“Bloody hell, I’m starving,” he muttered to himself.
He opened up another window and checked on the status of his pizza. According to the screen it had been cooked and had been sent out for delivery over thirty minutes ago. The pizza place was only ten minutes walk away, even less by bike or car. Something must have gone wrong.
“Aw, shit!” he swore.
Thirty minutes meant at best a cold pizza and the only thing Zack hated more than a cold pizza was team killers in online games. Those idiots were always turning up and spent all their time attacking their friends online. Anyway, forget them, he needed food and now. He clicked his mouse on the chat button to speak to one of the pizza representatives.
A window popped as somebody tried to offer assistance. Zack, feeling more than a little annoyed decided to get tough.
“Where’s my pizza?” he typed, muttering as he hit the keys.
The window was static for a short while before letters appeared, presumably by one of the pizza staff. It simply said, ‘hhelp us’ and was then followed by lots of random characters. Even the word help was misspelt.
Zack was not in the mood. His stomach ached and he needed his pizza fix. He sent several more messages but nothing came back. This was weird, the pizza place was usually quick and their chat facility had always worked in the past. As he sat there thinking about alternatives to the pizza shop he heard what sounded like a car crash.
“What the hell!” he exclaimed.
Walking over to his window he pulled back the curtains and look out. His flat was on the sixth floor, but even from here he could make out the crashed car. It looked like a saloon and was wedged between two parked cars. It must have lost control and skidded off the road. As he watched he saw a group of people trying to help the passenger. There was a scream and a number of them ran away, one being dragged to the ground by the occupants. From where he stood it looked like they were biting those on the ground.
Staying where he was he pulled his Smartphone from his pocket and checked the news application. It confirmed what Max had said. He looked back out, then the pangs of hunger kicked in again. The problem was that he’d already paid for his pizza online and he had no more money left until his parents came home tomorrow. Also, what the hell was going on at the pizza place? Maybe they needed his help. Yeah, they needed his help!
Zack hit the speed dial key to Max.
“Hey, Max,” he said.
“Sup Zack, thought you were on a break?” answered Max.
“Yeah, I was but I think this outbreak might be bigger than we thought. I keep trying to call the pizza place, nobody’s replying. Even crazier though, I sent them a chat message on their website and they just said ‘help us!’ What the fuck is going on?” he asked.
“Tell me about it. I got a call from my Dad to say he’s stuck at the hospital. He said they’re getting loads of people coming in. He won’t be back until the morning,” said Max.
Zack moved back to his computer, loading up his internet browser and checking different websites for more information.
“I’m checking online, you think this could be serious?” asked Zack.
One of the stories caught his eye. It linked to a video clip of a situation in northern Spain. He clicked on it and watched it, to his excitement it was almost a mirror of the game they’d been playing. Max started to answer him but Zack interrupted him with his excitement.
“Holy shit! This is fucking awesome. Get on your PC, I’ll send you this link,” he said.
There was a bit of noise at the other end as Max presumably returned to his computer. A chat window popped up and Zack pasted in the internet address to the video clip. He could hear it playing on Max’s computer through the phone. As Max watched it, Zack hit the replay button on his own computer and watched the action again. It looked like an outdoor theatre of some kind. There was a stage and circular, raised seating most of the way around it, like an ancient Odeon. The spectators were screaming and trying to get away from the place. Some ran, others climbed over the hurt. It was a mad panic.
As some of the people ran past the camera a person stepped into shot, grabbing at one of those running by. The attacker was a middle-aged man but there was something strange but familiar about him. There was blood dripping from his mouth, his flesh was pale and he moved with a ridged, uncomfortable gate. As he grabbed hold of the person he lunged forwards, biting into the woman’s shoulder and then pulled her down to the ground. As the two people dropped down another two similar people knelt down and joined in, literally feeding on the dying woman.
“Fuck me!” came down the line from Max, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.
“Zombies!” said Zack.
“Yeah!” agreed Max, “fucking zombies and it looks like it’s already underway. This is awesome! I knew we did all this gaming for a reason, it was for today!”
“Fuck, yeah!” said a grinning Zack, “Get Tim online, we need to put out seventy two hour plan into action. You still got your paperwork?”
“You’re kidding right? Ever since you got that How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse book I’ve had everything ready for this day. He’s here,” said Max.
With all three of them in front of their computers they switched to their headsets so they could discuss their plan as a group.
“Okay Tim, it looks like this is the Zompoc,” said Zack.
“Holy shit! You’re kidding me?” asked Tim.
“No shit, this is the real deal. We need to check, there’s no point putting the plan into action unless this is for real. My plan is we meet up at The Mall. It’s on the main road and the out of town retail stores are there,” said Zack.
With a few key presses Zack loaded up a map of the town, tracing the route he would need to reach the retail park. The site was big but away from most people. It wasn’t perfect but it was in a much better area than where Tim and Max lived in the centre of the town and offered them options, something the town did not.
“Yeah, we need to hit those retail places for our equipment,” agreed Tim.
“We need to get going and fast if this is anything like the movies we’ll be overrun in hours. It might already be too late; we’ve been gaming for hours whilst this shit has been going down. We need to get out, get equipped, supplied and safe before this place goes to shit,” said Max.
“Ok, sounds like a plan. I’m going to get to Max’s flat, he’s only a few streets from here. We’ll then meet you at the railway bridge outside town. From there we’ll get to the retail park. We’ll meet in thirty minutes,” said Zack.
With the plan ready to go Max and Tim both disconnected, leaving Zack on his own. Still hungry but also a little excited. He opened his cupboard and grabbed his ‘bug out’ bag though he couldn’t remember what he’d actually put in it.
After the hours of discussion with his friends at school he’d gone and made a day based plan and even started to hoard equipment, just in case it was needed. He threw on his jacket and then went out to the kitchen, grabbing a few more cans of coke to keep him going. His stomach groaned, instantly reminding him that he needed food and fast. Checking his watch the time was just past eleven o’clock. Not a problem usually for pizza delivery but a big problem for finding stores that were still open.
The last things he grabbed were his phone and keys. Opening the front door carefully he peeked out into the hallway, all seemed clear. He locked the door and then made his way to the lift. The building was surprisingly quiet and he started to wonder that maybe not leaving the flat for the last thirty six hours might now be a problem. What if a zombie apocalypse had started the day before? According to all the books and films he’d seen, this is the time when things got really bad.
Jumping in the lift he hit the button and waited for the doors to close. As always, when he was in a hurry nothing seemed to happen. After a short pause though, the door slid shut and his descent started. He considered the map he’d been looking at before he left. Max’s place was across the road and then three streets behind it, just before the pizza place.
The lift pinged and the doors slid open to reveal the lobby. It was the nicest part of the apartment complex, with marble walls and the mailbox lockers on one side. He opened the secure door and stepped into the street. It was just as it looked from upstairs, just louder and somehow less safe. To one side was the crashed car and he was sure he could see people, probably bodies in the street. Behind the car was a group of at least thirty people staggering around. Either they were all drunk or they were Zack’s first look at a real world zombie. He ducked down behind a parked Volvo and looked around, making sure his route was ok. From his position it looked like the only group was to the left.
Throwing caution to the wind, and feeling a sense of danger and a little excitement, he launched himself from behind the car and rushed across the street. In just a couple of seconds he was on the pavement at the other side and continued walking away from his home. Taking the side road he stayed on the pavement and carried on walking, without noticing anything untoward. Cars were parked in the street as normal but there didn’t seem to be many cars actually driving around. As he reached the corner he could make out the building where Max lived on the opposite corner. Max was a little older and shared with several other university students.
After years of gaming he knew only too well the dangers that unknown streets and corners offered. He moved out into the road but kept his head down to avoid attention. As he crept forward he noticed some more of the zombie-like people in an alley to the left. He stopped and watched for a moment, it looked like they were robbing a third person. He was about to shout when he saw them biting into the man’s flesh.
“Holy fuck!” whispered Zack to himself.
He continued his slow movement to the street corner where Max lived. It was an old stone townhouse with three storeys and a basement that the students often used for late night parties. The windows on the ground floor were flashing and the dull thud of the bass from a powerful sound system made the old Victorian window panes vibrate.
A series of groans emanated from across the street. At first Zack thought it was from the creatures in the alley but he quickly spotted a group of dozens more in the street. He looked in the other three directions and his suspicions were confirmed, the zombies were being drawn to the sound and possibly the lights of the house. Zack looked at the other buildings, but none were producing the sound or light that could possibly get so much attention.
Taking a deep breath he hurled himself the last short distance and started banging on the heavy wooden door. There was no reply, probably because of the extremely loud noise. He looked back over his shoulder to see the horde in the street was getting closer. The only good thing was that they were moving at a very slow pace. He turned back to the door to find a man stood in front of him. Zack staggered backwards, shocked by the appearance of the man.
“What’s up, kid?” asked a man in his late twenties.
Waiting a moment to catch his breath, Zack stepped up closer to the man.
“I’m not a kid,” said Zack indigently, “I’m here to see Max.”
“Whoa, tough guy!” laughed the man as he beckoned Zack inside. Without pausing Zack was inside and made sure the door was shut behind him.
The sound in the hallway was insanely loud, it sounded like they were playing Wheels of Steel again on their Rock Band game. He moved into the room to the sight of four men and a couple of women smoking and drinking. Three of the men and one of the women were playing fake guitars and drums, whilst an older man in his thirties slaughtered the song with his out of tune voice. For some reason, whenever they played this game they just had to choose the never ending version of the Saxon song. One of the men hammered like crazy on the set of imitation drums and the final man, stripped to the waist was strumming away on his plastic guitar. There were at least two more of the group, who were either asleep or passed out, and there were cans and fast-food boxes everywhere. It was so sad to Zack, these games were for children and pensioners, gamers didn’t play this kind of crap.
As Zack stood watching them playing at being in a band Max appeared. He was wearing a thick coat and carried a bag on his back. Max looked older than Zack and more like the other members of the house than the pale faced Zack. He shouted something to him but the noise was too great.
Zack stepped over to the speakers and without pausing hit the power button. The sound dropped off almost instantly, though the rest of the band members continued singing or hitting away at their instruments. In just seconds the room was in uproar. The older man on the microphone launched into a tirade.
“What the fuck are you doing you stupid little prick?” he screamed.
“Haven’t you seen outside, there are zombies and you’re attracting them here with your noise?” said Zack.
The man playing the drums stood up, walking towards Max.
“You’re fucking kidding me? Your friend taking the piss?” he swore.
Max stepped between Zack and the man.
“He’s not kidding, there’s some kind of outbreak going on, haven’t you seen the news?”
One of the women staggered over with a glass of cheap wine in her hand.
“Who cares?” she muttered, “they can join in if they want!”
Zack interjected, “Come on people, listen to yourselves. There’s some serious shit going on out there. We need to get out of here.”
“Shut up, tough guy,” laughed one of the others as he returned to the sound equipment.
“Max, if you want to go, go, otherwise leave us in peace,” said the man.
He leaned down and pushed the lead back in, the music kicked back in almost deafening Zack. The rest of the revellers moved back to their seating or instruments and continued where they’d left off.
Max signalled to Zack to follow him. The two made for the kitchen area that was at the back of the house. Though the sound was deafeningly loud they could just about hear each other.
“Zack, you’re sure this is the real deal?” asked Max.