World War Zed

4. Interview with: Professor Colin James

St Peter's College, Oxford

Interview with: Professor Colin James

Steepling his fingers and looking over his half-moon glasses at me from the other side of his leather-topped desk, Professor James projects a wonderful stereotype of the typical Oxford Don. Author of "Infected: A Discussion on the Limitations and Effects of the Zombie Virus", Professor James has kindly agreed to spend some time with me. As we sit in the oak panelled room in Oxford University, where he now lectures to a small group of government-sponsored students, he talks me through his experiences of the war.

"Before the war, I was a medical doctor assigned to the UK government's COBRA crisis response committee. As a specialist in virology, I was drafted in to assist in developing various scenarios the crisis team might have to deal with. These ranged from a resurgence of things like Scarlet Fever or Measles through to the potential for mutations of such viruses as Bird Flu or AIDS. I also sat in on many of the other scenarios they discussed, as there was usually a medical element somewhere along the line.

"I can see the questions you want to ask, and the answer to the obvious one is, yes, we did consider Zombie attack. You may well look surprised, but government agencies all around the world had crisis groups of one sort or another setup and usually had a similar scenario somewhere in their archives. Many dismissed it, but some like the UK took it relatively seriously. Our scenario was perhaps more likely in some ways: it was based on an invading force that had given their soldiers drugs to make them aggressive, but easily controlled by their leaders; or, that a virus had been developed that lead to the same condition. But then, what is a more likely scenario given what we have just lived through?

"We were in a meeting at No. 10 Downing St. when the call came in. Depending on the nature of the epidemic or scenario, there were various plans set and ready to be implemented. The Government obviously had different plans in the event of a terrorist attack, nuclear war, or alien invasion. And, yes, they considered that too.

"In the case of an epidemic, the first couple of hours were spent raising the status of the country's military to a high level, notifying various important persons within both military and civilian circles, and readying them for flight to a secure location. Also, we started gathering as much information as we possibly could, as quickly as we could. It didn't take long to realise what was going on. Our close links with the American, Australian, and European intelligence agencies quickly confirmed that the world was in a dire situation. The armed forces were mobilised, the prime minister gave the unprecedented order to assume military control of the country, and the entire cabinet was evacuated to a secure location on the Isle of Wight.

"We know a lot more about the virus now, but all we knew then was that it was spreading. The incubation period of the virus is three or four days. Before the PM gave the lockdown order people were still able to leave their countries and travel anywhere they wanted in the world. Then word started to spread and the World Health Organisation (WHO) got involved to try and monitor things, but for up to a week after the UK closed all borders some countries were still allowing travel. Most notable among these is Iceland, which is as we know a White Zone and still completely off limits. The UK took the hard line and closed its borders almost immediately, the Prime Minister saying that it would be easier to apologise to our neighbours after the event, rather than regret the decision if it did turn out to be a full epidemic.

"We were still too slow.

"Within hours, people were panicking and heading for the hills, but there was nowhere to go. All the airports and ports were shut, with aircraft told that they would be shot down if they took to the skies and naval craft patrolling the coasts. The problem was we couldn't control people on the roads. As the infected started to go mad in the final phases of the virus or fully reanimate, the virus spread like wildfire.