A MESSAGE FROM THE ALLFATHER

“So what is your story?” Max asked, finishing his beer can and throwing it aside while Kevin had barely taken any sips.

“Go first. Mine might be more painful.”

“You think?” He asked, the smile leaving his face. “I don't even know why the bloody hell I've been trying to stay alive. It feels fruitless now.”

“Vengeance.” Kevin mused.

“What?”

“Vengeance is the reason why I've been trying to stay alive.”

“And being eaten up by those things too.” Max finished, opening another beer can. “I did not think about it before, but now I realise that there's the way they come at you, grabbing and trying to bite with their smell filling your nostrils. Like ants. Nobody will want to die that way.”

“You were in the military, you said, and it shows. There's a way you make death feel poetic.” Kevin noted.

He was thinking that he and Max were going to be good friends, if they would live past the night.

“And the beer too.” He smiled, throwing the second can. “It wasn't exactly the military. I am, or do I say was, a sergeant of the Special Secret Forces.”

“You know secrets then.”

“About the zombies—”

Max's speech was cut by the sound of the wall being broken open, and they both saw a large zombie, twice bigger than any one they had faced and the size of the both of them put together. It yowled at them, its mouth hanging wide open as though it was elastic.

“Oh my God.” Kevin yelled.

“Speaking of the fucking Devil.”

Kevin reached for his gun and shot thrice, but the bullets did not seem to have any effect on it. Without waiting, it reached out and grabbed Max, pulling him away as he cried out.

Rushing, Kevin picked up Max's gun and tried to shoot, but he was not used to a machine gun and the thing was hard for him to control. Determined to save his new friend, he picked up his chainsaw, turned it on, and rushed at the zombie amidst Max's terrified, panicky yells .

With one fell swoop he sawed into the large zombie's arm as it held his friend, intending to cut into it. To his surprise, the chainsaw only dealt a small cut, a bit too mild to do any harm.

He stepped back in alarm as the zombie turned its sights towards him, throwing Max aside as it yowled again, its mouth wide open. Something tripped him and he fell onto his back, sitting up quickly to keep his sights on the zombie.

The thing followed him as he pushed himself away with the back of his feet, cold sweat coming out of his skin as his back touched the wall.

It was like being trapped between a rock and a hard place for him— this time between a zombie and a wall.

The zombie, seeing that he could not move, leapt at him, and Kevin shut his eyes in fright expecting the worst and certain that he was not going to survive, until he felt nothing happen when he expected it to.

He dared to open his eyes, and there was the zombie fighting and punching at a paper thin surface of blue, fluorescent light between them. It rippled like water and glowed every time the zombie touched it, but still showed no signs of yielding to the attack.

His mind recalled how the other zombies had been unable to touch him as well, struggling in vain to reach him, and once more, he repeated to himself in wonder:

“They cannot touch me.”

His hand reached out to touch the fluorescent surface not far from his face in wonder and it rippled, feeling like water to his fingers. When he pushed further, he felt his fingers go through the shield and touch the zombie outside, forcing him to recoil.

“I can touch him, but he cannot touch me.”

Before his eyes and on the surface, letters began to appear in capital.

‘INITIATING FINGER SURFACE CONTACT RESPONSE…’

'DECODING FINGERPRINT INFORMATION…'

A kind of small graphic in the form of a skull and crossbones over a biohazard sign glowed before another message showed.

'WELCOME, KEVIN SANTORINI. THIS IS YOUR THREE CUBIC METRE SPACE, A RESISTANCE MECHANISM TO THE Q-21 ZOMBIE VIRUS THAT YOUR BODY HAS FORMED. IF YOU CAN SEE THIS, IT MEANS YOU ARE AMONG THE SELECT CHOSEN BY THE ALLFATHER TO SURVIVE THIS APOCALYPSE. CONGRATULATIONS!!!’

“The Allfather… Someone has done this.” He gasped.

'THIS THREE CUBIC METRE SPACE BELONGS TO YOU ALONE, AND WILL HELP YOU SURVIVE THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE MEANT TO DESTROY THE WORLD. YOU NOW HAVE SPATIAL MANIPULATION ABILITIES WHICH MEANS YOU CAN CONTROL ANYTHING WITHIN THIS SPACE WITH YOUR MIND.”

“With my mind?” Kevin wondered, looking around him. His chainsaw was within the space, at his feet, and he willed it to levitate in mid air.

Nothing measured up to his shock when it did, hovering above the ground. He touched it, feeling for any rope and checking if it was a trick.

There was nothing.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the letters continued.

“THIS SPACE HAS STORAGE CAPABILITIES, AND YOU CAN ALSO UPGRADE THIS SPACE BY KILLING ZOMBIES AND COLLECTING THE CRYSTALS IN THEIR HEADS. NOTE THAT THIS SPACE DOES NOT LIMIT YOUR MOTILITY IN ANY WAY, AND YOU CAN SEE AND TOUCH ANYTHING YOU WANT TO AS THOUGH IT ISN'T THERE.”

Again, Kevin put his hand past the surface and watched as it passed through with ease— the very same surface stopping a zombie twice as big and strong as he was.

“ALSO NOTE THAT THIS ONLY GLOWS WHEN YOU ARE UNDER ATTACK. ONCE AGAIN, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR TICKET TO STAYING ALIVE, KEVIN SANTORINI. WITH LOVE… THE ALLFATHER.”

As the letters disappeared, Kevin looked at the zombie still trying to get to him as it struggled to break past the fluorescent surface.

He had to kill it before it realised that it could not reach him and returned its attention to Max.

Grabbing his hovering chainsaw, he rose and turned it on, leaping high into the air and bringing it down upon the zombie's head. His victim gave out an ugly sound that reminded Kevin of a soul in torment, but he did not stop.

On and on he continued to saw and cut without rest and with all aggression and speed until the head burst open, the zombie falling dead at his feet. As he panted and tried to catch his breath, something caught his eye.

He watched in silence as a crystal glowed inside of the zombie head he had just broken open.