Phase One: Identify (Territory of the Dead)

by Wynters, Rose

  She ignored him, turning her attention back to the viewers. “If you're still alive and hearing this, I beg you to listen. I've never seen anything like this before. Tonight I lost my whole family to these animals. If you want to stay alive, be cautious.

  Don't go out unarmed, and don't go out alone. If it's safe, try to make it to the police station. These zombies are everywhere now, and I guarantee the dead are outnumbering the living. Try to not join their ranks.”

  She turned back to the reporter, holding out the microphone. “I'm not an expert, I'm a survivor. I hope you can learn how to be one yourself.”

  With that, she turned and walked away.

  The reporter came back on, but dad turned it down low. “My God,” he said, looking at us. “It's a nightmare.”

  “Dad, do you think we should try to go to the station?”

  He was thoughtful for a moment, and then looked at Jayden before shaking his head. Jayden was still spaced out. I couldn't say for sure he even knew where he was at. It was scary how silent and unaware he really was.

  “No, at least not tonight,” Dad finally replied. “Not with Jayden like this. There are to many variables that could happen on the way there. What if our car happened to just break down, or what if we got a flat tire? Here, we are safe. We have plenty of food, the news, and our cell phones. Let's wait and see what happens with all of this tomorrow and go from there.”

  I nodded. What he said made sense. Truth be told, I wasn't eager to go back out, although there would be safety in the numbers found at the police station.

  He turned to Jayden. “Son, I know you've went through a terrible tragedy tonight. I can't imagine what you're going through, or how much pain you must be in right now. We are here for you though, in anyway you need us. Just tell us what to do.”

  Jayden didn't respond to him, but my dad didn't seem to expect him to. My mom got up and came back with a blanket, placing it across his legs. Dad popped out the foot rest on the recliner, which was his favorite part of the seat. “You just rest.”

  He turned away from Jayden, his expression weary as he looked at us. “All of us are going to bed down in here tonight. I don't want us separated, and we need to be where we can see the news at all times. There's enough room for all of us.”

  Our living room was fairly large. It was decided that Dad would take the other recliner, while Mom and I slept on the sofa bed. Although I'm officially an adult now, I have to admit it was comforting to know they were right here in the same room. After all I'd seen, I really didn't want to be alone.

  We made up the sofa bed and laid down, Mom turning the lamp off next to her. The newscaster was still on, but didn't seem to have anything new to report. His voice was simply a low background noise, a horrific reminder of how brutally my entire world had changed.

  Within a few minutes, my dad started to snore gently in the recliner. I peeked over at Jayden. His eyes were closed as well, but I couldn't say if he were asleep or not. Mom's breathing grew slow and even. I marveled at how easily my parents slept during a time like this.

  My thoughts went to the people I knew in this town. I wondered how my best friend Amanda was taking it, and I wished I had my cell phone. If I did, I would try to call. Was she even still alive? It was a sobering thought.

  Amanda and I had been best friends basically our whole lives. In some ways, she was my complete opposite. She was studious and reliable, with plans for her future. She wanted to be a doctor, and was determined to save the world. While I was relieved to not start college this fall, she was eagerly counting the days until she could.

  I wanted to cry at the very real possibility that she was dead. With a heavy heart, I eventually grew tired enough to close my eyes. Sleep took an impossibly long time coming that night.

  Chapter 3

  I woke up sometime later, puzzled why I was sleeping in the living room on the sofa bed. It only took a second though for me to remember why, and I was flooded with an awful, gut-wrenching feeling of despair. Would it always be this way for me?

  The living room was peaceful, the TV still on but turned down low. The world was quiet. My eyes were gritty from lack of sleep, my body exhausted. It was still dark out. Something, somewhere had attracted my subconscious attention, though. What had woke me up?

  I sat up noiselessly, not wanting to disturb my family. Jayden was awake and quietly watching the news. He was grief-stricken, but at least appeared to be aware. “Jayden?” I whispered, hesitantly. “Is everything okay?”

  He gave a small nod before whispering back, “As much as it can be, I suppose.” His voice was so sad, my eyes stung with tears. I couldn't imagine losing my parents or my little sister, if I would have had one.

  I swallowed hard, having to do it twice before I could speak again. “Nothing feels right anymore,” I told him quietly. He wasn't looking at me, but somehow I knew he was listening. “I just feel like I'm in this horrible nightmare that I can't wake up from.”

  I really didn't expect him to reply. It wasn't like he'd really talked to me in the past, so I was surprised when he responded back, “I know what you mean.” His voice was thick, as if he was having a hard time even speaking. “I hurt so badly inside right now that I feel like I can't even bear it. Mom, Dad, my sister, how am I supposed to go on knowing that they are dead?”

  He stopped talking, and I hated it. After the events of the night, I wanted the companionship desperately. I needed someone to share this terrible load with me, someone alive like I was.

  My mind raced as it frantically tried to come up with something, anything, that would keep him talking. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be said. I felt cruel even trying. After all, he was grieving.

  In the end though, he must have needed the companionship as badly as I did.

  “To be honest, I can't even remember the last time I told any of them I loved them. Now, I'll never get the chance.” He shook his head sadly, his hair appearing even darker in the dim lighting from the TV.

  “I was so stupid, you know? All I cared about was college and getting my freedom. The last two years, I found every excuse I could to avoid hanging out with them. I wanted to be with my friends, or out chasing the hottest girls. I didn't think my parents or my sister were cool enough to spend time with. How could I have been so shallow?” His voice was intense with self-loathing.

  “It's just human nature, Jayden. Most teenagers don't find their parents cool. I'm sure they knew you loved them.” It didn't sound very comforting, and this time I was the one to shake my head. I thought carefully, desperately trying to find the right words.

  He watched me, waiting for me to continue. “Honestly Jayden, I don't know what to tell you. I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but I would imagine it's an awful feeling. All I can say is how sorry I am, and I'm willing to be your friend if you need one.”

  “Thanks,” he replied slowly. “I appreciate it.”

  We grew silent again. The newsman was sitting down in an empty chair next to an older woman. She looked exhausted by the events of the night, but she was still kind enough to give him the details. It was basically a recap of what we'd heard from the others before her. I wondered how many people were still alive to watch her story.

  Even the chatty and talkative reporter seemed to be worn out. It was a little strange to me that someone else hadn't taken over for the tired man, at least to give him a break. Surely he wasn't our only link to the outside world. It was a scary thought.

  Picking up the remote, I changed the channels. All of them said unavailable. I felt the area between my eyebrows crease into a deep frown at the discovery. My mother always said I would have a permanent frown line by the time I was twenty if I didn't stop doing that. Make that nineteen now that the zombies were here.

  With a sigh, I returned to the station we'd been watching. My options were extremely limited. I could either watch this or sleep. As tired as I was, I didn't feel like I could fall asleep again.

  �
��How would you explain the events of the last twenty-four hours?” The newsman had found someone else to interview. It was to bad he didn't bring the woman from earlier back on. Out of everyone, I'd found her the most informative.

  “I'll explain it, alright,” the man replied, his lips twisting in disgust. “The government is behind it.”

  “What makes you say that?” The reporter sounded bored, but at least he was being courteous. Then again, it was more than likely just tiredness. A person could only talk for so long.

  The gray-haired man shot him a look of irritation. “You are the news, idiot. Don't you ever watch them? The government has always got their fingers stuck in someone else's jar of honey. I have no doubt they are behind this. They've always done exactly what they wanted without informing the public. Why change now?”

  The reporting gave him a placating smile. “Could you give us examples?”

  “Fine,” he responded, his voice extremely grumpy. “How about these? Area 51, Project MKUltra, and Project MKSearch. Do I really need to go on?” He looked at the reporter incredulously.

  The reporter gave him a droll look. “What would those have to do with the zombie phenomenon?”

  The older man leaned back in the seat, crossing his legs. “Everything. Obviously it was an experiment gone wrong. You don't think people just happened to wake up this morning and magically transformed into those supernatural killing machines do you? Dead people don't just walk around, much less try to eat other humans.”

  He turned toward the camera. I almost laughed at the self-righteous expression on his weathered face. He was on his soapbox now, and loving every moment of it. “I believe that it was yet another secret test done by the government in an attempt to create super soldiers. Somewhere down the line, it went wrong. Maybe they got to strong to be contained. Now, it's gotten out of hand, and there isn't anyone that can clean it up.”

  The reporter's expression changed. A flicker of unease crossed his tanned features, before he quickly covered it up. “With a military presence like ours, I don't see how it couldn't be cleaned up. The latest report stated that soldiers in Fort Polk were preparing to move out, containing the problem here in Louisiana. I'd actually be surprised if it wasn't over by morning.”

  The older man laughed without humor before hissing, “Then be prepared to be shocked. I just came from the base area. We went there first, desperate to get help. The base is on total lock down. Nobody is allowed in, and nobody out.”

  The woman next to him gasped as she heard him. “Do you know why?”

  He looked at her and nodded. “There was a young soldier behind the chain link fence on guard duty. Even military trained, he was nearly in a complete panic. He told me that there was a huge contamination on post, wiping out the majority of the soldiers stationed there. Based on the amount of gunfire I heard, I daresay he was telling the truth.”

  The woman looked at the reporter, her eyes narrowed in anger. “Why haven't you reported this? This is what people need to know. All night, you've been running around this station asking people your silly questions. We want answers, not more questions.”

  Several people chimed in their agreement, before getting quiet again. “Are the other states experiencing the same things we are? How widespread is it? I want to know what steps are being taken to rectify this. Why don't you tell us since you seem to be the newsman around here.” Her voice was direct and very grim. She was not pleased.

  The reporter grinned at the camera, but it was strained. “Those are good questions. We actually haven't been able to make contact with anyone outside of a two hundred miles radius. It appears to be a technical issue with out satellites and phone towers. I'm confident that the proper personnel are taking care of this though, even as we speak.”

  The older man shook his head, grimacing at the reporter. The room at the station had grown quiet, as everyone watched the exchange. His voice was coarse with fear, and even anger, when he spoke again. “Keep believing that, if it gets you through the night. I know the truth. We can't count on anyone coming to our rescue. The world we have known is gone. I'm willing to bet there isn't a town anywhere that isn't in the same boat as we are.”

  I couldn't tear my eyes away from the screen. “This is awful,” I muttered, halfway speaking to myself.

  Jayden heard me though, and pretty much echoed my thoughts. “If the military is down, we are all but screwed.”

  Even though it was the middle of the night, I wanted to check on Amanda badly. Standing up, I walked into the foyer and grabbed Dad's phone off the table. Surely under circumstances like these, it wouldn't be out of the way to call.

  Quickly I dialed the number for Amanda, but got nothing but a busy signal. I tried twice more, with the same results. A thought crossed my mind, as I quietly went back into the living room.

  “Jayden, I was wondering if there was anyone you need to call?”

  He looked up at me and sighed heavily. “I didn't even think about it about my grandparents. They live in Florida, and this is going to devastate them.”

  His brown eyes filled with tears again, and he blinked furiously in an attempt to keep them from falling. “I can't call them tonight,” he said, running a hand through his straight hair. “I'll have to tomorrow, though. It's going to kill them. At least, if they aren't dead already.”

  His expression changed, turning intense and angry. “Dammit,” he hissed, slamming his fist into his palm. “I just can't deal with this. Maybe I'd just be better off dead as well.”

  “No, son,” my dad spoke up quietly from the recliner. He was still laid back on it, feet propped up, but his eyes were open and watching Jayden with a compassionate look on his face. “Don't ever think that,” he continued, focused on the young man across from him. “God wants you hear for a reason, and your parents would too. They wouldn't want you giving up like this.”

  I stared at Dad, waiting for him to continue. He seemed to be searching within himself for the right words to help Jayden. He tentatively spoke again. “I don't think I have to tell you that the people we saw were no longer your parents. What made them who they were is long gone. All we saw was the shell that was left behind. No matter what happens, I want both of you to remember that. Once someone has died, the person they were never comes back.”

  We both nodded. My mom stirred but she didn't wake up. It was scary to hear my dad talking like that. It was almost as if he was preparing me in the event that something should happen to him or my mom. The thought was to painful to dwell on.

  “Oh my God,” the reporter screamed suddenly, his features frozen in terror. Immediately, I focused on the TV. He stood up and dropped the microphone, staring at something to the right.

  People were yelling and screaming in panic, the microphone picking up the background noise easily. I could hear police officers shouting orders, and see people running in different directions. Finally the cameraman turned to focus in on the action, and we all leaned forward to watch.

  Rapid gunfire exploded across the room, deafening to the people in the building. People were holding their ears as they tried to escape the zombies that were infiltrating the small station. The hysteria was overwhelming.

  Everyone tried to get out doorways at the same time, but it wasn't happening. I put my hand over my mouth and held back the bile, as a zombie grabbed an older woman and bit her ear off. She fought, but she wasn't any match for him.

  One of the police officers must have finally seen what was happening because a moment later the zombie was shot. He fell to the floor, still gripping the elderly lady. She fell with him, screaming in horror at the loss of her ear.

  “If someone doesn't die from a zombie attack, is there a chance they could still live?” I asked, unable to tear my eyes away.

  “Guess we will find out soon enough,” Dad responded.

  We didn't speak for several moments as we watched the horrific scene unfolding right before our eyes. The camera swung from the mob of people to the opposit
e of the room, and I gasped in horror. Zombies were piling in through the doorway, snarling and biting anybody still living.

  More screams filled the air. The room was to packed for the police to shoot, although some of them were shooting the zombies point blank. The smell of fresh blood seemed to make the dead crazy. They frantically bit their victims, leaving blood and flesh flowing down their chins and bodies.

  “It's a bloodbath,” I blurted, petrified at the thought of one day being in the same situation. A wave of despair and hopelessness washed over me. What was the point of even trying?

  People were dying like flies. It was only a matter of time until my number was up. I met Jayden's eyes. I could tell he felt as helpless as I did, maybe even more so. After all, he'd just lost his entire family.

  Dad didn't notice the exchange between the two of us. He was enthralled with the TV. The cameraman backed away from the carnage. A zombie noticed him, and started moving in his direction.