'What would you do if there was Zombie apocalypse?' That is a question I asked my parents once, a long time ago after I watched my first ever Zombie movie. Their reply annoyed me, 'I would turn the telly off', even though it as a metaphorical question, I wanted a proper answer. I don't know why, I just did. Now, at this moment, I really hope they had a plan of action. I pray they do from the depths of my heart. The reason for this is; the impossible happened. It started off with just some weird stories on the news. Cannibalism, crazy acts of violence, looting and stuff like that but it was all happening in the cities. Eventually the news said that people who are eating other people won't die from being shot. They only go down permanently if they are shot in the head. Eventually it hit us.
Fuck, I'm late! I power walk down the street towards my work placement at some backstreet coroners' office in some out of the way town in Georgia, one more week and I'll be back in DC! I tell myself, then something happened, something I never thought I'd see. I thought I was going mad! A corpse I saw on a slab yesterday was currently ripping into the throat of my boss with his teeth. I stop and stare, unable to do anything else as her screams fill the air and blood spurts across the pavement. The thing didn't look up as it falls to the floor with my boss underneath him. I know what I have to do. I turn and run before it notices me.
Survival instincts kick in as I run. I make a list in my head, Car, Water, Food and Weapon, Nessa. Not necessarily in that order. I skid to a halt outside the temp house I share with my sister and fly through the door, locking it behind me, and grab my backpack from my room.
"Nessa?" I shout.
I pack some clothes, and grab the gun I technically shouldn't have but I'm perfectly capable of using, out my bedside drawer, I rip off a bunch of the pictures from my wall and shove them in my bag. I run through to Nessa's room, she's not here. I grab her bag and shove clothes in it. If she's not here she's with that stupid boyfriend of hers.
In the kitchen I pack several bottles of water and some non-perishable food, which I have a lot of considering I can't cook myself a decent meal. I pull out two boxes of ammunition from a drawer, I'm sure there is more but I can't remember where, and a butcher knife, bullets won't last forever. I check I'm not forgetting anything useful before I edge towards my door, slowly lifting my car keys from the hook and hold my gun in hand and my knife in my belt.
I peek through my spy hole and spot nothing, not entirely sure if that is good or bad but my car is right outside. I can run for it. I unlock my door quickly and fling it open and run at top speed to my car, unlocking it as I go. I cringe as the lights flash. I see out the corner of my eye a walking corpse notice me and shuffle towards me, a pal of his follows suit. I fling my car door open and throw myself in to the driver's seat and close the door loudly behind me and I lock myself in. I fumble slightly with my key into the ignition and slide the car into drive and slam on the accelerator as these walkers claw at my car door. My car flies forward and heads down the street. I try not to get distracted by the carnage and mayhem erupting around me, people going crazy, the dead eating the living. Thankful that it's a small town I push on until I reach the edge of town, and pull into the street where my sister's boyfriend lives and said sister runs in front of my car. I slam the breaks checking my rear view mirror, just in case. Nothing. I crack the window slightly. I love the girl but if she's bit I can't help her.
"Were you bit?" I ask her as she walks up to my window breathless and teary eyed.
"No, let me in the car you douche!" She snaps
I give her a sceptical look and she pretty much strips to prove it. I unlock the passenger door. "Get in, quickly"
She glares at me and runs around the car and jumps into the passenger seat and locks her door. I press on the accelerator again and drive. Not sure where we are going but I know we can't stay anywhere populated or we'll die. I glance over at Nessa and give her a small smile.
"You okay?" I ask.
She stares straight ahead "Those things ate my boyfriend, Gwen, they ate him!"
I nod "I watched one eat my boss, I didn't sit around long enough to watch anything else. Got my stuff and your stuff and ran"
"How the hell did you act so fast?" Nessa asks
I shrug "Survival instinct"
She nods slowly "What do we do now?"
I shrug "I don't know, we find somewhere high and covered, we sleep in the car so there is no surprises, hopefully we can find more survivors, safety in numbers. We might even be able to pull out the tent in that case."
She looks at me surprised "You took time to pack the tent?"
I shake my head "The camping equipment is still in the boot, I never got around to taking it out"
Nessa sighs and shakes her head "Thank God for your laziness"
We end up hitting traffic outside Atlanta. Not what I was hoping for! I was hoping to take the ring road around and away. I climb out and walk up to a brown haired woman standing next to a tall dark haired man watching a couple of kids play a board game on the fold down boot of a car.
"Hi" I say with a smile.
The woman smiles back "Hello"
"What's going on?" She gives me a look of shock so I rephrase myself "Here, not in general"
She nods in understanding "We're trying to get into the city, there is a refuge centre there"
I shake my head quickly "Don't do that"
"Why?" she asks confused
"That will get overrun in a matter of hours. My sister and I are going to find somewhere high, but covered. Hopefully safe" I state.
The woman looks at the boy in worry and the man walks up behind the woman "Perhaps she's right Lori"
Another woman joins us, looking over at the city panicked. I go to follow her gaze but a large explosion happens first. People start screaming and the guy looks at me then to his little group.
"Let's get out of here" He states.
I nod in agreement and I jump in my car where Nessa is still sitting, watching Atlanta burn. I don't even bother with any car protocol and spin the wheel going half onto the grass at the edge of the motorway and drive back up the way we came.
