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

Day 378: Friday 8th September 2017 17:35

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Day 378
Friday 8th September 2017 17:35

We spoke about our future plans today – well we tried to.

We've been talking about leaving Kwik-Fit and going out to look for Seth, Josh, Mia and Sophie but after what happened at the ACROBAT base we're all too scared to leave. "I feel awful just sat here doing nothing," said a frustrated Naomi. "Well let's go out and get looking," said Courtney. "What?!" exclaimed TJ, "You want to go back out there after what we did to the base?" "WE?" said Courtney, "WE didn't do anything. It was you lot that caused all that trouble." "Oh Courtney shut up," said Naomi, "There's lots you don't understand." "Don't talk to me like I'm a stupid kid," snapped Courtney. "Well don't act like one," said Naomi, "Anyway you are just a stupid kid. Leave the big talk to the grownups." "You can't talk to me like that you bossy b*tch," snapped Courtney. "Will you just be quiet," snapped an angry Naomi, "Now is not the time for you to be acting like a stroppy child." "I'm sick of being treated like a kid," snapped a frustrated Courtney, "No one takes me seriously. I've had enough. It's not fair. Don't take it out on me cos Seth's not around. It's not my fault you can't keep hold of your precious husband. I bet after all your nagging and moaning he did a runner and didn't look back. I bet he was glad to see the back of you." Naomi frowned and slapped Courtney, hard, across the face. Courtney's head was flung to the left as a few of us gasped. She slowly turned her head back, nursed the red mark on her face and gave Naomi a look of contempt which Naomi reciprocated. "You b*tch," she said. Courtney threw herself at Naomi in a preparation for a full on cat fight. Naomi took a step back as Trudy grabbed hold of Courtney, who was kicking and screaming, and restrained her. "LET GO OF ME!" screamed Courtney, "I'M GOING TO SCRATCH HER EYES OUT!" "Courtney, just relax," I said. "Listen to Luke," said Trudy, "We've got too much going on. We shouldn't be fighting. Just go upstairs and take a time out." Courtney ran up the metal stair case, walked along the platform above and stormed into the office. I turned to Naomi and shook my head in frustration. "Do you have to wind her up?" I said. "Wind her up!?" exclaimed Naomi, "After what she just said about Seth?" "Naomi, she's a teenage girl. You're an adult," I said. "I don't care," said a firm Naomi, "She walks around this place mouthing off, being a stroppy little madam – she needs bringing down a peg or two. Anyway, forget about her, what are we going to do about looking for Seth?" "I don't know," I said. "Well we can't stay in here forever," said a firm Naomi, "This is hardly living and the food's not going to last forever." "I know!" I loudly said to Naomi, "I know all that!" "Well maybe we could go outside and look around as long as we're careful," said Mike. "It's too dangerous," I said, "The ACROBAT lot will kill us if they see us. Their drones are probably flying all over the place, they'll have armed agents everywhere and then there's the infected to worry about." "Luke what is the matter with you?" said a frustrated Mary." "What do you mean?" I asked. "You need to give yourself a bit more credit," said Mary, "It's the end of the world, you've fought the infected and you're STILL here. You're ALL STILL here. Hell, you even got on to the ACROBAT base and left intact. That's pretty impressive. You lot are fighters – we all are. That's why we're still alive. If we can get on to a military base, leave and live to tell the tale then I think we should be pretty proud of ourselves." "Alright Hairy Mary," said TJ, "Let's not start sucking each other off just yet. We're still stuck in here, miles away from City One aren't we?" "Well that could change," said Mary. "What do you mean?" asked Naomi. "Well I don't think we should be scared of the ACROBAT lot," said Mary, "I think they should be scared of us. You lot kidnapped one of their agents, Goyle even said that he knows you can take of yourselves. They manipulated me into getting you to where they wanted you and they surrounded the pub with flesh so they could keep you in one place. They wouldn't do that if they didn't see you as threat. Come on, have some confidence. We can leave here and deal with anything ACROBAT throws at us." "Great speech Martin Luther King," said TJ, "But I'm not in a hurry to go anywhere. Not just yet. Especially with two kids and four dogs – five including you. I'm only leaving here if we're heading for City One." "I wasn't suggesting we all leave," said Mary, "A few of us can go out and look for Seth. If we come across any drones or ACROBAT people, we just deal with them." "Oh yeah," said TJ, "Just like that." "Well I'm going out," said a firm Mary, "I'm not going to stay cooped up in here." "I'm not leaving my kids," said Trudy, "Anyway I think what Luke said the other day about ACROBAT wanting to experiment on us might be right. I'm not leaving this place to get captured by those b*stards just so they can stick wires in my head and do all sorts of weird tests on me." "We've only got one machine gun too," said TJ, "I know we've got knives and wrenches and stuff but they won't help against a mass of soldiers and a sh*t load of bullets." "Do you want to get to City One or what?" Naomi snapped at TJ. "Of course I do," said TJ, "But I want to stay alive even more. Look, no offence Naomi, but you've got a map. We could use it and go to City One right now." There was a short silence as everyone gave Naomi an expectant look,  which she responded to with outrage. "Are you kidding?" snapped an angry Naomi, "Head off to City One without Seth? After everything he's done for us. He's my husband." "And he might be dead," said TJ, "Sorry Naomi but you know that's a possibility." "Yes," snapped Naomi, "A possibility – not a fact. There's still hope. Do you really expect me to give up and just head off to City One without him? They probably won't let any of us in without him anyway, and what about Mia, and Josh, and Amelia? Are we supposed to just leave them?" Naomi looked at us all waiting for a response. Our silence angered her. She let out an annoyed sigh, shook her head in outrage and stormed off. "Naomi, wait!" I called after her, "I'm just saying we can't wait forever." "She's worried about her husband, Luke," said Mary. "Yes thank you, Mary," I firmly said, "I know that but we need to think about how long we're going to keep looking for Seth and Mia." "Maybe we need to think about making a copy of that map Naomi has," said Mary, "And then we could make our own way to City One." "What? And leave Naomi here?" I said. "She's a grown woman," said Mary, "It's her choice. We could look for Seth and Mia for a while longer but I think it would be a good idea to make a copy of Naomi's map. That way, those that want to leave sooner rather than later can do so." "I don't like what you're getting at," I said to Mary, "Are you suggesting we leave Naomi here all on her own whilst the rest of us drive off to City One?" "What's your problem?" said Mary, "You've more or less suggested the same thing? Or are you hoping that when you're ready to leave, Naomi will be ready to leave at the same time?" I looked at Mary and lowered my head. "Nice thought Luke," said Mary, "But a bit naive. I don't think Naomi's going to be ready to leave anytime soon. If we make a copy of that map, we can head off to City One while Naomi stays here with her copy and keep looking for Seth. She can join us when she's ready." "I don't like the idea of leaving her here alone," I said. "Fine," said Mary, "Then you can stay here with her too but one thing's for sure, I'm not hanging around here much longer."

In the afternoon, while Trudy was trying to talk sense into Courtney and calm her down, Mike was sat upstairs in the office playing with the walkie talkie he took off Clare Rowlands. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was trying to see if he could listen in on any of ACROBAT's transmissions. "Any joy?" I asked. "No," said Mike, "I've been here hours and I haven't heard a thing." "They might have changed frequencies or blocked the signal or something," I said, "I don't know. I just know that they're aware we left with Clare and her walkie talkie so they'd probably do anything to stop us from listening in." Mike stood up, frowned and grabbed hold of the walkie talkie. "F*cking, dirty little filthy piggies," he snapped as he repeatedly smashed the device against the wall. The walkie talkie fell to the floor in pieces and Mike cut his hand. "Whoa," I said, "Mike calm down. What's wrong?" "I'm useless," snapped Mike, punching himself in the arms, "I'm just useless. F*cking, f*cking useless." I grabbed hold of Mike's hands. "Now come on, stop it," I said, "What's all this about? You're not useless. You got us off the base. We could have all been killed if it wasn't for you." I had a chat with Mike and reassured him that he wasn't useless. I gave him a hug, told him that he was a great guy and that we'd all be lost without him. I think the stress of being cooped up in Kwik-Fit is getting to us all.

I think tomorrow we'll have another talk and see if we can agree on what we're going to do about looking for the others and getting to City One. It feels like we just keep having the same conversation over and over again and I have a feeling Naomi might get even more upset.