Luke's Diary: An Unlucky Man in a Zombie Apocalypse. Days 201-400

Day 276: Monday 29th May 2017 23:57

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Day 276
Monday 29th May 2017 23:57

What started out as a really positive day with me feeling really focused and determined has ended with me feeling really angry. Right now, I feel like I could push Dump off a cliff and happily watch him fall to his death.

I decided to join in the Q&A debate and show the residents of Dumpville, and of course Dump, that I'd be a bl**dy brilliant leader! Before the Q&A debate Naomi helped me prepare an amazing speech and I was all pumped up and ready to go. This really made me think I had a good chance of undoing some of the damage caused by Dump.

I was stood behind stage with Dump and Mia, getting ready for my speech. It felt a bit sad and kind of weird that Esther wasn't there. Dump kept giving me smug looks and throwing his creepy arrogant smiles at me. I ignored him and tried not to let it bother me but it was difficult. "It looks like Esther's lost her bottle," Dump said with a smirk, "I'm not sure you ever had any, Luke." Mia picked up an empty bottle of water I had been drinking and shoved it in Dump's face. "Well DUH," she said, "Look! That's a bottle! Are you blind?" Dump giggled and walked back to his side of the room and a few moments later John appeared and took us on the stage.

As I approached the lectern I was aware that this was the last Q&A debate so I really had to do my best to shine. John introduced us all formerly and just as I was about to start speaking, Esther appeared on stage and approached her lectern. Dump looked angered but I was very happy. I gave Esther a delighted smile as she tried to compose herself. Good for her, I thought to myself. John introduced me as the first one to speak. I was feeling very nervous; talking about killing little Robbie and murdering two innocent people wasn't something I particularly wanted to talk about but I wanted to show Dump, and the others, that there was a good reason for my behaviour. I addressed the crowd and began my speech.

"I stood on this stage the other day," I announced, "And Mr Dump accused me of killing a small child and a young married couple. Mr Dump was correct. Whilst I am not proud of murdering the young married couple, I am very proud that I murdered Robbie." The crowd looked horrified, with some appearing very confused. "I know this sounds like an odd and very horrible thing to hear but I'll explain. My friends and I were sheltering in an abandoned supermarket," I continued, "And for a while we thought we had it made. We were starting to grow vegetables and collect water, we had lots of food and for a while we felt safe. Sadly it didn't last. A man called Hilary found out where we were all staying. This is a man who terrorised Naomi, attacked our now deceased friend, Alex and arranged for Mia to be brutally raped. Unbeknownst to me, Hilary's wife and son were with us at the supermarket. Hilary's son was little Robbie, who I loved to bits. Hilary sent a man to the supermarket to spy on us and this man made it possible for Hilary and his friends to attack us and hold us all as hostage. Hilary didn't just hold us hostage with guns, he brought some of the infected with him and he had them tied by their necks to the ends of some sticks. He wanted me to pick who was going to die first. It was awful. Anyway, there was a big fight and the infected got free. Robbie and his Mum were bit. I held that little boy; that lovely, sweet little boy in my arms and I killed him." Tears started to run down my face. I haven't really talked about what happened like this in such a public way before and it was quite upsetting. I could see members of the audience with solemn expressions on their faces also shedding tears. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," I emotionally continued, "But I wanted to remember Robbie as a funny little character who made me laugh rather than a growling, infected monster. It was horrible. It wasn't easy but I did what had to be done." There was a pause. I then explained how Hilary got away but returned and caused the death of DeShawn's sister Precious, my mate Gaz and Kris. I explained how the trauma of me killing Robbie caused me to become unstable and I then explained how I came to kill Ashley and Jessica and leave the supermarket. "I'm not proud of what I did to poor Ashley and Jessica," I said, "But I was not in a healthy state of mind. I am truly sorry for what I did but until you've experienced such intense trauma you don't know how you're going to react. Sadly, I am now used to killing people if I have to. If you think this will make me a bad leader, don't vote for me but if you can see how trying to survive out there has made me do things I've had to do and learn and develop new survival skills that can keep me and others alive, AND make me a good leader, then vote for me." I took a step back and a lot of people started clapping. I felt very proud of myself. I'd done something difficult, shared my story, been upfront and honest and it had paid off.