Human Nature (Book 1): Human Nature I

by Borthwick, Finlay

  As the day turned to evening, Reed found himself inside a cell at the police station. He could hear his father outside desperately trying to negotiate for his release. At last, fortune struck for him, as the door unlocked. “Mister Jones, you are free to go,” The police officer stepped aside to allow Reed to walk out. At the reception of the police station, he noticed his father flicking through a pile of cash notes, before handing them to the police officer.

  As he did so, the police officer put his hand over his chest, struggling to breathe. He tried to ask for help from Ethan, but no air was flowing in or out of his chest. His face began to swell up, as Ethan jumped over the desk to help the officer. Reed looked at the police woman who had opened the door, as they both rushed in to help…

  … “And that police officer was the first man who I saw die, ever.” Reed added. Gwen had surprisingly been paying attention the entire time. “My father tried to help him, but he just couldn’t. It was as though the officer forgot how to breathe entirely. I guess if we’re to believe the Parasite theory though, then we know what caused that reaction after all. Gwen shook her head, “That theory’s a load of rubbish. I don’t understand the parasite could’ve gone worldwide and caused the end of civilisation. I believe something more airborne is to blame for the end of the world. Perhaps a toxic spore? Or something in the water? A Government drug maybe?” Reed was impressed by all these suggestions, “You remind me of my father. Quite a conspiracy theorist.” There was a moment of silence. “Anyway, it got to midnight. Little did I know the clock turned over to the first day of the apocalypse…”

  … The police woman had driven Reed and Ethan back to the seaside town where they lived. “Thanks Officer. I’m sorry about your colleague by the way,” Ethan offered her his condolences. “Don’t you worry yourself Mister Jones. Nor you Mister Jones… Junior, I guess.” While Ethan and the police woman laughed, Reed didn’t find that joke amusing at all. “Now listen, if you two need me again, just call 999 and ask for Officer Abbott.” Ethan nodded at her appreciatively, as he and Reed exited the car. “Have a good night Officer Abbott! Ethan waved her off, as Reed looked at him, slightly cringed out.

  “What?” Ethan asked. “Really? Flirting with a police woman?” Reed raised his eyebrow. “Oh come on son, there’s a difference between being nice and flirting. You’ll learn that one day…”

  … “We never saw Officer Abbott again. We never even called 999. By the time the world went dark, we lost our chance to do so. I wish we had called her now, maybe she could’ve saved my father. Or maybe we could’ve saved her.” Reed had slightly forgotten he was talking to Gwen, now it was as though he was just retelling his life story. “Anyway, what about you, Gwen? What lies in your past?” She shrugged, “Not much really. It’s a bit of a boring journey. You were there for most of it anyway.” He raised his eyebrow again in the present, and at Gwen this time, “What were you doing for the two years before you met me?” He could tell she didn’t want to answer, “How about this then, what were you doing on Day Zero?”

  Gwen inhaled in preparation to answer, but was cut short by Erica and Tina at the front, “Jackpot! Look at that guys!” She pointed out a bus parked on the side of the road. “It’s a bit grubby, but it’s better than walking the rest of the way I think!” Everyone headed towards the bus.

  Using her knife, Erica prised the bus doors open and hopped on. Outside, everyone waited for her to report back the state of the engine. She tried it several times, each time it merely choked. She slammed her fist on the dashboard, “Sorry guys. Looks like we are gonna have to walk after all.” Everyone sighed, and prepared to continue venturing on foot.

  To avoid Reed asking about her backstory again, Gwen had decided to walk alongside Elliot and Olivia. When Reed came over, Gwen initiated a question directed at Elliot, to prevent herself from being the one getting asked. “So Elliot, what were you doing on Day Zero then?” He puffed, thinking hard, “Honestly, I actually don’t remember.” Reed and Gwen sighed, but for different reasons; Gwen because she wondered why she hadn’t used that excuse already, and Reed because he knew Elliot was lying. “Alright then, what about you Olivia? Day Zero, tell us. Please,” Gwen was desperate to avoid Reed asking her the question. “Day Zero? Well, it’s quite straightforward for me. I was in London when the walls went up…”

  ... Olivia watched from her apartment as the soldiers moved in, appearing to establish a perimeter. She was trying to get through to her brother on her mobile, but for the sixth time, it went to answer phone. “Steven! Just pick up your damn phone already! Can you not see what’s happening outside?” She gave up with phoning him now. Part of her was confused, while part of her was worried about this military takeover. She descended from her apartment outside in order to find out what exactly was going on.”

  “Excuse me!” Olivia ran up to one of the soldiers, “Keep back ma’am!” He ordered her, but she insisted. “I’m a resident of this city. I have the right to know why it’s being taken over!” The soldier didn’t answer her, “Hey! Are you even listening to me?” The soldier gave in, “Listen ma’am, this is not a takeover, we’re establishing a safe-zone.” She looked completely bewildered, “A safe-zone? What for?” The man presumed she had been living under a rock. Rather than addressing her from the point of a military personnel, he answered her from a humane standpoint, “Look, I don’t know what it is. No one does, ok? It could be a virus; it could be the next pandemic. We just don’t know. Clearly our Government does however, as they ordered us to seal off a certain square radius of London, keeping the civilians within the walls alive at all costs for the sake of the human race itself. No one comes in, no one goes out. Now please, keep back!” He went back into his military attitude, but Olivia wouldn’t back away, “What’s your name soldier?” He stood to attention, “Private Shepherd ma’am.” She looked up at him, “Why are you helping the military then? If you believe the government is responsible, step away from these soldiers! You know they’re affiliated with the government somehow. Your superiors, they’re lying to you! Help me find my brother, and we can get out of here. We’ll find some actual help, ok? People who aren’t piling up packs of lies! Please…”

  … “He showed his humane side to a stranger – Me. I thought that meant underneath maybe he would give in, and help us out.” Olivia concluded. “And did he?” Reed wanted the complete story. “No. After that, he just repeated the words “Keep back ma’am!” and “Stay back ma’am!” to me. Obviously I did find Steven again, but by the time I had, there was no possible way we could escape. So as the months went on, and those months turned into a year, we took control. The civilians heavily outnumbered the amount of soldiers. We took them down one by one. The more guns we got, the easier it became. We turned it into a true safe-zone, set up several gates as well. We were willing to let people in. The thing is, I never saw Private Shepherd again after our initial encounter. Even if he turned me away, I hope he’s alive somewhere; for the sake of the human buried underneath that ironclad soldier personality.” Elliot turned to Reed, “How about you then man? What were you doing on Day Zero?” He backed up slightly, “Oh, I just told Gwen that story.” Elliot looked at him keenly, “Come on, there’s no harm in telling it again!” Reed smiled awkwardly. “Eh, I guess not.” He took a deep breath as he prepared to tell his story again.

  “Nearly there now!” Erica was proud to announce. The group continued trekking, but they had become exhausted. “Erica…” Tina stopped her girlfriend, “Can you hear that?” They both listened carefully, and then turned around, “Everyone be quiet!” Confused by her outburst, they all went silent. “Stomping?” Elliot noted, “That’s like… Dinosaur stomping! The question is, where is it coming from, and what’s causing it?” The group raised their weapons and looked around.

  Elliot was the first to notice the menace approaching from behind them, “Uh, guys…” They all slowly turned around, their faces flooding with dread at what they saw. “Is that… A lizard?” Gwe
n questioned. “Not just any lizard Gwen, that’s a mutated komodo dragon…” Elliot informed them all, looking up at the gigantic tyrannosaurs-rex sized creature in front of them. It looked down at the group, preparing to throw its’ tongue out. “Everyone split!” They all darted to the side of the street, hiding in between buildings.

  Elliot noticed it took several seconds from the komodo dragon to retract its’ tongue from the ground. “Sticky tongue, hey?” He was thinking of an idea, as he noticed it turning towards his friends opposite him. He turned to Reed behind him, “Reed, that machete on the side of your bag. Give it to me! Quickly!” Not questioning what Elliot’s plan was, Reed pulled his machete off the side of his bag and handed it to Elliot, “Now get well back!” Reed scuttled behind decaying rubbish bags.

  “Hey, you! Giant radiation-mutant-scaly-lizard-thing!” Elliot picked up several rocks, lobbing them at the dinosaur-sized komodo dragon. “You want to eat someone? Eat me! Come on then! The lizard redirected its’ attention to Elliot. Its’ mouth opened slightly, preparing to flick its tongue out. As it threw its tongue out, Elliot darted to the side, raising his machete, bringing it down on the lizard’s tongue with all his might.

  He sliced directly through the tongue, causing the overgrown lizard to cry out in pain, and retract it. As it twitched violently, Elliot brought up his rifle, and shot wildly at the mutant. “Come on everyone! Let’s finish this bastard!” They all jumped out from where they were hiding, lighting the mutant lizard up with their firearms.

  Once everyone was finished, they gathered around the creature. “These mutants are getting weirder, and weirder, and weirder…” Elliot remarked. In the distance ahead, they could hear deep barking and growling. “Seriously? A pack of wild dogs?” Pierre remarked. “More than just that, mutated dogs I reckon…” Elliot froze for a moment before turning back to the lizard.

  “Look at its eyes everyone…” With Reed and Pierre’s help, they prised one of the eyelids open. “It’s the same with every single mutant we’ve seen thus far: they’ve all got dark red eyes. No pupils or anything. The red just floods the whole thing out. Now, why is that?” He had taken Erica’s role of playing teacher to the rest of the group. Celeste raised her hand, “The devil!” She held tightly onto her Holy Cross necklace. Elliot shook his head, “No Celeste, don’t worry about that, it isn’t. This is far worse than anything the devil could produce.” He looked to the other members of the group awaiting more guesses. Gwen had a feeling she knew the answer, “Is it the radiation by any chance?” Everyone turned to face her, as Elliot nodded, “I think so. Now, let’s see if you and I reached that conclusion the same way. Tell me, why do you think it’s something to do with the radiation?”

  Gwen swallowed deeply, “When Fabien was dying, his eyes turned red. I don’t mean a bloodshot-esque red, I mean the blood vessels inside them were exploding.” Elliot nodded impressively, “That’s how I reached the conclusion as well. Because you see, that’s the reason why you all have pink in your blood. It’s the same with the mutants, they’ll have pink in their blood as well. All the blood circulates into their eyes due to the radiation blocking up veins and arteries. The resultant force of gallons of blood trying to escape through your eyes simply causes the vessels in it to burst. That’s why their eyes are completely red, all the blood in their body floods it. Any blood further produced by the heart clogs it up, again due to the radiation. That’s why these creatures have become a little bit smarter. It’s similar to the parasites in the fact that their mind becomes independent, it dictates your entire body callously, without any thoughts being produced. At least that’s my theory.” Rather than being impressed, everyone was lost and confused by Elliot’s conclusion.

  The one person who had been following him however, Erica, had a question still. “So, if your theory is correct, does that mean all of us can become mutants as well?” Reluctantly, Elliot nodded, “I’m afraid so. Fabien was lucky in the fact that his body couldn’t handle the reaction: Death was the best option for him. But as for those of us which live still, at any moment, we could be struck down by our internal bodily functions. If we’re lucky, we’ll die in that phase, but if we’re unluckily, then we may become mindless mutants as well.” Everyone shivered at the thought, “I’m trying to think of a word better than zombies,” Reed unnecessarily added.

  Elliot’s theorising had lead everyone into going silent again, continuing their journey towards the refugee camp. “So!” Reed initiated a group wide conversation, “Anybody want to tell us what they were doing on Day Zero? Or even before they joined this group at all?” Evidently, nobody did… Except one. “Alright,” Erica began. “I don’t quite remember what I was doing on Day Zero, but I remember the day we took control of London. That was the highlight of my life…

  … “Ok, you sure you can handle them?” Olivia made sure Erica was up to the task. “Yes, absolutely.” She took a deep breath, “It’s funny really. The day this city went into lockdown, I was just on a day trip. Now here we are a year later, and I’m helping you take control of the place.” The two women laughed. “Alright, suppose I’d better take that soldier out then,” Erica took a deep breath again, before walking up to the soldier – who was facing away from her.

  She tapped on the soldier’s shoulder, prompting him to turn around. As he looked behind him in one way, she stole his gun from the other side and pointed it at him. “Don’t even think about using your radio, I really do not wanna kill anybody…” She was sincere with her pistol aim. “However, I’m open to performing a light knockout.” With that remark, she slammed the butt of the pistol over his head, knocking him out. “Right, now throw him into the sewers,” Olivia instructed. “Into the sewers? That’s a bit extreme isn’t it?” Erica protested this part of the plan. “Well I think that placing a lockdown on the city I live in and forcing us to stay here for the past year is a bit extreme as well, yet still it was done.” Erica could see the logic, “Alright then. Guess I’ll just casually dispose of him down a manhole… Kind of brings a literal sense to the word.” She joked. “The word already had a literal sense. It’s called a manhole because it’s a hole, which a man climbs down, to access tunnels and sewers.” Erica didn’t know that before. “Well, I guess even in the apocalypse you learn something new every day, huh?” They laughed, and then lifted the soldier up. Sneaking away to drop him down a manhole.

  In the present day, Olivia was laughing with Erica as well, fondly remembering that day.

  “Alright then, anybody else? Apocalypse stories? Day Zero?” Reed asked around. Zach raised his hand, “I do!” The group were still walking, but listened to the stories at the same time. “I was only eleven years old on Day Zero. It seems like such a long time ago now… Well, I mean three years, I guess it was…”

  … Mischievously, Zach pulled the chair away from the table and next to the counter. He was smaller than most kids his age, therefore needed help with getting on top of the counter to raid the biscuit tin. He knew exactly where they were kept. Opening the cupboard, he pulled the biscuit tin out. Upon opening it however, his father had anticipated this move. There was a French note in it which translated to ‘[Zach! What did I tell you? No going against mummy and daddy!]. Afraid of being caught out, he put the biscuit tin back into the cupboard – but not just in roughly the same area, he placed it perfectly back in, right down to the millimetre.

  In the front room, he could hear his two parents arguing. As he went to investigate, he noticed his older brother eavesdropping on them outside as well. Zach joined him at the door, as they listened in together…

  ... “I don’t remember too clearly what they were saying exactly. But roughly, they were arguing about what they should do following the reports of a ‘Virus’ spreading rapidly across not just Europe, but the entire world too. My mum didn’t perceive it to be such a big threat. She didn’t realise it could spell the end of civilisation. My father however, he knew something wasn’t right. He begged and begged and begged my moth
er for us to flee the neighbourhood and find a safe-zone or something. He even suggested living in a boat out on the ocean. I also remember the argument being cut short. We could hear my mum screaming, and my dad choking. My brother and I rushed in to help. When we got in there, he was just like 98% of the globe. His face was red, his veins were swollen, he couldn’t breathe at all, he just simply died. Whatever caused the apocalypse had gotten to him. I remember being too young to understand what was even going on. So, we phoned up my uncle, and asked to stay at his home on the water for a few days. But by the time we got there, he’d gone. He wasn’t dead, he’d just left his house. No note, no signs, nothing.”

  Everyone was touched by Zach’s story, “What happened to your mother and brother?” Reed asked, but he didn’t answer, looking remorsefully at the ground, “I’m sorry.” Zach then decided to answer anyway, “My mother went to find my Uncle. We never saw her again. That’s when those government agents took us in. That ultimately lead to my brother dying…”