The zombie game

chapter 25

“Ladies and gentlemen,” said Dave. He was standing on a podium, a few men and women standing below him, waiting to listen to his speech. They were all guards. “We have come to a very interesting conclusion about these people that came around here. And about the world itself. That people like them shall be extinguished from this earth in chariots of fire and brimstone. Therefore, I have some news to share with you all tonight. Something will happen in three days time—something that will send a wave of destruction through these parts, destroying all buildings and killing all the zombies, as well as anyone else present when it happens. An army will descend upon the remaining survivors, kidnap them, and bring them back to me—to us—you see, we are like a family here, suffering through this hardship like everyone else; but we have an advantage. We have the technology to get out of this slum, to find a better place, and to eliminate every threat against us that we can—we shall take people and bring them back here. Sure, first we will feed them and tell them everything is okay, when it clearly isn't, but we will also turn them into slaves and eventually into soldiers as well rebuild the greatness of this country,” boomed Dave. The crowd around him was going wild.

“But tonight we feast to better days to come. We shall not let these peasants boss us around and tell us what we can and can't do—and we won't have them wrecking havoc upon our newly found society...my power will stretch and reach beyond anybody. We shall herd these peasants and protect them from the zombies for so long; but then we will cut them loose, let them fend for themselves in the harshest conditions possible, and we will still rule over them for eternity. And nobody will be strong enough to stop us. We need to kill the infection before it spreads even further.

“Because we are all infected. But the difference between us and them is the fact that we are stronger—we can fight the infection. We are better than those murderous scoundrels who succumb to the call of the wild—the instincts of human nature. There are still humans left in this world, but barely, since everyone has fallen to the darkness. We haven't though. We have turned to the light and we will flush out those who have turned to the darkness for support, because we all know darkness does not render a single thing; and we will stretch our power for beyond cities and maybe even parts of the world that had been uninfected if there are any countries that are uninfected.” The crowd was going wild; screaming and shouting and hooping and hollering. Dave just stepped back from the podium and smiled.

****

Ken was sitting in his cell. He had been the only one who had not been thrown in solitary. He had heard the whole thing; the commotion of Linda being hit and whipped, as well as Joe and Tom's return with a wounded Leo. He had heard the shouting and heard the fist slam down like hard pieces of cement. And he had just heard the speech Dave had given to the people. Ken stepped back from the door with his mouth open in a wide O, thinking about what Dave had just said. The Red Ring continued to run through his head and it sent chills up and down his spine as he thought about the extermination of the United States and perhaps the world. A second extermination. The first one was the virus that had turned everybody to zombies and sent the government falling and failing, and the second one was the Red Ring, which would take a lot of the survivors and turn them into slaves and eventually soldiers, so Dave said.

Ken had to get out of there as soon as possible. He had to leave his cell, find solitary, rescue Joe and Linda and Tom, and then leave this place, never to return. But if that were too happen, what would it be like when Dave did retain full power like he was talking about. Ken figured it wouldn't really matter much if he stayed or escaped, because Dave would soon find them anyway if they had escaped, so it was useless to try. There had to be hope though.

More screaming and shouting was filling the air and Ken knew that the celebration had begun. Ken had also begun to wonder where Lewis was. He hadn't seen Lewis around for quite sometime, and he was suddenly beginning to worry a bit about him. Ken thought Lewis could have been dead. Ken just sat there and listened as people were drinking and eating and laughing, and as he listened to this began growing more and more disgusted, because there was plenty of food and drink that was being kept from them.

Ken just needed to get out. He needed to.

He just sat there and thought about what his life would be like if he was out of this hell hole, and he secretly started to plot for some sort of an escape.

*****

Joe, Linda and Tom were sitting in their cells. There was little to no sound in their cells, so they began just quietly chatting meaningless things to each other to fill the time.

“What are we gonna do?” moaned Linda.

“I don't have a clue. We are just stuck here in this dark place. There hasn't been food given to us in a day,” said Joe.

“I know,” Tom answered. “My stomach is starting to hurt a bit, and my mouth is extremely dry.”

“Same here,” said Linda, “how can they do this to us?”

“Easy,” Joe said, “he can do whatever the hell he wants in this world.”

“He is using this as his advantage,” Tom agreed, “this sort of virus he is using to gain power and soon he will have expanded his power.”

“Unless we stop him,” said Linda, mad.

“How are we gonna get outta here to do that?” asked Tom.

“If a guard comes in here and...”

“By the looks of things there will be no guards coming into this room to check on us. Unless, miraculously, somebody was to raid the place like what happened before. Then we might be able to get out of here,” Joe said.

“We won't be that lucky again,” said Linda.

“And plus, we would probably get caught again,” Tom said.

“True,” Joe said. “What if Dave is killed though?”

“I don't that is gonna happen,” said Tom.

“But what if he does?”

“Then we triumph and we leave this place,” said Linda. “Seems like a viable option.”

“Yea,” said Tom.

“What now?” asked Joe.

“We just sit here and talk and wait until we die,” said Linda.

“Don't say that,” said Joe. “You just told me not to be so negative.”

“I mean, you might be right,” said Linda, “how can there be hope in a world like this. You were right Joe—you really were.”

“How?” asked Tom. “The way I see it there is always hope.”

“And I am starting to think reasonably,” said Joe.

“Really?” asked Linda.

“Yea,” said Joe, “I really am. I began listening to what you were saying and it did make sense. There has to be hope hidden and buried somewhere.”

“Right,” muttered Tom. “It doesn't help to think negatively.”

“Nope,” said Joe.

“And we will get out of here,” said Tom.

“Yes we will.”

“We should be thinking of ways to escape,” Linda agreed.

“I know,” Joe said. They fell silent.