Two people kneel, lined up against a fence in a suburban backyard. One a man in his early 30's, clean-shaven and hair parted from left to right, wearing a fashionable motorbike jacket. There is no fear in his face; his expression is blank, except for a small smirk. Next to him is a woman, mid 20's blonde hair, long with a braid that hangs over her shoulder. She has an athletic build; she wears track pants and a singlet. She stares up at the figure that overshadows them, rage fills her eyes as she clenches her fist with frustration and anger.
Above them stands a man, menacing them, as he points his revolver down at the pair, "That's why you two are dead, cause only the strong survive."
Click
BANG!
BANG!
3 weeks earlier…
Alex Walker sits in front of the TV, eating his breakfast watching the morning news as he does every morning. Today's news headlines catch his attention "Global flu epidemic," a reporter sits behind the desk explaining how emergency services are working around the clock to provide care to the entire community, and for residents to avoid hospitals unless it is an emergency. Alex scans the screen for more information, reading the rolling text at the bottom reads "Experts recommend staying indoors to avoid deadly virus."
Alex takes out his phone and googles Flu epidemic. Hundreds or articles appear, he skims through them with reports from all over the world, outbreaks from London, to Bangladesh, Baghdad to LA.
As his gaze returns to the TV he reads a new headline "Government urges calm and continue life as normal."
"Typical news, always exaggerating" Alex mutters to himself as he returns to his iPhone and texts to his Co-worker Sally.
"Hey, u going to work today, flu looks bad :-("
Sally has just left her shower and stands in her bathroom wearing a towel. She picks up her phone after hearing it vibrate. Reading the message she rolls her eyes, "Yeah, flu don't scare me, I eat ebola for breaky ;-)" she types in her reply.
Alex laughs upon reading her text, a broad smile fills his face at the thought of seeing Sally at work. "hahahah, ur funny, C U then" he texts back then sets off to his bedroom.
Alex stands in front of the mirror trying on different work shirts and comparing them with his work pants. He fusses back and forth looking at different combinations with different ties "what do I know about fashion" he thinks to himself as he finally makes a decision and finishes getting ready.
Alex drives to work via his normal back roads, a simple 5-minute drive normally, though today the roads are eerily quiet. "This flu must be really bad, I've never seen the roads so quiet" he thinks to himself as he arrives in the car park.
Alex takes the long walk from the car park next to Building 5, to his office at the other end of the campus in Building 2. Alex and Sally work at a Technical College, the campus comprises four long factories with large open work areas used for training students in trades. Each building has classrooms on the ground level and a series of classrooms above on level one. Stairs lead up to level one of each building, with sky bridges connecting level one of each building. These four buildings then connect via a sky bridge to the main education building at the campus, Building 1. This building is a three story, L-shaped building including cafeteria, classrooms and main foyer. The building surrounds the main courtyard on two sides, directly opposite the executive building, which encloses the other side of the courtyard.
Alex and Sally both work in the marketing department, a ground floor open plan office the size of a small apartment. This office is located on the ground floor in Building 2, the last trade building next to the main education building, called Building 1. Alex walks the entire length of the four buildings to reach his office, as do much of the students and staff.
Alex is first in the office, as always; he boots up his computer and starts typing away.
Sally drives to work, down the Monash highway a 40-minute drive at the best of times, but today, it's a car park. An accident has slowed traffic to a near standstill. Sally sits in her car banging the steering wheel with frustration, unable to even get onto the freeway. She looks down the other side of road and sees that it's clear; she veers out, driving down the wrong side of the road, passing the waiting traffic until she clears the freeway entrance and back into her proper lane. She drives the long way, through back streets and eventually makes it to work.
Sally rushes into the room late, all flustered and annoyed. She enters the room and walks past two other members of the marketing team who are gossiping about boys. Both Mediterranean in appearance, Tanya is smaller in stature with an athletic physique. Her friend Stella is taller and broader then Tanya.
"O.M.G., I can't believe you've been talking to him?" Tanya squeals with surprise, "Yeah, we chatted a bit, but he's not my type" Stella replies.
Sally walks past the two "Hey guys" she greets them, they both reply "Hey" in unison and smile politely, immediately returning back to their conversation.
Alex, who sits at the end of the room, has turned around to cheerfully greet Sally as she arrives at her desk.
Sally takes off her black leather jacket and places on the back of her chair. Her long blonde hair is braided in one long ponytail, which flips around her shoulders and rests on her chest. Alex loses concentration for a second as he admires Sally's beauty and physique. She wears a professional looking singlet, which exposes her well-developed shoulders and arms, built through years of boxing.
"Ah… hey, how's it going, how crazy is this flu? Looks like half the team is missing" Alex asks her excitedly before she has a chance to sit down.
"Yeah, what's going on with that? I haven't seen much of the news lately, the Monash was chockers, but at least the back roads were clear" she replies.
"Yeah true that, you always see the silver lining" Alex responds snapping out of his daydream. "You know it" Sally responds as she winks at Alex and she gets to work.
During the afternoon the team work at their computers, sitting directly next to a row of windows facing the street outside. As they each quietly type emails, create documents or surf the Internet there is a sudden crash into the window directly next to Stella. Stella yells with fright and jumps back away from the window out of her seat. The rest of the team instantly jump up and come to her aid, except Alex who casually walks over to the window and peers out. Sally and Tanya help Stella up from the ground whilst Alex stares at the bloodstained glass. He moves closer examining it then looks down at the two bodies struggling on the ground outside. "Damn I think they're fighting, there's a lot of blood" Alex describes to the rest of the group.
"We should go help them, stop this now" Sally states, "lets just call the police" Tanya replies "this isn't our fight."
Alex stands silently watching the struggle, "Alex what do you think?" Sally asks, "Well security is next door, they will sort it out" Alex replies calmly.
Sally rushes next door and bangs the stained window with Security plastered over it. The door opens unlocks and she bursts into the room where two guards, both of Indian background, are sitting down in front of a TV. "Puneet, Puneet, quick someone's been attacked outside, there's blood everywhere."
The security guards rush out the door to confront the attacker as Sally charges to the office. One of the security guards stands over the attacker and yells "Get off him now" as he points down at the two. The attacker turns and looks back up at the security guard, blood smeared over his face, eyes white with no visible pupils and a dead corpse below him with part of the neck ripped out.
The two security guards gasp in horror and then grab the attacker as he lunges at them, they each grab one of his arms and throw him to the ground holding him there. The blood soaked attacker thrust his head at each of the security guards arms trying to bite them. The guards struggle to keep him down when suddenly the corpse with the large bite out of a neck begins to move and rise up off the floor. Inside the office the four staff members are horrified, "what the hell, that's impossible" Alex states with disbelief.
Stella begins to panic "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."
The corpse now stands up and staggers over to the security guards as they attempt to subdue the attacker, Sally Bangs on the window "Watch out Puneet, Watch out!" Puneet turns around just as the corpse lunges on him biting into his arm; Puneet pushes the corpse back fighting it off. As he does the attacker on the ground gets loose and bites into the face of his fellow security guard. Stella screams in horror as the rest of the team gasp in disbelief. As they continue to look at the gruesome spectacle in front of them Alex notices beyond them on the road there are other people injured, bleeding and other people covered in blood attacking them.
The traffic is at a standstill; people are abandoning their cars, whilst others lock themselves in. Some cars try to escape but collide into oncoming traffic causing more chaos. One car manages to speed away down the service lane whilst others trying to follow end up crashing into turning vehicles. The office is silent as everybody tries to take in what's happening before them, Tanya break the silence "so now can we call the cops?" Sally replies, "Yeah I think that's a good idea, do it."
Tanya calls the emergency line but nobody picks up "I can't get through, It's busy" she says panicked, "What are we gonna do now?"
"We're going to get the hell out of here" Sally states as she puts on her jacket.
"Where we gonna go? It doesn't look safe out there, lets just wait for the police" Tanya asks, "I'm not sure the police are gonna help with this" Sally replies.
"Can we just go now" Stella mumbles, shaking with fear, Alex joins the discussion, "Well Tanya has a point, we're probably safer in the store room across the…" Alex stops mid sentence as the lights go out engulfing the room in darkness.
Stella and Tanya scream at the top of their voices. The car that had sped off down the street only moments before sideswipes another car, skid off the road, through a fence and into an electrical sub station knocking out power throughout the suburb.
The girls screams attract the attention of the attacker outside who rises to his feet and stumbles over to the window, banging on it smearing blood everywhere.
"I think Sally's right, we need to leave now" Alex agrees as the four rush out the room and head down the corridor towards the car park.
As they travel down the corridor they push through the corridors fire doors, which have all closed due to the power outage. The doors are large and heavy, swinging in from the walls on either side of the corridor with small windows to see through. The four push through the doors and enter a stream of students leaving their darkened trade halls and heading outside.
"Hey, don't go out there, it's dangerous" Sally orders the young tradesman who all laugh and mock her, imitating her instructions.
They move outside as Sally follows them continuing to plead with them to stay, Alex grabs her arm holding her back "Leave them, we can't help them, we need to get away from everyone, we need to head upstairs."
Sally turns back to Alex in protest, looking down at his hand as it grips her arm, then looking back at him with disgust. Alex lets her go, holds up his hands in surrender, "Sorry, but we need to go" he tells her then follows Tanya and Stella as they rush up the stairs. After a brief moment of hesitation Sally follows pushing past students and staff as she climbs up the stairs. As she reaches half way up, she looks back to see the students outside the building suddenly scrambling and screaming as an infected person attacks them, splattering blood on those around.
Others descending the stairs also see this and panic, turning and running up the stairs, Sally is caught up in the chaos, finally reaching the top of the stairs where Tanya and Alex await. As she arrives she asks, "Where's Stella?"
Alex and Tanya look around through the crowd in the dark but they can't see much of anything. Tanya sees Stella's long dark hair in the crowd heading away from them in the opposite direction of the car park towards the main education building. "There she is, come on" Tanya yells running through the crowd in darkness with only the occasional classroom window to illuminate the hall.
"Wait, slow down Tanya" Sally yells as they run after her.
The crowds flee down alternative stairwells into the light, whilst a few cower in classrooms with fear, the hallways clear out as Tanya reaches the sky bridge connecting building 2 to the main education building.
"I think she went through there, let's go," Tanya orders as Alex and Sally arrive.
"Lets take a moment and think about this" Alex replies, but Tanya has already opened the door and has started moving through the sky bridge to the next building. Sally follows, as does Alex reluctantly. They enter the building, which is pitch black with minimal windows and only exit signs lighting the hallway. Tanya is waiting for them, unsure where to go. Alex takes out his phone and uses it as a torch, the girls follow suit as they cautiously make there way down the hall. This building doesn't have the chaos of panicked students and staff as the last one did; it's quiet, eerily quiet. They continue down the hallway, as they pass a stairwell they can hear a girl scream and a struggle. They move towards the doorway slowly, poking their heads into it to listen but now there is only silence.
"Come on let's keep going" Alex tells them quietly as they continue down through the dark.
At the end of the hall they enter a foyer with two service counters on either side, and a stairwell down to the main foyer directly ahead. A woman with dark hair heads through the doorway down the stairwell, "Stella don't go down there" Tanya yells, she runs to the door, flings it open and proceeds down the stairs, but half way down she sees the dark haired woman isn't Stella. The woman is fighting off an infected woman who has blood dripping from her face, growling and snarling, trying to bite her victim.
Tanya freezes in horror, looking at the visceral, animal like fury, which the infected woman displays in her desire to devour her victim. At the bottom of the stairwell are a number of other infected, gnawing, clawing and ripping the flesh of a number of other victims lying on the floor.
"What the f*** is going on" Tanya whispers to herself, "Tanya, what are you doing" Alex yells down at her, she slowly turns and returns to the lobby shaking her head, "They're not even humans, they're like animals" she tells them, still shocked.
"Was it Stella?" Sally asks. Tanya slow shakes her head, "It's not her, it was… it was…" Tanya begins to reply but she can't find the words.
"All right, lets go guys, we head straight for the car park and don't stop for anything" Sally orders, Tanya nods her head in agreement but Alex puts a hand up to stop her.
"Lets not rush anywhere, we need to get an idea of what we're dealing with" Alex tells them as he jumps over a counter and heads through the offices to a large window overlooking the intersection next to the college.
Sally and Tanya join him as they look down over a scene of chaos. The intersection is filled with cars lined up bumper to bumper, surrounding a large truck that lies on its side in the middle of the intersection, on top of a number of cars. The area is filled with infected people attacking other injured people that attempt to scurry away to safety, feasting on the flesh of those too slow. The infected are spreading out down the road where some cower in their cars, others flee into a mass of students who are now trapped and climb over each other to escape.
"S**t this is worse than I thought, we need to get out of here" Alex announces.
"No s**t, I told you that 20 minutes ago" Sally replies, Tanya asks tentatively "What about Stella?"
Alex and Sally both look at each other with concern, "We can't help her now, we need to look after ourselves first, we need to make it to the car park" Alex tells Tanya who looks up at him and nods, "Ok, but If I see those things I'm gonna smash them."
As the girls climb back over the counter Alex stops and begins dismantling a paper Guillotine, "I think those people are infected, like rabies or something, we're gonna need to protect ourselves to get out of here."
Alex hands over the Guillotine to Tanya, a short machete like instrument used for cutting paper, he then opens a cupboard and breaks a mop, passing over the broken handle to Sally, he then jumps over the counter holding a pair of scissors and a letter opener.
"It's not quite a guillotine, but it'll have to do" Alex laments looking down at his letter opener.
"Alright we've got 5 buildings to get through, lets get going" Sally orders as she leads them down through the dark hallway.
"We should stay on this level, it'll be safer" Alex adds following her, "I'm gonna smash those freaks" Tanya also adds as she trails behind them.
The three slowly creep through the hallway, every sound and movement startles them, one is a student that shuts a door in front of them and locks it behind her. They travel past the same stairwell but now all they can hear the groans of the infected.
They slowly pass the door and peer down, Tanya inhales the vile odor of blood and guts, she coughs, trying to mask the sound with her hand but it's too late, the infected have heard her.
The three quicken their pace as they reach the first enclosed sky bridge connecting the education building to building 2. They charge through the door, squinting their eyes as they are flooded with light, they pass through the sky bridge into the next building. As they enter the next building they stop suddenly waiting for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, but as they do they hear a groan coming from a side passage directly to their right.
The three back away staring into the darkness, only the exit light behind them illuminates the hall. A figure emerges, blood covering it's face, it hisses at them, out stretched arms clawing for their flesh. "He's infected we need to go" Alex urges them, but the infected man is already approaching. Sally swings the handle, hitting the man in the head, but it doesn't slow him down. She then thrusts the broken mop handle into his chest pushing him back, but each time he's pushed back he returns with greater ferocity growling at her. The handle pierces his chest, she hits him again and again, sending him to the ground and into the darkness, and then there is silence.
"Do you think you killed him" Tanya asks, "I don't think so, I was just trying to keep him away" Sally adds tentatively. "It doesn't matter, dead or alive we're not infected, we'll do whatever it takes to survive" Alex interjects.
As they stand in silence pondering Alex's statement a groan emerges from the shadows. The body moves and rises from the floor, emerging from the darkness, but this time it's being followed by two more infected.
The girls back up, "That's… That's impossible" Sally mumbles as they keep backing away. Alex then moves in front of the girls and kicks the first infected with such force that it flies back and knocks all three infected to the ground.
"Run, now" Alex orders and the three of them run through the hall in the darkness, until they reach a set of fire control doors which are closed. Sally looks through the windows and sees a body lying on the ground, as an infected claws out his intestines.
"What's wrong?" Alex asks, "There's one in there, we can't get passed" Sally responds.
"Down the stairs" Alex yells to them as he charges down. They descend to a foyer, clear of any infected but as they look outside they see dead bodies and infected feeding on them. Alex walks towards the fire doors leading to the car park, as he opens them a blood soaked hand with outstretched fingers emerges grabbing at his tie and pulling him towards it.
Tanya screams and the infected outside stop feeding and head in her direction.
"Go back through the door, back to the store room" Alex yells as he uses the scissors to stab the hands of the infected. One has his tie and pulls him close to the gap between the doors where it's chattering teeth attempt to bite his face. Alex is only centimeters away from being bitten when he cuts his tie, the infected falls back giving Alex the opportunity to follow the others through the second set of fire doors leading back to their office and storeroom. The infected push up against the door, Alex pushes back against them with all his energy, holding them shut.
Tanya and Sally arrive at the storeroom. At the other end of the hall the two security guards approach.
"Puneet, we need help" Sally calls but there is no response, just a low pitch primal growl. As they move closer they can see that Puneet's shirt is ripped open and his intestines are trailing him, still connected to his stomach. The other guard has large chunks of flesh missing from his face; both have white eyes with no pupils.
"They're infected, hurry up" Tanya pleads as Sally takes out her keys to open the door. Her hands are shaking and she fumbles and drops them. She quickly reaches down and grabs them, hands still shaking as she looks up at the approaching security guards.
"Don't worry, I got this" Tanya reassures her, Tanya runs at the two with her guillotine in hand. She swings wildly at Puneet, cutting into his arms, hitting him in the neck and forcing him to the ground. She winds back for a final blow but the second guard leaps onto her knocking her to the ground. Both guards climb onto her and bite into her flesh. Sally looks on in horror "Tanya, noooo" she cries out just as she unlocks the door. Alex loses control of the fire doors and is pushed back, falling to the ground. The infected flood through the doors and descend on Alex.
Alex scrambles along the floor away from them, getting to his feet and running down the hallway towards Sally. Sally stares with disbelief at Tanya, reaching out to her, "Tanya, Tanya no" she cries out. Alex grabs her, pulls her into the storeroom, shutting the door behind them just as the other infected arrive. They bang on the door trying to get in, but stop as they're drawn to another sound.
Inside the storeroom Sally and Alex sit in the darkness hearing Tanya's screams and the commotion outside. After a few moments the screams stop and there is no sound, except the faint sound of chewing, clawing and the tearing of flesh. Sally and Alex take comfort in each other's company and embrace.
After a while Alex breaks the silence, "We have water here, we can stay here for days until the authorities come, if they come."
"What do you mean if?" she replies.
"This infection, whatever it is spreads quick, it looks like some sort of super rabies, if too many people get infected we may not get out, these could be our last days."
Sally sits silently pondering what just happened, "I can't believe this, it can't be real" she quietly tells herself, "This can't be real."
Alex cuddles her tighter, "Don't worry, I'm here for you always, I'll do everything to keep you safe, I….. care a lot about you."
"Thank you Alex, you're a good friend" Sally replies awkwardly.
The two sit in silence for a while longer then Alex again breaks the silence, "I was just thinking, this might be our last day on earth, and we've become close friends recently…"
"Alex, I know what you're going to say, I think you're a nice guy, but I only see you as a friend."
Alex sits in silence, "It's the end of the world, I just thought…." he replies dumbfounded.
"I'm sorry, it's not you, it's me… I mean it's just …" Sally begins to explain but trails off struggling to find the words.
They both sit in silence, Sally looks away unsure what to do, "F*** this is awkward" she says to herself.
"Really, you think" Alex replies sarcastically.
After more awkward silence Sally speaks.
"It sounds quiet out there, I might check if its safe" she stands up and turns the door handle.
"Wait" Alex yells but she ignores him, walks out and shuts the door closed behind her. Alex puts his hand on the handle, as he begins to turn it he hears a shriek "arrghhh."
He stops, takes his hand of the handle and takes a step back in horror.
There is a struggle, bodies crashing into the door, Alex falls to his knees and places his head in his hands, "I can't believe it, she's gone, she's… she.." Alex mumbles to himself with sorrow as a realization sweeps over him "She'd rather face that than be with me."
The commotion from outside stops, then there is only silence, Alex is alone.