Survival

Part 2: Valerie

On the way to Jeordie's house we were both silent. Suddenly my zombie apocalypse theory didn't seem so funny. Our horses hooves clopped up the drive with urgency. We threw ourselves to the ground and jogged into the house, fearing the worst.

I found it morbidly ironic that what we found was worse than we originally had the reason to fear.

We found Jeordie's mother in the kitchen with her back to us, sobbing as she scribbled out a long note with feverish urgency. Her dark hair was swept to one shoulder to reveal what looked like a huge bruise on the back of her neck, and flecks of blood were slowly running down the wall in front of her.

"Mum?" Jeordie's voice shook. She whipped around.

"Jeords... I'm so sorry... I love you... It's all on the note. I don't have any time.." She started coughing, and blood sprayed onto her doctors uniform.

"Mum what's happening... You can't go..." He took a step towards her.

"No!" She choked, "Contagious... Blood.. Don't come.... To help.." Mrs Hale fell to her knees, vomiting blood. It splashed on the tiles, and I pulled Jeordie back to avoid it touching him. The woman face-planted in the puddle and didn't move. Jeordie waited for a few seconds, then fell against the wall.

"Mum." He gasped, shoulders shaking.

"Oh god, Jeords...." I took him in my arms and he leaned into me. His tears fell onto my face, and soon I felt myself crying too. We were only fifteen. What were we supposed to do in a world gone crazy?

"The note." My best friend croaked out finally. He sidestepped the corpse on the floor and reached onto the bench.

"Wait!" I reminded him. "She said the blood was contagious. We don't know how contagious it is.." I trailed off.

"Yeah, ok... Gloves." He took a pair of elbow length rubber gloves from the workroom, the type vets use to give cows pregnancy tests. Jeordie took the note off the bench and read it, shaking. His lip was trembling like crazy but he bit it as if he didn't want me to see. After a while he nodded, took a deep breath, and left the room.

Guiltily, I crept towards the note, left open on the mantle.

To my darling son

Jeords,

I don't have any time. This disease is even worse than anybody could ever predict. People are dying by the dozen. Corpses are disappearing. My theory is that they're coming back to life. Too much of a cliche? I can prove it.

Jeordie, your father isn't on business. He's dead. Yet he's alive. I saw it with my own eyes.

Nobody else will believe you. Take Valerie and run. Her parents are gone too. Take whoever else you can but for gods sake make sure they aren't infected. As far as I know the disease is transmitted through bodily fluid. Blood, saliva, etc. Do NOT let it touch you.

Trust your instincts, Jeordie. Be strong. Do not mourn me. Take a gun and shoot me in the head so that I do not come back. Once I die I am no longer your mother. I will be one of them. This you must do. The guns and ammunition and your father's hunting bows are all in the safe in the big cupboard. Take food. Leave civilization. You can do this, son. Survive. Find a way of eliminating the changed. A vaccine. A cure for the unchanged infected. It all may depend on you. I know you can do it.

I love you, Jeords. I am so very very sorry.

Your mum.

I stepped away from the note, tears on my face. Jeordie walked back into the room with a totally blank expression. He had a handgun cocked and ready. Without hesitation, he shot the corpse in the head, and left. I followed him into his bedroom, where he was packing a bag. I lay a hand on his shoulder, and he stopped.

"We're in this together, Jeords. We can do it." I told him, not sure if I was convincing my friend or myself. He took a shuddering breath.

"You're right. We're going to pull through. We're going to.. We're going to survive, and we're going to find a cure, and we're going to... We're going to.." He trailed off.

What were we going to do?

--

Jeordie fnished packing his clothes and food and set his pet birds free. We searched for every kind of weapon in the house, before opening the safe. Inside was multiple handguns, and a few more guns that I didn't know the names for. Two deadly looking industrial bows each had their own quiver full of arrows, and three machetes were in their perfectly shaped sheaths. We left the house with our findings, set the sheep free, and made our way back to my house.

--

My home was deathly quiet, as before. I hastily packed clothes into a hiking backpack, and filled the smaller compartments with matches, food, water purifier vials, and basic first aid equipment. We also raided the weaponry available in my house, which was fairly sad compared to Jeordie's. We found two full butcher's belts, however, and one gun that came with a hell of a lot of ammunition. I also packed radios and mobile phones, for all the good they could do.

"Monte! Come, boy!" I called my dog to me, cursing myself. I was too selfish to set him loose.

--

And suddenly I found myself and Jeordie standing outside, covered in weapons, with two stock horses and a big Great Dane relying on us.

In the space of five hours, I had gone from carelessly kissing my best friend to preparing for the zombie apocalypse with him.

The world seriously need to reassess itself.