there?” He asked.
I answered, “Three.”
BANG! BANG! I heard gunshot fire coming from behind us. I looked at my rear view mirror and tons of walker hordes came running. They started killing and biting people. Blood flew in all directions. I said furiously, “HURRY UP! THEY ARE COMING!” as I pounded my hands on the door.
He shouted, “GO! Get in!” I drove quickly and made it through the gates. I followed a military car which would lead me into the refugee escape centre. James and Sam didn’t say any words during the trip. I could see their frightened eyes and their bodies were shaking.
“Don’t worry! We are going to be okay” I said trying to calm them down. I reached the refugee centre after ten minutes from the gates. Ten helicopters were waiting for citizens to get on board. I followed a security man that led me into a checkpoint. There were scanning devices at the checkpoint. We passed through them with no problems. I heard the news broadcasting that the city was no longer safe. The numbers of walkers were increasing inside the city. The military were trying to take over but they were having a hard time fighting. Finally, we boarded the helicopter and we found our seats. We sat down trying to listen for any safety instructions. The staff told us to fasten our seatbelts. We buckled them up and we looked through the helicopter’s windows. Sam told James and me about his parents. James and I felt sadness about his lost parents.
“Sam, I’m really sorry about your parents. We are going to look after each other from now on.” I patted on Sam’s shoulder.
He nodded silently.
The helicopter lifted off from the ground. We looked at the city from the windows. Fighters and helicopters were started to bomb the areas with napalm. We shocked as the helicopter flew away from the city and the view disappeared from our windows. The city had come to an end.
“Where do we go?” I asked quietly to myself looking at James and Sam who were already sleeping.
The emergency news on the helicopter reported, “It’s been 28 days since the virus outbreak. There were no survivors that made it through the city safely. All citizens and those infected who remained in the city were killed by the bombs. The broadcast continued “This is an Emergency Alert System. Please find your nearest refugee shelter. All national defenses and military are trying to defend against attackers outside of the city. Most of the buildings have collapsed to the ground in less than three hours. Most of the population in the city have been wiped out. No further information at this time.”
