Journal of the Living

by John Moralee

  It wasn’t news I wanted to hear. “Can you help me find out for certain?”

  “Your friends can’t be saved, Ben. I’m sorry that I can’t help.”

  I was feeling extremely tired. “You mind if I sleep somewhere for a few hours?”

  “No,” he said. “Get some rest. You look like you need it.”

  I left the kitchen and found a mattress in another room. My eyelids were so heavy I wondered if the soup had been drugged – but I’d seen the others eating the same food. It was probably the painkillers kicking in. I laid down and shut my eyes, falling asleep thinking of Angela, Neal and a pit of zombies.

  ENTRY TWENTY-SEVEN

  I woke up smelling something delicious cooking somewhere nearby. It smelled like frying bacon – something I had not eaten since Day One. I sat up and saw I was in the same room I’d crashed in – but now I had no aches or pains. Sunlight was coming through a gap in the curtains, turning the walls golden. It felt like a dream because I’d been in agony when I went to sleep – but my bruises had started to fade to yellow. I swung my legs off the mattress and put my feet on the floor, noticing Leela was across the room sitting on another bed reading a paperback copy of Game of Thrones. She looked engrossed. I’d started to watch the TV series just before Day One and the zombie plague interrupted all our lives. It made me sad to to think I’d never see how it was supposed to end. Leela lowered the book and smiled, looking far healthier than the girl I’d found locked in a cellar.

  “Hey! You’re awake!”

  “Yeah.” I felt refreshed and energised. “How long have I been sleeping?”

  “Two days,” she said.

  Her answer surprised me. “You let me sleep two days?”

  “We didn’t have much choice. You needed the rest, Ben.”

  I’d been brutally tortured by a sicko called Billy. Those injuries were no longer hurting. “What have you been doing?”

  “I’ve been getting to know The Family. I’ve made a load of new friends here, like a girl my age. They’re not like the biker gang. These people don’t keep slaves. They help and trust each other.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  “How do you feel now?”

  “Much stronger.” I stood up and stretched my muscles, not feeling any pain. “How’s your foot?”

  “It’s great!” Leela said. “Totally healed up. Got myself some new boots. I’m ready to kiss zombie ass.”

  “That’s good.” I rubbed my itching chin. I needed a shave. There was nobody else in the room and it was quiet. “Where are Kim and Pipa?”

  “Kim’s down the hall making breakfast with Stu. Pipa’s doing a zombie patrol of the town with Kris.”

  “Kris? Who’s that?”

  “Remember the handsome guy with the sword guarding the door? That’s Kris.”

  “Oh, right. Pipa’s with him voluntarily? I didn’t think she liked him.”

  “She didn’t – at first. But they really like each other now. I saw them kissing last night when they thought everyone was asleep. Pipa loves being in The Family. She’s told me she wants to stay with them. Kim likes it here, too. So do I. It’s good to be with people helping each other instead of … you know.”

  I knew. The Family were a group of survivors we had encountered just yesterday – no, that was wrong, it was three days ago. Their leader was a soldier called Dex – a former member of the Pure Bloods turned rebel leader. The Family had been kind to us – though Dex had taken away my gun, which I wanted back. Now that I was feeling stronger, I wanted to speak to him again about my friends Angela and Neal, who had been captured by the Pure Bloods. “Where’s Dex?”

  Leela shrugged. “I don’t know, Ben. I haven’t seen him today. I heard he’s looking for supplies in another town. The Family have to keep moving around to avoid the Pure Bloods. They’re looking for a new place because we can’t stay here forever. Not with those maniacs out there hunting for them.”

  The Pure Bloods had murdered her grandfather. It was still a raw wound for her. I had seen him die when a sniper in a helicopter shot him in the head. There had be no reason for doing it. He had not even been armed. “It’s about time the Pure Bloods went down. Hard.”

  Leela nodded. “Yeah – but how can they be beaten?”

  “The Family has trained soldiers and weapons. They could fight back somehow – using guerilla tactics. Nobody’s safe until the Pure Bloods are stopped. I need to persuade Dex to fight them or we will never be free.”

  “I don’t think they want to fight, Ben. They know they’d lose in a straight fight.”

  “True – but there must be something we can do. I don’t want this country taken over by the Pure Bloods.”

  “Talk to Dex again when he returns,” Leela suggested. “Maybe you can get him to change his mind.”

  I hoped so. Angela and Neal were probably dead – but what if they were not? What would the Pure Bloods do to them?

  I could still smell bacon. “I feel like I’m dreaming, Leela. Can I actually smell bacon frying?”

  “You can,” she said. “I was waiting for you to wake before going to get my breakfast. You ready to eat?”

  “You bet. I’m starving.”

  We went down the hall to the kitchen. A group of ten people were sitting around the table eating bacon and eggs. Stu was frying more bacon on a sizzling gas hob, assisted by Kim. Kim smiled when she saw me. I sniffed the air. Ah! Sizzling bacon! I had never smelled anything as good. Stu saw me standing in the doorway staring at the food, drooling like Homer Simpson.

  “Full English?” he said.

  “Yes, thanks.”

  “Sit down, sit down.”

  Leela and I took empty seats at the table next to a couple of strangers enjoying their breakfasts. I felt like I was still dreaming as Stu served an unbelievably tasty bacon rashers, hot buttered toast, black pudding and scrambled eggs, all washed down by a mug of strong coffee served by Kim. Nothing had tasted finer. “Where did you guys get all this fresh stuff?”

  “We have a farm,” Stu said.

  “Near here?”

  “Yeah. It’s -”

  “Don’t tell him the location,” a woman snapped. I didn’t know her. She was wearing an army uniform with the sleeves cut off so her tattooed biceps were visible. She was around twenty-five and looked like she had seen some serious action, judging by the old scars on her face and arms. Her right ear was just a raw nub because it had been chewed off at some point by a zombie, but since she had not turned into a flesh-eater she had to be immune. Her hair was shaved off, revealing the smooth dome of her skull. “He’s new, Stu. We can’t trust him yet. Do not tell him more about our farm, okay?”

  “Okay, Maggie. Sorry.” Stu didn’t say another word about the farm. He continued to cook breakfast in silence. Maggie’s suspicion and hostility had instantly killed the friendly atmosphere. I could feel the tension as I continued to eat. I felt like Judas at the Last Supper.

  I thought I’d try to make friends with Maggie. “So … you’ve got zombie bites. You must be immune like Dex?”

  “Well done, Sherlock. Get a prize for stating the obvious. Yeah – I’m immune. So what? Got a problem with that?”

  “No – I was just saying. Were you with the Pure Bloods?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Not that it’s your business. I don’t like talking about that. Just hurry up and eat your breakfast, newbie. Then go away so someone else can have a seat. You’re not the only hungry person here. We all are.”

  Okay. Maggie didn’t want to make friends. I accepted that. I ate my breakfast listening to the conversations of the others. I learnt the Family worked like a hippy commune with everyone pitching in to do the chores like cooking and cleaning and zombie patrols. After practically licking my plate clean, I washed up my plate and mug in hot water boiled on a gas stove. The kitchen didn’t have any electricity for the dish washer, of course. The National Grid had stopped functioning months ago – but it felt as close to normal dom
esticity as I could imagine. It was good doing something mundane and ordinary – taking a break from killing zombies and fighting for my life. I helped Kim slicing mushrooms and potatoes, taking the opportunity to talk quietly.

  “Can we trust them?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, I think so,” she said. “I love it here. They’ve got everything organised. I haven’t felt in danger since we arrived. It really is like a family.”

  “Do you want to stay with them?”

  “Yes,” she admitted. “Why? Do you want to leave, Ben?”

  “No – but I have to think about my other friends – Angela and Neal, who could still be alive as prisoners of the Pure Bloods. Not to mention Sadie, Hayley and Jason. I can’t abandon them just because I like this place. I need to talk to Dex about Neal and Angela. Any idea when he’s coming back?”

  “No – but I’ll ask Stu. He knows what’s going on.”

  She did that while I continued the washing up. Kim came back with more information. “Stu says he should be back by tonight. Around eight, he reckons.”

  “Damn it.” I didn’t want to wait that long. The more time I wasted doing nothing, the smaller the chance of saving Angela and Neal. I had to hope they were still alive in the Pure Blood base in Oxford.

  Maggie dumped her dirty plates in the washing-up bowl, glaring at me. “Clean that, newbie.”

  “Uh – sure.”

  She gave me a nasty look before exiting the kitchen. I turned to Kim. “What’s her problem with me?”

  “She’s Dex’s second-in-command. In charge of security. It’s her job to keep The Family safe. I guess it must be hard for her to trust new people. We could be bad guys waiting for an opportunity to steal things or kill them for their supplies.”

  I could understand Maggie’s fear and suspicion. It was a rational response to a world gone wrong. I had wanted to trust Billy – to give him the benefit of the doubt – but he had betrayed me. Maggie had to be cautious for the safety of The Family. A real hippy commune wouldn’t last five minutes in this hard world. The civilians needed soldiers like Maggie to keep them alive.

  “Kim, can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Shoot.”

  “If I do leave to look for my other friends, do you want to come with me or stay here?”

  “I owe you my life,” she said. “If you want me to go, I’ll go.”

  “That’s not what I asked. Do you want to stay?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I do. I like it here.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Thanks for the honesty.”

  Kim lowered her voice. “Ben, are you planning on leaving?”

  “Not yet,” I said. “I need to talk to Dex again first.”

  I hated waiting around doing nothing – so I talked to more members of The Family. A few had been with the group for some months, helping Dex building up a network of safe houses. The Family was trying to save lives under the noses of the Pure Bloods, which wasn’t easy when the enemy had control of army bases and a deadly militia. The Family had to work covertly while the Pure Bloods could operate in the open.

  I had some ideas of how to alter the balance of power – but I kept them to myself for the moment. In one room – an attic space – I found the scrawny guy in charge of the communications equipment listening to Pure Blood coms. There was another younger man there working on a computer. He stopped typing when he saw me enter.

  “Hey, you’re the ‘Journal of the Living’ blogger! I’m Lynchpin. Maybe you heard of me?”

  “Er ... sorry.”

  “I was a political activist and hacker before the plague. I hacked into the bank you used to work for, man. I donated their money to charity. Heh. Boy, I hated the capitalist system we used to have – but I’m kind of missing it now. Total anarchy isn’t as good as advertised.” He chuckled. “Good to meet you, buddy. By the way, I’ve been reading your blogs. Good stuff. What stopped you posting?”

  “I lost my laptop.”

  “Shame. You’ve got to regularly update your blog, man. Let everyone know what’s going down. Tell you what, I’ll get you a tablet hooked up to a solar panel. I’m linked up to what’s left of the net, checking out what’s going on around the world 24-7. It’s vital we let the rest of the survivors in other countries know what we’re doing here. Today I’ve been in contact with a group in Australia and another in Africa. They’ve been dealing with the zombie problem much better than America and Europe because they had more time to prepare for the plague. Looks like they’re winning their fight against them. I wish I’d got out of the UK before they stopped flights out. I’d love to be on a beach somewhere, eating coconuts and fresh fish like Robin Crusoe. That’d be so good.”

  Lynchpin gave me a tablet to work on, which I took into another room in another safe building, the local library, where Leela had found her copy of Game of Thrones. I spent hours writing my journal while watching the clock. It was quite late when Dex returned. Twenty minutes ago, I went to speak to him about my plan to rescue Angela and Neal from the Pure Bloods. He thought my plan was mad because I didn’t even know if they were alive – but I persuaded him to help me get into Oxford to find out what happened to them.

  *

  This journal entry – number 27 - might be my final entry because I could die tomorrow.

  Lynchpin will post this on my blog when he considers it safe to do so. (I can’t post it live in case it will jeopardise my plan.) If don’t make it back, he’s told me he will take over my blog.

  So … goodbye for now.

  ENTRY TWENTY-EIGHT

  “I’m going to Oxford to rescue Angela and Neal,” I told Kim and Leela after Dex had agreed to help me. They looked worried and started asking questions, telling me it was too dangerous. “I know it’s a dangerous mission – which is why I’m going alone. I need you both to stay here with The Family. Look after each other, okay?”

  My friends reluctantly nodded. Leela hugged me hard, sniffling back tears. “Don’t get killed, Ben.”

  “Don’t worry. Dying isn’t part of my plan.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?”

  “You can’t,” I said. “I’m sorry. I appreciate you wanting to, though. But you need to stay with The Family. You’ll be all right. Kim and Pipa will make sure of that, right, Kim?”

  “You bet,” Kim said. “I hope you find your friends alive, mate. I’d just like to say thanks for saving our lives. We’d still be prisoners if you hadn’t ...” She didn’t need to say more. “When … when do you intend to go, Ben?”

  “Everything needs organising,” I said. “So it will probably be sometime tomorrow morning. I might have to leave tonight without seeing you guys again.”

  Leela blinked away tears. “Are you coming back here afterwards?”

  “I can’t make that a promise,” I told her. “But I’ll try to contact you by leaving messages on my blog. Lynchpin will watch for it. He’ll keep you informed. Well … see you.”

  I hated saying a final goodbye. My last words to them sounded a little weak even as I said them. Kim walked with me out into the hall. She kissed me gently on my cheek, leaving it tingling. “Good luck, Ben. Rescue your friends and don’t get turned, okay? I hope we’ll see each other again. In better circumstances. Goodbye.”

  *

  The leader of The Family had agreed to help me get into Oxford to look for Angela and Neal – but he wanted me to do him a favour in exchange. The Pure Blood base was a threat as long as it had helicopters giving them a tactical advantage in any battle – so Dex wanted me to destroy them once I was inside. I had agreed to do it – but I didn’t know how I was going to get inside Oxford when I met Dex to go over his plan.

  Dex was alone in a bedroom that had been turned into an informal school classroom for the younger members of The Family. The room had a dusty chalkboard and rows of little blue plastic chairs taken from the local school. Dex was standing behind the teacher’s desk drawing on an Ordinance Survey map of Oxf
ord. There was a red circle around the city centre.

  “What’s the red line mean?”

  “It marks a twenty-foot deep trench filled with zombies. It goes all around the centre of Oxford like a moat. No zombies falling in can climb out and nobody would dare cross it – so it is effectively like a moat around a castle. The base is basically impregnable thanks to the zombie trench.”

  “Good grief. I can’t believe they use zombies for defence. They’re supposed to hate them.”

  “It’s pragmatic. Zombies are better than guard dogs at keeping out intruders because they’ll moan when someone is nearby. Beyond the zombie trench, there is an electrified fence just in case someone does sneak over the ‘moat’ of zombies. The entire perimeter is guarded night and day by snipers on the roofs of several high buildings inside the city. The only way in or out, except via helicopter, is a bridge over the trench here. That has a heavily defended security checkpoint, which includes a tank and a bunker filled with loyal soldiers. Nobody gets in or out without being checked by the guards at the gates.”

  “So … how do I get in?”

  “Well, that’s a good question. You can see a frontal assault would be useless. You’d need an army – but I don’t have one to lend you. Sneaking over the trench and through the fence is also impossible no matter which angle you approach from. The security is too tight. That leaves you with few options.”

  “Please tell me there’s a secret tunnel into the base.”

  “No – there’s not. Fortunately, I do have a plan. It’s an old one – but a good one.” He grinned. “What do you know about Troy?”

  “It starred Brad Pitt and Eric Bana.”

  “And?”

  “The Greeks used a big horse to – oh! You’re going to get the Pure Bloods to invite me in?”

  Dex nodded.

  And then he told me the rest of his plan.

  ENTRY TWENTY-NINE

  I never believed the story of the Trojan horse. If I’d been fighting a long war against the Greeks and they suddenly admitted defeat, leaving a big wooden horse behind as a gift, I would not have taken it inside my city’s walls. No way. I would have set it on fire. The Trojans must have been idiots to fall for that stupid trick.