The Infected (6 page)

Sam

1:03am, May 14

As you’ll have noticed, I still can’t sleep. Maybe a good thing as I’ve been trawling the internet looking for any of the latest news, action, basically anything. I found this on a guy called Tailon’s blog; he seems to have had quite a bit of contact with the infected:

Ive found out how to kill them zombiefuckas – you just gotta stop their brains, man. It dont matter how you do it, just fuck up their brains. Ive used a knife, youll need a big fucka to get thru the skull, a spade, a Beretta 8000 pistol which I found,
from close range and from a good 10 metres, a crow bar and a crossbow. You just gotta puncture their frikkin brains and the fuckas drop like flies. The last zombie I killed was this morning – the fucka was trying to get into our back door so I took the pick axe, got Casper to open the top of the door. Its one of them that can half open. And Mr fuckin zombie didn’t know what hit him. It was a pick you fucka!

Well, apparently you have to basically stop the
fuckas
brains from working. I’m not going to take this guy’s ramblings as gospel, but hey, it’s worth remembering if you come up against one of them.

I had supper ages ago, as well as a packet of Mini Cheddars too, but I’m starving. Just gonna go fix a snack.

Take care

Sam W

11:49pm, May 15

lILY i LOVeyou baby Please phpne me or email me or blogg me – i NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU MY GIRL. tHERes some wierd shit goingon her and i need you with me. Pleese. /i loveyou and cant live withou you ihope that yiu ar okay – call me whenever yuo want

sEE YA

sAMM

10:37am, May 16

Humble, sincere apologies for that last post. It was late at night, I have been seriously missing Lil, and I got stuck into my bottle of Spiced Gold. I don’t know who won – the bottle is empty but I feel like death. My head is throbbing, it tastes like a small Ethiopian boy has crawled into my mouth and died and I am struggling to focus on the screen without the intense need to throw up. But worst of all is that I don’t remember anything from last night. Obviously the above post speaks for itself – if I could delete it, I would, but it’s already out there in cyberspace, isn’t it? But I could have, in that state, played my music at full blast, had all my lights on, gone outside, and who knows, even challenged the infected? (I’ve sometimes felt bulletproof when drunk, but
zombieproof
?)

I spent about five minutes instead of the usual two surveying my surroundings from each of my vantage points, partly to make sure that I hadn’t alerted any of the infected in my drunken state, but also largely due to the fact that I felt slightly less awful when I wasn’t moving. I took my last Extra Strength Disprin – not that it has helped and I must make a note to get painkillers, plasters, cold and flu medicine and stuff like that when I go out – and forced myself to eat some onion and tomato mix and Peppadews for breakfast. I had to do a bit of cleaning up – spilt Spiced Gold, Ghost Pops crushed into the carpet and peanut butter on my keyboard!!!

But you are probably wondering about my midnight message... well, I guess I had kept it bottled in too long. I am dying inside. You don’t understand how not hearing from Lil is ripping me apart. (Apologies – I am sure that a lot of you out there are also missing loved ones – girlfriends, wives, husbands, parents, kids, brothers, sisters, friends, pets – but I just feel like I am going through this all alone, if you know what I mean. I’ve checked, there is no
Zombie Invasions for Dummies
available on Amazon. I don’t know what to do. I am alone, shit scared and missing my only ever girlfriend with all my heart. I am not coping).

4:56pm, May 16

I was playing my iPod, on random, and guess what song comes on? Zombie by the Cranberries... I have over 20 000 songs and that came on. So I decided to make an appropriate playlist for this... scenario… that we find ourselves in. Hope you enjoy (I got YouTube links for the ones that I could find).

1: Zombie – The Cranberries (The song that started this all…)

2: All Alone – Gorillaz (How I am, how I feel)

3: Monster – The Automatic (Key lyric: What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster, is it a monstaaaaa?)

4: The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect – The Rakes (Always take pride in your appearance, even if you may get eaten today)

5: I See Monsters – Ryan Adams (And I wish I didn’t. And no, for those ignorant amongst you, I did not mean Bryan Adams. He sucks. Ryan Adams, on the other hand, does not)

6: Cause I'm So Scared of Dying – Right Away, Great Captain! – (I wasn’t scared of dying before. But now… now it’s hard not to think about)

7: Maneater – Boy Kill Boy (Nelly Furtado cover version) (Self explanatory this one)

8: Who’s the Enemy – Feeder (Those things outside, the ones with the funny eyes)

9: Human – The Killers (Ironic – The Killers… Human…the ones that are being killed)

10: Cabin Fever – Super Furry Animals (Another one that doesn’t need much explanation)

11: It’s The End of the World as We Know It – R.E.M (A great way to end it all off)

Take care

Sam W

7:33am, May 17

I think I have food poisoning. I can’t keep anything down. Maybe I should have eaten those potatoes sooner. And now the headache that has plagued me these last few weeks is back. Other than that, I feel rubbish.

Sam

11:22am, May 18

Feeling quite a bit better now after vomiting for a day and a half (for a second I did start to wonder if I had become
infected
). I also now know what it must be like to be bulimic – trying to vomit without emitting a noise is quite tricky.

No news from Melanie yet although Owen and Johan have had an interesting day or two. A couple of the infected had managed to breach their defences at Eastgate, and after talking to Owen, who saw two of them being killed with his own eyes, I reckon that brain thing must work. He said that a skinny woman, who probably managed to force her way through the barricades because of her size, ambushed another woman who was on her way to the bathroom. The ‘colony’ as they are calling themselves heard screams coming from the bathrooms and sent a rescue team – Owen included – to go and investigate. By the time they got there it was too late, and as Owen says, Skinny had eaten so much of the other woman’s face that they struggled to identify her. Skinny had dragged the woman into one of the stalls of the men’s bathroom and was… feeding… Armed with a few cricket bats, a butcher’s knife and one or two skewers sourced from one of the many restaurants, the five men attacked. Owen says that the cricket bats just made her more aggro, the butcher’s knife made some deep cuts but didn’t stop her trying to defend herself (and her kill), but a skewer through the skull stopped her immediately.

They had to dispose of her body over the roof, and Owen says that as soon as she smashed onto the ground, all the infected in the vicinity were upon her (in their slow, laboured manner). The next time one of the infected that made it inside, this time because “some fucking idiot” (Owen’s words) got tired of being cooped up and tried to do a runner and accidentally, or who knows, maybe on purpose, left the door open. This time they went straight for the skewer method and it worked again – the teenage boy who made it into the mall was dead within seconds. Owen told me how they had fastened skewers to broom and mop sticks to use as weapons, and then went straight for the head. I won’t go into all the graphic details, but they skewered him through the eye. It apparently made things a lot easier.

Happily, for Owen and Johan and the people at Eastgate – and for me, and I suppose, ultimately, for the rest of the world, they don’t come back to life. They don’t reanimate. They don’t die over and over again. Once you ‘kill’ them, that’s that. I am seriously relieved to know that.

Otherwise the Eastgate refugees are doing alright. Johan has already hooked up with a girl there and they are sneaking off into the disabled toilets every day (according to Owen). Since the infected managed to get in, Owen told me that they have stepped up their security and now have three people on guard at every entrance/exit point at a time, all linked with walkie-talkies (the beauty of being stranded in a shopping centre!) to a central “control point”. Seems like their little community is starting to take shape.

I tell you, without my daily cell phone chats (still in the cupboard), I would be going mad! I wish I had more human contact… If there is anyone in the vicinity who would like to try and get to my place, you are more than welcome. I can offer shelter, safety, food. Shit, I’m starting to sound like Will Smith from I Am Legend. In fact, I think I am starting to feel like him too. But seriously, and I think that was the title of a Phil Collins album (another random musical fact, and don’t even ask why I know the titles to Phil Collins’ albums), if there is anyone out there who feels a bit like I do and needs company, get in touch. And if you are female, blonde, between 18 and 30 and have the body of a swimwear model, I will personally come and escort you back to my place. (Lily will know that I am just joking)

Take care

Sam W

8:40pm, May 18

Just popped in to check if that 18-30 year old blonde has responded. And you’ll never guess… nothing.

Good night all. While you are saying your prayers tonight, please include one for my Lil.

Sam

1:58pm, May 20

I grossly miscalculated my need for food... I have a packet of Mini Cheddars, one Coke Zero, two viennas, some mayonnaise, a breakfast bar, a tin of sweetcorn, half a bottle vinegar, three ice cream cones and some olive oil which I am definitely not going to eat. Shit, shit, shit… I guess I’ve been bored, and when you are bored, eating gives you something to do. I’ve also been so focussed on Lily the last few days that I haven’t even noticed my dwindling food supplies. What an idiot! You know what this means, don’t you? I’m going to have to go out. Out there. With them.

Got to think. I’ll be back…

4:11pm, May 20

Okay, tonight I’ll have the Mini Cheddars, a vienna with mayo and two ice cream cones for supper, then in the morning I’ll have the last ice cream cone, the other vienna with mayo, the breakfast bar, and if I can stomach it, the sweetcorn. I hate sweetcorn.

Then, I’ll go out in search of food.

I’ll try my next door neighbour first – that idiot Steve. They’re away on holiday and their balcony connects to mine so I will be able to scope out any activity from my side before I venture over there. I’m not expecting much as the dude was an alcoholic and ate out most nights, but his kid stayed there with him, and although kids just out of school don’t have much of a balanced diet to speak of (three words come to mind coming from me – Pot. Kettle. Black.), I just hope that there is some eatable food.

After Steve’s place, I’m gonna have to leave the safety that elevation affords me and go downstairs. To their level. The unit below mine is empty, so no use going there, and then below Steve’s place is the Myburg’s unit. And I’m not going in there again. So that means I’ve gotta head to the right (if you are looking out my window onto Erasmus Road). That means going closer to the gate, which means closer to access for the infected. But fine, I can do that. The numbering is funny in this complex. I am 18, next door is 19, below is 20 and their next door is 21. All good there. But then it skips to 26, 27 and 28 on the ground floor of the units to the right and 30, 31, 32 above them. After Steve the arsehole’s place I’ll try 30, 31 and 32. If I don’t get enough there I’ll risk the bottom floors. I say risk, because although I’ll enter their ‘back’ door which I’m sure leads into the kitchen, the lounge and patio of those units face onto the gate and guard unit of the complex. If they are standing by the gate, and if there are no curtains in the rooms, then the infected might be able to see me. So it is a risk.

But I’ve been going over the figures of when and where the infected are active, and it seems that early morning and mid-afternoon are the best times to go. Maybe it’s too cold in the morning for them now that summer is gone? Or too hot under the midday sun at 12pm? I haven’t done enough surveillance at night so I don’t want to risk that. And also because it will be fucking scary and I’m a big girl. So I think I’ll try midday – they also seem slower at the hottest part of the day, so any head start or slight advantage that I can give myself, I am definitely going to take.

I just can’t believe that I let it get to this. If… no… when I make it back, I’m going to have to ration myself better, makes meal lists and stick to them.