Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56“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.
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
The Zombie Catastrophe THE NEW SANTORINI
Cautiously, Kevin picked up the crystal, grasping it tight in his hand. Once more, the glowing, paper-thin, fluorescent screen appeared before him again. ‘DO YOU WANT TO ADD THE CHAINSAW AND THE CRYSTAL TO YOUR STORAGE SPACE? TO COMMAND THE SCREEN, SIMPLY MAKE THE COMMAND IN YOUR MIND.' Kevin, unsure of how to do it, only uttered a silent yes in his mind, and to his surprise, there was a response on the screen as his chainsaw and the crystal disappeared. ‘SUCCESSFULLY STORED ⅖ ITEMS IN STORAGE SPACE. TO ACCESS THEM AGAIN, SIMPLY UTTER THE COMMAND OF WHAT YOU WANT IN YOUR MIND, OR IMAGINE IT THE WAY YOU WANT IT TO HAPPEN.’ For an artist with an imagination like his, Kevin thought this would be no problem for him. It was as the screen faded away that Max called out to him. “That zombie hit me so hard. Come help me up.” Kevin went and helped his new friend sit up, making sure to slip the orb in his pocket carefully. “What the bloody hell was that?” Max asked, panting, as the zomb
The Zombie Catastrophe THE VILLAIN IN MIDDLESTOWN
Max Johnson awoke the next morning to bright sunlight pouring all around him. He was half convinced that he was alive, until he pinched himself and felt himself respond to the stimulus. He tried to sit up, but doing so hurt his chest so bad that he fell back. Slowly and even more carefully, he sat up, managing the pains before running his arm around his chest and back, holding in the pain and feeling for any broken bones or swellings. Finding none, he decided the pain was most probably not serious and would heal eventually. Had it been a haemorrhage, he would probably not have woken up. Silently, he cursed his luck. He was in dire need of painkillers, but that was the one thing he had not scavenged with all the things he took from that house. His eyes scanned the room around him, observing with his military eye, and then he remembered the guy he had found the previous night… What had his name even been? He tried to remember. Kevin Santa… Sanctus… Santorini. He saw the man lying
The Zombie Catastrophe THREE MONTHS BEFORE
It had all started three months before with the disappearance of the Q-21 Zombie Virus, as they termed it. Max remembered how it had been announced on the news that it had escaped the previous morning, a blatant lie to the public, which on the positive side, was told to make citizens self-quarantine when the first zombies who were carrying the virus began to show in the open that morning. The truth remained that the virus had been out for as long as three months, and it had neither disappeared nor escaped. It was rather stolen. Caution was taken by the Institute of Health Research in Middlestown to keep the discovery of the virus's disappearance as secret as possible. Only top heads of government organisations remained in the know, to prevent a state of panic and keep finance and business operations running all over. That was the point where the Special Secret Forces came in, invited by the institute to offer their help in answering the million dollar question. Who had stolen the
The Zombie Catastrophe SURVIVING
He watched in horror as they clustered around him on all sides, yelling, shrieking and making whatever horrifying sounds they could. With a yell, he started to run towards a small space they had not yet occupied in a feeble attempt to survive, only stopping when he saw that space filling up. Quickly, he took a grenade, pulled out its pin, and threw it at one approaching horde. The explosion rang out and took several down, giving Max some time to position himself and shoot, which he began when the air cleared, shooting sporadically. Realising that they died faster when he shot at their heads, he raised his beam higher and continued shooting. The zombies coming to him had stopped running now, but were only coming close, creeping, seeing that he was a danger. One by one, he stopped to shoot, killing any one that dared come close. Nothing matched his relief when they began to step back, and he took out his last grenade and threw it at them to ensure they would see he was not one to be
The Zombie Catastrophe SUSPECTS
As Kevin sat up from his sleep, he saw the way Max fixed his eyes on him with a kind of dark look that suggested there was nothing sweet or beautiful about whatever he had on his mind. If anything, the look was meant to kill. “Morning, Max.” He greeted, trying not to look in the other man's eyes. “What a time to be alive.” “What a time to be alive, indeed.” Max repeated, looking away and affording Kevin a moment's breath. He turned and saw where the zombie's ashes remained after he burned them, and turning to Max, saw how grumpy the sergeant looked. “How bad did the zombie throw you? Still hurts?” “Quite. But I know how to carry on with it.” Kevin nodded, pushing himself backwards to rest his back against the doors of one of the kitchen cabinets so that he could keep an eye on Max. He did not like the way the other man looked at him, and he put considerable distance between themselves. What did he even know about him? Not a lot, except that he had first met the man m
The Zombie Catastrophe THE TRUTH
Kevin fell to the ground, curling up like a foetus in the womb as Max marched forward, firing unending bullets at the zombies that rushed at them through the hole in the wall. As the last one fell, Kevin was aware that Max had not shot the gun at him, but past him. Grabbing the part of his body where his mind had deceived him into thinking he was shot and raising the hand he grabbed with to his eyes, he saw that there was no blood. Turning around, he saw Max lower his gun, with his back to him. “I saw you last night, Kevin. You made an empty beer can rise in the air like magic.” Kevin heaved a sigh as he rose up, regaining his composure well enough to stand behind Max and press the barrel of his gun into his back, even though he shook from the shock he had just been through. “And you said you were the Allfather, Sergeant Maxwell Johnson.” “There is a lot we have to tell each other, then.” Max answered, turning around to look at Kevin while pushing the barrel of his gun down
The Zombie Catastrophe INTO MIDDLESTOWN
Kevin only sighed, putting his cigarette to his mouth again as his eyes surveyed everything around him with a tired look.“I don't know who the Allfather is, or why he is doing this, or why he is even sparing me, but I swear I am going to kill him if I ever find him.”“You think we should leave this place and find him?” Max asked.Finding the Allfather was a line of thought that Kevin had only subconsciously let out, but as Max asked the question, he was forced to ponder upon it. This house— He and Gina had saved up a lot of money to buy it, and it was dear to him despite its shabbiness, but he was not sure he could continue to stay there forever, given that there had been no more evacuation attempts since the first day.“We should probably leave, Kevin.” Max added, an afterthought. Kevin only looked at him, tossing the butt of his cigarette away. “I know, Maxwell. I know. I love this house so dearly, but it brings me a lot of pain to leave it, and even more to keep staying. Gina an
The Zombie Catastrophe INSIDE THE BUNKER
The evacuated victims who had escaped on the helicopters on the day the zombies broke out had been taken to an old underground bunker preserved from World War II, made by the government of Middlestown at the time to protect against explosives dropped from flying planes on the attack. In recent times, the bunker had come to be used as a storage facility for imports, and that was where the people of Middlestown found refuge. It had been made large enough to contain and keep two thousand people safe, the town's population during World War II, but the emergency had now forced three thousand out of Middlestown’s five thousand people population within — a thousand more than the expected number, most of the remaining two thousand lost to the zombies and a few managing to escape despite the overwhelming numbers of zombies that swept through the city, two of them Kevin Santorini and Maxwell Johnson. Although equipped with electricity and a number of new technologies, it was far from having t
Latest Chapter
- The Zombie Catastrophe
THE BLAST
Two days later, there was breaking news on all the surviving stations.It ran:“PLANE CARRYING 119 HEADS OF STATE CRASHES INTO OCEAN, KILLING ALL ON BOARD.”This was news that threw much of the world into mourning, except for two men who stood on a balcony with glasses of wine as the setting sun sent orange ripples on the pool below them.“Cheers to you, General.” Malik laughed, raising his glass. “All your enemies are now dead, and the world is yours.”Rico laughed, slurping in his cup. “The world is ours, Malik. Not just mine.”The plan to make the world his had come while he made love to Lucia, precisely when he remembered the fact that all 119 leading men and women were lodged in one hotel. All that was left for him was to confirm if they were all going to return to their headquarters on the same flight, which was why he called Malik.The latter, being the faithful man he was, had soon made his way to Rico's apartment, where he found his General waiting. “Sit down, Malik.” Rico h
- The Zombie Catastrophe
I DON'T FEEL TOO GOOD
His mother's words occupied so much of his thoughts that he was lost in his head, and so lost that he failed to hear whatever his mother said from then on, rushed a goodbye for his siblings, and even forgot for the first time in her living memory to give her a parting kiss on the forehead that had become custom with the duo.In his haste to get away, he brushed past all of them, and got back to his own house, where he lived alone with the exception of his stewards. Even so, the sounds they made while discharging their duties — which he would barely hear on his usual day — irritated him so much that he sent all of them back home while remaining by himself, sitting on the edge of his pool with a glass of wine in his hand as the cool water washed over his feet. When the glass was emptied of its contents, he stood and started to walk around the house in a daze, moving on an unmarked path that took him from the pool to the water fountain made of a statue of an angel, to the beautiful pine
- The Zombie Catastrophe
HER WORDS
“We saw you on the TV, Uncle. Mamma made us watch it and the journalist said that you were a superhero.”“Really?” He asked the little girl, drawing out the last syllable even though deep within, he was unsurprised.“Yes, Uncle.”He smiled, thinking of the pay he would give to reward the soldier who had done it, Sergeant Malik. The man had one of the most cunning brains, helping him to record the session and ‘leaking’ it to the public. By now, it would be all over and hot like wildfire, with people moved by the video of him declaring his passion for the world, for what remained of humanity.The family members who had gathered to welcome him now moved away, each to his own business as he settled into the clean white sofa, with only Esmeralda to keep him company. The familiar sense of shame she made him feel had just hit him when he noticed that one person had not yet come to see him.“Where is Mama?”“She's asleep in her room.” She answered.“I should go see her,” General Rico muttered
- The Zombie Catastrophe
WEARY MAN
When all departed, he remained alone in the silence.The shirt was back in place, adjusted neatly on his form, but he did not have the heart to say all the goodbyes, handshakes, and greetings that followed after such meetings… all the officiality and pretence towards diplomacy. Physically, mentally, emotionally — he was exhausted on all fronts, and he rested his head on the table.It wearied him that he had ended a war on one front that began another on himself. Where were the heads of state when himself and the army put themselves at risk to save everyone else. Now, they came to ask for power — which he had not taken, but had quite naturally drifted towards him as the hero of the war.He managed to get himself to stand and dragged himself to his car, half attentive to the salutes the soldiers who saw him gave, their bodies stretched to the maximum while their feet stomped hard enough on the earth beneath them to cause earthquakes. At the car, his chauffeur offered to drive him, but h
- The Zombie Catastrophe
HIS REACTION
All was said and done, and they waited for his response.The 119 important pairs of eyes, and all the rest of those who were there. He felt his legs go weak, refusing to rise, but he would eventually cause them to, clenching a fist to the right side. Finding an excuse in the water — General Rico had never been a fan of drinking water, and was quick to boo in his thoughts when doctors advised it, but he took a hearty swallow then, followed by a deep breath.They were waiting, and he had to say something. The words he would say now would be immortal, remain after he was dead and gone, and be etched into the history books, if and when humanity found her feet and spread the beings that were her kind all over the face of the Earth again. When he said them, the words would have to be wise, worthy of being attributed to a wise and powerful leader. To him. And he knew that he wanted to be remembered as a great one. When his subject was taught in the history books, or made into biopics, or s
- The Zombie Catastrophe
HOW DARE THEY?
There are men who know how to inspire dislike in the people who set their eyes upon them within moments, and without any effort, and the particularly thin man that stood up when the Head of State who had been speaking laid back in his seat was one of these.“Your Excellency, General Rico Stone,” he began, adjusting a large pair of glasses that appeared to weigh his face down. “And to all 119 Heads of State seated here at this august meeting… I salute.”General Rico now found himself more irritated by the man, forming an image of him in his head. These were the kind of men who acted high and mighty, who would wrinkle their noses at the sight of poorer people, and rather throw crumbs of bread at their dogs than at people who needed them. He did not like this man.“I, elected spokesperson of the newly created Union of Heads of States have come, as the lowly servant of theirs, to speak to you on a number of matters. Firstly, is the issue of the governments, and how all power seemingly res
- The Zombie Catastrophe
THE TEARS THEY SHED
The most amusing thing about sex is that people are just as frightened of it as they are obsessed, especially people who are not supposed to be doing it. It is a touchy topic for them, one not to be spoken of in public, or even suggested at all.It was why ten-year-old Rico could not tell his parents of what Esmeralda had been doing, or who she was doing it with. Indeed, it was an absurd thing to do — what words could he use to express what he had seen, to speak of it to parents who hung their heads in so much misery that they barely saw anything beyond their noses.His courage failed him, and he spoke of it to no one.However, it sat in his mind all the time. Every time Esmeralda smiled at him, he could not help but think of how she felt about her secret activities. He remembered how she offered him a loaf of bread once and how he had refused, wondering which of the men it had come from and what she had done to get it.Sleep eluded him in those days, and he remained awake to see when
- The Zombie Catastrophe
ESMERALDA
The doors swung open into the room where 119 heads of state were waiting for him. He raised his hand to his head in salute before going to the seat reserved for him, while his guards stood on either side of him, armed to the teeth with stern faces and guns.Even then, his mind returned to Jose.Where was he now? Was he alive or dead? Had he even made it past the end of that horrid year? Or had they even passed one another without knowing?He would never know.It was why his thoughts shifted to another sibling he knew, Esmeralda. She had been fourteen at the time, with pretty hair and eyes. He still remembered how her body had still been forming into a womanly shape at the time — things he was quick to look away from. Brothers could not look upon their sisters with that kind of desire.The problem was that other eyes did not turn away the way his did.In the face of disaster, nothing is ever the same, and nothing matters to the victims more than staying and feeling alive. Could General
- The Zombie Catastrophe
ALL FIVE OF THEM
He marched in his military regalia to his villa, flanked on both sides by two armed men as they started on their way to the military headquarters, where he had demanded that they come to see him. They had asked that he come to the presidential villa of some other country, but he refused, presenting an imagined fear of a coup d’etat for his reason.The true reason was that General Rico wanted to hold onto power for a bit longer, and wished to delay the meeting for as long as he could. Life had changed so fast for him over the course of the war that he did not want to go back to the past, to the scarcity and poverty and hunger he had come from.Who would if they were in his shoes?He was born into a poor family, where his parents were farmers on a small farm. They had guarded that farm with their lives at the time, knowing that any problems with it would keep them hungry for a year, but there were things his parents and the five children which he was the third of were helpless before, t
