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

Entry 1156: Tuesday 26th November 2019

Entry 1156
Tuesday 26th November 2019

It's been a horrific and traumatic day.

People have died.

The day started with me waking up early and feeling unenthused at the idea of returning to work at The Hive. I met Michael, we got on the early bus to Sandown and then we met Gary who gave us a lift from Sandown to The Hive. On route to The Hive Michael talked about looking forward to getting back to some sort of work and commented on how amazing the island was. "It's like there was no apocalypse here," said Michael, "Gas. Electricity. Hot running water. It's amazing. I still can't get my head around it. It really does feel like the world never ended." "You won't feel like that when you get to The Hive and see it full of infected," I said. "You need to make allowances for Chuckles," Gary said to Michael, "His cup is never half full. It's always half empty. Remember what I said yesterday Chuckles. Born, live, die. Enjoy the living."

When we arrived at The Hive, I introduced Michael to Natasha who was her usual bossy and patronising self. "Now, I know you two are friends but I don't want to see you both slacking off and talking to each other when you should be working. Do you understand?" "Bl**dy Hell," exclaimed Michael, "It's like working for the Gestapo." I giggled slightly. "OK," said Natasha, in a firm tone as she gave Michael a stern stare, "Let's start as we mean to go on. I won't tolerate being spoken to like that. Am I making myself clear?" "Yeah, yeah," said Michael rolling his eyes. "Do not roll your eyes at me," snapped Natasha, "I am in charge around here." "Calm down, love," said Michael, "You're in charge of a big sheep pen containing infected. It's nothing to brag about. I've just come here to do a bit of cleaning. Talk to me like sh*t and I'll just walk out." A tense silence lingered as Natasha looked very unhappy. "Luke," she firmly said, "Just show him around. You can start by cleaning the forecourt and then moving on to the walkways." I showed Michael around The Hive and once that was done, we started the cleaning.

When late morning came a group of islanders arrived to be shown around The Hive. Michael and I were sat on the step to the small building that housed the staffroom looking over at the arrivals, forty individuals including Richard and Madeline all gathered in the middle of the forecourt being briefed by Natasha. Richard looked over at Michael and I and nodded. This was his way of saying hello. Madeline gave us a big smile and an even bigger wave. "What do you think of this?" I asked Michael, looking over at the visitors, "Being shown around this place as if it's some sort of sightseeing attraction. It's a big ugly concentre building containing thousands of infected. It's hardly Buckingham Palace." "I still don't get why all the infected are in there?" said Michael, pointing over to the containment area, "I mean, what's the point in keeping that many of them alive?" "God knows," I said, "I stopped asking that question a long time ago when it became obvious, I was never going to get an intelligent answer. I think we should just kill all of them. Mind you, Tinsley wants them for his Infected Entertainment Complex." "Yeah, but he doesn't need that many," said Michael. "He certainly doesn't need to be letting people come here to look around the place," I said, "It's a facility for the infected, by a museum. Getting people to come and have a look kind of glamourises the infected." "Yeah, well, they won't be here for long," said Michael, "Natasha looks like she's in her element. Maybe she was a tour guide in a previous life?" "Hardly," I said, "She used to work at Greggs. She's just a bossy cow."

As Natasha continued briefing the visitors one of the GRID soldiers approached her, interrupted her and whispered something in her ear. Natasha listened carefully and adopted a rather concerned look. The GRID soldier left Natasha who quickly replaced her concerned expression with one of professionalism and continued briefing the visitors. The soldier ran over to some other GRID soldiers who whispered something in their ears causing them to also look slightly concerned. "What's that all about?" I asked Michael, looking rather intrigued. "What?" asked Michael. "That soldier just whispered something to Natasha and now he's whispering something to the others." "Who knows?" said Michael, "GRID stuff probably." "Yeah, but they all look worried," I said, "Something's going on." "Oh, who cares," said Michael. I looked at all of the GRID soldiers who were dotted about the place as one by one their blunt expressions were replaced with concern and worry. "No," I said, "It looks like something serious is happening. Everyone looks really worried." "Well, it can't be that serious," said Michael, as Natasha walked past us with the group of visitors and proceed to take them on a tour of The Hive, "Natasha's showing people around. She wouldn't do that if something was kicking off." "It depends on what's kicking off," I said. At that moment Gary walked past us with a serious look on his face. "Gary," I said, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to turn around and look at me, "What's going on?" "What do you mean?" he impatiently asked. "Oh, come on," I said, "I'm not stupid. It's obvious something's happened. Everyone's whispering to each other and you look really serious." Gary looked sideways and appeared rather uncomfortable. "What is it?" I asked, "Just tell me." "Gary gave a deep tiering sigh, suggesting he was about to say something he probably shouldn't. "It's Blade," Gary quietly said, taking a step closer to me. "Jon Blade?" I asked. "Well, I don't mean the 1998 action/horror film, do I?" said a sarcastic Gary. "What's happened?" I asked. "He's escaped from GRID custody," said Gary, "We don't know how he got out, how long he's been missing or where he is but he's out." "I told you, didn't I?" I said to Gary, "I told you there's always some drama." "Just don't say anything to the visitors," said Gary, "No one is supposed to know." "Well, where do you think he is?" asked Michael. "Not sure," said Gary, "Tinsley thinks he might have escaped to get to Endo." "What if he's escaped to get to me!?" I exclaimed in worry, "I helped GRID set a trap that got him locked up." "Don't worry," said Gary. "Don't worry!?" I exclaimed, "You tell me Blade's escaped and that you don't know where he is and you tell me not to worry." "Luke, you're inside The Hive," said Gary, "Weirdly it's one of the safest places on the island. Just stay here for now." "He's right," Michael said to me, "No need to panic. Anyway, Jon won't be interested in you. He'll probably just want to get off the island. Come on. Let's clean the walkways. Take your mind off it." "OK," I said, still feeling uncertain, "I'll get the mops and that. I'll meet you up there." Gary left, Michael went up on the walkways around the containment area and I went inside the small building that housed the staff room and walked down the corridor towards the cleaning cupboard. When I arrived at the cleaning cupboard, I faced the door, gripped the handle, turned it, and opened the door, but before I had a chance to take a step inside, a strong pair of hands appeared out of nowhere, leapt out of the cupboard, reached for my neck, grabbed hold of my collar and quickly pulled me into the cupboard. The door slammed shut, I was thrown up against the wall, and a big heavy hand was pressed up against my mouth. My panic intensified when I saw who was holding me. It was Blade. With one hand tightly gripping my collar, and the other pressed against my mouth, he had me firmly pinned up against the wall as he looked me right in the eye. "Just stay quiet," Blade firmly said, "I'm not going to hurt you, OK? Just stay quiet." I nodded and Blade removed his hand. I tried to steady my shallow breathing as I took amore detailed look at Blade and saw what a state, he was in. A pale complexion, weight loss, a black eye, missing teeth and various cuts and bruises accompanied by long scraggly hair and unkempt bushy beard. A shadow of his former self. Jesus," I said, "Look at you." "if you're referring to my ungroomed appearance, you can blame being on the mainland with no access to a barber for that," said Blade, "If you're referring to my missing teeth and collection of bruises, you can blame Tinsley for that. He took great pleasure in pulling out my teeth hoping I would tell him where Mia's baby was. Anyway, I hate to break it to you Luke, but you're not exactly an oil painting yourself." A short silence followed. "How the Hell did we end up here?" I asked. "You set a trap and handed me over to Tinsley," said Blade. "It's not as black and white as that," I said, "Jesus Jon, I didn't want any of this. Anyway, things might have worked out OK if you hadn't kidnapped Mia's baby and then handed her over to Natasha." "I knew you were going to double cross me," said Blade, "I had to give the baby to Natasha for insurance." "Insurance?" I said, "Well, that didn't work out, did it? Tinsley just tortured you." "Because you handed me over to them," said Blade. "Jon, I didn't want any of this," I firmly said, "But you left me no choice. You haven't exactly shown the ability to make good rational decisions, have you?" "Suppose not," said Blade lowering his head and sounding embarrassed. "What are you going to do?" I asked. "Put it right," said Blade. "What does that mean?" I asked. "I wanted to take Tinsley down," said Blade, "But it's not going to happen, is it? He treats this island like his own personal toy, and everyone's scared of him. I can't take him on. Look at me. I'm not who I used to be. I am embarrassed that I came back here thinking I could resume command. Kayleigh's dead, I've been revealed as a liar, highlighted as incompetent, and shown to be a threat. Everyone knows about the mistakes I've made. I've lost respect and I'm no longer the man I once was. It's over for me." "What do you mean it's over?" I asked, "You could escape off this island. Get away from Tinsley." "And then what?" asked Blade, "Live on the mainland and try to stay alive?" "That's what I used to have to do," I said. "And were you happy with that life?" asked Blade. "No," I said, "Not really, but giving the context I'm making do. Gary told me it's about enjoying the living whilst you can." "And how the Hell am I going to enjoy living on this island?" asked Blade, "Locked up in prison? Back at GRID HQ tortured by Tinsley? Waiting and wondering if Tinsley is going to kill me? That's not a life you can enjoy. I want to go out on my terms not Tinsley's." "What do you mean?" I asked. Blade gave me a blunt but sad expression. "No," I said, raising my eyes and suddenly feeling a sense of realisation, "No. I can't let you. I..." WHACK! Blade hit me hard on the side of my head and knocked me clean out.