Experiment Undead

General Maywood pulls out a folded map from her cargo pant pocket. We follow her to the island table in the kitchen, where she spreads it out.

‘With no help coming, we need to save ourselves. We need to think wisely in order to survive,’ she says, tracing her fingers along the parchment. ‘We’re right here on the map. Our mission should be to get to an area with a low population to improve our chances of survival and pray we can get to a helicopter to get us the hell out of here. The problem is, it could be weeks till we are rescued, and sound attracts the soulless, and the large towns would be infested, lowering our risk of surviving. Our best bet is to go through the small and rural areas and camp between towns. Does anyone know of any camping sights outside of this town?’

Nate stands next to her and scans the map. ‘Beeac might be our best bet to go from here. It will probably take us a day to get there on foot if we can’t get vehicles, and we will also need shelter. I suggest we loot stores along the way for camping gear and food.’

General Maywood nods at Nate and folds the map back up.

The soldiers, Clive, Alice, and Greg, run inside towards us.

‘They broke through the second gate. They’re coming this way. We need to go now,’ Clive shouts.

‘What about the other soldiers?’ General Maywood asks.

‘They are all soulless now,’ Clive says, wiping his arm across his eyes, wiping away sweat.

Nate places his hand on my shoulder. I turn and stare at him. ‘Let’s get out of here. Come this way,’ he says.

I nod and follow.

Jane, Liam, and the rest of the survivors follow us while General Maywood runs up front beside Nate.

We’re led quietly through the back of the school without a word spoken. We’re fenced in, but Clive uses the fence cutters and cuts through the wire fencing. Nate and Clive hold it open so we can climb through.

Nate, General Maywood and the three soldiers Clive, Greg, and Alice approach the scattered lone soulless roaming along the road. They use their knives to kill them quietly, plunging them into their skulls.

Jane tries to cover my eyes. She doesn’t want me to watch, but I brush her hands away from my face with an annoyed expression, ‘I’m okay with it. I know it has to be done,’ I tell her.

Nate waves at us to follow once they have cleared all the wondering soulless.

We sneak between cars piled up along the main road and check for any unlocked cars to find any items that will be useful. I crawl through the back seat of a station wagon and look over into the boot. There’s a doll with yellow hair wearing a pink dress. I know it’s not useful, but it would mean a lot to Emma. I put the doll aside and continue to rummage through the boot. I find two chocolate bars, half a bottle of water and a container with a small torch and spare batteries inside. I place the items in my duffel bag and exit the car.

Nancy and Emma are a few cars ahead. Holding the doll, I walk up to them. Emma is scared, sobbing and holding onto Nancy’s shirt tightly.

I crouch in front of her, ‘Hey, Emma,’ I say, hiding the doll behind my back. ‘I got a surprise for you,’ I smile and show her the doll. I watch as her eyes light up.

‘Is this for me?’ she asks.

‘Yes, what are you going to name her?’

‘Molly,’ she smiles and hugs the doll. ‘Thanks, Penny,’ she beams.

‘You’re welcome.’

Nancy nods in approval at the doll.

‘Have you found anything useful yet?’ she asks.

‘Just some chocolate, half a bottle of water and a small torch, what about you?’

‘A small blanket, coins, and a lighter,’ Nancy replies.

I take the tin from my bag and pass it to her, ‘Here, you take this. It has a torch and batteries. I already have two.’

Nancy nods and places it in her bag, ‘Thanks,’ she smiles.

A car alarm further up the road blares loudly. Liam tugs at his hair as he steps back from the car. We all look towards the soulless now coming towards the road.

‘Run!’ Nate shouts.

We run past the car, sounding its alarm, and follow Nate. We all hide behind a large truck to catch our breaths. I peek under to see a group of soulless have already made it to the car. They moan as they walk around, circling it like vultures and ramming their bodies into the vehicle. I turn back around and see other soulless coming from the other direction. I tap Nate on the shoulder and point at them.

‘Shit, they’re coming from both directions, and there are too many to fight off,’ he says.

Everyone stares at Nate and then looks ahead to see the soulless coming.

I bite my lip in thought, ‘If there are too many to fight, that only leaves one way out of this situation,’ I say to Nate. ‘We need to hide in the vehicles and wait it out till they’ve gone.’

Everyone nods. I try and open the front door of a small white van, but it’s locked. Nancy’s Parents are frantic.

Nate approaches them, ‘You must stay calm and quiet as it will only draw the soulless closer to us,’ he tells them.

Walking around the back of the van, I grab the latch and pull. The two doors open.

‘Here,’ I say quietly enough for the others to hear. I grab Emma’s hand and help pull her in, climbing in behind her.

Nancy gets in as well, along with Liam, Oscar, Todd, Jane and Nate. The van won’t be able to fit everyone.

‘Nate, climb over and sit in the front seat. You too, Todd, so that we can fit more in the back with us.’

They nod and sit in the front, keeping their heads low. Two other adults squeeze in. There’s only room for one more. General Maywood frowns, and Nancy and Emma’s Parents hug each other.

‘Kate, you get in and stay with the girls. I will find another car with the others,’ Don tells her.

The Soulless are closing in. They need to hurry before it’s too late. Kate steps inside the van and huddles up to Nancy and Emma. General Maywood shuts the doors. I lean over, lock it from the inside, and watch through the small back window to watch the others find safety in other cars.

Five cars down, Clive finds a small vehicle unlocked. He climbs in with Greg, Alice, General Maywood and Carrie.

Seven others, including Nancy and Emma’s dad, are still trying to find an unlocked car. The soulless are only metres away from them. They are surrounded, and the soulless close in and attack.

Don swings a punch and grabs his knife thrusting it into the head of the soulless woman attacking him. He then fights another. Four of our group members have been bit and now cry, knowing their fate. Don struggles to keep the soulless away from him. There are too many. He runs, jumps onto a car’s bonnet, and attempts to climb onto the roof, but a soulless man grabs his ankle and bites him. I turn my back and stare at everyone inside the van while Don screams out.

Kate makes eye contact with me. I slowly shake my head with a sympathetic stare and look down as she bursts into tears.

I crawl over and sit between Liam and Jane as they comfort me.

‘Mum, is Dad one of them now?’ Nancy asks Kate.

Kate nods her head but doesn’t speak. Nancy and Emma cry, huddling up closer together.

We sit and sob quietly. It’s been over an hour. I move to the back window and look. I can’t see any soulless close by, only in the distance. I unlock the door and open it ajar to peek. I step out and walk over to the car that General Maywood and the others are hiding in. They are huddled low in their seats and jolt as I knock on their window.

Their guns are quickly pointed towards me. I raise my hands and take a step back. They sigh in relief when they see it’s me and lower their guns. General Maywood is the first to exit the car.

‘Does anyone know how many we lost?’ she asks.

‘Seven,’ I mumble.

General Maywood sighs, ‘May their souls rest in peace,’ she says, looking up at the sky before making eye contact with me again, ‘Follow me,’ she says.

I wave for everyone to step out of the van and follow.

We walk over a bridge and come across a street full of shops. Soulless are scattered about, but there are only about a dozen of them. Oscar adjusts the lens of his camera and takes a few photos of the roaming soulless.

General Maywood turns to Nate, ‘We will split into two groups and go from store to store. Take anything useful and then meet at the end of the street, where we will regroup.’

Nate nods and turns to face us, ‘Okay, Jane, Penny, Liam, Oscar, Todd and Clive follow me. The rest of you follow General Maywood.’

Nate and Clive kill five soulless before we enter the tobacco store. Todd fills his bag with pouches of tobacco with paper rollies and filters. Clive also takes some for himself. There are blades in a glass display on the counter. I walk around and open the glass door. I pick two identical knives that have fancy engraved handles and tuck them into my boots to conceal them. I then take a larger knife and tuck it into the back of my pants. I look up to see Nate, Liam and Jane staring at me in shock.

‘What? It’s a zombie apocalypse. Gotta protect myself, you know,’ I say as I slide a bunch of knives towards them over the counter.

They decide that it’s best to take a knife and hide it in their clothes as well. I place the rest in my duffel bag to hand out to the others.

Todd laughs gleefully, grabbing everyone’s attention, ‘Well, at least we have some luck,’ he says, holding a strange-shaped glass bottle up like a trophy.

‘Put the bong back, Todd. The last thing we need are stoned adults,’ Nate growls,

‘But…’

‘Put it back,’ Nate warns.

Todd sighs and pretends to put it back, but I can see he is stuffing it in his bag. Oscar glares at his uncle Todd, but he shrugs his shoulders. When no one is looking, I place a few packs of smokes in my duffel bag, figuring they may come in handy one day. Liam reaches up, pulling down a box of lighters from a shelf, and carries it under his arm as we head to the next store, a bottle’ O.

Nate reaches out and swiftly grabs a few bottles of vodka from the shelf. As he places them into his backpack, I look at him curiously and ask, ‘What’s a bong?’

Suddenly, Nate’s grip on one of the bottles loosens, and it slips from his grasp, shattering loudly on the floor. He curses under his breath, his face contorting with embarrassment.

Thankfully, Clive is nearby and rushes over to check on us. ‘Is everything all right?’ he asks, concern etched on his features.

Nate shoots me a smirk and replies, ‘Yeah, we’re fine. Penny just asked me what a bong is,’ Nate’s tone is lighthearted.

Clive’s booming laughter fills the store, and even Nate can’t help but crack a smile at my question.

Nate crouches down, bringing himself closer to my level, his expression serious but not unkind. ‘Well, Penny,’ he begins, ‘a bong is a device people use to smoke weed, which is a drug. It makes you high when you smoke it.’

Suddenly, I feel a rush of embarrassment, realising why I had elicited such a shocked reaction from him earlier. I cover my mouth to stifle a laugh, and Nate’s lips twitch in amusement as well. ‘Oh,’ I manage to say finally, feeling a bit silly.

Together, we scour two more stores, gathering necessary food and clothing to keep us going. Clive and Nate take care of any stray soulless that cross our path, dispatching them quickly and efficiently. As we reach the end of the street, I spot General Maywood and the others approaching in the distance. They have sleeping bags, and tent bags slung over their shoulders.

One by one, we are handed a sleeping bag, and I unzip my duffel bag to distribute knives to everyone while Liam passes out lighters.

‘This is a good haul,’ Nate remarks with a smile, looking ahead towards our destination. ‘If we start walking now, we could get to Beeac hopefully by nightfall.’

Everyone nods in agreement, but then Emma steps forward, tears streaming down her face. ‘I’m hungry, and I want my Daddy,’ she sobs, her voice choked with emotion.

Oscar steps forward and gently nudges her, his expression sympathetic. ‘I’m hungry and miss my parents too. I know how you feel, Emma,’ he tells her, his eyes understanding her emotions.

Before I zip up my duffel bag, I pull out the chocolate bars I had found earlier in the car and hand them to Oscar and Emma.

‘Sweet, thanks, Penny,’ Oscar winks, and Emma manages a small smile.

‘Right, everyone, let’s move,’ General Maywood orders.

We all zip up our bags, slinging them over one shoulder and our sleeping bags over the other as we march forward towards the town of Beeac.

I walk beside Oscar and glance at the camera he wears over his chest, ‘I don’t understand why you’re taking photos of the soulless and everything happening around us,’ I say to him.

Oscar takes a moment before responding, ‘I think it’s important to document what’s happening,’ he says. ‘These photos tell a story of how society has changed and is changing and how people are trying to survive in the face of a global pandemic. They show humanity’s struggle and resilience,’ he says, showing me the images on the camera’s screen.

‘Huh,’ I say, in amazement, now understanding the value of capturing these moments in history, even if they are difficult to witness. ‘These images look incredible. You’re definitely talented,’ I tell him.

Oscar’s smile widens, ‘You think so? I’ve always loved photography. When I was little, I made a pretend camera out of cardboard. I‘d spend hours outside pretending to take photos of different bugs, people and landscapes, so my dad bought me this camera on my tenth birthday. So, I’ve been taking photos for over three years now. It’s also a way to express myself and my creativity, even amid all this chaos,’ he says.

The photos of the soulless and the damage to the town he has captured end on his screen, which now shows images of Todd on a small boat holding up a fish he caught in the river. Then close-ups of different fish and insects.

I nod, impressed by Oscar’s passion and dedication to his craft. I realise that even in the darkest of times, there can still be beauty and art to be found.

‘We should catch up to the others,’ I say to him.

‘Wait,’ Oscar says.

I smile and turn to face him. He clicks his camera, catching my photo.

‘Oscar! Why’d you take my photo? I look horrible,’ I complain.

Oscar smiles and steps closer to show me the photo, ‘No, you look beautiful,’ he says adamantly.

I gaze at the photo displayed on the camera’s screen, admiring the way the sunlight plays against my skin and the bright sparkle in my blue eyes that I’ve never noticed before. The wind had tousled my blonde pigtails and loose strands of hair, giving the image a sense of playful movement. As I look at the photo, a sweet smile tugs at the corners of my mouth, and I can’t help but feel a sense of joy and contentment.

Turning to Oscar, I meet his gaze, and I feel a subtle warmth bloom in my cheeks. ‘Thank you,’ I say to him, my voice soft and sincere.

His eyes locked on mine. He returns the smile and nods.