Luke's Diary: An Unlucky Man In A Zombie Apocalypse. Entries 757 to 956

Entry 837: Friday 11th January 2019

Entry 837
Friday 11th January 2019

I saw Harold today. It was certainly intense. I can't believe what he said. I also caught up with TJ and even though the man's a complete pr*ck we were able to put our differences to one side and grieve over Mia.

In the morning Blade gave me a lift to the prison to see Harold. The outward journey was rather tense and silent with neither me nor Blade saying much to each other. "I never gave you my condolences regarding Mia," said Blade. "No, you didn't," I bluntly said. "She was nice," said Blade. "Yes, she was," I said. "Luke, you seem a bit tense," said Blade, "We can turn around and I can take you back to Cowes. I can tell Endo what's happened." "I want to do it," I said. "Luke, you don't owe Harold Endo anything," said Blade. "I know I don't," I said, "I'm not doing this for him. I'm doing this for Mia. I want him to know just how little she thought of him, and that the reason she is dead is because of him."

When we arrived at the prison, we went through all the usual checkpoints and eventually ended up back in the small interview room with the glass screen separating one half of the room from the other. With Blade stood at the back of my half of the room I waited for a few moments and Harold eventually arrived. He entered the room with two armed GRID soldiers behind him. I adopted a stern look as Harold walked right up to the glass appearing anxious. "What's going on?" he urgently said, "This lot said you needed to talk to me. I've seen them all looking at each other, exchanging looks of concern and whispering. What's happened? Tell me? Is Mia alright?" I froze to the spot, remained silent and maintained my stern stare. "You know when I first met you, you told me you was a university lecturer," I said, "Do you remember that? Turning up on that bus with Tara and telling us you were called Donald Hero; an anagram of Harold Endo. Remember that? [Day 416]. You said you WAS university lecturer and that you didn't know what you was now. That was the first of many lies you told us but now I know. I know what you were, what you are and what you will always be; a manipulator. You and Tara were a great match." "Luke, just tell me what's going on," said Harold. "Mia's dead," I bluntly said. There was a short pause. Harold frowned with confusion. "Dead?" he said. "Yes," I bluntly snapped. "No," said Harold, "No, she can't be. What are you talking about? Oh God. Was it the E7 virus? Did it get to her before she got pregnant?" "No," I said. "I don't understand," said Harold, "This doesn't make any sense. If the virus didn't kill her then she must still be alive?" "She's dead," I bluntly said. Harold frowned with suspicion. "No," he said, "This is some sort of trick." "I'm not the one who plays tricks," I said, "Mia killed herself. Having that virus floating around inside her, feeling pressured to get pregnant so she wouldn't die, having the islanders shun her and hate her because she's YOUR daughter – it all got too much for her. She couldn't handle it Harold. She couldn't handle what you did to her! She couldn't handle being your daughter! She threw herself off a building and landed into a large group of infected. That's how badly she wanted to die!" I took step closer to the glass and aggressively banged my first against it. "SHE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" I angrily snapped.  Harold looked confused and shocked, and with his mouth wide open he slowly turned his head. "No," he quietly said, "She wouldn't do that. No. No. Why did she do that? She didn't need to do that. I had everything sorted. Why the Hell did she do that? Where were you? Where were the GRID lot? How could you let this happen!?" "What do you mean you had everything sorted?" I asked. "You were supposed to look after her!" Harold yelled, as he started to sob, "It was your job to make sure she was safe!" "Yeah!" I angrily snapped, "Safe from you! But you got into her head and f*cked her up! This is ALL ON YOU – NOT ME! Now what the Hell do you mean you had everything sorted?!" "No, no, no, no, no, no," said Harold had he walked up and down his side of the room in a tense manner, "It wasn't meant to go like this." "Tell me!!" I loudly snapped. "What building did she fall off?" asked Harold. "Erm... It was a building in Southampton," I said. "Southampton?" said Harold, "What the Hell was she doing in Southampton?" "We were on a boat trip," I said, "But one of the GRID soldiers took a dislike to Mia. There was a fight, the soldier caused the boat to crash and sink, and then the soldier kidnapped Mia and when we found her, we ended up on a roof. That's when it happened." There was another pause. Harold looked over at Blade who was stood at the back of the room and gave him a furious stare. "You," he angrily snapped, pointing at Blade, "This is your fault! What sort of general authorises a boat trip to the mainland? What sort of general doesn't keep an eye on his troops? I mean who was this soldier? Why wasn't she vetted? Why was she allowed to be on a boat with my daughter? Jon Blade, you are a joke!" "No!" I loudly snapped, "You're the joke! The only person to blame for Mia's death is you! Shut your f*cking mouth and take some f*cking responsibility you self-obsessed narcissist! I was there when she did it. I saw her jump. Me and Sci-Fi Cyn. That's going to stay with me for the rest of my life." "What did she say?" asked Harold. "I want to know what you meant by what you said," I asked. "Tell me what she said!!" Harold angrily shouted. "She said she wanted to die," I snapped, as I started to sob, "She said she couldn't cope anymore. She couldn't cope with what you'd done to her. She couldn't stand the idea of having to get pregnant and giving birth to an infected baby. She couldn't stand everyone on the island blaming her for the outbreak." "But it wasn't her fault," said Harold. "Yes!" I angrily snapped, "I know that. It's all your fault, but people on this island blame her!" "Did she say anything else?" asked Harold, "Anything about me?" "No," I said, "She didn't even mention your name. That's how much you mattered to her. She talked about me, and TJ, and Trudy and Naomi. She mentioned us. She loved us and we loved her, but she didn't mention you because you were nothing to her. Nothing! She hated you!" "She just needed to wait," sobbed Harold, "I knew she'd find it difficult to try and find someone to get pregnant so I fixed things." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Gregory Romero," said Harold. "Who?" I said. "One of the prison guards here," I said, "I arranged for him to have sex with Mia to try and get her pregnant. He said he'd do it. I said I'd make it worth his while. He should have done it by now." "You made an arrangement with one of the staff here?" said an angry Blade. "What a minute," I bluntly said, "Do you mean you arranged for one of the staff here to chat up Mia and take her out on a date in the hope that they'd have sex. Is that what you mean?" Harold lowered his head and looked a bit guilty. A sense of horrific realisation and utter shock suddenly came over me. "Oh my God," I gasped, "You were going to get this guy to force himself on her, weren't you?" I turned and looked at Blade and we both exchanged looks of outrage and horror. I turned and looked back at Harold. "You were going to arrange for your own daughter to get raped!?" I gasped. "To save her life and the life of my unborn grandchild," said Harold. "Oh my God!" I loudly gasped. "I told him to be gentle with her," said Harold, "He said he wouldn't hurt her." I threw myself at the glass separator and started kicking and hitting it. "YOU F*CKNG EVIL B*STARD!" I yelled, "What sort of Father are you!? Mia's already been raped once, and you want to put her through that again!?" Blade approached me and put his hand reassuringly but also authoritatively on my shoulder. "Come on Luke," I said Blade, "Let's go." "No!" Harold shouted, "You can't leave! I need to know more!" Blade told the GRID soldiers to take Harold back to his cell and instructed them to bring this Gregory Romero guy to another interview room. Harold and I continued shouting at each other as Blade dragged me away and the GRID soldiers dragged Harold away.

I was ushered into another room and I was furious. "Luke, just calm down," said Blade. "Calm down!" I loudly exclaimed, "He arranged for Mia – his own daughter, to be raped!" "Yes," said Blade, "I know, and it's awful, but getting all angry and upset won't help. He can't hurt Mia anymore. Now, just wait here. I'm going to have a word with this Gregory Romero." Blade left, leaving me to pace up and down the small room feeling completely outraged. Blade returned about an hour later and told me that this Gregory Romero fella had been interrogated and was now a prisoner in the very prison he was working in. Blade gave me a lift home and told me to look after myself.

When I got home, TJ was waiting for me. He was sat on the sofa with Mum. As soon as I walked into the living room, he gave me a serious and sympathetic look, stood to his feet and gave me a huge hug. "Mike told me what happened," said TJ, "I can't believe Mia's gone." "It's what she wanted," I said, "I know it's sad, but she'd made her mind up. I've just been to the prison to see Endo and you'll never guess what he said? He said that he'd arranged for one of the prison guards to rape Mia to try and get her pregnant." "You what!?" gasped Mum. "Rape!?" exclaimed TJ, "He was going to get someone to rape his own daughter!" "Yeah," I snapped, "He's just told me to my face. He made out he was doing her favour. The man is unbelievable."

TJ and I sat down and ended up having a heart-to-heart. I told him all about what happened in Southampton and about the circumstances around Mia taking her own life. "It was awful," I said, as tears ran down my face, "Seeing her drop off the roof like that. I'll never forget it. Awful. Just awful. It was like she was really happy to be dying." "That b*stard Dad of hers," snapped TJ, "Absolute tosser. She'd still be alive if it wasn't for him." "I know," I said, "I know she wanted to die but I can't help but thinking I should have done something. I should have stopped her." "Hey, come on Nanna," said TJ, as he reassuringly put his hand on my shoulder, "There's nothing you could have done. It's obvious her mind was made up. The only person to blame here is that f*cked up father of hers. She might not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer but she had some fight in her. That d*ckhead of a Dad drained it all out of her. He's the one that should have thrown himself off a building, not her." TJ and I both ended up shedding a few tears and giving each other a hug. It was a bit weird but it was also kind of nice. He told me that Trudy hadn't been to see me because she was busy arranging a memorial service for Mia tomorrow. "It's taking place tomorrow in the centre of Cowes after all the mandatory reporting is done," said TJ, "I think everyone's expecting you to say a few words, but you don't have to if you don't want to." "I don't know," I said. "Naomi's going to be there," said TJ, "I know you're p*ssed off with each other but maybe tomorrow can be all about Mia." "It's weird seeing you being all sensible and grown up," I said. "I'm not always a complete tw*t you know," said TJ. "No," I said, "Sometimes you're asleep." "Cheeky Nanna," said TJ. We gave each other hug, and I told TJ that I'd think about whether or not I wanted to say anything at Mia's memorial service. I think I do want to say something, but I just need to think about what...

Time for an early night. I'm not going to go back to work tomorrow but I'll probably have to go back the day after. For now, I'm going to have a think about what I'm going to say at Mia's memorial. I'm still reeling from what Harold told me. I can't believe he was going to arrange for his own daughter to get raped. That man is pure evil, and he's delusional to think he's anything else. The f*cker should be killed...