Necrocide

Chapter 51

1 WEEK BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

Schaefer did it. That son of a bitch was able to convince the British government the incidents down at the lab were not his fault.

He told them everything he discussed with the helicopter pilot. He worked for a secret facility studying the most dangerous diseases on the planet in order to develop new cures and vaccines. Unfortunately, a new virus, one caused by an unknown parasite more prolific and more dangerous than any other, spread throughout the facility, and anyone who was infected by it would be reduced to a feral cannibalistic shell of their former self. Schaefer's colleagues had taken their lives to prevent the infection from spreading, leaving him as the sole survivor to warn the rest of the world.

Every request he had for the government was granted. All throughout England entire cities were quarantined, each one separated from the rest of the world by endless barricades and checkpoints. The British Army was positioned all over London, sometimes conspicuously watching from their towers and vehicles and other times hiding among the crowds remaining vigilant for signs of infection. It was hard to find a street that wasn't crawling with armed guards.

City districts and neighborhoods were blocked off by gates, barbed wire coiling around the tops. The roads were unblocked, which meant traveling around on wheels was still possible, but going out for a midnight walk was nearly impossible since all of the entrances to other neighborhoods were closed off past curfew. Checkpoints were the only way to access the rest of the city, two medium-sized watchtowers on opposite sides of the street connected by a single bridge. Soldiers would pace back and forth on the bridge keeping watch over their designated districts, and no one under eighteen could get past them without adult supervision. Anyone out past curfew or caught trying to trespass the checkpoints would be detained by the authorities.

In the two years it took to bring Schaefer's world to life, the citizens of London had changed, for better or worse. Surgical masks had become a trend among the people, and the British pound was slowly being replaced by Ration Cards, vouchers of various colors and value given out to disperse equal amounts of food per citizen. Propaganda posters lined the walls of buildings, some displaying warning signs of infection along with cartoonish monstrous depictions of the infected and others delivering encouraging messages reminiscent of KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. Additionally, Londoners and the military began referring to the infected as Deadmen, because it was declared that anyone infected by the parasite was better off dead.

Yet Schaefer had come off as all talk and little action. He built up the Deadmen like indestructible freaks of nature, yet he was the only one who had actually seen them. The only thing that prevented people from assuming he was a delirious madman was when he repeatedly showed off pictures of his deceased former colleagues. No one ever found out he created the "parasite" or that he killed off his colleagues to save his own skin.

But even with the overabundance of deception and security, that didn't get in the way of fun for the twelve-year-old members of the Cod Squad. Once nightfall came, they'd sneak out of the children's home to hang out at the top of the nearest checkpoint tower, known only as Checkpoint Z. Even though the towers were only as tall as a three-story building, it offered some of the best views of the city the kids had ever seen. Just from standing on the small bridge that connected the two towers one could see Big Ben, the London Eye, and the Shard all along the Thames River.

In those last two years, the watchtowers of Checkpoint Z had become a new safe haven for the Cod Squad to both bond and break down. Nika was able to show her more carefree and risky side by willingly sneaking out at night to wander around a borderline-totalitarian city, and her relationship with Aaron composed itself into a powerfully close friendship that the four of them shared equally with each other. The possibilities of something beyond that were always there, of course, but it would remain a normal friendship until the two of them could finally comprehend what the concept of romance was to them.