The City Belongs to the Dead
The sound of frantic beeping woke Alex up and he instantly shot out of bed, even though he didn't have anything to do until the afternoon.
The job interview he had planned this afternoon probably wouldn't end successfully, but he needed something to fund the various necessities and hobbies he had, from football with his friends to expensive dates with his girlfriend, Ellie. He was going to try his luck and hope his B grade in Maths, Merit in ICT and A Grade in English would help his life keep going. Hopefully the office would be in need of another temp.
The first thing he did was to head downstairs. Once there, he activated his computer, though he resisted the urge to kick it. He didn't want a foot injury again.
When he signed on to MSN, he was greeted by several illness-related messages. He read out a few.
I feel shit lol, just got mugged and I have a headache, wow I feel sick.
He knew that some people were under the weather occasionally, but they all seemed to be complaining about the same thing again. He decided to call one of his friends regarding the football.
After fumbling through the mess that was on top of his desk, he eventually found the phone book and dialled a number into his phone. Before calling, he briefly noticed that the signal wasn't as strong as normal. He should probably check this out later.
Eventually, the phone got through to his friend.
"Hi, Jack? You okay?"
Coughing and spluttering was the response he first got. After the sound of deep breathing, actual speech finally came through the phone.
"No, Alex. I feel quite shit today, in all honesty."
Alex resisted the urge to burst out laughing. Jack had a sense of humour that made it impossible to tell when he was being serious or joking. People often ended up laughing in times of seriousness, not entirely believing what he was saying. For some reason, Jack sounded more serious than he ever had before, and also a bit unwell.
"Well, I was out to get some milk, same normal routine, but then this guy stumbled up to me. He must have been pissed completely, because he bit me. I went home and I've been trying to use the aspirin all day. My headache is killing me completely."
Alex almost hung up in disbelief. He'd heard of drunken men being stupid, but this sounded new.
"Are you sure you haven't got a hangover?"
A sigh of disbelief crackled through his phone's speakers.
"You know I've stopped drinking ever since that girl tried pulling me at the club."
Alex sighed, remembering.
"Well, take care of yourself."
He hung up before a response could come through and damage his eardrums. He wasn't in the mood to argue. At the same time, he admitted today had been fairly strange.
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It was now half past twelve, so Alex decided that it was time to go as town could sometimes be difficult to get into. The congestion charge that the local council had put in place didn't work properly, and often the streets would be flooded with taxis, cars and delivery trucks. Before going, he made sure that his hair and teeth were clean and changed into some smarter clothes. No need to spoil an interview just because of his appearance.
Going at a brisk pace, he walked down the road and planned to go by the bridge. It was comparatively quicker than some other ways as most of the major roads were avoided, allowing him to avoid the congestion a while longer. Traffic in the early 21st century was horrific, that went without saying. And if stuff was horrific, Alex wanted to be as far away from it as possible.
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When he arrived, all he found was chaos.
People shambled around, biting others and pulling them out of their cars. Riot police were desperately attempting to stop the weird men from overrunning their barricades, but with limited success. Those that were not fleeing from these attackers were dropping down dead, though why this was happening made no sense. Perhaps they had been shot, but somehow he doubted it.
He decided to run. It wasn't safe here.
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Author's notes: This was made for an Urban Dead group's writing contest and I had to hurry to get this finished, so please forgive the rush.