The Empire

The Empire - Part 1

The German bombers whirred overhead; the patrols had increased since the outbreak and the separation of the capital from the other parts of Europe. The German empire had become the strongest once again, it was like an image from the past, the World War II bombers still flew, the German soldiers still marched, and the heavy machine guns still barked from time to time in the gunner nests on the wall. Living next to the wall was frightening; sometimes in the middle of the night I'd be awoken by the gunners yelling, sometimes laughing at a game of poker, speaking in their German accents. 

It had been a while since the last outbreak within the city, the infection was always well contained in the capital, and King Lotheir made sure of this with his strict regulations about the infection. The constant tests that the troops conducted door knocking every second day, armed with their syringes. The infection was dangerous, some say it awakes the dead, I've never been beyond the wall, so I've never seen the infected, but I have heard plenty of stories. Stories of those who just made it out by missing a finger or something stupid like that, nothing interesting really, just a whole lot of street stories passed around amongst old people that have nothing better to do. I walked out into my balcony, I lived alone, so it was always walking out onto my balcony and just staring at the sky, it was relaxing, a soothing feeling until it was blocked by the large iron supported concrete wall. It blocked out half the view from my balcony, I sighed at the sight of it and slid my hand into my coat pocket, in search for my tin of cigarettes, my index brushed up against the cold silver before I pulled it free of my pocket. It reflected the dim light of the moon that barely shone over the wall; it showed the engraved words in the tin "Damaged people are dangerous, because they know they can survive". I pressed the tab on the side of it in, flicking the lid wide open, a cigar and a couple cigarettes lay neatly lined up against each other, and I plucked one free and held it between my lips. I closed the lid and read the words to myself again, my father always used to say these words to me. I suppose it's what has kept me from fate for all the years I've been in the capital. I slid a match from the box I had against the table on the balcony, I dragged it down the side of the table, it sparked and burst to life, I then held it against the tip of the cigarette and gently sucked on the end of it. The cigarettes tip hummed a dry orange before I dropped the cigarette into the concrete and stomped on it. A bellow of smoke left my nostrils as I once more glanced up the wall to notice the moon had disappeared behind the clouds of the night. It was odd that I hadn't heard the calling of the troops on the wall as of yet, I didn't question it. 

The cigarette burnt slowly between my lips, I kept puffing on it. I had never been a smoker not for a long time until the infection came. I sat myself down on one of the two wooden chairs that were against the balcony's table. Plucking the cigarette free of my lips, I heard a heavy thump. It startled me; I almost spilt the burning embers of the cigarette all over my lap. The thump was heard again, it was someone at the door, they hadn't announced themselves yet. I turned and walked down the stairs of my small two storey house, grunting as I met the door slapping the latch down to unlock it. I slid it open allowing it to swing the rest of the way, I simply stood in the area illuminated by the moons light. The man was a soldier, conducting his regular test of those in the area. I sighed and slid one of my sleeves up after unbuttoning the cuff. I always used the same arm, so I had a variety of discoloured white to purple scars. I bit my bottom lip as he pressed the needle into my skin, it buried deep on an angle and into one of the arteries in my arm. I sighed as he slid the plunger back and extracted the blood he required, flicking the needle into a small capsule of which was bright orange and marked with the biohazard emblem. He slid out the small container that they filter the blood into where the detection dye determines your fate, it was some chemical reaction that determined if you were infected or not. The dye switched to a dark grey, it was a negative test. I was never excited about passing the test, it was always an inconvenience. The soldier nodded and gave me a stern look then adjusting his rifle on his shoulder before turning off and trudging into the mud to approach another house. I shut my door and made towards the fridge, blood had dried on the surface of my arm; it might have even frozen due to the temperature the capital was always at. I snatched the handle of the fridge and opened it, the light scattered throughout the dark kitchen, I reached for a bottle of water and slapped the fridge shut. I opened the bottle and took a few gulps of the water. Refreshing myself I dropped the bottle into the table top, the cap screwed on tightly.