Evelyn, just Evelyn as i am told, is living in the small apartments of Old World Architecture, run by her husband, Phil. i am seated in her office, admiring the large photo of all the war veterans. it shows the time when the "Zombies" were officially cleared of the main Old World sector. Evelyn is seated behind her desk, putting her medication back into the white box issued by the New Government. She clears her throat, signaling i may start my interview.
The virus showed itself to us in a multitude of ways. First, it was a sickness, the body trying to expel the strain. Vomiting, shitting, mucus, tears, hell some people lost hair. The first stage was the worst. So many people died just from the stress the Expulsion stage put on the body. Expulsion never worked because strain embedded itself to every fiber of the human body, ingraining it into your DNA. Anyway, after the Expulsion stage, many people recovered fully, as if their body had gotten rid of everything bad, or just gave up trying. It didn't matter though, because after 2 weeks of full health, people started turning. first sign i saw, was bruising. Purple, green and black bruises littered the bodies of men, women and children who had had the needles. The second symptom was dehydration, the third, nausea, dementia and psychosis. the last, was The Coma. If we were called to a house, and we found a patient not moving or responding to stimulants, we had to call a special number. I'm sure the schools taught you about that.
Yes, i was taught. Just to clarify, what was period did this all happen? which needle-
Oh, sorry, forgot to mention that this all happened after the activator was sent out. Its important to clarify that, people get confused with what actually started everything; it was the activator. I've got the medical reports if you would like further information?
No, thank you. But how did you react, to all of this?
How did i react? well I was terrified! being a first year nursing student and dealing with the shit like that was utterly terrifying. I became a nurse to help nurse people to health, not nurse a pandemic to health!
Could you elaborate on that last statement please?
Don't you get it? We didn't help the people in the early days, we helped maintain the host of the strain, help the strain progress to its final stages. The CDC is to blame that though, they didn't recognise it when it was in its early days, they didn't do shit to help the hospital staff adapt to the strain. We were on our own, nursing the people through the Expulsion stage, getting the strain through the most dangerous part of its life. The nurses of the early days are responsible for allowing this to grow, I am responsible for letting this grow! I didn't challenge the views on what this might be when I very easily could have. People would have listened too, to anything new and inventive. Yet, I was just a first year nursing student, no self confidence or esteem.
How valuable were your nursing skills during the early days of the strain
Valuable as dog shit. We knew nothing about what we were facing. The only thing I knew that helped people was how to administer drugs and even then it didn't help them
How valuable were they when everyone became zombies.
Valuable as gold. Everyone was getting sick from colds, getting shot, cut, all these things that couldn't be fixed without someone like me. it was good for me, for a while, people let me into their groups, gave me trust and all their med's. Made self medication a little easier.
When was your first encounter?
August 3rd, 2015. It was a patient in a coma, the late stages of one too. I was calling the number, as you did, and it jumped me from behind. The new ones were all so damn quick. I nearly got bit, but the father of the patient came in and wrestled them off me. He got himself torn to shreds. I'll never forget looking into the eyes of a fresh Zack. They were not human anymore, but I always thought I could see a flicker of humanity in them. Something still there. It wasn't until my son, until he turned, and straight lunged for my throat did I realise that there was nothing left inside of them, that the little boy I gave life to and raised was no longer the sweet boy I loved - he was an empty shell, striving for only one thing. After he died I stopped seeing humanity in Zack, I suppose I only saw humanity in Zack, to cope with My lack there of.
YOU ARE READING
Veteran interviews.
General FictionBefore the death of Thalia. After the War. These are the interviews that were conducted, but never made it to the publishers or the screens. They were thought to have been lost in the fire that took the warehouse where the interviewer was living, y...
