Authors: Jason Sanchez
My Network
Matt spent the next few weeks online. He wasn’t the only one that saw the graphic news report. The media tried to block it out. The reporter and his camera man were ghosts on television, but the advent of the internet made sure that no one forgot about it and was constantly reminded of it. The video was streamed all over and became a cult favorite.
What were these creatures?
Why are they spreading so fast?
Who was patient zero?
These were the biggest questions on the internet forums that Matt frequented.
Day by day, Matt would talk to his friends online. He lived his life as a loner mostly. He didn’t have too many people close to him in the outside world. He worked out of the home as an IT support person and his weekends consisted of pizza and the occasional online game, along with sci-fi re-runs.
His online friends were his family, and to most of them, he was the same. As they tracked the “attacks”, which the news called “civil disturbances”, some of them began to disappear. They would always begin the same.
“Hey guys, the power has been going on and off here.”
“I’m seeing a lot of sirens.”
“My neighbors have been acting funny/gone missing.”
“There are a lot of weird people walking around.”
After that, Matt would lose another part of his family and his circle would shrink.
Within the course of a few weeks, Matt was down to a few friends, including his closest one. He actually knew him by name, Mark. He and Mark had been close for years and they both worried about each other. Matt knew that Mark lived west from his location and that was about it.
“Matt, there are a lot of weird people walking around my block. I haven’t seen my neighbors in a while”, the flashing instant message window flashed with urgency.
Matt felt his heart sink; he knew the signs at this point. He knew that he would probably lose his best friend soon.
“Mark, here is my address, there are a few brown outs here and there, but there haven’t been any attacks here really. If you’d like, you can stay with me until this blows over.”
Message sent.
Message not received.
User offline.
That was the last time Matt heard from his best friend.
“I-I’m all alone now, aren’t I?”, Matt said to himself. He had no one else to talk to. He texted Mark, but never got an answer and he would never receive one.
It wasn’t until a few days later when Matt’s internet access was cut off that he felt the stress of the situation. He had lost his pacifier.
Matt spent too long sitting at his computer, staring at the desktop. He clicked on the icon that took him to the internet, but the same thing over and over again.
“Page cannot be found. Cannot find server.”
The computer seemed to mock him at this point. His mind quickly filled with fear. He was entering the mire that his friends had disappeared into.
“I’m next, I’m the last one”, he thought to himself.
Matt held a glimmer of hope. He prayed his internet would come back, he prayed that he would hear from his last and best friend, he prayed that he would be okay.
He fell asleep in his chair. The loud and scary tone of the emergency alert system was blaring on TV. A muffled voice, difficult to understand, but filled with urgency warned whomever would listen.
Matt had a hard time understanding the message, “Do not…call authorities…contagious through bites, fluids, mucous membranes…head to Fort Edward...quarantine…travel lightly…avoid…”
The lights turned off, the only contact Matt had in what seemed like an eternity was gone. Matt looked outside the window to see the sun going down. The last rays of sunlight showed him all the glass on the floor, doors wide-open, boarded windows, and a body on the floor. Near his apartment, he saw bloodstains painting the street.
Matt finally began to panic; he felt his heart about to burst out of his chest.
He heard a man screaming in apartment above him. There are items being thrown around. Something breaks. The man is running. There is a thud. He trips. He screams, he screams at his pursuer. It is impossible to make it out. His screams get higher and are now filled with both fear and agony. He is crying. There is another thud, but softer. Whatever was chasing him must have fallen down on him. His screams fill Matt’s ears. The change in pitch let him know that he is in mortal danger. The screams die down as they turn into sobs.
All is quiet again.
Matt heard running in the hallway.
“HURRY UP! COME ON!” Matt tries not to make himself known; he walks to his door and makes sure the door is completely locked.
He spends a few hours forcing himself to eat whatever food will go rotten soonest. There is no more power in his apartment now.
His heartbeat has been elevated the entire time. He fills up his bathtub with water and becomes lost in the noise of the water filling up and zones out.
“What happened to us? Is Patient Zero really real? What do I do?” Matt’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by scratching at his door.
His heart sank in his chest. He heard heavy steps drag and saw the shadows under the door.
The moan echoed through his mind and he could even feel the scratches hitting his door in the back of his head. Whatever it was must have heard the water filling the tub. “It is a little loud”, he thought. He walked over to the door and Matt heard the scratching get more and more intense and faster.
He looked through the peep hole and saw his neighbor, Stephanie, looking into the door, almost through it. Matt had a feeling something was very wrong. He decided not to say anything to her. She stood there, scratching at the door like a lost puppy.
A door down the hall opened up and Stephanie looked over. Matt saw that her cheek was dangling down and blood was slowly trickling down onto her blouse.
The unlucky soul who opened his door gasped at the sight and ran back into his apartment. Stephanie, sensing a closer meal, began her pursuit and left Matt’s door.
Matt heard Stephanie scratching at the man’s door, only he was trying to scare her off.
“Get away from my house! Get away you, you, you fucking monster!”
She kept at her scratching, unfazed by the comment.
A few hours went by.
Matt wiped down some empty containers he found in his garbage can and filled them with the water from the tub.
He was able to tune out Stephanie’s scratching at this point since it was a little more distant and it wasn’t at his door. He did hear a lot of movement on the floor above him. He heard someone dragging heavy objects near where the door should be.
“Smart if they’re ready for a long term stay.” Matt thought. Much like most people addicted to the digital world, he learned to de-humanize the situation in order to ease off some of the stress.
He tried to think of the situation as nothing more than a video game simulation, one he was determined to pass. He thought of people as other players and thought that the longer he can go without power, the better his score and the stronger he will become out of all this mess.
He smiled at himself for coming up with such a great idea.
“This is nothing.”, he thought. He went around looking for items that would be of any use for the time being.
“That’s it, that’s it, that’s FUCKING it!” Matt, unfazed by the random outbursts crept nearer to his door. It sounds like his neighbor could no longer take the psychological stress of the scratching. He was furious.
He wasn’t thinking.
Matt heard the door open. He also remembered that the doors in the apartment opened inside. While his neighbor had his hand on the knob, Stephanie immediately threw her weight onto him and finally won her prize.
It was ironic, pure, primal instinct out did a being with logic and the ability to plan. Her simple scratching got him to open the door, caught him by surprise, and eventually lost his life and joined the ranks.
Matt listened to his loud screams, only seconds ago, full of rage, now, full of pain and fear. Matt heard some crunching.
He closed his eyes and thought to himself.
“One more player down. It could have been me.”
Suddenly, the world became a little bit more real and he began to wonder how much longer his door could out.
How much longer could he hold out?
Do You Believe Everything You See on TV?
It hadn’t been more than a few days since news of further outbreaks hit the front pages and clouded news programs all over. The emergency service broadcasts warned of power outages and gave instructions on where to go if outages affected your area or if you were bitten/infected.
“Why is it that if you’re infected, they advise you not to go to a hospital?”, Dave asked.
“Really, dude? ‘Cause they’ll probably take you somewhere and just shoot you. Remember that reporter? If I was a doctor, I wouldn’t want to treat that.”, Jason said back.
“I don’t know, doctor? Really? You’re more of a candy striper” Dave replied back, laughing at his friend.
“I didn’t know they still made those. Thanks, Mr. 1950’s”, Jason came back. “But, seriously, we need to think of something because this doesn’t seem to be getting any better. It just gets worse and worse and that bothers me.”
“What makes it worse is that things keep getting closer and closer! We even have a curfew now, I didn’t even have one of these when I was a kid!”
“Dave, it’s tough, but it’ll blow over. It has to. Oh shit man, what time is it?”
“It’s about 10:45pm…” Dave said.
“Mind if I crash here? I don’t feel like getting picked up by those cops. You heard they shot some drunk guy ‘cause he was out late and limping around to get home? I don’t even want to chance it.”
“Sure man, go ahead. I felt like having a beer, and now that you’re staying, I won’t have to be pathetic and drink alone!”
“You’re an ass…but, yeah, throw one over here.”
A few hours had passed by. Both friends fell asleep after a few beers. They didn’t notice the TV’s steady beep. The text scrolling on the bottom was what every town that had become over run was playing.
THUMP
THUMP
Dave stirred a bit; it was 4:30am.
THUMP
THUMP
The house was dark. The only light was from the TV. It’s steady beep was lost to Dave. The thumping noise was coming from the front door.
He was too tired to notice the text.
“Do not let anyone in. Beware of bites. Beware of infected. Head to your nearest evacuation site located on…”
Dave limped to the door
THUMP
THUMP
The noise grew more and more excited after it heard Dave’s footsteps.
Jason began to stir a little bit. Something was wrong.
Dave looked through the small rectangle window on his door. No one was there. He began to walk back to the couch, letting sleep take his body again.
Scratch.
The noise echoed through his mind, “What the hell..?” He said to himself. He went back to the door and heard two hands scratching at the wooden structure. The noises grew more and more louder and more excited.
THUMP THUMP
SCRATCH SCRATCH
Whatever it was smelled him and grew aroused at Dave’s presence. Looking through the window, seeing nothing, and hearing the scratching, Dave was confused and scared.
What was behind the door?
He opened the door slowly.
The door was pushed back with just enough force to knock Dave on his feet. One of the undead, with mangled legs, bone sticking out and blood still pumping through them looked at his meal. It pushed itself forward with it’s gnarled fingernails. It’s dragged itself closer and closer to Dave, letting out an excited and loud moan.
It grabbed Dave’s legs. He kicked it away.
“Wh-What, Jay, JAY!!”
Jason ran over and froze for a second at the sight. It was a young adult, not much older than them. His body was destroyed, his legs were twisted and his clothes were torn. He had barely decayed if at all.
“Help me!” Dave yelled “Please! Don’t just stand there!”
The monster snapped it’s jaws at Dave’s legs. He kicked it in it’s face, knocking away a loose tooth.