A Little Less Empty

Preface

It’s the year 2020, and nothing much has changed.

The world’s still in a constant disarray. There are still libraries filled with books and free choice and old people who grow old alone. There is still family and friendship and love and betrayal.

There are still people who can be just as good as they can be evil.

Translation: there are still bastards in the world; and no amount of time is ever going to change that.

Speaking of bastards, a few world leaders decided a few decades ago that a third world war was imminent and they wanted to be prepared for it– at any cost. So for that reason, basic decency and morals for humanity have been ignored for the unforeseeable future.

War makes people stupid, but also very secretive.

One of the biggest secrets in fact, lies here, in Hamlet; a supposedly rundown town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a place of dust and memories. Nobody cares about Hamlet. It doesn’t show up on any maps or on GPS. So it’s perfect; perfect for one of the world’s biggest secrets.

One of the prime factors in war is the people who fight it. The ones that are told to hold guns and told who to shoot. Told when they’re allowed to die and when their allowed to lie down and surrender. They say it’s honourable to fight for your country, but there’s no honour in an ordered death.

I mean no disrespect. Great men and women have died in the line of fire for centuries; but those deaths were unnecessary. Too much blood soaks the earth already.

Back to the matter at hand, the world needs soldiers. But the world’s grown lazy. They hide behind their computers and their technology, and few people would risk their lives for war nowadays. They know as well as I do that’s it’s not so honourable anymore. I’m gonna go ahead and say that there are also a few more cowards in the world.

It’s a big problem, trying to fight a war with no one to fight it, so the bastards of power picked a town at random – probably closed their eyes and pointed – and decided it would be the birth place of a new race of super soldiers, ready to protect the land and the people, because the people won’t protect it themselves.

At some point in history, a band of researchers were gathered by a few rich suits with comb-overs and told that they needed soldiers to fight a pointless war. And soldiers they made. The researchers were given all the resources they needed and enough money to bathe in for the rest of their lives. I can tell they didn’t complain much.

That’s why I’m here.

Most of the children born in Hamlet were injected with a vaccination at birth. This vaccination, known as ‘The Serum’ was meant to strengthen the immune system, make them invulnerable to disease. They did that part alright. I’ve never had so much as a cold in my life.

Of course this wasn’t their only aim; they wanted to create a faster, stronger, smarter, warrior race.

But they had varying results.

A few years ago, the movie industry was hit hard with the concept of zombies; mindless, blood-thirsty creatures with a lust for brains and human flesh. There was talk of apocalypses, the end of the world and all that nonsense.

We’re not all that bad.

We still eat brains sure, but they usually come pre-packaged and served for us at the cafeteria table here at the Institute. We still eat normal food; I don’t think I could survive without pizza; because a life without pizza is a very sad life indeed.

Enough about pizza. When they injected all those children with The Serum, some reacted differently than others. Which is a given, I’m sure, because everyone’s different.

Some reacted well. Some… not so much.

Those that did became the Docile. We’re similar to humans in a way. We’re paler, cold to the touch. Our emotions are muted, so we aren’t swayed by love or hate or fear. The perfect soldier is not lead by his emotions after all. It makes me feel kinda sad actually, which is ironic. I’m one of the few exceptions to the rule. I’m one of the Docile, but I’m not so… docile.

The others whose bodies reject The Serum become the Damaged. They’re more like the traditional zombie. They’re grey in complexion, and don’t smell too great. I have a thing with body odour, if you don’t smell nice – get out. Besides that, they don’t really function like normal people. They lost their humanity at birth, or at some point in their bleak lives. I don’t know if they care about anything, really, other than brains.

While all the Docile live at the Institute, where we’re educated about the boring stuff like maths and biology, the Damaged are kept at the Asylum. Strapped down and tested on by white coats who wonder what went wrong.

It makes me shudder sometimes.

So yeah, it’s the year 2020, and not much has changed.

Zombies live on this earth, but they’re not so… alive. 

As for the progress on the super soldiers, I’m not sure how that’s going. The Docile are usually just that, docile. Not particularly strong or fast or smart.

I wonder if the researchers are still bathing in money.

♥