I didn’t really notice until the time came to tell my story, but every significant event of the last few month seemed to happen on a Monday or a Thursday. I don’t know why I feel like I need to tell my story. At first I thought it would be good for other people to know what happened so that they could stop it from happening again, like a war or something, but I’ve come to realise there wasn’t much that anyone could have done to prevent this and, when it came down to it, the right people were damn good at dealing with the problem and they dealt with it fast too.

I still want my story to be known though. Not for myself but for everyone in it. I don’t want them to be forgotten. It just seems really, really important that they’re remembered for who they were and not for what they became

2: First Thursday

It started on a Thursday afternoon when I went into town to do some shopping. It was pretty quiet, but that was normal for a Thursday afternoon in a small town. I only started to worry when I got to the shop and there was no one there. I hung around outside for maybe half an hour and no one showed up. No one walked or drove past either. I decided it was long enough and went home, trying not to worry about what could have happened. Surely it was some small thing, like the store lost power so they sent everyone home or something. Maybe the water mains broke and they had to close until it was fixed. It’s happened before. There were plenty of reasons for the place to be closed, although none of them explained why the rest of the town was deserted.

It was only when I got home that I realised it could have been something much worse. Maybe there had been news about the virus. Only bad news could have shut everything down like that though.

“There was no one in town.” I called from the door when I got home. “The shop was shut too, so I couldn’t get anything.”

“I’m not surprised. Come look at this.” Mum called back from the lounge. The news was on TV and the story was about Sargo. The ticker at the bottom told me that it was an emergency broadcast.

You’ve probably heard all about the Sargo virus already, particularly the S24 strain, the one that caused all the trouble. Maybe you haven’t heard about what everyone thought of it before S24. When it was first discovered, scientists hailed the Sargo virus as a miracle waiting to happen. It’s potential was supposedly limitless - it would cure AIDs, further space exploration, open the doors to commercial nanotechnology. Back then, barely a year ago, Sargo was a dream come true.

But viruses are tricky things and they mutate so easily and so often. What started out harmless quickly became deadly. S24 was the twenty-fourth strain of Sargo that had been found and, about a week before my trip into town that day, it had escaped containment. No one was sure what it could do, if it was harmful, how far it might spread before they could contain it again. No one had been too worried though. It was only Sargo, what harm could it be?

The news report showed exactly what kind of harm it could be. There was a reporter somewhere in the capital, Glenburg, standing in front of a cordoned off area.

“An outbreak of S24, the virus that escaped containment last week, has been found here in Woodside, Glenburg. It is believed that the virus is now contained but we don’t know how many people may have been infected.” A distant figure lurched into the view of the camera. There was a muffled yell and the picture went out of focus for a second as the camera zoomed in on the figure. It looked terrible, like… there was some more yelling, a confusion of shapes and the camera seemed to tip over before cutting out. The screen was blank for a second before switching back to the anchors in the studio.

“Looks like we’re having technical difficulties.” The male anchor said, grinning nervously. “We’ll get back to that as soon as possible. Until then we would like to remind you that it is recommended that you stay in your homes. Now back to your regular programming.” The news report ended and mum switched off the TV.

“So that’s why no one was in town.” I said. Mum nodded.

“It came on just after you left and they said something about businesses in Glenburg and nearby towns being closed. I guess that means here too.”

“You know, that thing kind of looked like a z-”

“Don’t even start with that nonsense, Ella.” Mum said dismissively. We had talked about this before. “This will just be another one of those epidemics that everyone gets so worried about before it turns out to be nothing. I’m going to go take a shower.”

I nodded and tried to put it out of my mind but the thought wouldn’t go away. The thing on the TV really had looked like a zombie

3: First Monday

By Monday the infection had spread. It happened faster than anyone could have imagined and it was nowhere near contained. There were reports of stores being raided as people prepared to turn their homes into strongholds. We were starting to realise that this wasn’t going to be a small thing like Mum had thought.

Turned out I was right about the infected guy. Of course, they wouldn’t say it on the TV. They would avoid the z-word at all costs, talking instead about “the infected” or “those suffering the disease” - gutless phrases that just danced around the truth. Everyone else called them zombies. People thought they were prepared, that they could handle it, but this wasn’t like a zombie invasion on TV or in a movie. No one was even sure yet how the virus spread, but it seemed as if skin to skin contact was enough.

Mum and I stayed inside, keeping a close eye on the news. It had been three days since either of us left the house. We both went out on Friday to stock up on food and water. That had been a chaotic day, the town full of people doing the same as us.

For now me and mum spent our time in the lounge, surrounded by boxes, cans, and bottled water. Mum cradled a shotgun in a slightly unnerving way while I stuck with a baseball bat. I knew it wouldn’t be much help if zombies actually attacked, but it was reassuring to have around.

By then most TV channels played news constantly and a lot of others had gone off air completely. One had ended with a panicked technician doing a live broadcast, yelling that the zombies were here and everyone was infected. He had run away and a zombie lurched on screen, knocking over the camera. A second later the channel’s regular programming was back on. Now that I think of it, that was the first time I ever heard someone on TV call them zombies. Anyway, the general theory on the internet was that someone had put the channel on automatic and it would keep going until it ran out of shows. People called it the Ghost Channel and treated it like a kind of memorial. I thought it was creepy and mum and I avoided watching it.

So far the news was mostly about how to spot the infection. There were a few obvious symptoms - blistering, sores, skin tearing at the slightest touch - but they took a few hours to appear and in the time between being infected and turning full zombie, who knows how many people could have been infected by someone they thought was healthy. It was terrifying to think that anyone could be a zombie waiting to happen.

The only other things on the news were vague reports of how far the virus had spread. So far the capital was infested with the disease. Rumour had it that there was no one left uninfected there. It had reached nearby towns too, including our own, but we didn’t need TV to know that. I checked online for news too, but it seemed to all be rumours and guessing.

On Friday no one had really seemed sure of the threat but, at the same time, no one was about to pass up a possible zombie apocalypse. It was the thing thousands had been waiting for after all and, in a grim sort of way, it was exciting. A real life zombie story. I don’t think anyone expected it to get this dangerous.

4: Second Thursday

Two weeks had passed since the first S24 outbreak. It was hot, and it had been that way for the last few weeks, but Mum had been being extra careful and wouldn’t open the windows in case of zombies, so we had been sweating it out inside and now we were running out of bottled water. The tap water was still running, but Mum didn’t trust it. I didn’t blame her. After all, we still weren’t sure how the virus spread. It could have been waterborne.

We had avoided the issue of water until the last minute. Mum had tried to bring it up when we were down to five bottles, saying she should go out and get some more. I said she shouldn’t and we had argued about it half-heartedly before dropping it. When we were down to the last bottle, Mum brought it up again.

“Ella, I’m going to go into town and get some more water.” She said out of nowhere.

“What? Mum, no. There might not even be any. It’s too risky to go into town.” I argued.

“I have to at least check. I’m not going to risk tap water unless there’s no other option.”

“Then I should go.” I said. “I’m faster and smaller than you, I could get out of a situation easier.”

“No. Ella…” Mum started in that tone mothers use when they’re going to say something important. “I’ve thought about this and it comes down to two things; you’re my daughter and if you go out there you could be in danger. It’s my job to look after you and if that means going into town to find water during a zombie apocalypse so that you don’t have to, then I will. Besides, if something does happen then you’re young and I’m old and you have more of your life to live than me.” I opened my mouth to argue but she held up her hand and said “We’re not arguing about this, I’ve already decided. I’ll be back in an hour whether I find water or not.”

She left.

Sometimes I think back to that argument and wonder if I should have been more persistent. I know now that it wouldn’t have made a difference in the end, but that doesn’t stop me wondering. Maybe Mum would have made it a little longer if I had gone into town that day. I try to never regret anything but… I do regret not arguing longer that day.

So I waited, flicking through the TV channels. There were only three still running, two news channels and the Ghost Channel. After a minute I couldn’t stand the TV any more and turned it off. I paced up and down the hall over and over. I risked opening a window a tiny bit for some fresh air. I checked the clock. It had only been twenty minutes.

I paced some more. I picked up and put down at least five different books. Now it had been half an hour. I watched a few videos on Youtube, incredibly grateful that the internet still worked. I stared at the last bottle of water, blaming it for my restlessness, trying to work out if it was half full or half empty. I checked the clock. At last it had been an hour.

Mum wasn’t back yet. I looked out the door and couldn’t see her. Now I was even more restless, checking the clock every two minutes. Mum was five minutes late now. Ten minutes, twelve minutes. Those few minutes spent waiting by the door were the slowest minutes of my life.

At just about fifteen minutes late, the door opened and I jumped, the way you do when you’ve been expecting something for a while and it suddenly happens. Mum put down the pack of water bottles she was carrying, six of them, big ones too. What happened then… that conversation is still so clear in my mind.

“Mum!” I was relieved to have her back but even then something bothered me. Mum had a weird look on her face, so uncertain. It wasn’t like her to be unsure about anything.

“Stay back!” She snapped when I stepped towards her. I hesitated.

“Is… something wrong? Mum? Did something happen?” I asked, hoping she would say no, but knowing she wouldn’t. Mum didn’t say anything for a while, just stood there with her hands braced on her knees like she was exhausted.

“There was a… one of them in town.” She said after a minute, shaking her head. “I think I avoided, but I don’t know. It was in the shop, I got in and out as fast as I could but it got so close. Maybe too close, I don’t know. You know what it says on the news, about it taking so long for the infection to show…” Mum shook her head again. “I’m… going to my room. For at least a few hours. We have to know for sure and I’m not taking any risks. I don’t want you getting infected.” She looked at me when she said that last part. The whole time she had been talking I just stood there, not knowing what to do.

“Mum, no.” I said and my voice came out as a cracked whisper.

“Ella, listen, if I am infected, I want you to-”

“No!” I said, too loudly this time. Until right then the whole zombie thing hadn’t seemed real. It was just another story on TV. Now it was here, standing in front of me. I stepped back.

“Ella, please, don’t be squeamish about this. If I really am infected then I don’t want to hurt anyone else, especially not you. In a few hours I want you to check on me, but do it carefully. And when you do… bring the gun.” Mum looked me right in the eye then, deadly serious. Deadly. Probably not the best word to use there. Mum didn’t add anything, just looked at me. It was pretty obvious what she expected me to do if… I just nodded, not trusting my voice. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Mum nodded back. “Thank you. I love you Ella.”

“Don’t do that.” I said. “You’ll be fine.” Mum didn’t say anything. I think even then she knew she was infected. She probably wouldn’t have come back at all if it weren’t for the water she was bringing.

And… I guess she came back for one last chance to see me while she was still herself.

-

I don’t remember much of the rest of that day, it all passed in a blur. I had thought my restless waiting was over when Mum came back, but in no time I was back to pacing and checking the clock every few minutes. Mum said to wait three hours. After three and a half I couldn’t stand putting it off any more. I remember not taking the gun when I went to check on her, still denying that anything could have happened. I remember slamming the door and running. I remember finding the gun and firing. I remember the mess it made and the pile of bloody flesh it left lying in the hall. I remember trying not to think about what I had done, trying not to think of the pile as my mother.

I don’t remember what she looked like before I shot her. I don’t know if I want to. I remember watching TV, trying to pretend nothing had happened. I remember finding a bottle of wine in the fridge and drinking it all. I remember even less after that, but what I do remember is awful. I remember looking up the hall and seeing something moving. I remember realising that it was my mother, that it was the zombie, and that they were the same. I remember screaming and firing the gun again and again, even reloading it shakily until I ran out of ammo. I remember throwing up. I remember that I didn’t cry.

5: Second Monday

When I woke up on Friday afternoon, I was seriously regretting the wine. Eventually I could focus enough to leave the house, unable or unwilling to stay after everything that had happened. I packed what food and water I could into an overnight bag, one of those square ones with wheels. I took my baseball bat too, but I left the shotgun - it wouldn’t be much use without ammo anyway. I spent the rest of the day walking, not really thinking about where I was going, just knowing that it was away from where I had been. Sometimes I saw people, moving around in the houses I passed, but I couldn’t tell if they were infected or not so I didn’t go to them. The streets were quiet although it would probably be less so in town, so I didn’t go there either.

By Monday morning I was still regretting the bottle of wine. I had found an empty house that still had power and, surprisingly, a working TV. I don’t know what happened to whoever lived there before. Maybe they ran when they heard about the zombies, maybe they were out and became zombies themselves. I was just grateful for the safe haven they had left behind. I flicked on the TV and found that, apart from the Ghost Channel, only one channel was still live. It was news, like always, and I watched it for hours, catching up on what had happened in the days since… well, you know.

The infection had spread. The towns closest to Glenburg, including my own, were marked as “Severely Infected” while places further out were labelled “Infected” and “Possibly Infected”. There were plenty of warnings on what to do and what not to do. Don’t travel, don’t fight the zombies directly, don’t use guns, don’t get to close. Do stay in your homes, do check up on your neighbours, do keep up with the news. Everything was about the zombies, although the media still called it “the infection”, “the virus”, “the disease”, anything but the z-word. It seemed to me like they were as much in denial about it as I had been a few days ago.

So far I hadn’t seen any zombies, but I was deliberately avoiding where they might be. Unfortunately I was also running out of food and water, so I would need to find somewhere that still had something edible in it. A shop in town was my best bet. That meant going to places most likely to have a lot of people and that meant a lot of zombies.

All I had was a baseball bat, which really wouldn’t help much. If a zombie was close enough for me to hit then it was far too close. I sat in the abandoned house, fiddling with a loose thread on my shirt while I put off doing anything. After another half hour I was bored of the news - it had started repeating itself - and decided to search the house, realising at the same time that I should have done that as soon as I got there.

I don’t really know what I was hoping to find. Some food maybe. A convenient gun with a full box of ammo, like you get in video games. Whatever I was looking for, I didn’t find it. The place had been abandoned in a hurry, but not so much of a hurry that the owners hadn’t taken everything useful with them. Mostly the food. I had really wanted to find some food so I could avoid going into town a while longer, but there was none. I sighed and flopped back down on the couch, staring at the TV without really seeing it. There was nothing for it. I would just have to go into town and find more food.

I got up, moving without really thinking - thinking too much would only make it worse - grabbed my bag and left the house. I walked into town, running on automatic the whole time. Only when I actually saw a zombie did I let myself think about what I was doing. It was further down the road and it hadn’t noticed me yet. Hiding seemed like the best option, so I hid in a little alley between two buildings and looked out tensely.

The zombie wasn’t even facing my direction. I stayed hidden and watched for a few minutes anyway but it just lurched a bit further down the street. I crept out of the alley and down the road to where I could get to the next street over. I moved as quietly as I could, keeping an eye on the zombie. Every little sound made me jump. When I got out of sight of it I relaxed a bit and started looking for shops. I found a one nearby, but it was full of zombies, so I moved on, skipping the next two shops as well, just because they were too close to the zombie place.

The third place along - a supermarket I think - had smashed windows, knocked down shelves and looked entirely empty of food. On the other hand, it was empty of zombies too, so I had a look around. I picked through the smashed shelves, dust, and inexplicable pieces of torn cloth on my quest for something edible. Some water would have been nice too, but there was nothing. I was about to leave when I thought of checking the storeroom. I had noticed the door to it during my search, but I hadn’t though of going in at first. It was against the rules, but the rules didn’t apply any more. Maybe there would be something in there.

Lucky for me, there was. The storeroom was practically a warehouse. It was filled with huge shelves that were mostly empty - but only mostly. I could see that there would be plenty to eat and drink here. I almost smiled, thinking that I could even stay there for a while. Climb up the high, wide shelves and sleep on top, safe, away from the zombies. Things were looking up.

I started searching the shelves. The ones nearer the door were mostly empty but as I got further into the place my food bag filled up quickly. Most of what I grabbed was the usual long-lasting stuff - canned and dried food - but I also grabbed a few more perishable things, like chocolate. The I grabbed another can but it wouldn’t fit in the bag, so I carried it.

I rounded the next corner and found myself facing the barrel of a gun.

“Drop the can.” A voice said from behind the gun. It wasn’t a particularly intimidating voice, but it also came from behind a gun, so I dropped the can and stepped back. “Don’t move.” The voice ordered. I froze. “Who are you? What do you want?” It demanded.

“I-” I started to answer but my voice cracked and I coughed, realising I hadn’t spoken in four days. Not since the… incident. I cleared my throat and started again. “I’m Ella, I’m here because there are zombies everywhere and I’m running out of food and this is the first place I’ve found with anything easy to get.” I explained, hoping the person behind the gun would understand and maybe stop pointing their gun at me. The gun lowered slightly. Well, that was a good start.

“You infected?” the owner of the gun asked. I shook my head, hoping I was right. I couldn’t think of any way I could have been infected in the last few hours, at least. The gun dropped to its holder’s side and I finally got a decent look at the person behind it. Funny how a gun in your face takes up all your attention.

The gunner was a man, average height, in his late fifties, maybe sixties. Red hair, a scruffy little beard. Red face too, like he had spent too long in the sun all his life. “You shouldn’t be here.” He said, and his voice was gruff and growly, but not entirely unkind.

“I… don’t really have anywhere else to go…” I said. The man’s expression didn’t change. “If you really want me to leave, then I will.” I said eventually, sighing a little. I knew it had seemed too good to be true. The man nodded.

“Now I’m no monster, I know there’s plenty here so you take what you need, but I want you out of here by nightfall, y’hear?”

I nodded and was bending to pick up my can of beans when we both heard a noise. The man reacted surprisingly quickly for someone who looked so old, whipping around with his gun up in a split second. For a moment there was nothing, just the noise, a quiet little shuffly noise. Then the thing making the noise shuffled into view from behind another shelf. It was a zombie. Of course it was a zombie. I was frozen in place, still half crouched, hoping the man had the sense to not shoot it. It hadn’t seen us yet. I thought that as long as it didn’t notice us we would be safe.

Obviously the man didn’t think the same, as he fired a moment later, hitting the zombie in the torso. It was a useless shot, not even enough to slow the thing down. It turned and started lurching towards us. I was up and running in no time flat, somehow remembering to take my food bag with me. The man was running too, close behind, but stopping now and then to turn and shoot at the zombie again. I glanced back and saw that he was a terrible shot, mostly missing the zombie. Every time he stopped he fell a little further behind too, with the zombie slowly catching up.

At the end of the aisle we split up, him going left and me going right. I risked looking back again and saw that the zombie was chasing the man, not me. I felt a little relieved and a little guilty for feeling relieved. I turned to the nearest shelf and started climbing, leaving the food bag on the ground and hoping that being up high would keep me safe.

From the top of the shelf I could see that the man had run into an area clear of shelves, a loading bay maybe. Wooden pallets were scattered all over the floor there and when the man looked back at the zombie he tripped over one and fell. The zombie wasn’t far behind and it got to him before he could get back up. I couldn’t really see what happened, but I couldn’t look away either. The man screamed. I had never heard a grown man actually scream before.

Suddenly the shelf I was on shifted a little. I gripped the sides and looked down to find more zombies. Of course there were more zombies. If they hadn’t already been there then they would have been attracted by all the noise the man was making with his gun and his screaming. The shelf moved again, rocking back and forth. The zombies were pushing on it. No no no no no no, this isn’t happening, this can’t happen. Not here, not to me, I thought. In no time I was up and running along the swaying top shelf, trying to keep my balance as it got closer to tipping over every second.

It was too far to jump to across the aisle but the shelves were butted up against each other in long rows, so getting to one that wasn’t moving wasn’t a problem. I stepped onto the next shelf along, stumbling on the suddenly stable ground. Just in time too, as the shelf I had just been on fell, hard enough to knock over the next two shelves before the wall.

I looked down at the zombies. One was pointing at my shelf. It groaned loudly and the whole group started moving towards me. What the hell was that? Some kind of smart zombie? No thanks, I thought, already running again. Maybe if I got far enough down the row of shelves I could climb down and escape. As long as I was up there though, I was trapped.

So I ran, covering the distance to the end of the shelves quickly and starting my climb down. I got about three quarters of the way down before I jumped, hitting the ground running. The smart zombie had noticed and most of the group were already lurching in my direction. They were faster than I expected. I turned a corner and ran down the next aisle, back the way I had come. When I got to the end of those shelves I remembered my food bag and turned back up the first aisle to get it. It was close enough, but it wasn’t exactly a delay I could afford.

Already I was panting, running out of steam. I had never been the fittest person and all this running and climbing was too much. Plus now I had the weight of the bag I was dragging beside me slowing me down.

Somehow I ended up in the loading bay where I had seen the man being attacked. The zombie was gone, but the man wasn’t. He was bloody and shaking, staring at his hands. I hesitated for a moment before he noticed me.

“Get back!” He snapped, and his voice shook almost as much as his hands. “I’m infected, stay away, you still have a chance…” He trailed off and went back to staring at his hands, muttering over and over, “Stay away, I’m infected. I’m infected, I’m one of them, stay away.”

I should have kept running. Maybe it would have made a difference, maybe not, I don’t know. For just a moment though, I stopped, not sure what I should do. That moment was too long and when I looked back the zombie horde was so close, too close. I took off running again, but now I was tired, slower, clumsier. I stumbled and something grabbed my shoulder. I slapped it away, wanting to scream but also not wanting to waste my energy on anything like that.

A zombie caught me again and this time I couldn’t just shake it off. Time seemed to slow down. It was behind me, but I could feel it lean in. I turned just in time to see it sink its teeth into my shoulder. This time I did scream. It hurt a lot, and all I could think was “They bite? No one told me they bite!” It was such a typical zombie thing that I never even realised that no one had mentioned biting before.

Some instinct kicked in then and I hit the zombie as hard as I could, which wasn’t very hard considering the angle. It let go. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember thinking that it was too late now, but I ran anyway. The zombies didn’t chase me, which I was faintly grateful for.

I found my way outside, through a side door. The street was quiet, sunny, and empty, but I didn’t stay in the open. I found the alley where I had hidden from the first zombie and gently folded into a pile on the ground. My shoulder was bleeding a lot and in a distant kind of way I thought I should really do something about it.

I pulled off my shirt and tried several times to wrap it around the wound but it didn’t want to stay so I eventually just wadded it up and leaned on it, pinning the shirt between my shoulder and the alley wall.

I don’t know how long I sat there. I stared at nothing and didn’t think much. I just waited, quite patiently, for something to happen. There was no hope that I wasn’t infected. One thing I do remember thinking was that I wanted to do something, some last little thing, to prove to myself that I was still human. I thought crying would be good, but no tears would come. So instead I just sat and waited.

-

I woke up suddenly, sore and confused. After a moment I remembered the zombie attack, the bite, falling asleep in a dirty alley waiting to die. Interestingly, I didn’t seem to be dead. I blinked and stretched, flinching when the movement hurt my shoulder. It was dark. I had gotten to the warehouse mid-afternoon and it was summer so the sun set late. A few hours would have passed since the bite, easily enough time for the infection to set in.

But… I ran through every event of the last few weeks in my head, listed off all the houses I had lived in, a couple of friend’s phone numbers, the name of the shop my grandma had owned before she died. It was all still there. I looked at myself. There were no sores, no blisters and my skin didn’t look pale and grey like the zombies’ did. I took my pulse - it was still there. All the signs pointed to one thing; somehow I hadn’t been infected.

Was it possible that… I was immune? It wasn’t something I had dared to think before, but they had mentioned on the news that some people, a very small amount, were immune to the virus. And… I was one of them?! It was the best outcome I could have hoped for. In spite of everything I had been through, I smiled.

6: Third Thursday

I spent several days in town, not sure what to do, living in the warehouse where the attack had happened. I noticed that the zombies ignored me now, which was interesting. I did everything I could to get their attention, throwing rocks, yelling, anything, but they didn’t respond at all. I guessed that they only wanted to pass on the virus and weren’t interested in the whole flesh eating thing and that, since I was immune, they had given up trying to infect me. That was fine with me.

By Wednesday my shoulder was inflamed and what I could see of it didn’t look good at all. All I had done to clean it was wipe it with a dirty shirt, which was a terrible idea, but it was all I had. The warehouse had had very little in the way of medical supplies, just a few plasters. Nothing that would be useful to me.

On Thursday morning I decided I would find some outside help. I packed up my food bag and headed out, grateful that I had brought a bag with wheels instead of a backpack. For a long time I just stood outside, wondering where I should go to find help. After all, who would take me in? It wasn’t like I needed somewhere to stay, I just needed my shoulder checked out and cleaned up. It would have been nice to go to a doctor or a hospital but the nearest hospital was in Johnspark and the doctors around here were unreliable at best and incompetent at worst. Not that it was likely there even were any left. I didn’t even need a doctor, really, a nurse would do.

That was when it came to me - Will! I could go to her house! I had been there once or twice before, so I knew the way and Will knew me well enough to vouch for me. Even better, her mum was a nurse. Best of all Will was… well, I might have had a bit of a tiny, little, massive crush on Will. So it was a good excuse to see her and find out if she was okay.

So I set out for Will’s house. It was about a twenty minute walk from where I was staying, which was good because my shoulder stabbed with pain at every step. I was going so slowly that it took me almost twice at long to get there. When I did get there I was so tired I just stood and stared blankly at the front door for a few minutes before I finally knocked. Noises came from inside the house but no one opened the door. I could hear muffled voices, then silence.

A moment later someone called through the door “Get back! No closer than the bottom of the stairs!” I nodded and stumbled backwards down the three steps that led up to the door. Then the door opened to reveal a gun pointing at me. Again. I flinched and stepped back, tense, not sure what to do.

Nothing happened.

“Um. Can you not point a gun at me?” I asked, my voice hoarse from lack of use. The gun lowered slightly to reveal Will’s dad.

“You’re one of Will’s friends, aren’t you?” He asked. I nodded. He noticed my shoulder and his eyes narrowed. The gun came back up. “You’re hurt. You could be infected, you’re not coming in here.” He stepped back inside, about to close the door.

“Wait! No, wait, I’m not infected!” I said quickly, “I mean, yeah, this is a zombie bite but it’s three days old now and I haven’t turned into a zombie. I think I’m immune.” I explained, hoping he would believe me. Will’s dad looked unsure, but Will’s mum appeared behind him and moved him gently out of the way, ignoring his protests. She came outside and looked at my shoulder, making concerned noises.

“This is definitely a few days old. Looks nasty too, infected with something a little more mundane than S24 I’m sure.” She turned my head and looked me over. “You look awful.”

Well, that was true. I hadn’t wanted to put my shirt back on after it got soaked in blood, but I hadn’t been able to find another one either, so it was haphazardly draped around my shoulders. Now that I thought about it, I probably looked like the worst kind of hobo and not someone you want to let into your house. Luckily for me Will’s mum was the kind of person who wouldn’t just leave someone if she knew she could help.

“Come inside and we’ll see what we can do about that shoulder, hm?” She said. In the background I noticed Will’s dad sighing and rolling his eyes, but also putting the gun down and heading back inside.

Will’s mum took me to the bathroom and made me sit on the edge of the bath while she went to find her nursing tools. She returned a moment later, looking ready to perform emergency surgery on unsuspecting passers-by. She took my shirt off and had a better look at my shoulder. I couldn’t turn far enough to see without it hurting so I just waited. It wasn’t long before the poking and stinging and general medical pain started.

“So… where’s Will?” I asked in an attempt to distract myself. I could smell some kind of disinfectant. It stung when it got to my shoulder.

“Oh she’s probably in her room. She’s been a bit upset that the whole zombie apocalypse thing isn’t as exciting at everyone thought it would be.” Will’s mum chuckled, rummaging through her bag of supplies. “Lucky for us really. I would rather be stuck inside until this is all over than stuck outside doing who knows what to survive. I couldn’t imagine how awful it would be to be out there, hiding and fighting all the time.”

“Mm.” I mumbled in a tone of agreement.

“Oh. I suppose that’s what you’ve been doing, isn’t it?” I could see out of the corner of my eye that she had the universal “concerned mother” face on.

“A little.” I said, almost shrugging, but remembering not to just in time. “It’s not too bad I guess. Finding food is easy enough at the moment, but I don’t know how long that will last. Plus I haven’t had to worry about zombies for a while now.”

“Well, that’s something at least.” She replied in a distracted way. “So why haven’t you been at home? Wouldn’t it be safer there? What about your mum, where’s she?”

“Uh.” I grimaced at the thought of what was at home, then winced when Will’s mum did something particularly painful. “Well, uh. When this all started, you know, it was on the news and stuff, really early on, me and mum decided not to drink the tap water because viruses can be in water, right?”

“Good move. The tap water doesn’t work any more anyway.” Will’s mum mumbled.

“Yeah, so, we bought a lot of bottled water instead and we were drinking that and it was really hot inside and we ran out so mum went into town to get some more. Except when she came back she, um. She said she met a zombie. Not like this,” I added, gesturing at my shoulder, “but it was enough and later that night, uh, she… it, um. And yeah. So I left.”

“Oh.” Will’s mum was wearing the concerned mother face again. I guess she understood enough of my useless words to work out what had happened. Funny how it’s so hard to talk about out loud but so easy to write down. “Well, your shoulder is done.” I looked around at it, all neatly wrapped up and smelling like antiseptic. It hurt a lot less now too.

“Thanks.”

“No problem. And, look, if you ever want to talk…”

“No.” I said, probably too quickly. “I mean, it’s nice of you to offer and all, but I would rather not.” It wasn’t something I wanted to remember. Will’s mum just nodded.

I left the bathroom and headed for Will’s room. I had visited enough before that I knew my way around. I knocked.

“What!” Was the only response I got.

“Can I come in?” I asked.

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Hi.” I said, opening the door a little and looking in.

“Ella!?” Will jumped off her bed and was at the door in no time flat. She pulled it wide open and looked surprised. “How long have you been here? No one told me! You’re not dead! I haven’t heard from anyone else for so long I just started thinking they were all dead or zombies!”

“Um. Yep. Not dead. Actually, I’m immune to the zombie virus.”

“Really?! That’s so cool!” Will pulled me into her room and we sat on her bed and talked for ages about all kinds of nonsense. Well, she did most of the talking. I spent a lot of time just thinking about how pretty she was and hoping that she couldn’t read my mind. I think I tried to tell her how I felt about her at least three times, but I couldn’t quite do it.

Sometimes I think back and wonder if, after what happened, it’s better that I couldn’t tell her.

-

Will insisted I stay that night. I agreed because it would be nice to sleep in a proper bed for a change. She had one of those beds with a spare tucked underneath, so I slept on that in her room.

I was woken up by the sound of something moving around in the middle of the night. I could see a person shape in the room.

“Will?” I asked. The shape groaned at me. That was when the bad feeling started. A lot of thoughts piled up at once, but I couldn’t think any of them until I knew for sure. I found a torch - Will had one by her bed - and turned it on.

There was Will. There was also a zombie. The zombie and Will were the same person. Somehow, Will had become a zombie.

How had that happened? Why? What could have infected her? Was… was it me? Did I make her a zombie? But… how?

It slowly dawned on me that maybe I wasn’t immune. Maybe I was infected after all. I was a carrier, like typhoid Mary. I didn’t get sick myself, but I could still make everyone around me sick.

What would that mean for me? My heart dropped as I thought of the implications. I couldn’t be around people any more - I would just turn them into zombies. I would have to find somewhere without any people, somewhere I could live and not accidentally hurt anyone. All alone.

I got up and checked Will’s parent’s room. There were a couple of zombies there too, like I had expected. For a long time I just stood there and stared at them, feeling empty inside, not knowing what to do. Eventually I clicked back into survival mode. I searched the kitchen for food and water to take, feeling terrible for it but doing it anyway. I filled up my bag, which I had left sitting outside, before going back to the bedrooms.

“Um.” I started, not really sure of what I was doing. “I… I’m really sorry. I didn’t know. You were so nice to me and I did this in return. I don’t even know if you can understand me any more, but I guess I just needed to say… something. Um. I’m not going to kill you. I don’t think I could anyway, not after the last time. Anyway… thanks for fixing up my shoulder and stuff. Will… um… I’m… really sorry. I’ll go now.” I finished, still unable to tell her how I felt.

I closed the bedroom doors, found a sharpie and wrote “Caution: Zombies Inside” on both doors. Then I wrote on the front door “Zombies in Bedrooms” before closing it and leaving. Maybe someone else would deal with the zombies. At least they could get some use out of the medical supplies and food.

So I left and I hated myself for what I had done.

7: Third Monday

After that I moved into the middle of town. I had a little empty shop that I thought of as my hideout, although it wasn’t actually hidden. It was in the middle of zombie territory, so I had a buffer between me and everyone else. It was a nice place, my hideout. I had found food, cooking supplies, lighters, sheets, pillows, fresh clothes. It was right in town, with all the shops that hadn’t been looted. After all, most of the looters wanted food and water, not clothes and furniture. By the time I left it the hideout was pretty cozy. I even went as far as getting a bed for it, dragging that from a place two streets over. Maybe someone else got some use out of it after I left.

That was a long and lonely time for me. I stayed in town for a couple of months without much to do. I found a radio with working batteries on one of my scavenging trips and I would check it from time to time, always worried that if I didn’t check it often enough I would miss something important but at the same time knowing that if I checked it too often the batteries would die. There was nothing on, which didn’t surprise me. After all, if the TV stations were gone, why not the radio stations too?

Nothing really happened in those months. I ate, I slept, I scavenged, I checked the radio. I kept track of time by drawing calendars on the walls. I never went too far from the hideout and I never saw or heard from anyone.

One Thursday I realised it had been almost four weeks since I checked the radio. I switched it on and scanned the channels. To my surprise, there was a voice. It was hard to make out, but it was definitely there.

“Possible… found at Up… need… please come to… repeat, possible anti… volunteers… testing… to Upper Johnspark hos…”

I had to listen to it four or five times to get the whole message. A possible antiviral agent had been found and they needed volunteers to test it on to go to Upper Johnspark hospital. Well, Johnspark was almost an hour’s drive away and that mean who knew how long to walk. I figured I could probably manage it in one day.

But… what did they mean by “volunteers”? The zombies? Healthy people who they would infect and then treat to see what happened? That didn’t exactly sound like a good situation. Well, catching and curing zombies didn’t seem too bad, but how would they do that without getting infected themselves? Maybe I could go along and help or something. It wasn’t like I could get more infected than I already was.

So, late that morning, I packed up my food bag and started walking to Johnspark. My shoulder had healed up nicely so I could walk faster and use both hands to carry the bag.

Things went well for a while. It was nice to have a goal in mind and to be out walking instead of skulking around town. After about an hour though, I started to get tired. I didn’t stop because I didn’t know exactly how long it would take me to get to the hospital. Probably all day, so the more walking I did now, the less I would have to do later. I had taken the radio with me too and I checked it from time to time. The message was still playing over and over. I kept on walking.

It was about another two hours before I stopped and rested. I had some lunch too, drank some water and just sat for a little while before I made myself get up and keep going. It had been too long since I had walked for that amount of time and I wasn’t used to it.

I kept going, stopping to rest now and then. I gave up for the day when the sun was just starting to turn the sky orange. I was disappointed that I wasn’t going to make it all the was to Johnspark in one day like I thought, but then I had stopped a lot, and had a long break at lunch, and left late in the morning. A whole lot of excuses that just added up to me not getting as far as I had hoped I would. I would have to sleep out in the open too, which bothered me because anything could happen. Specifically, people could happen. Someone might find me and think I was clean and end up a zombie. Or a zombie might find me and I would wake up and not know if it was a zombie because of me or not. I hadn’t seen anyone on the road so far, but you never knew. Also it would be cold sleeping outside.

There was bush on both sides of the road, so I thought I would climb a tree and sleep there. Unfortunately, none of the nearby trees were easy to climb and when I did find one the was climbable I realised that I wouldn’t be able to take my food bag up with me. Eventually I just made a pile of dry leaves that I used as a bed, far enough into the bush that I couldn’t be seen from the road.

It was almost dark and I was just about sleepy enough to sleep when I heard a noise. I snapped awake instantly. It sounded like someone moving around, quite purposefully too, so it probably wasn’t a zombie. Right then I would have preferred a zombie. Zombies I could handle - people were unpredictable.

I stood up, which made noise, and the person stopped. After a moment they started moving again, towards me now. It was just light enough for me to see them appear through the trees, still some distance away.

“Who’s there? Stay back! I don’t want to hurt you!” I said, realising how stupid it probably sounded when I didn’t have a weapon. I had lost my baseball bat ages ago, somewhere in town.

“You don’t have a weapon though.” The person pointed out, sounding a little confused. Their voice told me they were male.

“No, I mean, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you get too close. Not on purpose, it’ll just happen, you’ll turn into a zombie, okay? I think I’m a carrier because everyone who gets too close to me turns into a zombie.” I tried to explain, hoping he would believe me.

“Oh? Huh, I’ve never met a carrier before. So does that mean you’re like that one chick that gave everyone typhoid?” He asked.

“Yeah, I guess.” I said, shrugging. “The point it, don’t come near me unless you want to get infected.”

“That won’t be a problem.” He said, coming closer. “I’m immune.”

“Oh. Really?” I asked, not sure if I should believe him. It seemed too good to be true, but on the other hand why would someone lie about being immune? “Are you sure, because if you’re not then you’ll get infected.”

“Yeah, totally sure. I’ve been hanging around with zombies for ages now and nothing happened to me. But I haven’t made anyone else sick either, so I’m not carrying it. That must suck for you. I’m Simon, by the way.” Simon was close enough by then that I could see his face, even in the tricky half-light. It was a friendly face, quite young too. He looked about the same age as me.

“I’m Ella.” I said, ignoring the comment about making people sick. “Why have you been hanging around with zombies?”

“Well, for a start, they’re pretty much everywhere, so it’s kind of hard not to, but I’ve also been up at Johnspark hospital and they have a bunch of zombies there. They’ve been testing some new drugs on them, hoping it’ll cure the virus and I was helping out because I’m immune. I didn’t like the way they were doing things though, so I left. Huh, when I says it like that it sounds so simple. I just… left. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds though, I couldn’t just leave, I had to escape. Anyway, that’s why I’m here now, I’m keeping away from the hospital.” Simon finished. I frowned.

“What do you mean you didn’t like the way they were doing things? What kind of things were they doing?” I asked. I didn’t much like the way that sounded.

“Well it was… um.” Simon shrugged. “They were doing really nasty things and when I said I didn’t want to help any more they wouldn’t let me leave because it’s so hard to find people who are immune. They tried to drug me so I wouldn’t leave and wouldn’t question them. That was… pretty scary, really. But I escaped, so it’s okay now.”

“Oh.” That didn’t sound like somewhere I wanted to be at all. “I was actually just on my way to the hospital…”

“Take it from me, you don’t want to go there.” Simon said grimly. He sounded so serious. “I don’t even know what they would do to a carrier. Maybe… actually, no, I’m not going to think about that. Just take it from me, it wouldn’t be pretty. Basically the whole place has become more of a mad science experiment than a hospital.” He explained. “You don’t talk much, do you?” He added after a pause.

“You talk a lot, don’t you?” I retorted. “How am I supposed to say anything when you won’t stop babbling for two seconds?”

“Fair enough,” Simon grinned. “So what’s your story? And can I stay here for the night? It would be nice to have company that isn’t awful for a change.”

“You’ve barely known me five minutes, I could be awful.” I said. “But sure, you can stay. As for my story, well…”

I told him bits of it. Not all of it, just the important bits, like when mum turned, when I got bitten and when I found out I was a carrier. It didn’t take long to tell and we slept after that. Simon assured me that he was definitely immune and if he wasn’t, well then he would be a zombie by morning, right? So one night would prove it. Besides, I wasn’t about to say no to being around an actual human being for a while.

8: Fourth Thursday

In the end, Simon stayed more than just one night. By Thursday he was still hanging around. I enjoyed his company and - after what he has said about the hospital - neither of us really knew where we wanted to go. So we just stuck around in the forest, drifting closer to Johnspark every day, without really meaning to.

"Oh! I know where we could go!" Simon said out of nowhere.

"Yeah? Somewhere permanent?" I asked. I didn't want to be going around setting up camps all over the place forever, so it would be nice to have somewhere to stay properly.

"Yeah, there's an old walking track that my dad used to take me up when I was little. No one used it much back then, so I don't see why anyone would use it now. It we go up there and head off the track a little I'm sure we can find a decent place to camp in the bush until this is over. Plus it's close to town so it would be easy enough to get supplies." He explained. It sounded great.

"Well, where is it? How far?" I was already imagining having a nice little cabin in the woods, safely away from people. Not that it was very likely we would build a cabin. I don't think either of us knew enough about buildings to do that.

"It's up the cliff on the other side of Johnspark. Not too far by car, but probably a couple of days walk on foot. Oh and we'll have to avoid anywhere near the hospital or the middle of town because there are still people there, so that might add another day or so."

Cliff? I didn't like the sound of that, but so far it was the best idea either of us had had, so I agreed. We set off that afternoon, heading towards the town with purpose now. We followed the road and made good progress. By the end of the day we were practically in Johnspark already. Simon didn't want to just charge in in the dark though, so we stayed outside of town again.

We stayed in a little patch of bush not far out of town. Simon started talking about something that I didn't really listen to. He talked a lot, about all kinds of things. I had stopped trying to keep up with his chatter a couple of days ago. I think talking was his way of dealing with everything that had happened. Or maybe his way of avoiding thinking about it, I don't know.

"What happened to your dad?" I asked from my sleeping bag, interrupting a long ramble about video games he used to play. Simon shut up for a while then. He'd mentioned a dad a few times, a dad who obviously wasn't around now.

"Well…" He said hesitantly. "You know… zombies and stuff. Mum left ages ago, so it was always just me and him. Then there were zombies all over the news and everything, but dad didn't believe it so he just kept going like everything was normal. One day he went to bed fine and woke up a zombie." Simon shrugged. "I freaked out, found his gun, shot him a bunch of times and ran away basically. Not too different from you, really. I still have the gun, and I'm good enough with it now to take out a zombie with one shot. Not that I need to, since I'm immune and all, but I did manage to save a couple of people back before the thing with the hospital. Being a good shot saves bullets too, so I still have plenty. Though I didn't need much practice, I was already pretty good when I first shot a zombie. I reckon it comes from playing so much…" I tuned him out about then, only half listening as he launched into a long winded story about his favourite video game and the best weapons in it. It was some first person shooter. Well, it was good to know he could take out zombies in one shot. Not that it really mattered since neither of us could be infected.

There was a pause in Simon's endless stream of words. For a while I thought he had gone to sleep, but then he said "What if we're the only people left uninfected on the whole planet?"

"Doubt it." I said with a shrug. "There'll be other people who are immune out there, and people who have managed to hide from it all. Anyway, we don't even know if it's spread outside the country at all."

"Yeah, but what if we were? How long has it been since you saw anyone else? The last people I saw were at the hospital working with zombies and they could have so easily been infected by now. We could be all that's left of humanity. We would have to repopulate the earth or go extinct."

I rolled over and stared at Simon.

"Seriously? Repopulate the earth? That is the worst pickup line in the history of forever, you know that, right?"

"It was worth a try." Simon said with a sheepish grin and a shrug. "I guess it didn't work then?"

"Nope." I said, rolling back over. "I'm not into guys anyway."

"Oh." Simon said, sounding disappointed. "I guess I should have done my research better."

"Go to sleep." I said, rolling my eyes.

9: Fourth Monday

We got to the town on Friday and started making our way around it, rather than through. It would have been much faster to go straight through but Simon was adamant about not getting closer to the hospital than necessary, so it was Saturday night before we got close to the cliff. Johnspark was a much bigger town than I had thought. Either that or we were moving incredibly slowly. Simon insisted on going slower than usual, as quietly as possible. He froze at every noise too. Whatever happened in that hospital, I guess it was a lot worse than he made it out to be.

We rested on Sunday. Simon said it was quite a climb up the cliff and, after walking for almost three solid days, we were both pretty tired anyway. I was glad to have a break. We stayed right on the edge of town, in an abandoned house. I had a bad feeling that night and didn’t sleep well.

I woke Simon early in the morning, eager to get somewhere where I wouldn’t have to check over my shoulder all the time to make sure no one was around. He took forever to get ready and I guess it was around 10am before we actually set out for the cliff. It loomed on the horizon, looking far too tall for me, but there were still a few houses between us and it. We were passing the second to last row of houses when a girl appeared out of nowhere. I backed away instantly. I had really hoped we wouldn’t see anyone. She noticed and made a face at me.

“What’s wrong with you?” She asked, a little rudely.

“Don’t come near me please.” I said quickly and backed away further.

“Why not?” The girl snapped defiantly, walking towards me. Simon grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Don’t. She’s a carrier, you’ll turn into a zombie if you get too close to her.” He said, actually explaining, which would have helped in the first place, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time. I just nodded in agreement.

“She can’t be a carrier.” The girl argued, though she didn’t sound so sure of herself now. “If she’s a carrier then how come you’re not a zombie?”

“I’m immune.” Simon said. “Now I’m warning you, don’t go near her. For your own good. I’m not letting go until you say you won’t.” The girl glared at me suspiciously, but she nodded.

“Fine, I won’t go near her.” She said. She took a step away from me when Simon let go, which was a relief, although she didn’t look like she believed the carrier story. “Where are you going anyway?”

“We’re going up the cliff.” Simon said vaguely.

“Uh. How exactly do we get up the cliff?” I asked. The closer we got, the bigger it looked, and I was less and less sure of being able to climb it.

“There are stairs.” Simon said casually, “Why?”

“I’m just… not good with heights.” I explained. “Really not good.”

“Seriously?” Simon looked incredulous. “You could have mentioned this before.”

“Well. It’s no big deal, really, I’ll be fine. I can manage. It’s only stairs, right?” I said, hoping that I was right and that I would be fine.

“Don’t even worry, going up the cliff is easy. I used to do it all the time.” The girl said, equal parts dismissive and reassuring.

“Let’s just get there and you can see for yourself if it’s too much or not.” Simon suggested reasonably. “If you don’t think you can handle it, we’ll find somewhere else to go.” I didn’t like that idea, not after how long it had taken us to get here. It would be so much effort wasted, so I just hoped I would be able to handle the cliff. I nodded and we kept moving, the girl following us at a safe distance.

“Why are you following us?” I asked after about ten minutes.

“I want to see how you react to the cliff. It’ll probably be hilarious.” She answered, grinning.

“That’s not very nice.” I said, frowning at her. “You’re not very nice.”

“I could say the same about you, random stranger I met ten minutes ago and know nothing about.”

She had a point, so I just shrugged and decided to ignore her. After all, she wasn’t doing any harm and at the very least she was someone else to talk to for a while. Simon did most of the talking actually, chatting idly with the girl while I only half listened. I was too busy worrying about the cliff to talk.

It took an hour of walking to get to the cliff, which turned out to be huge.

“Really?” I asked when we stopped in front of it. “That’s the cliff? Where are the stairs?”

“Over here.” Simon said, walking over to them. The stairs were narrow with no handrail and they snaked back and forth across the cliff face.

“You call that easy?” I said, shaking my head and stepping away. “I feel like I’m going to fall just looking at it!”

“It’s really not as bad as it looks and once you get up there it’s really nice.” Simon insisted. “The stairs aren’t so scary once you’re on them, honest. Here,” he pulled me over to the first step, “you go first and I’ll follow, so I can catch you if you slip.” I nodded and put my foot on the first step, then the next. Then I made the mistake of looking up at the rest.

“I can’t do it.” I said, shaking my head and backing off the steps. I wanted to be able to, but at the same time there was just no way.

“It’s not that hard!” The girl, who was still hanging around, said with a sigh. She pushed past me and started up the stairs, confidently, easily. Seeing her go so casually made me feel a little better about the stairs. If this kid could do it, why couldn’t I? I was about to start following her up when I realised.

“She touched me.” I said, almost to myself. “No… it… it can spread through touch.”

“Go after her. Make sure she’s okay.” Simon said gently, trying to sound positive, as if she could be okay, and failing. He was right though, there was no way I could leave her to get to the top of the stairs, alone, dying, maybe not even realising how it happened.

So I started climbing the stairs. The girl was about twenty steps ahead of me, Simon maybe two steps behind. I kept my eyes on the girl, going the same speed as her, one step for every step she took. The climb seemed to take forever, though it was probably only twenty minutes. At the top, the girl turned around and smirked at me.

“I told you it was easy.” She said triumphantly, before frowning. “Why do you look so sad? You did it, didn’t you?”

“I… you… you touched me, I tried to warn you…” I said. She didn’t seem to understand, but “Look at your arm.” It was already breaking out in the telltale sores that came with the early stages of the disease. The girl stared in horror.

“I… I didn’t believe you.” She said quietly. The disease was spreading incredibly quickly and she was already turning deathly pale. Her knees buckled and I caught her as she fell. “That was stupid of me.”

“It was a little.” I tried to smile, something to make it hurt less, but I had never actually seen someone change when I knew it was my fault. Instead I found I could hardly see and it took me far too long to work out that it was tears that were blurring my vision. “I’m sorry.” I said, blinking them away. “I’m so, so sorry. I… we tr… you sh… I’m sorry.”

“We can’t let her change and risk her infecting more people.” Simon said bluntly. I looked at him and saw that his face was the kind of expressionless you get when you’re trying not to feel anything.

“Wh… what do you mean?” I asked, although I knew exactly what he meant. He didn’t answer, just got his gun out of his pack. “No.”

“He’s right though.” The girl said, quietly. “I don’t… I don’t want to become a thing, and I don’t want to… to hurt anyone else.” She didn’t mean it accusingly, but it felt like it anyway.

“No, we… we can do something! Anything, we’ll find some way to help!” I protested. I couldn’t face the fact that this was my fault and I felt like maybe, if she stayed alive, it would somehow be okay. I know now that there was no way we could help, but then… I just wanted to do anything I could to make it not my fault.

“We already have a way to help.” Simon said, shaking his head. “She doesn’t want to turn into a zombie and I’m not going to let her. Now move, so I can get this over with.”

“You don’t care at all, do you?” I said quietly.

“You have no idea how much I care!” Simon snapped, glaring at me. “You’re not me, you don’t know how hard or easy this is for me! If it weren’t for you, I would be in this mess and now I have to kill someone! You’re obviously not going to do it yourself and by arguing like this you’re just making it worse for everyone! Now move!”

I glared at him, but he was right, so I pushed the girl off my lap. I stayed kneeling by her side, holding her hand. I closed my eyes when Simon raised the gun, and flinched at the sound of it firing. When I opened my eyes, Simon had walked away, his back to me, and the girl was dead, a single hole in her head. Clean, quick.

“I’m sorry.” I whispered again, still holding her hand. Something dripped on the ground. I looked up to see if it was raining, but the sky was inappropriately clear and bright. More drops fell before I realised I was crying. I almost laughed at how ridiculous it was. I couldn’t cry for my mother, or the girl I had a crush on, I couldn’t even cry for myself, but here I was crying for a complete stranger.

I didn’t question it, I just let the tears flow. It felt like an ending, or maybe a beginning, like now was the right time to be crying. After a few minutes Simon came back and sat beside me.

“I’m sorry I yelled, I just… I wanted to get it over with.” He said. His voice was flat and empty, not at all like he usually sounded.

“Yeah,” was all I could say in response.

-

I stayed by the girl’s body until it got dark and Simon pulled me away. He led me through the forest that started a short distance from the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t see where we were going properly, but Simon seemed to know and soon there was firelight and a small campsite appeared. It was a nice little camp with a fire and a decent shelter and a stream close enough to hear. Maybe we really could wait out the zombie infection here.

“This is there I used to come with my dad. It’s pretty far off the track, so it’s not likely that anyone will just show up.” Simon explained. “I set up camp while you were…” He nodded in the general direction of the girl’s body.

“Yeah.” I mumbled, suddenly realising how tired and hungry I was. It had been a long day. “Thanks.”

I slumped down by the fire and stared into it blankly while Simon opened a can of beans for dinner. Maybe everything would be alright one day, but right then, all I wanted to do was sleep.

10: Final Thursday

The next few months, and I’m still not sure how many exactly, were a long and lonely time for me. Simon was the only company I had and he would sneak into town every few days to find food and news. I didn’t dare go far from camp out of fear of running into people. Before long there were rumours of a cure being found, developed in the hospital Simon tried so hard to avoid.

Soon enough, the rumours turned into definite news. The antiviral drug was in the final stages of being tested and Simon went into town more often to check on it. Considering just how scared he was of the hospital, that was really brave of him.

One Thursday he was away checking on the cure while I stayed back at camp, pacing impatiently. That day felt different from all the other days, important somehow. I was sure that Simon would come back with a pill or an injection, something that I could take that would finally let me be around people again.

It seemed to take forever, but it was only early afternoon when Simon came back.

“So?” I asked, eagerly. Simon didn’t say anything, just opened his jacket and pulled out a syringe. I smiled, really properly smiled for the first time in far too long.

“I’ve already had mine.” He said, pulling his jacket down and showing me the big red swelling on his shoulder. “Apparently that’s normal. I know I don’t need it, but they insisted. It was lucky I could convince them to let me have another one, there were so many people there. A nurse showed me how to give it though, so-”

“Great, fantastic, give me the drugs or whatever it is!” I said, cutting him off. I just wanted it to finally be over.

“Okay, okay, sit down.” Simon with a hint of a laugh. He pulled out a little packet of medical looking things, needles and swabs and such. I rolled up my sleeve and fidgeted impatiently while he moved too slowly, attaching the needle to the syringe and wiping my arm with an alcohol thing.

“Hurry up!” I said. “I want to be clean again!”

“Alright, alright. Calm down, I have to do this right.” Simon said, finally ready to administer the cure. “Ready?”

“Yes!” I snapped, closing my eyes. I had never liked injections. There was a slight sting. It kept stinging for a while before blooming into a proper ache.

“Done.” Simon said simple. “They said it would take a couple of days to clear out the virus completely, but you should stop being infectious in a few hours.”

I opened my eyes and looked at my shoulder. It was already red and had started to swell a little. That was it. In just a few hours I would be able to do anything I wanted again.

-

We left that evening. Cleaning up the camp took a few hours, not surprising after we had lived there for so long. Simon led the way back to the walking trail and, after what seemed like no time at all, we emerged from the forest onto the clear stretch just before the cliff. The sun was setting, the nightmare was over and I had survived.

“Hey.” I said, looking at Simon.

“Yeah?”

“We made it. It’s over now, and we survived.”

“Yeah, we did.”

“Tomorrow is a brand new day.” I added.

“That’s such a cheesy thing to say.” Simon laughed. I laughed too, because he was right. But it was true, tomorrow was a new day and we had made it.

11: Epilogue

I guess that’s it really. That’s my story. Now that I’ve written it, it seems kind of… unnecessary, unimportant maybe, but I didn’t do it for me. I wrote it down for my mother, for Will and her parents, for the man in the warehouse, and for the girl on the cliff top. I never even knew her name and that’s one of the few things in life I really, truly regret.

For a while I thought that maybe we could still save them. There was a cure, after all, couldn’t they be brought back? But the way the virus works, it kind of eats away at you, especially at your brain. After a while there is no coming back. So I have to live with the fact that I killed those people. I didn’t mean to, and I guess if you want to be picky about it you could say that mum and the man in the warehouse weren’t my fault, but someone has to remember them. That’s what I’m going to do. That’s what this is for. Their stories needed to be told and, since they can’t do it themselves, I’m doing it for them.

This also serves as a warning, I suppose. If this ever happens again (and I hope like hell it doesn’t), just… be careful. Be so, so careful, because no one deserves a fate like that. And remember the people you lose, because they’re still important.