ACT I

[JOHN MERCER]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,95%,true][atrb=align,center,true][bg=#bcbcbc] ACT I ( where the fuck am i? ) I’m pretty sure it was the hottest day of the year, topping about 105F where I’m from. I was sitting in the diner on the corner, mostly because it had A/C when the news reports came on. At first, no one really paid attention to it until the mention of South Korea and bombing. I glanced up at the screen and someone said to turn it up. There was footage of disaster, as far as I could tell. It was worse than anything I’d ever seen in my life. My stomach churned as the news reporter explained the situation. A bomb had gone off in Seóul, South Korea, killing millions, injuring thousands. The Red Cross was already on their way to help, according to the reporter. That day, things got kind of screwy. July 23rd, 2011. I’d put the bombing in the back of my mind and carried on with life, until about three months later. Things got a little screwy after that. People started going crazy. Crime rates sky rocketed, there were rumors of war, and worst of all, there were tons of immigrants, sent here to be safe from harm’s way. I’m generally not a mean person, but it gets kind of annoying when they don’t speak English. Anyways, things escalated around Thanksgiving time, and the president announced that we were sending troops over to South Korea, to help with the efforts. What the efforts were, I couldn’t tell you. However, I do know that he also mentioned the draft and how people may be drafted in. It was like going back in time. History doth repeat itself, I have always been told. Anyways, another month or so, and it’s Christmas time. Generally, I like the holidays. But, this particular year, things didn’t seem to be in my favor. I was drafted on Christmas Day. Not the greatest gift from the government, but I didn’t complain or flee to Canada. I was shipped out by the New Year, all the way to South Korea. Was I scared? Hell yes, I was. The other guys in my unit were pretty certain we were all going to die of radiation. There were some who were excited, because they thought it’d give them superpowers. I just wanted to get there and get back as fast as possible. The last amount of safety I felt was when we were in the air, which doesn’t say much. The first things we saw over there were the bodies. There were so many, it made me sick. The first few nights, we were pretty secure. Then, things got real screwy. I distinctly remember there being a small child, making her way down the middle of the broken up street, her feet dragging. She looked very pale and underfed. Her dark hair was matted and she looked like she hadn’t bathed in weeks. Feeling a stab of sympathy for her, me and a few guys went to go see if she needed some help. Well, let’s just say that things didn’t go so swell for us. Upon approaching her, we called out to her, asking if she was alright. She stopped and slowly turned to us. Her bloodshot eye – yes, I said eye, not eyes – narrowed in on us before we could register the sight of her. She looked like something out of a horror film. Half of her face was missing, and she had dried blood caked to the front of her. I don’t remember much of what happened, except she started running for us and someone started firing their gun into her until she stopped moving. The sound seemed to bring more of these scary looking people out of the shadows. Honestly, I’m not sure they could have been considered people anymore. We all started firing then. But, they were seemingly smarter than we were. They attacked us, feral growls and all that jazz. Most of the unit went down, but those of us that survived made it within the safety of camp. While we fought for our lives, we also loaded up the trucks, taking off to outrun the monsters. Zombies. That’s what they were. Just like in the movies. They were more frightening in real life, though. A buddy and I managed to outrun the monsters for a few days. But, a few days back, we were ambushed by a bunch of them. As I managed to make my escape, Joe wasn’t so lucky. As I ran, I could hear his screams of agony. The next day, I made it to another base. From there, I was shipped back to the states, where they immediately took me to a Center for Disease Control in a place I don’t even know existed until arriving.