How To Suvive a Zombie Apocalypse

Twelve beers, four red wines, nine vodka red bulls, two shandy’s and six jagerbombs summed up the last night of a boozed up weekend, celebrating freedom from life for two nights. Now sitting at a bar, in a club that had bright flashy lights over the door and more flashy lights to enjoy inside, is Danny: twenty-five, blond hair, chubby face, plain blue shirt and cousin to Adam. Adam was pulling some moves on the dance floor. Odd moves, comprised of twisting, lunging and flailing arms. He was twenty-seven, tall, bright eyed, two earrings in his right ear, smart shirt, decorated with a necklace that had a snake rapped around a cross and gelled up, dark blond hair. He threw out an arm and grabbed the hand of Kaff to swing her round. Kaff, short for Katharine, put a hand threw her electric blue, scatty hair, pulling it back out of her face. She was also twenty-seven, large eyes, thin lips, half buttoned up violet shirt hanging off one shoulder with a blue vest top underneath, and never plucked eyebrows. With more coordination than Adam she threw herself around the floor, catching Steph on his way off. She twirled around him a few times before freeing him to join Danny at the bar. Stephan: twenty-eight, tall and large, shaggy unstyled brown hair, thin eyes, dark skin, stubbly beard, thick eyebrows, tattoos on his arms and a shirt with 'they made me do it' written on it.

Slightly out of breath, with sweat trickling down his face, he sat on the stall next to Danny. Danny looked up, the straw he was drinking his vodka lemonade with clenched in his teeth. Dozy eyed he waved to the barman.

'Not many people in here,' Steph yelled, wiping sweat from his brows with his fingers, 'would have thought at this time-' he looked at his watch, '-there'd be loads of people about. It's only half three.'

'Maybe they've all got work or somethin',' Danny mumbled.
He slid the beer in front of Steph he'd ordered from the barman.

'Why don't you have a dance?' Steph asked thumbing to the dance floor.

'I don - don think I could stand long enough,' Danny replied. A smile creeped onto his face and he broke into a quiet giggle.

Steph laughed with him and took a gulp of the beer. He turned to the barman and ordered two more for Kaff and Adam.

A few hours later the club closed and the four of them, arms slung around each other, tipped out, pulling themselves side to side as they began to walk threw the streets of the city, like a sideways caterpillar. Adam tried to sing a song, as it is customary for drunk people to sing songs on their ways to their bed, but he couldn't remember the words to any.

'No – no it gose – da da dum dum- da da dum dar.' Danny corrected.

'Nooo~, it's like – like, do do do – do – dodo,' argued Kaff.

Steph just laughed at them. He took charge of guiding the group back to the hotel; Being the biggest and strongest of the four, he could take more alcohol than them and take the weight of all three leaning on him to hold them up. As they slumbered on they past the drunks that hadn't made it back for the night, bedding down with the homeless on the quiet pavements, down narrow roads, tucked in doorways and corners.

The sunday night - well it was sunday when the night began at least - had left more people on its streets than the rest of the weekend. Some were even huddling together against the night chill in dark lumps.

'There even on the main streets now,' said Adam noticing more shadowy lumps as they got to the street their hotel was on.

He unhooked himself from the line and shoved a hand into his pocket. In a very skew whiff trail, half slumped over, he approached one of the bundles on the ground.

'There ya go buddy, ma last tenna.' He said placing a crumpled note on top of the bundle. It groaned and rose slightly. 'There ya go – there - it's there,' Adam said, in a way you'd talk to your cat when trying to get it to eat its dinner.

The bundle rose up dropping the note to the ground. It looked at him glaringly.

'Al-alright mate, I was only tryin' ta help.' Adam said, raising his hands and turning away. The dark figure stared after him for a moment. It then looked down and noticed the note. Picking it up their face lightened.

'thanks.' It mumbled then returned to being a heap on the ground.

Holding onto Danny's arm for support, Adam turned back and said, 'you're welcome,' and they carried on.

Soon they had reached the hotel and were clambering into the lift. They held themselves up with the walls as the box ascended. In pairs they searched for their room number. In the morning  it was easy to find, but for some reason, when they came back at night it was always going missing.

'106 – 107 – 10... 8,' Danny counted. When he reached 109 he noticed the door was open and a cleaning trolly was left outside it.

'Bit late for that ain't it.' whispered Kaff. Kaff and Danny, holding onto each other, crept up to the open door and craned their necks over the trolly to see inside. It was quiet and they couldn't see further than the hall way. Danny leaned too far and nearly went head first into the laundry bag of the trolly. They backed away snorting. They waited, giggling, for someone to appear - but no one did.

'Hay, maybe their 'aving a sneaky snooze,' said Adam quietly.

'Maybe their 'avin' somthin' sneaky ells. An' not alone if ya know what I mean.' said Steph with a smirk.

'ooh, lets nick their trolly,' whispered Adam with a bout of mischievous energy.

All in hysterical giggling and spluttering, like school children telling rude jokes, Adam took the handle of the trolly and slowly crept away with it. Trotting ahead, the other three stifled their laughter as he got faster.

'The room! The room!' He hissed looking over his shoulder, a gleeful smile of naughtiness stretched across his face.

Steph was the one to find the room and hurriedly waved Kaff, the key keeper, over to open it. They threw themselves in, trolly and all, and slammed the door behind them.

***

Light  pored in through the large window and as the first pair of eyes opened it seared them with all its bright intensity.

'Oww... someone call room service; I need water and a fry up, stat,' Adam groaned slumped over the table, re-enacting yesterdays morning.

Half an hour later they were all awake, but Steph was still laying on the bed, void of all energy. And Kaff hadn't moved from the spot she passed out in on the floor last night. All she had managed to do so far was put a pillow over her head.

'How come you're alright?' Adam asked with a tone of resentment to Danny.

Danny, though also feeling queasy, was the only one up and changed.

'There's something to be said for a glass of water before bed.'

'Yeah, wet trousers.'

Danny dismissed him, taking the phone in his hand.

'Oww - Tell them to bring up all the aspirin they've got.'

'And bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. No bread. Just bacon,' came kaffs muffled voice.

'I can't order anything yet. No one's picking up.' Danny said, repeatedly pressing the room service button.

'They've probably got everyone in every room trying to call them.  What time is it?' Asked Adam reaching for his phone charging on the table. 'Arg, it's only half eleven.'

'Hell with it. I'll just go down.' Danny said putting the phone back. When he turned to the door he remembered what he meant to ask. 'Oh and dose anyone know where that came from?' He pointed to the cleaning trolly that had had its laundry bag emptied and the contents scattered around, then been forgotten in the corner.

'I think we stole it,' Adam answered.

'I think you stole it,' said Kaff.


Danny strolled down the hallway thinking of what to order for breakfast. Passing 109 he noticed the door was still open. Strange. But thinking about it it was probably a good thing he couldn't get through to room service. How would they have hid the trolly - and would anyone have thought to before they came up. 'Maybe it was a sign,' he sighed to himself pushing the button for the lift.

'Bacon. Yeah bacon. I could go for a bacon sandwich right now.'

the lift reached the ground floor and the doors opened to an unexpected sight. The smart, neatly decorated reception area was not the pass way it was yesterday. Instead it was littered with scattered papers, tipped up bins, smashed windows and a corps on the floor being eaten by a man in a bloody and torn up suit.
Distant screams could be heard from outside, along with strangulated shrieking and roaring. A trail of red made a path between the lift and the... man.

Wide eyed and bewildered, Danny stabbed at the fifth floor button more furiously than he had ever pressed a button in his life. Apart from his arm, he was frozen rigid with is eyes fixated on the cannibal munching away like a starved lion. Then the man stopped and looked up, realising Dannys presents. His face became contorted and angry. He snarled, fixing Danny with a ravenous glare. Slowly he got up to his feet and stepped over the half eaten corps. His body was stiff and misshaped. The knees bent in different directions and the arms seemed unable to lower or straiten. It looked like he had fallen down several flights of stairs. The bones clicked and cracked as he took shuffling steps. Trying to go faster, his body swayed and his arms clawed at the air. As he closed in he was starting to look more like a 'what'.

Not before time the doors finally closed, shutting the man away. Danny continued pressing the button until the sound of the cannibal banging on the lift doors had faded away. Eventually lowering his arm, he turned away from the doors and leaned against the wall. His head nodded and shook as he tried to process what he had just seen. The only thing that was clear to him was that he no longer felt like a bacon sandwich.

The lift hit the fifth floor and the doors opened, but before getting out Danny flattened himself against  the wall and peaked round the door to check the hall was clear. Flying out like a snake in a tin, he sped down the hallway locking his eyes on their door. He shot past 109 but slowed down.  He felt a compulsion to turn back. Looking over his shoulder he came to a stop, contemplating the room. He licked his lips and, in complete silence, tiptoed to it and peeked throw the gap. Unable to see any further than the hallway, he gently opened it wider. He kept still and listened for any sound. There was nothing. Barely daring to breathe he stepped inside.


'Where's he's got to, he's been ages. Is he cooking it himself or something?' Said Adam with his head resting on the table, looking through a glass of water. His stomach was now growling for food.

'He can't be much longer. Maybe there was a queue,' said kaff now herself up and moving. Still groggy She was looking around for the t.v remote, lifting pillows and kicking discarded clothes around.

'For this long? Must be hell of a queue.'

'Would you rather he didn't bother?'

'No, no, not at all, I'm starving. But if he doesn’t get back soon we might as well go out for breakfast.'

'I'm down with that. I've already spent every penny of my savings, I might as well do a furo job of it.' came Steph's voice from the bath room, along side the sound of trickling.

Kaffs face cringed, 'I wish you'd shut the door.'

'It's only nature Kaff.'

'So's sex, I'd still want the door shut. At least wash your hands, I don't need ebola.'

'I always wash my hands, thank you.'

'You didn't last night.'

'Yeah well I was drunk last night. And you shouldn't have been in the men's anyway.'

'The ladies were busy. And can anyone remember what happened to the remote?'

'No idea,' mumbled Adam.

The door opened suddenly and danny whipped in, closing it quickly and leaning back, panting. His face was white and his eyes wide.

'Finally-' Adam started, raising his head, before realising something was wrong.

'What happened?' Asked Kaff suddenly alert.

He turned to them, his face gaunt. 'The hotels been taken over by zombies!'

'What?' said Steph appearing from the bathroom.

Adam and Kaff stared with a look between startlement and confusion.

'Zombies!' Repeated Danny. 'It could only be zombies. I swear I saw one. There was a guy being eaten by another guy in the reception. And that room we took the trolly from has – has a woman in it. On the bed with her middle missing. There was blood everywhere.'

'Whow, okay. What do you mean “with her middle missing”?' asked Adam.

'like - her torso. It's just not there. Just a head and arms. And her legs were on the floor.'

'I'm pretty sure, though, we'd know if there was a zombie outbreak going on. It would be on the news or something.'

'Not that we've found the remote yet,' added Kaff.

'Yeah and there'd of been loads of people running around screaming this morning or something,
and I haven't heard anything,' said Steph.

'Yeah but we were all pretty pissed last night,' Kaff pointed out.

'Yeah, and there's two half eaten bodies in the hotel!' Danny reminded them, moving away from the door.

'Well lets not jump to zombies just yet. They’re not exactly... a likelihood,' said Steph.

'I'm starting to think we wont be having breakfast any time soon,' said Adam, the business using up what little energy he had left over from last night.

'The zombies probably will though. US!' said Danny, his voice getting louder and shrill.

'Whatever it is, if it's only the hotel we can get out throw the fire escape at least,' said Steph walking over to the window.

'That's a point. What's it like out there? Can you see?' said Kaff

Steph pushed himself against the window. 'Yeah...' he said. Then left a long pause before
continuing, 'I don't think the fire escape will help.'
All four leaned on the window looking down at the main street. Though they couldn't hear
anything in their room on the fifth floor, they could see the chaos and panic unravelling below. It had literally become one hell of a city for those not yet eaten or zombiefide. Where just last night there had been drunks and homeless people, there was now large patches of red dotted over the pavements. They saw people running by screening and every one of them seemed to be either limping or holding a wound. and they all had a crowd of slow moving bloody people following them, arms out stretched. Cars had been ploughed into buildings and the contents of cases was scattered along the road. Some of the windows in the buildings opposite them had smoke billowing out. With some, flecks of flames licked at the smoke.

'M-maybe it could be an apocalypse after all.' said Kaff.

'A zombie apocalypse.






                                   Do's and Don'ts


These are the Do's and Don'ts to surviving a zombie apocalypse. By following these instructions you will greatly improve your chances of survival.

DO secure all doors, windows, holes in the walls and air vents to ensure absolute zero zombie infiltration.

DON'T start looking around once you know there is a zombie apocalypse in progress. By doing so you needlessly endanger your life and the lives of everyone ells in your team.

DO ensure you are not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol. If you have recently taken any drugs or alcohol, you may be experiencing hallucinations/confusion and not the apocalypse.

DON'T take any drugs or alcohol.

DO ensure that no one in the room is potentially infected. Check that anyone who could have been in contact with a zombie has not been bitten, as this is how the virus is passed on.

DON'T commit suicide. The apocalypse has only just started so don't be too hasty. There'll be plenty of time for that if you don't survive.

DO put the telly on. It is important to listen out for any information concerning your
situation. If there is no information concerning your situation on the news, contact your news station and inform them about your situation so they can warn others about the situation. If you are unable to receive any news from the television, try the radio.

DON'T go back to sleep hoping it is all a bad dream or it will all go away by itself. And don't hide in the closet. Doing so will leave you vulnerable to attacks. If necessary, place a pillow over your face and scream to relieve some of the anxiety.

DO keep calm and carry on watching out for signs of panic and depression from yourself and your team members. You'll all need to be thinking clearly.
DON'T try to befriend, reason with or talk to the zombies. They may look like they're just really sick, but alive, people, but they are not. They are dead and they will eat your face if you try to hug them.





Danny was back on the phone, pressing buttons at random, hoping the line would suddenly come back to life. Adam stayed by the window watching the mayhem. Steph sat on the bed with his index fingers pushed against his lips, frowning.  Kaff was marching round the room, throwing things in the air and searching every draw, gap and hide away she could find.

'Yep,' Danny said with a face tormented with hopeless thoughts. 'The lines are definitely down.'

'Then stop pressing buttons.' said adam not taking his eyes away.  

'It's making me feel better,' he said jabbing at the '1' furiously. 'And what are you doing?'

'Looking for the remote!' Kaff retorted.

'Still? Dose it even matter now?'

She stopped to look at him, red faced and puffing. 'There might be something on the news about this! Something that might help us. It's more than what he's doing.' she flung her arm at Steph.

'I'm thinking,' he said thoughtfully.

'About?'
after a moment he raised his head, 'shouldn't we block the door or something? Incase they try to get in?'

With a quick glance at each other, Danny and Kaff took the cleaning trolly and pushed it in front of the door, wedging the handlebar underneath the door handle.

'There aren’t any other ways for them to get in is there?'

'Only the big ass window, but Adams got that covered,' Kaff said eying him, uncertain.

'Adam, come on man, we need your help here,' said Danny.

'I'm totally ready to help, just tell me what you want.'

'You to stop looking out of that window for a start,' said Kaff.
with an effort, he looked away from the window and turned to them. 'Okay, so what are we doing then?'

'Well...' Kaff began, shrugging. She turned to Danny.

'...Oh, okay. Well we need to start by thinking about the situation.'

Danny tried to concentrate on thinking rashly. He found it hard, though, keeping the fears of ending his final days being eaten alive by rotten corpses quiet. And if he were being truly honest with himself, he was genuinely worried that if he was bitten and turned into a zombie, would he keep his dignity intact. Or would he end up walking about with his undies around his ankles, everything on display.

'Isn't the situation: we're trapped in a hotel with zombies and want to live?' said Steph.

Danny looked up suddenly. 'Urr no. I mean yes - but no. shut up a sec. No the situation is:
we're in a hotel room, there are zombies out side the hotel, there is at least one down stairs, so there's probably more inside somewhere. We know they've been on this floor and we only have a mini fridge of food for the four of us. And...'

'And we want to live,' said Steph

'That would be preferable.' said Adam.

'yeah, and that. Looking at it, it's unlikely anyones going to come for us if the whole city is like this. Though I don't think we could last long here with only the mini fridge to go on. I don't know how long it would be before the zombies realise we're here either, but if we stay quiet we shouldn't have a problem. so-'

'-basically we're screwed,' Adam concluded.

'Urm, yeah. Pretty much.'

'And people call me a pessimist,' said Kaff, rolling her eyes.

'Do they?'

'Well, some have.'

'Okay, no she's right. we can't just give up. I mean, what are we going to do while we wait to die? Play board games?'

Adam started rubbing his forehead. 'Alright so we're going to give living a try. I'm down with that an' everything, but how are we going to go about it?'

'It would be helpful if we could put the news on. See how far this thing has gone,' said Kaff.'

'Yeah. If it's just this city they might have check points for survivors or something,' said
Steph.

'True. But if we can't get any info what do we do? We're gunna need to get out of the city
aren't we? Bigger the population the more zombie, right?

'Yeah, but where would we head?' asked Kaff.

'Which ever way will get is out quickest.' answered Danny.





                        Avoiding Unnecessary Problems and Staying Safe


it is inevitable that sooner or later you are going to have to leave your safe house/room if
help has not come (which is a likelihood)



                               -PREPARING YOURSELF-

it is recommended that you stay in your safe house/room for as long as possible, as it will in no way decrease your chances of survival by waiting. Though there is the prospect of “surviver gangs” forming later into the apocalypse, the early days will have many freshly formed zombies and disturbed people running (or crawling) around. These will cause general chaos and death.

Ensure that all exposed skin has been covered on arms, legs, torso and neck. Pad out these areas as much as possible without restricting movement. It is more important that you can run away, as the results of being caught by zombies will be having the padding torn off your body along with your flesh.

Make sure you pack as much food and drink as you can carry. Insure you do not waiey yourself down too much as you will need to run a lot.

You will need to find some kind of weapon to arm yourself with. It is important to keep distance between you and the zombie. If you are using a makeshift weapon inspired by a movie or video game, be sure to test your weapon before leaving, or insure you have a backup for when it fails.

                                   -VENTURING OUT-

if necessary, practise creeping around. You will do better to avoid engaging a zombie, as just one attacking zombie could attract more. And before you know it you've a hoard on your hands.

Keep an eye out for your buddies. Your chances of survival will be grater by working as a team. Plus you don't want that awkward moment when your telling their loved ones they died because you were watching a butterfly.

If you see an easy kill DON'T take it unless absolutely necessary. Never engage a zombie if it can be avoided. Seriously!

Think five steps ahead. As often as you can, be sure to have a clear view of where your going. Look out for any places zombies could be hiding. And any possible escape routes for when things go wrong.

Don't be tempted to use a car or motorbike. It's unlikely you will get far before piles of abandoned vehicles block your path. The noise will also attract zombie hoards and it will take them only a few seconds to get through the windows.

Do not try to pretend to be a zombie in hopes of walking through a zombie hoard unnoticed. It wont work.






'That's the mini bar emptied. Though it only had tiny chocolate bars and pipsqueak water bottles left.' Adam stood at the end of the bed looking down at his poultry findings.

'At least we didn't eat the lot last night,' said Kaff.

'What about you Danny?'

Danny appeared from the bathroom, 'No joy. There's not a thing anywhere in here we could use.
It's a good thing we took that trolly, at least we've got the brooms and mops. We can clean
the zombies as we go.'

'Oh so when it's something bad it's “Adam stole it” but when it's something useful it's “we
stole it” is it?'

'That's exactly it,' said Kaff picking out a broom from the cleaning trolly. 'There better
than nothing. And if they brake when we're hitting the zombies, we can at least impale them
with the broken end.'

'I think as soon as the chance comes I'll pick up something a little more weapon like.'

'What are you expecting to find? A machete?'

'What about the kitchen? Suggested Steph, sitting on the end of the bed. 'We could tape knives
to the end of the mops.'

'We'd have to get there first. And I sure as hell don't know where the kitchen even is,' said
Adam.

'That and there's zombies in the foyer. They could be running all around the place for all we
know. We know they've already been up here.'

'We could look in the other rooms,' said Adam voicing a thought. 'They've probably had all
they wanted up here and moved on by now. You didn't run into any while you were out there did
you?'

'No, that's true. But that doesn’t mean there aren't any about. They might still be in the
rooms.'

'Well I'd rather look in the rooms first, before trying the kitchen.'

'Think of it as practise danny,' said Kaff, 'we can get our sneak on while looking through
peoples stuff.'

'Get our sneak on?' scoffed Steph.

'I don't think i've ever heard that phrase used before,' chortled Adam. 'It's very nineties
i'll give it that. We're gunna get our sneak on! Arr yeah.'

'Gunna rock into the place and get our sneak on~ '

'Yes alright! I get it!' She snapped. 'flamin' heck you wouldn't think we were in the middle
of a zombie invasion would you?'

Sniggering, adam said, 'sorry Kaff. No your right, checking this floor would give us a chance
to, you know, get our sneak on.'

'You know what? screw you guys.'

'Getting back to business,' interjected Danny.

'Oh, yeah. We should probably find some bags to put things in,' said Adam finally getting over
the giggles. The smirk hung about for a bit longer though.

They dug out there bags and emptied the only three backpacks they had brought with them.
Knowing they wouldn't be able to take much, they made no attempt to pack any clothes or
unnecessaries. Each had an equal amount from the mini bar put in it, a few thin shirts to be
used as bandages and a couple of wine bottles that had been emptied the night before, now
filled with water and the corks forced back in.'

'Lucky the water hasn't gone off yet,' said Steph filling a glass from the bathroom and then
downing it.

'Hopefully it'll stay on for a few days,' said Danny.

'Urg, don't say things like that. I don't like thinking about how long we'll be stuck in
this,' said adam grimacing.

'Well i've been thinking about it, and if memory serve we need to head south to get out of the
city, the quickest. I'm pretty sure we need to go past the big building with the mermaids on
the pillars on our way,' said Danny.

'Great, but which ways south?' Adam asked.

'South is the direction the sun sets.'

'I thought south was the direction the sun rises.' said Kaff.

'No i'm sure it sets south. I think.'

'Yep, we're gunna be just fine,' Adam muttered to himself.



'Ok so we've got our bags packed, all the food and drinks we've got in them, we're not taking
anything we don't need or could attract attention to ourselves-' said Kaff debriefing.

'Oh that's a point, I should put my phone on silent,' said Adam pulling it out. '… what? I'm
not leaving it. It might come in handy.'

'-so nothing that we don't need or will attract attention to ourselves, then. And we've got
our better-than-nothing weapons.' she finished, holding up a mop. Danny had the broom and Adam
had the other broom thing that looked like a floor duster. Steph was left with a spare handle.

'Shame we couldn't find the remote though,' she said casting one last glance around the room.


'It's probably under something in here. We'd probably have found it if we'd cleared things
up,' said Steph.

'I struggle to clear things away at the best of times, i'm not gunna start in the middle of an
apocalypse,' Adam informed him.

'Did anyone try the radio?' Asked Danny with a sudden thought.

'What radio?' asked Kaff.

'The one in the bathroom.'

He disappeared into the bathroom for a few seconds then returned with a small portable radio.

'How longs that been there?' asked Adam genuinely surprised by this occurrence.

'Since we got here.'

'Well, at least we didn't steal that as well.' said Kaff.

Danny plugged the radio into a socket. A back light came on showing up the numbers. he
twiddled the dial, taking the it up and down, trying to catch the brief voices heard over the
static. Eventually he managed to find a station, be it a little unclear. They could make out
what was being said if they stayed completely quiet. By the sounds of it, it was a music
station and the last song was just finishing. The overly cheery presenter waffled on for a
bit, until he told the listeners the news would be on after the commercial brake.

'you know, i've always hated commercials, but when you're waiting to hear about the zombie
apocalypse you're stuck in the middle of on the news, you realise just how much you really
hate commercials.' said Adam feeling frustration building up like pressure in a volcano as the
jingles and bad acting dragged on. The anxiety of facing the apocalypse head on was enough to
bear on it's own, with out having to endure another ad for PPI.

At last they ended and the news intro played.



'This is your live update. Up to date all of the time. Welcome to the one thirty news update,
and i'm Linder Lamet.

Our main story today: the government have still not been able to give any more information
about the closed down city, that was hit with a mysterious virus in the early hours of this
morning. It was first believed that riots had broke out after calls from all over the city
were describing violent behaviour by people on the streets. Communications from inside the
city have since stopped and with all access being blocked off, to prevent the spread of the
virus, it is unclear what the situation in the city is at this time. For those who were
contacted during the spread of the virus, it was clear to them that the situation was
escalating quickly.

It was only realised that this was not a riot, but an infection, when people were describing
the rioters to be “acting like mad men” and “were becoming crazy and cannibalistic.” some were
even reporting people being eaten as they attempted to run away and rioters were throwing
themselves in to cars and threw windows. It was said that policemen and firemen were also seen to be attacking people.

The government are reluctant to say what they believe this virus is, but there are growing
concerns that the rumours to the identity of the out brake are true. A spokesman has told us
they are doing everything they can to prevent the virus from escaping the city and have called
in the military to help with the mass diversion of traffic around it. As a result, people are
being asked to avoid the road today in the affected areas.

No one is yet sure as to the state of the city and those with in it yet, but it is believed
there is still a lot of activity going on inside. All air crafts have been banned from the air
space above.

Information about how to find out about loved ones inside will be put up on the government
website in the next two days.

'There was cause for celebration today at the dog shelter in Hampshire as they-'



'Well that was helpful. We flamin' know more about what's going on than them,' said Adam
getting up from his knees.

'At least now we know this hasn't spread out of the city,' said Steph.

'...Yeah I suppose that's true.'

'Wright, lets get on with this then.' said Kaff.

The four of them walked to the door and took a deep breath, preparing themselves.

'Ready then?' Kaff said, nodding at the others.

'Right!' said Adam.

Danny nodded along.

'… Isn't anyone going to open the door?' asked Steph.

They looked at each other.

'I'm not going first!' Adam insisted before anyone ells could.

'Well I don't want to go first. I've got slow reactions. What if there's one right out side
the door?' said Kaff.

'Someones got to go first!' said Steph informatively.

'Well you go then,' said Adam.

'Why does it have to be me?'

'Alright, someones gunna have to go first-' started Danny.

'Ok, you then!' interjected Adam.

'That's not where I was going!' Danny retorted quickly, 'none of us want to go, so why don't
we flip a coin or something.'

They put their hands into their pockets until a coin was pulled from Steph's trousers. 'Okay,
so two pick heads and two pick tails. I pick heads.'

'Heads!' Kaff put in quickly.

'Slow reactions aiy,' commented Adam. 'So we're tails.'

Steph flipped and tails landed on the back of his hand. With an arm gesture, Kaff let out a
victorious 'yessss'

'Who's heads?'

'I'll be,' said Adam dismayed.

The coin landed heads up.

Adam took another deep breath and, tightening his grip on the broom, moved infront of the
door. He grasped the door handle and cast a look behind him. 'Shall I just open it all the
way, or a tiny bit first?'

'That depends. Do you want to give any zombies out there an easy shot, or see what it's like
first?' replied Kaff sarcastically.

'Alright!'

They lined up behind him, holding their cleaning tools ready. He pulled down the handle until
it clicked. Slowly he opened it until the gap was just big enough to stick his head through
and see into the hall. There was no sign of any movement, and no noise to be heard.

Opening it further, he slowly slid into the hall, twitching his head both ways. Tiptoeing, he
left the door and, silently and slowly, moved along. Kaff, Danny and Steph followed suit, all
keeping their heads twirling, trying to cover every direction.

'Which room should we go in?' Adam asked, already eager to get back out of the hall.

'Does it matter?'

'Let's just try this one,' said Steph as they reached the next door along.

Kaff put her ear to it. Her face became concentrated.

'What are you doing?'

'Seeing if there's anything inside. We don't want to burst in if there's zombies in there.'

'Do you hear anything?' asked Steph.

'Yes. You!'

For a moment they were silent while Kaff strained her ears. 'No, I can't hear a thing. Though
that could be because the doors too thick.'

'That's helpful.' Adam hissed.

'Take this,' said Steph handing his handle to Adam. They stood back as he lined himself up
with the door.

'HAAAAAA'

CRACK

The lock broke and the door flew open with a clank. They hurried in and closed it. Adam and
Steph barricaded it with the dresser incase anything tried to get in.

'I really hope there's something useful in here,' said Adam already searching the room.

'We've got another mini bar to ransack if nothing ells,' said Kaff pulling it's contents out.

After checking the bathroom and under the bed, Danny and Steph began emptying the half packed
suitcases that were lying on the bed.

'Looks like they left in a hurry,' Steph observed.

'We would have left in a hurry too if we hadn't been to hungover to notice an apocalypse,'
said Danny.

'What do you mean “hadn't” I still am. The temporary laps of my hangover was only due to
shock. And I think it's wearing off now.'

'What you need it is-'

'Water! Water! I know, water! Every time we go out to get drunk, the next morning you always
say it.'

'Only 'cause it's true,' Danny muttered, put out by the sharp tone.

'Cut it out. The end of the world has literally only just started,' said Kaff sounding like an
irritated babysitter.

'Either of you found anything useful yet?' asked Adam.

'No but this watch looks nice,' said Steph.

'Doesn't look like there's much here,' said Danny abandoning the cases.

'Nah, I couldn't find anything. Though I don't know what we're looking for.'

'Maybe we should move onto another room before something shows up,' suggested Kaff.

They wearily creeped back into the hallway and went to the next door. The hall felt like an
open field surrounded by predators, and they were the rabbits, now they had been making so
much noise. As quietly as they could they got into the next room and set about searching it
and clearing it of any food and drink.

'Ahah. Look what I found,' called Adam triumphantly. In the closet he found a heavy and strong
looking bat.

'That should do a little more damage than these things,' said Kaff waving her mop.

'Put it in my bag could you? If we get into trouble I can pull it out like a sword.'

'All I could find were these,' said Danny holding up two tennis rackets.

'Keep 'em. If you lose your broom they'll be – well - better than nothing,' said Steph

'Yeah, instead of fighting then, I can pretend their heads are tennis balls and practice my
swing. It would be nice to have something that wasn't just “better-than-nothing”.'

'Just put 'em in your bag. Maybe if we're lucky, on our way through the city we'll find a
mechanics and then we can really arm up.'

'Hay Danny. You want these to go with your rackets?' said Kaff throwing a tube of tennis balls
to him.

'Hay Danny! Be sure not to make a racket on our way,' grinned Adam.

'If you guys are going to make racket puns all the way, I'm leaving these.'

'No, no dude we'll stop, promise.'

They cleared the room and left for the next. One by one they crept into the hall again.

'How many rooms are we going to do?' Steph whispered to Kaff.

'I dunno. I guess we just keep going until we've got weapons and full bags or-'

DING

The lift at the end of the hall had landed on their floor. A bolt of white panic shot through

them, grounding the four to the places they stood. Stiffly, their heads turned to the doors,
eyes wide, anticipating the threat inside. Muscles tensed and grips tight they watched the
doors open, sticking for a second just as they cracked. The female voice escaped. ' Doors
opening. Floor five. Doors opening.' parting wider, they found waiting for them inside was...
nothing.

Releasing a small hurricane, they sighed with relief.

'God all mighty, who the hell set that off,' Adam puffed, running a hand through his now
sweaty hair.

'Zombies can't use the lifts can they?' if they can, we're screwed,' said Steph.

'Well there wasn't one in there at least. Maybe one just walked into the  buttons on the
ground floor.' said Kaff.

'There was one eating a guy when I went down,' remembered Danny in vivid detail.

'I'd say better to take a different lift down. Just to be on the safe side therrrrAAAAAA!'

As Adam turned around he found himself nearly embracing a pail eyed, blood smothered, gnarly
faced, surprisingly quiet zombie.

A moments confusion was followed by sudden realisation by the other three. Spotted, the
zombie, growling and spluttering, lunged for Adam.