Free When There's No More room In Hell: A Zombie Novel by Luke Duffy Page B

thought.

6
     
    Marcus and Stu sat watching the news broadcast. It was the American version and the President had released his own statement of the situation. But the story was the same.
    “Those who have recently died are reanimating and attacking the living.” 
    They looked at each other with wide eyes and slack jaws. Stu screwed up his face, “Is this some kind of wind up?”
    “I don’t think so , Stu. The U.S President doesn’t strike me as the sort with a sense of humour.”
    Around them, the whole compound seemed to erupt in a hive of activity. People had obviously watched the same news bulletin and began running around asking each other questions in the hope that they had heard the story wrong.
    Running to the Operations Room, Marcus burst through the door to find out what, if anything, was being done by the company. Everything was in turmoil; phones ringing, computers beeping and the watch keepers doing their best to gain communications with teams on the ground, shouting over radios to bring them in. Marcus could get no sense from Mickey, who was very shaken and pouring with sweat as he scurried from one desk to the next, to a phone and then to the fax machine.
    The only information he did gain from Mickey was, “Marcus, the military have closed down the airport and all airfields for the time being. Military personnel and high ranking government officials are priority for flights. It looks like they had it all in place because they slammed the doors shut the moment it was announced. They're pulling out and not pretending otherwise now. In fact, it’s a full blown retreat.”
    Marcus wasted no time and called his team together. Eight of them sat, stood , crouched and squeezed in to the small room where Marcus lived. Some of them were big men, and with very little air getting into the room, the atmosphere became claustrophobic and hot. Some had an expression of bewilderment on their faces, having obviously missed the news broadcast, and wondered what all the activity was about. Others stood with grave faces, clearly in the know.
    Yan had just a pair of underpants on and flip-flops on his feet, having been dragged out of bed by Stu.
    Eddie was sweating and still in his gym clothes , looking confused.
    “What’s happening , Marcus?” Yan asked with his heavy Serb accent as he stood pulling his underpants out of his arse. His black hair was standing to attention on one side, making his usual ‘male model-style' looks seem comical.
    “Well,” Marcus began, “s ome of you have seen the news, and a few haven’t by the looks. I dunno how to say this, but from what we just heard from the President on the news, dead people have started to come back to life.” He paused to let it sink in and noticed the faces of Yan, Eddie and Jim contort, then look about as if they were waiting for the punch line.
    Yan motioned as if he were about to speak again, but Marcus cut him off, “On top of that, from what the reports from scientists are saying, the dead are now attacking the living as well and anyone they bite will die and come back as one of them. They think it’s all related to the flu. So, it looks like things are about to get a lot worse around here.”
    “Jesus Christ, how the fuck could that happen?” gasped Jim. “I mean have you ever heard something as crazy as that? Are you sure about this, Marcus? I mean, you're a great Team Leader and all, but were you on the whisky last night, or any of that evil homemade shit that Yan drinks?”
    Marcus was sat on the edge of his bed, hunched with his hands folded across his lap as if in prayer. “Fellas, I wish that were the case. But both me and Stu watched the announcement and saw the footage. Looks like Paul, Sini and Ian saw the same report.” He looked to them to confirm it and that he wasn’t just going mad.
    Ian nodded slowly . “Aye, I saw it. As far as I can tell Jim, it’s true.” Sini and Paul nodded in agreement.
    Eddie looked around . “Fuck me