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

Entry 1033: Friday 26th July 2019

Entry 1033
Friday 26th July 2019

MY. GOD.

I found out something today that has left me shocked and to be honest, rather worried.

I'd been to work and had the usual boring day moving crates, wiping surfaces and cleaning floors. When I returned home, as Nikki and I were sitting with Leo having a cup of tea, the island's public address system binged. Nikki and I looked at each other and raised our eyes. "That'll be the new Commander," I said, "Let's listen to what he has to say."

I picked up Leo, and Nikki and I raced to the front door and we once again found ourselves on the doorstep waiting to see what the announcement was all about. Natasha was also stood on her doorstep next door. The Acting Commander's strong and harsh sounding voice appeared. "This is the new Acting Commander ad Head of Safety and Security at The Global Response to International Disaster. With immediate effect I will be taking charge from Commander Jon Blade who, as I'm sure you'll all remember, is on the mainland searching for supplies and livestock. There are going to be some changes on this island and these changes are to be implemented as soon as this announcement ends: One; There will be a strict 11pm curfew starting tonight. Anyone who is not GRID personnel and is found to be on the streets or out in public after 11pm without a damn good reason will face severe consequences, and all pubs and other late-night opening outlets will close at 10:30pm. Two; Islanders who are faced with anyone who has an accident, becomes sick and gets infected are authorised to kill them, which brings me on to my third rule – although I may introduce other rules at a later date; with immediate effect the QCUC proposals are terminated. Anyone who becomes infected must be killed. I will be continuing to utilise infected to help generate power and I will be informing you all how or if I have any plans to utilise any infected further. Anyone found to be breaking MY rules, or causing any type of trouble or unrest, will be incarcerated in The Isle of Wight Prison for a time set by me. Persistent or severe trouble causing will result in severe consequences. I have authorised all of my men to shoot and wound, and if necessary, shoot and kill any civilians who try to undermine me or the security of this island. It's time things on this island got whipped into shape and that's exactly what I, Acting Commander Richard Tinsley am going to do. That is all for now." The announcement then ended.

"Oh God," gasped Nikki as she ran inside. "Nikki, what's up?" I asked, calling after her. "He can't do that!" snapped Natasha, "He hasn't even spoken to me yet. He hasn't even introduced himself." "Maybe he doesn't think you're as important as you seem to think you are," I said to Natasha. "He hasn't even spoken to me," snapped Natasha, "The people of this island voted in the QCUC proposals. It's what they wanted, and he's just taken it away from them. We're supposed to be building a democracy here, that animal sounds like he wants a dictatorship. Bossing us all around, telling us what to do." "Sound familiar?" I asked Natasha. "Luke, he's authorised the soldiers to kill us," said Natasha, "No good will come of having that man in charge." "Yeah, well I agree that he's being a bit full on," I said, "But I'm just glad we don't have to look after the infected anymore, and that we can start killing again if we need." "Don't hold your breath," said Natasha, "I'm going to be having a few words with this man. You haven't heard the last of this. Whoever this Tinsley guy is, I'm going to show him that he can't just ride roughshod over us all like this." Natasha then went back inside and the slammed the door in a huff. "Tinsely?" I said, "Is that what he said his name was? Tinsley?" My curiosity was quickly replaced with confusion, which was even more quickly replaced by sudden shock and sharp realisation.

With a cold shiver running down my back I closed the door, quickly walked back into the living room and saw a very scared looking Nikki sitting on the sofa with an anxious look on her face. "Please tell me that guy isn't your ex-husband," I said. Nikki burst into tears. "Oh my God," I said, "Why didn't you tell me he worked at GRID?" "Oh, that's right!" Nikki angrily yelled as she stood up, angrily throwing her arms around in the air, "It's all my fault." "I didn't say that!" I snapped, "I just think it would have been a good idea if you'd have told me about your ex working at GRID." "Why?" asked Nikki, "Why does it matter? We haven't seen each other in ages. He always took more of a back seat when it came to his job at GRID. I never thought we'd have to see him – EVER. He's only got a front facing role now because Blade's gone." "That man is seriously unhinged," I said. "You think I don't know that!" exclaimed Nikki, "I was married to him. The guy's a violent nutter. We just need to stay out of his way and leave him to it." "Oh God," I said, starting to worry, "What if he finds out that I'm your boyfriend?" "It doesn't matter if he does," said Nikki, "Me and Richard are over. He won't care that we're together." "He's bound to come to The Hive at some point," I said, "Maybe I should tell him that we're together and just get it out of the way?" "Luke, make your mind up," snapped Nikki, "One minute you're saying he's unhinged and that we should stay out of his way, and the next, you're saying you want to have a chat with him." "Nikki, you heard what he just said," I said, "He's off his head. He's going to shoot people if they p*ss him off." "Jesus, Luke," said Nikki, "Stop being such a wimp. Why don't you just stand up to him?" "Now who needs to make their mind up!?" I exclaimed, "What do you want me to do? Avoid him or stand up to him?... OK... Let me think... Yes...I think it's best I tell him that me and you are together. I don't want him to think I'm hiding anything from him." "Well, he has got a nose for finding things out," said Nikki, "He used to work as a tax inspector when we lived in Cardiff. He was always able to tell if someone was lying to him." "Oh, great," I said, rolling my eyes. "He used to play a lot of Airsoft," said Nikki. "What?" I said. "It's a competitive team shooting sport," said Nikki, "He always said he wanted to use real bullets instead of fake bullets." "Oh, f*cking brilliant," I said, rolling my eyes, "This just keeps getting better."