The Deadly Wave

Chapter 1.1

The time needed to get to the Z Lab was 15 minutes. What should she do? Certainly being late to class again was a no go. This only meant that she needed to use her last Turbo Juice. This turbo juice would overclock her CPU dangerously high so she could gain access to higher speed and strength.

Jane took her last can of turbo juice and poured it down to her bio mechanic oesophagus. In an instant, she could feel her body warming out and pupils constrict. Her motherboard, located on the inside of her head, started to fire up at an even greater speed. She threw down the can, grabbed her backpack and rushed out of her room.

Usually, travelling across the Unclaimed Land required you to be escorted by guards. However the next escort service was not until another 30 minutes, and Jane was going late. She went to the Wall and sneaked out through a small crack that her best friend Sam found last month. As she ran towards the direction of the Zombie Lab, she looked back. The Z Academy looked older day by day. She noticed that the Builders had already begun inspecting the Wall after a wave of zombies attacked yesterday. It was the second attack this month. These attacks were getting more and more frequent. Even the adults were starting to get a bit nervous. However, the General made a global announcement this morning reassuring to all of us that these Walls are unpenetrable and zombies will never stand a chance against our force and advanced technology compared to 50 years ago.

Jane kept out of the roads like her teachers taught her in Survival class. "Zombies like roads", Mr Chapon always said. Till this day Jane still didn't know why, but she kept out of the roads, just in case. She kept running, knowing full well that the Z Lab was in the direction she was going, even though buildings left and right looked all the same. Most if not all of these buildings were destroyed during the Outbreak. The President declared a state of emergency 50 years ago and rolled in the Army with little to no knowledge other than that there were zombies. It was a stupid move, really. In History class Jane was taught that first generation zombie, now known as tier 5 zombies, were stupid and carried no intelligence. By the time the Army rolled in, it was too late. First generation zombies had infected almost 30% of the population, it was like a virus. The Army tried to fight it at first, but not long after they were infiltrated too. It took less than a few years for the zombie species to infect more than 60% of the human population. The Humans finally united together in hopes of finding a cure and destroying the zombie race. But these zombies became smarter. They became more and more organised. Soon, more than 90% of the population was infected. There were theories on how some zombies developed intelligence while others stayed on tier 5. Some scientists believed that it was because of their intake of brains, but it still remained a hypothesis that needed to be tested.

Jane could finally see the defence towers that surrounded the Z Lab. It was one of the most secretive places in the world. This place was where all the research that took place on researching about zombies developing new technologies. Today was the only day that Jane could go in as a field trip, and she was late......

When she got seen by gate guards, they instantly told her to stop. She raised her hands, shouting not to shoot and that she's a student from Z Academy. She noticed that they held guns that she did not recognise. It certainly looked more advanced than any gun she had even seen. They told her to approach slowly and show her ID. She took out her ID card and one of the guards went over and scanned it. After that, they scanned her retina to confirm her identity.

"You're late", said one of the guards.

"Sorry!" Jane said.

"Where's your escort? Did you travel here all by yourself again?" The guard on the left asked.

It was then when Jane recognised that guard. He was on duty when Jane ran to the Sports centre all by herself because she was late again. Going out by yourself without an escort was against the rules, but luckily the guard was kind and let her go.

"We need to report this, Ken." The other guard, who seemed like a new guy to Jane, said.

"Nah, I got this one. Jane, don't let me catch you sneaking out the Wall all by yourself again. Next time I'm calling your principal."

"But Ken, It's against protocol to-"

"I said it's fine." Ken darted his eyes towards the new guy.

"Thank you! It'll never happen again I promise." Jane thanked Ken again before the 4 metres gate with laser beams opened and she went into the Z lab for the first time.