Luke's Diary: An Unlucky Man In A Zombie Apocalypse. Entries 957 - 1157

Entry 993: Sunday 16th June 2019

Entry 993
Sunday 16th June 2019

What a day! I think I must have the most depressing job on the island. The day didn't end very well when me and Nikki had an argument. I'm now writing my diary in the spare room where I'm sleeping tonight! Nikki's totally over-reacted to something. We are definitely going to need a chat.

I left the house in the morning really not looking forward to the day. With Leo in her arms, Nikki stood on the doorstep, handed me my bag and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Well, I hope you have a nice day," she said, "I've made you a little packed lunch. It's not much but I hope you like it." I gave Nikki a depressed look. "Oh, come on now babes," she said, "Smile. You might enjoy it." "I doubt it," I said, "Remember I'm going to Cowes to see Cyn and Mum." "You said you'd be back about five-ish," said Nikki. "Yep," I said, "I'll see you then." I gave Nikki a kiss and walked down the street where one of the GRID soldiers had agreed to give me a lift.

I got in the GRID soldier's car and was expecting to see the typical moody GRID guard, but I was pleasantly surprised with what awaited me inside; a muscular, bald headed cheery man in his mid-fifties. "Now, then," the man said in a cheery tone, "You must be Luke. Good to meet you. I'm Gary." The man extended his arm and offered me a handshake. I reciprocated. The guy saw the confusion on my face as I shook his hand. "It's only a handshake," the man said, "You don't need to look so scared. Come on Chuckles, you are allowed to smile you know" "Yeah, well, no offence," I said, "But I'm not used to a GRID soldier smiling at me. They usually have faces like slapped arses." "Well," said Gary, "There's no use in walking around all miserable is there? People are running around all infected and eating each other, life's all f*cked up, the world's gone t*ts up, I think we need to have a joke, we need to smile, and we need to laugh at ourselves." "Well, this is refreshing," I said. "I know what you mean," said Gary, "A lot of my colleagues are miserable buggers, but not me. So, come on Chuckles. Let's see a smile." "I don't really have a lot to smile about," I said, "To be honest with you I don't want this job. I don't like Natasha and I think locking infected up instead of killing them is stupid." "Well, I have something that might put a smile on your face," said Gary, "It's a half an hour drive from Sandown to Blackgang, and there aren't any buses that go to Blackgang." "Yeah, I know," I said, "Giving me a job I don't want is bad enough but giving me a job that's a half an hour drive away when I don't have a car and there's no buses is pretty dumb." "Well, you don't need to worry, Chuckles" said Gary, "Me and you have been put on the same shifts so I can pick you up and give you a lift back home." "Oh?" I said, "That's nice of you. I don't want to put you out though." "Don't be daft Chuckles," said Gary, "It's nice to have some company on the drive."

When Gary and I arrived at The Hive, I stepped out of the car and looked up at the big facility. When I came here with Naomi, I thought it was an impressive structure, but now I just felt incredibly fed up looking up at what now seemed like a depressing building. A big, dull, grey piece of concrete where I was now going to be spending four hours a day, four days a week. As I looked up at the big, tall, thick, strong walls surrounding the patch of land where the infected were housed, I just felt rather glum. Not only do I completely disagree with what this whole place stands for, but it's a bl**dy depressing dump. I looked at the top of the walls and saw a couple of armed GRID soldiers walking along the walkways on the tops of the walls. "Come on Chuckles," said Gary, "Let's get you inducted."

I reluctantly and unenthusiastically followed Gary and entered The Hive. There was a guard on the main entrance who was in a small concrete sort of hut. He looked at me and Gary, pressed some sort of button from within his little hut, and the huge gates to the facility opened. Gary and I walked through the massive main entrance and into the courtyard area. I looked over at the monitoring station; a grim looking grey concrete building that connected to the other part of The Hive. I looked ahead to the left of the monitoring station to see the other set of huge gates that opened up to the outside 'containment' area where the infected were. As I absorbed my surroundings Natasha exited the monitoring station and approached me with a smile on her face and something in her arms. I wasn't looking forward to this. A feeling of dread came over me. "Ah, Luke," said Natasha, "Good to see you. I knew you'd come round and see that this place made sense. I..." "Look, let me just get one thing straight," I said, interrupting Natasha, "I'm here because I've got to be here, not because I want to be here. All of this is Blade's decision not mine. He's probably dumped me here to get his own back after all the arguments we've had." "Oh," said Natasha, "Well, that's a shame. I thought you'd come round to supporting The Hive and the QCUC proposals." "No," I bluntly said. "Well," said Natasha, "As I say, that's a shame. I guess we'll just have to make the best of it. You never know, whilst you're here we might get you to change your mind." "I doubt it," I bluntly said, "Anyway, who's WE? I thought there was hardly anyone here." "Well, I'm here," said Natasha, "There's a handful of GRID soldiers, and there's some other cleaners like you... Sorry... I mean Facility Assistants. Anyway, here you go." Natasha handed me what was under her arms. "What's this?" I asked. "Your overalls," said Natasha, "This place can get very dusty and I don't want you getting your own clothes all grubby." I unfolded the overalls; horrible looking things that make me look like a right tw*t. "Great," I sarcastically said, "Why don't you make me wear a pink pinny and rollers in my hair and totally emasculate me." "Luke, they're overalls," said Natasha, "I'm thinking of you. I really think you need to adopt a more positive attitude," said Natasha. "Yeah, come on Chuckles," said Gary, giving me a playful nudge in the ribs, "It's not that bad here. Anyway, it's only four hours a day and we can have a good old chat when we have our break together." "Right, well let's just get this over and done with," I said, "I'll start cleaning somewhere yeah?" "Luke, I am in charge," said Natasha, "I will tell you what to do. When you arrive here there will be a sheet at the entrance and it will detail the work you need to do. Here's today's list of jobs." Natasha handed me a sheet. "I knew you'd love lording it over me," I snapped. "What are you talking about?" said Natasha, "Luke I am your boss and that's all I'm doing; being your boss. I am the manager of this facility." "Oooooh," I sarcastically said, "The manager of this big piece of concrete. There's more infected here than there are proper people, and you and I both know you don't have any authority over the GRID soldiers; Blade's in charge of them. The only people you're in charge of here is me and the other cleaners, so don't stand there acting like you're the big-I-am, because you're not." Natasha did not look happy. "Come on," said Gary, trying to lighten the mood, "Why don't we sit down and have a cuppa?" "No," Natasha firmly said, "Luke is here to work, and work is what he will do. He's not scheduled for a break for at least two hours. Now, Luke, you might not want to be here, but you are. I might not be the boss of the soldiers, but I am your boss, and you might not like having me as a boss, but that's tough, because I am.  Oh, and if I hear you referring to the infected as not being proper people, I will give you a disciplinary." "A disciplinary!?" I exclaimed with a hint of laugher and a dollop of sarcasm, "Well I wouldn't want that would I? I mean it would ruin my chances of promotion wouldn't it? I don't want to be excluded from being in with a chance of being upgraded from sh*t sweeper to head sh*t sweeper, do I? I mean, how will I cope with the disappointment!?" "Luke, I do not like your attitude or the tone of your voice," said Natasha, "You are not getting off to a good start here." "Look," I firmly said, "You just stay out of my way and I'll stay out of your way." "No," said a firm Natasha, "You don't tell me what to do. I tell you what to do. If I want to stay out of your way, I will. If I don't want to stay out of your way, I won't. I'm your boss and you do as I say. It's as simple as that. How comfortable this whole experience is going to be is up to you. Now look at your sheet and do your jobs. The cleaning equipment is in the monitoring station. I'll check on you in an hour or so."