by A. M. Keen
The White Witch knelt and started to dine on Seth’s body. The kids stepped out of the factory and onto the grass.
“Shit, no boots,” Aaron complained. “How are we going to get across the field like this?”
“Just shut up and go,” Johnny ordered.
The four of them ran into the long grass and onto the waste land, taking the final stretch of their destination.
Lacey bounded across the uneven field carried by the two boys. She pushed away with her good leg as they power marched through the open air. The school stood across the field, right there.
Bucky took point, scouring the area as they moved forward. The dying light revealed the infected ambling and swaying in sporadic patterns around them.
“There’s too many,” Aaron grimaced as they walked onward.
“Keep going!” Johnny snapped. “There’s gaps between them. We can make it.”
Pain seared through Bucky’s foot for a moment as he stepped on top of a stone. His socks became damp as they trod across the rain-laden grass. Collective groaning from the people around them filled the air. The motionless bodies upon the wasteland now came to life and began moving toward the kids.
Aaron shook his head. “We haven’t got any weapons, we’re sitting ducks!”
“Keep going!” Bucky ordered. “We’re not dying now. Not after everything we’ve been through.”
A young man in a cap and hoodie reached out. Bucky pushed the rotting carcass away. He checked back to his friends. They still bounded across the field.
“Bucky!” Aaron shouted.
A woman thrust herself toward the trio. She secreted black ooze in an uncontrollable manner. Aaron pushed her back with one arm, gaining a black sleeve for his efforts. Bucky ran behind her, grabbed a shoulder strap from the dress she wore and swung her away. Around them more infected appeared. From every direction they came, descending upon the trio like pack of ravenous vultures.
“Keep moving,” Bucky told them. Lacey grimaced. Her trouser leg now bore more blood than it had back in the factory.
As they continued across the field, a stone appeared above the grass line. Bucky reached down and took it with his right hand. A bearded man strutted toward him. Blood and blackness oozed from his eyes and mouth. Bucky clenched the stone and smacked him about the head. The man dropped. A fireman approached still clad in uniform and helmet. Behind him an axe dragged through the long grass. Bucky bounded across, punched him square in the face and took the axe as it slumped from his grasp.
He turned to Aaron. “Now we are,” he said, displaying the weapon.
The trio made their way toward him. Lacey struggled. Her face bore an expression of exhaustion. Behind them more infected appeared. There were no other outlets of escape. They’d been surrounded.
Bucky walked beside Aaron. Lacey yelped.
“Are you okay?” Aaron asked.
“Yes,” she gasped. The strain on her face told them otherwise.
A suited man appeared beside Johnny. Bucky dashed across. With one swipe he decapitated the body, launching the head across the field.
The school drew closer. Torchlight appeared at the perimeter.
“Hey!” Bucky shouted, waving his free hand. “Hey!”
A naked, dark haired woman stumbled up behind Lacey, grabbing her ponytail. Lacey shrieked. Bucky ran across as Johnny and Aaron attempted to fight the lady away. More infected closed them down.
“Watch out,” Bucky yelled. With a swift fell he swiped the axe down. Bucky sliced both hands off with one motion. He yanked the fingers away that still clung to Lacey’s hair.
“Go!” he shouted, pushing Aaron forward. A delivery driver took Bucky’s arm, attempting to bite it. Bucky pushed him away. A black veined fisherman launched toward him, crashing to the floor as Bucky smashed him with the axe.
“Bucky!” Johnny screamed. He looked up. His friends were there, but had been separated from him. Between them a group of white eyed, ooze dribbling crazies stumbled his way.
“Bucky!” Lacey screamed.
His stomach sank. From all sides, the pale skinned abominations surrounded him.
“Go!” Bucky replied. “Get the hell out of here! Go!”
Bucky moved. His right foot remained stationary and he lost his balance, falling to the damp ground.
“Bucky!” Lacey screamed once more.
The fisherman had taken hold of his foot.
“Go!” Bucky screamed. His fight back became futile. He punched and pushed the infected away from a seated position, but there were too many of them. Pale, rotting faces descended upon him. Black teeth appeared from behind decomposing lips. Eye whites glared lifelessly upon him as they descended toward his flesh. Bucky closed his eyes as the first hand took hold of his jacket and prayed that it ended painlessly and quickly.
Day Zero: Two Months Later
It was white, bright white. A warm, pleasant breeze danced across his skin. He floated, unable to feel the body he once travelled inside. It was a comfortable, enlightening feeling that swirled inside him. Something took hold of his hand. He squeezed at it, attempting to figure out what it was. There came a muffled noise. Something blurry filled his vision and vanished in an instant. A bustle occurred around his being. Another shape came into view. Bright lights appeared before him. Strange sensations took hold. The whiteness came into focus. The muffled noises cleared.
Bucky aroused in a bed. About him people appeared. The smiling, tearful face of Lacey focused from the blur of shapes.
He opened his mouth but offered nothing more than a croak. “Am I in heaven?” he croaked.
Lacey giggled as tears streamed down her face. Johnny and Aaron both appeared from his bedside.
“No, you stupid idiot, you’re not,” Lacey replied. “You’re here. You made it.”
He remembered. The hardware shop. The barn. The car they hid away inside. The football stadium. The factory. He attempted to sit upright.
“No, Bucky, stay down,” a man said. Bucky heeded the stranger’s advice and lay back down. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
“A little spaced out. What happened?”
“You have this man to thank,” Johnny said, pointing to a soldier.
“That’s Sergeant Drake,” the other man explained. “I’m Doctor Ealing. He saved you from the zombies outside, I healed you. Your friends tell me we make a good team.”
“You should have seen it,” Aaron began, “he was like a ninja. Bam! Bam! They all got put down. He dragged you out of there and then more soldiers came, got all of us back into the school. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw.”
Bucky looked to the soldier and extended his right hand. “Thank you,” he whispered.
Drake smiled, leant in and shook his hand. “My pleasure. Glad to see you awake.” The doctor gestured toward Drake. “Anyway, I have to get back to my post. Come by when you’re out of here.”
The doctor smiled. “Fellas, go with the sergeant, please.” Johnny and Aaron both glanced to Bucky. Their expression for that second told him that they knew something he didn’t.
“Catch you soon,” Johnny said. Aaron flipped him the peace sign. They left with Sergeant Drake, closing the door behind them.
“What is it?” Bucky asked, now unnerved. Lacey clutched his hand.
“Bucky,” Doctor Ealing began, “Lacey and I decided you should know this as soon as you awoke. We thought it would be best for you.”
“What? How long have I been out?”
“About two months,” Lacey replied.
“That long?”
She nodded. “You’ve been in a coma.”
“Bucky,” the doctor began, “there’s no easy way to tell you this. When you fell in the field and Sergeant Drake rescued you, there had been a problem. It
was a very big problem which jeopardised your life.”
“What? What kind of problem? What was it?” he asked. Lacey rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand.
“I’m going to be blunt and to the point with you, Bucky. You had been bitten. One of the zombies had taken a bite from your calf muscle.”
The news hit Bucky like a freight train. “Am I going to turn?” he asked, his heart leaping from his body.
“No, no, no. You’re not going to turn, not now, but we did have to take some drastic measures.”
Bucky sat upright.
“Take it easy,” Lacey whispered. Beneath the blue blanket his left leg ran to a point where his foot protruded like a tiny hill. His right leg ran to his knee and vanished.
“Oh no! No!” Bucky screamed.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Doctor Ealing replied, placing both hands on shoulders.
Bucky wept as he slumped back. Lacey wiped the tears from his cheeks.
“It was that or you would have turned,” she explained, attempting to comfort him. “The doctors said it was the only way you could be cured, and they allowed us to make the decision, Johnny, Aaron and me. We didn’t think you’d want to turn. Not after surviving our long walk home.”
Bucky rubbed his eyes. “Okay, okay,” he said as mucus filled his nose. “No, you’re right. I wouldn’t have wanted that.”
Doctor Ealing placed a hand on his shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, everything else is fine. We expect you to make a full recovery.”
“Listen, I’m going to get a drink. I think you may need a bit of time to yourself. Do you want anything?” Lacey asked. “They have Coke. I can bring one back for you in a while?” she smiled.
“Yes, you know what, that would be great,” Bucky replied. Tears still welled within his eyes.
Lacey released his hand and grabbed a crutch that perched next to her chair. “I’ll be back in a while. Take it easy.”
Bucky watched as she hobbled away. It took him a moment to realise. Something was wrong with her. “Lacey!” he said, his voice full of concern. “No. Please tell me no. Your leg, too?”
She smiled and nodded. “That gash I received at the factory. It became infected before we even got here to school. I had to have the same operation as you did. Same leg, too.” Bucky stared at her. Her right leg vanished just above her knee. “You get used to it, apart from the damn itching. I still feel it itching at times even though it isn’t there. Guess my brain just can’t understand it. I’ve picked up the crutch no problem. In a few days, they’re fitting a prosthetic. We’re going to see how that goes.”
Bucky had nothing to say. Not a word. Lacey smiled at him. As she turned away he spoke out.
“Lacey. What about our families? Did any of them survive? Are any of them here?”
Lacey pursed her lips together. “I don’t think now is the right time…”
“Lacey, just tell me. I travelled all this way with the hope of seeing my family again. We both did. Are they here? Are they still alive?”
Lacey shook her head. “No. They’re dead. All of yours, all of mine, all of Johnny’s and all of Aaron’s. No one survived that we know. The army took this place back from the zombies. Everyone inside had turned. There are no survivors here that are from our local area. Everyone is from out of town, except the four of us.”She looked to the floor. “Get some rest,” she told him before turning and hobbling out of the room.
“I agree with her. Rest up, Bucky. I’ll be back soon.”
Bucky sighed as the doctor left, leaving him on his own. Nothing worthwhile from the old world existed anymore. Not for him, anyway. Everyone called the infected people ‘zombies’ now.
He lay there, recalling the journey they’d made to get here, and considered if it had been worth it. If nothing else, though, it’d make a great story to tell someone one day, if there was anyone else out there he could tell it to.
Twenty-Five Years After Day Zero
“Tell me the story again, Dad,” Lucas said as he rolled into bed.
Bucky reached down and pulled the duvet across him. “I’ve told you a thousand times already. You know it better than I do.”
“But I like it, especially the bit where you beat the zombies in the factory. Do you think the factory is still there now? And the White Witch?”
Bucky shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Can you take me there one day?”
Bucky laughed. “No, Lucas. The whole country is a prison. You can’t get in or out unless you commit a very bad crime.”
“Why do people go to prison there?”
“Well, back when everything happened, and everyone knew they couldn’t fix it, the governments of the world decided to send criminals there to stop them from causing anymore crime. Since they started doing that, the crime levels across the world have fallen, and most people are now living in safety. That’s because all the criminals are too frightened to do anything. They don’t want to go and live there with all the zombies.”
“But how do the criminals get there?” Lucas asked.
“There’s a big fortress with huge, steel walls that keep all of the zombies out. It’s got a runway inside it. The criminals are flown there by airplane. The guards take them off the plane, give them some supplies and then send them out into the world to fend for themselves.”
“Well, I’m never going to commit a crime. I don’t want to go and live with zombies on that island.”
Bucky ruffled Lucas’ hair. “Glad to hear it. Now, get to sleep. You have school tomorrow. And please, stop talking about zombies to your class. Your mother is starting to worry.”
“Good night, Dad.”
Bucky stood and wandered across Lucas’ bedroom. The prosthetic leg beneath his body weight had become as good as the original once he’d learned to walk on it.
“Good night, Lucas.”
“Dad?”
Bucky turned to Lucas. “Yes?”
“Do you think the criminals survive on the island?”
Bucky shrugged. “Who knows?”
“Will you tell me a story about the criminals fighting the zombies one day?”
He sighed. “I don’t know any stories about criminals on the island.”
“You can make one up, I don’t mind.”
“Seriously, Lucas. What is it about zombies that you love so much?”
“I don’t know. Everyone at school talks about them. You see them on television and they look so gross.”
“Have you been watching the news channels again? What did we say about that?”
“I know, I know, but there was this one zombie and he had all this stuff coming out of his…”
“Enough, Lucas. That’s enough. You’re not old enough to watch the news channels, especially the ones that cover the virus. I don’t want to hear any more about it, okay? I’m going to block those channels so no one can watch them.”
“Oh, but Dad! All the kids at school watch them. We want to go and fight them one day.”
“You know something? Your mother blames me for all of this. Every time you mention a zombie I get an earful. And besides, you’d never be able to fight the zombies. You’d get caught in seconds.”
“No, I wouldn’t. I’d punch those zombies on the nose.”
Bucky smiled. “Alright, slugger, I believe you. But now it’s time to go to sleep. I don’t want you falling asleep in class again.”
“If I go to sleep will you keep the news channels?”
“If you don’t go to sleep I’ll punch you in the head. Goodnight, Lucas, I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
Bucky made his way down the stairs and ventured into the living room where his wife sat watching the news. Bucky slumped down next to her, patting her
thigh as he did so. The pain on his amputation began to flare.
“Are you okay?” she asked in a strong, Irish accent. Bucky loved the way Irish ladies spoke ever since he’d been evacuated to the emerald isle.
“Just been on it too long.”
The news played out a story regarding a possible vaccination that could be used if someone had been bitten by a zombie. The tests were still in the earliest stages according to the interviewees’ accounts, but there was at least some progress being made. Although the borders had been secured around the infected parts of the United Kingdom, there was always the possibility that one day it could be found somewhere else.
“I’m turning it over,” his wife said, reaching for the remote control.
Something caught Bucky’s eye. “No, wait. Hold it a moment.”
He smiled to himself as a broadcaster interviewed a leading doctor in the government sponsored research team. Her hair placed upward in a ponytail which sat to one side. He hadn’t caught the full broadcast, but Bucky saw how excited Doctor Lacey Hills spoke about a potential vaccination.
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