Lucas stood before the glass doors at the front of the lobby, silently watching the roiling group of moaning bodies. Traces of light filtered through the shuffling forms. Eyes tracked his motion while hands and teeth tried to grasp him through the glass. The monsters definitely responded to his presence. Somehow, they knew he wasn't one of them.
One of the many zombies at the door had a grievous wound over it's chest. Out of those present, it definitely fit its moniker more accurately than its peers. Few of the others had prominent injuries except for minor nicks and scratches. They all shared the same pale, partly frozen look to their skin from the overnight rain and cold. The appearance of the things was sickening, but worse than that, the rank odor was enough to make Lucas glad he hadn't eaten anything. A few moments' worth of observation partly desensitized him to the sight, but the stench would eventually drive him into retreat.
The solitary, shadowy chamber was rife with a feeling of palpable tension. Although the zombies factored into the mood, Lucas was more nervous that Simon would assert he was pointlessly agitating them. He watched the stairs, listening intently for any indication someone was moving through the halls or descending in haste. He was primed to bolt down the one hallway and proceed up the other stairway. Yet as the seconds became minutes and nothing came of Jorge's retreat, Lucas's nervous energy receded.
He seemed to have some time; there was only one observational experiment Lucas had in mind. Taking one step back from the doors, he selected an unstained area and laid upon the icy floor. Moving limbs continuously rattled upon glass while he moved. They followed his movement, some of them splaying their fingers uselessly upon the lower portion of the doors and the large, full windows. Their moaning calls droned on.
Lucas attempted to remain motionless, closing his eyes and settling his breathing into a slower rhythm. The unholy stench seeping through the cracks made it difficult to relax. Just beside the rattling doors, he was uncertain if he could remain motionless enough to feign sleep. He wondered how long being inert would take before the droning monsters would lose interest in him, if they would.
Forcing himself to take slow breaths, Lucas recalled everything he could which might contain meaning. For some reason, these zombies remained here at the door whether or not someone was down here for them to directly see. He was uncertain of the intervals at which the group had sent an observer, but their continued presence outside could mean they remembered that people were inside. If so, he wasn't sure if he could hold his position long enough to have them forget he had been moving.
Thinking back, he recalled how one zombie had passed over those struck by the blackout event, deliberately avoiding them. They did not lash out at one another. It was laughable to think they could see human consciousness, but with those anomalous facts and the strange animal immunity Lucas no idea what else could explain the behavior. A far more sensible explanation might linger just beyond his imagination. But maybe not.
If being conscious was not the fundamental distinction, then what could be?
As Lucas waited, other thoughts intruded. Nearly a full day had passed and there was no indication of their rescuers returning; the power had not been restored. He had little concrete idea what a dedicated response team's priorities would be, but it seemed that if they did not arrive by now then at least they should have restored communication. The ongoing lack of power within the city was troubling.
The monsters and strange events known so far should be surmountable with clever engineering. Anyone should realize these issues were solvable with the right approach and a bit of time. There had to be some reason they weren't solved yet by the people whose job it would be to solve these issues. They should have seen some indication of that by now.
Yet the only explanations Lucas could fathom were things like more z-rays burst events hitting Earth, or the blackout events spreading out to mask the travel of those unknown aliens into the wider world. Maybe yet other forces were making their presence known. Regardless, it was as if the outside world had vanished. Something else was ongoing- something that kept people with resources and organization away- the immediate problems would have to be solved locally.
Distant, muffled sounds of voices drifted in from elsewhere- barely audible in the eerie silence. Food was apparently running low for many of those in the building. Soon the others would also realize they would have to take matters into their own hands. Of course, safely leaving the building to search for supplies or flee would present problems, especially if they did not have good leadership. It wasn't a pleasant prospect to consider.
Lucas could be careful and smart about what he did. But he could not control the choices of all the people he was with by circumstance. Additionally, the zombie presence outside was increasing in numbers over time. It was direct evidence that others were facing the same scenario and evidently handling their situation ineptly.
Lucas halted mid-breath, suddenly realizing that he had no longer been hearing the droning call of the undead. The doors had ceased rattling in their frame; yet the foul stench lingered. The only sounds discernible were muted voices participating in a lively conversation. He couldn't hear the zombies any more; he couldn't see them. Other than the smell, which could simply be lingering, he had no direct experience of knowing that they were still outside. Could they have left?
With his head turned to face the floor-to-ceiling glass, Lucas opened his eyes. Blank gazes returned through the translucent barrier, fingers spread and teeth gnashing. The aggressive challenge of the door continued a moment later along with the familiar droning calls. Lucas closed his eyes again. The racket continued. The undead were active once more, seemingly because he had became aware of their presence. It was crazy, but how did they determine when to be quiet? Lucas puzzled thoughtfully over the curious observation, speculating if it was further evidence in favor of the outlandish theory.
A firecracker jolt tore Lucas from his contemplative reverie. Another came as he sat up, sending his heart into rapid motion. Dead peeled away from the door in ones and twos. Beyond, a jet of material shot into the air, coinciding with another heavy crack. Beyond the bodies, he could see something fall. Hastily, Lucas stood again and backed away.
For one joyous moment, Lucas discarded his thoughts, thinking that their help had finally returned, but the relief quickly faded as he realized the source was from a solitary civilian vehicle. Still, the arrival was slaying the zombies. He further backed away, almost into the hallway in order to help divert the undead attention. Excited voices began to echo from above, steadily rising in volume as more people were drawn to attention.
As the final body fell, Lucas approached the doors to look outside. Several people who had been hiding upstairs came down to gawk. Outside, a few remaining stragglers revealed themselves from around the corner, only to be taken down once in closer proximity. As the action settled, the vehicle was littered with bodies and viscera, but the occupants were seemingly alive.
"Did they come back?" Jorge asked as he descended the stairs among a cluster. A
mingling roar came with him as excited voices spoke, some declaring their imminent rescue while others were quickly rebutting the optimism. Many from the crowd brought with them their own light sources, giving the area a soft glow. A few coughed at the reek in the air and withdrew.
"It's just one car." Lucas called back. "But they killed all the zombies."
Simon came down, passing by everyone without giving them much of a glance. He approached the doors with an authoritative stance. Others tentatively followed, most keeping close to the stairs or standing somewhere upon them. Lucas sidled away to where the glass facing met the wall. A combination of excited and disgusted voices filled the room as additional observers arrived.
Lucas's eyes widened as he witnessed Evan emerge from the vehicle and gaze slowly around himself. He carried a pistol with him and appeared to have been sprinkled with the violence of the event outside. Hushed silence fell over the throng as they watched his approach. Lucas raised his hand to wave.
"No way are you coming inside like that." Simon called out as Evan halted before the doors.
Evan shook his head and returned Lucas's gesture with his free hand. "I don't want inside. I'm only here to get someone."
In one awkward moment, Lucas realized the everyone was watching him. A few voices protested to one another that more could escape with the vehicle, but the enthusiasm of that realization seemed to be tamped down somewhat by the visible carnage. Lucas regarded Simon with an uncertain glance and tentatively approached.
Simon glared at Evan. "Well, you don't need to be standing right there for any reason." Simon scowled as he took the keys for the door from his belt. Evan nodded and moved back, returning to his attention to the surrounding environs.
Tentatively, Lucas approached the doors and spoke. "You'll let me back in?"
Simon regarded him with puzzlement before replying, as if he considered the question absurd. "You'll have to prove you're okay if you want back inside."
"Okay. I'll be back in a bit, I think." A cold chill rushed to envelope exposed skin. Ice felt its way through the cracks in his coat. An errant breath of supremely foul air produced a gag. A sudden force propelled him into a reflexive walk.
Rattling clatter, and muffled voices emanated from nearby as Lucas coughed. Apart from a vague awareness of movement and fallen bodies with slimy spillage oozing forth, all he knew was his friend was there. Outside, they were alone. Events transpired whilst he struggled to sensibly interpret the essential elements of the scene surrounding him. Sensations flickered, drilling into his skull and lingering in memorandum long after exposure.
Lucas exhaled harshly, muted awareness communicating place, scent and noise. Safety. He closed his eyes, feeling fabric beneath him and streaks of color upon glass. Watching the slaughter from the interior of the building was one thing, as body after body fell in a horrid, yet comprehensible escalation. Fluids gradually spread over the ground. He had witnessed everything. But he hadn't seen them.
Necessity had forced prolonged observation of things he now realized his gaze had unconsciously avoided. If he hadn't really looked this time, he would have fallen. To trod amongst the detritus was wholly otherworldly.
A repeated voice came to him. "-okay? Lucas?" Evan had been waving his hand in front of his face. They were inside a vehicle, its exterior littered with discolored smudges.
"Yeah. I-" Lucas stifled a wet convulsion in his throat and readjusted his glasses. "I don't... I'm okay."
"How is everyone in there doing?"
"Not good. Running low on food." Lucas idly glanced at the door beside him. Someone had locked it. Leon and the Asian girl he had seen only briefly a couple times before were in the vehicle as well. Weapons and ammunition had been strewn about the interior.
"Okay, so we pick up some supplies." Evan gazed towards Blackwood dormitory and the scared people riotously chattering inside. "Any ideas after that?"
"Leave?" Leon suggested from the front passenger seat. "To get help, I mean."
"That sounds good." Said the girl as she rubbed at her ears.
Lucas stared at the back of the seat before him, silent. Thinking they may be on their own was disquieting, but he had figured this situation was something he could handle. Merely walking a few feet outside shattered that idea as the fragile delusion it had always been. Taking useful action meant being capable of accomplishing what his friend had done.
"Lucas, what about you?" Evan paused cleaning himself off with a towel to touch him on the shoulder.
"Yeah." Lucas closed his eyes and tried not to breathe. Once they left, he doubted any of them would return. Likely, nobody else would venture this way either. "Let's go find help."
There had to be a very good reason for their complete abandonment. Whatever it was, nothing they could do would change those reasons.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Monday, January 2, 2017
Escape
Eerie wailing drifted through the long stone corridor, muffled by the glass frame at its end. A wall of writhing flesh strained upon the cast iron portal. Murky winter light filtering through dense clouds cast long shadows through the chilly environment. Individual figures were only occasionally discernible from the mass, rendering any attempt to precisely count numbers futile.
"Whoa, there's a whole bunch of them out there. Maybe over a dozen." Ryan broke the silence as he scratched at patchy bits of brown hair on his chin. He had ambled away from the doors as Evan entered, but still gawked from nearby in a winter coat. "Where do you think they all came from?"
"Lots of people were trapped in the convention center." Evan exhaled a warm, misty breath. He gazed tensely at the moving shapes. Some were making weak motions to climb upon the gate and one another, but inelegant, uncoordinated movement forbade any success. "Maybe some of them were left behind like we were when the rescuers withdrew."
"Dang. I guess they tried to escape on their own and it didn't work. That sucks."
"Yes, Ryan. That does suck." Evan suppressed an impulse to audibly sigh, inhaling chilly air. The victims were probably desperate to find food and water before low stocks and bitter winter nights weakened them to the point an escape attempt would be impossible. All the more reason for them to enact their own exodus.
Gazing out beyond the glass at the mob, Evan steeled his nerves. If they were going to retrieve the vehicle, he knew there would be no choice but to slice a sanguine trail. Any such effort to reach that end needed to be before the clumsy, grasping figures became numerous enough to use each other as a grisly ladder to surmount the restraining barricade.
If they became numerous enough, Evan corrected his thoughts. That single word felt critical.
While waiting for the others to rouse, he set out to gather what he would need for the task ahead. The nearby rooms had more than enough clothing. Ryan followed Evan and provided assistance, a signal he at least had some semblance of understanding the situation. There were plenty of coats, gloves and knit masks available, so quickly building a protective outfit was trivial.
While adorning himself in heavy layers, Ryan spoke to Evan with an uncharacteristic tone of concern. "You sure you don't want to just wait here until things settle down?"
Evan pulled a knit face mask and overlaid it with an abandoned pair of thick-rimmed glasses as he replied. "So far, it looks like things out there have been getting worse, not better." The large lenses of the frame distorted his vision only marginally.
"Huh." From his tone, Ryan seemed unconvinced of the inherent plight of staying put indefinitely, but didn't press the issue. A brief silence lingered as Evan finished wrapping himself in protective garments, then retrieved the fire axe he had used the previous day. Examining the edge briefly, it had been blunted and scored; he could only hope it held as long as necessary.
Ryan spoke again. "So do you think the zombied guy we have locked up brought them here?"
"I don't know."
"Are we going to- you know- put him down at some point?"
"I don't know." Evan replied as he unlocked the front doors. The room containing Robert's hazardous corpse had been meticulously sealed the previous night. A sturdy wooden table propped on its side obstructed the hallway. Pinned in place with an assortment of heavy objects, it provided an obstacle for the zombie that it should not be capable of circumventing. Although the body was also restrained inside, it was wiser to not rely upon a single point of failure. "Maybe before we leave."
Evan turned and strode through the gaping doors, frigid air spilling over him. The unpleasant wailing death- held back with an iron lattice- awaited his focus. A rapid cascade of swift, but careful strikes numbed his mind as heavy cracking and icy thumps resonated disturbingly. Evan tried not to let his mind linger upon the handful of smaller figures amidst the clustering, reaching throng. All amidst the crowd were an equal threat.
As undead bodies fell into a growing mass of reeking viscera, those remaining did not hesitate to step onto the corpses of their fallen peers. Once the final target had been slain, an unpleasant heap blocked the entryway. Eerie semi-silence reigned the desolate city streets; broken only by the distant wail of other monsters. The bloodied implement clattered to the ground as Evan stumbled back, abruptly hitting the wall.
Damp clothing had been rumpled, but clean. Despite an unhealthy pallor and a few minor scrapes, almost every zombie had shown no serious injuries. Disposing of one or two pristine looking dead was one thing, but to mutilate so many human bodies in rapid succession had been exhausting in an intangible sense. Echoes of the actions replayed in his mind, the way the vibrations travelled down the handle of the implement and into his arms. The heavy thud as cleaving metal struck its target soundly. What was necessary had been done, but lingered.
Exhaling harshly, Evan redrew his focus: his task was incomplete. The next step would be to clear the gate. Faint sounds echoed from an unknown distance, prompting nervous vigilance. Moving closer, he looked about before wrenching the gate and slipping through for a better survey. Finally satisfied the immediate vicinity was presently clear, he moved the mutilated corpses with heavily gloved hands.
The small one-way street was lined on the near side with an allotment of parking spaces. Only a couple cars were still here, but not wanting to leave the inhuman detritus in plain sight, Evan opted to drag the horrific slaughter slightly up the street and deposit it on the far side of a two door junker with cracking blue paint. Skin exposed to the hard pavement tore, leaving a grinding trail of red flecks and torn clothing to the accumulating pile. Larger chunks of flesh were unceremoniously flung on top last.
Heavy quilts carefully placed would cover the worst of the carnage at the gate. Though the lingering vile odor was probably impossible to mask. Once finished, he sealed the portal and peeled away the slapdash hazard suit. Cold air rushed against bare skin, seeping warmth. New and old rust-spattered garments now laid along the corridor's side. Laying the quilts afterwords only took a moment.
Jennifer parted the door with a heavy white coat ready as Evan strode inside. The few inhabitants of the building were gathered together in uncomfortable silence. "We're ready to go." Nobody quite made eye contact as he spoke, or lifted their heads to see the results.
With great trepidation, Minoko moved forwards and spoke with an uneven voice. "I am ready." She was zipped tightly in a dark blue coat with the hood concealing her long hair. Somewhere, she had found some tight fitting jeans to replace her black skirt. It wasn't the most ideal of clothing, but the heavy materials and long sleeves should at least help resist a bite attack if they had to. Keys jingled mutely in her clasped hands.
"Me too." Leon took a deep breath. "Another set of eyes, just in case."
"Dude, you don't have to go." The light danced as Ryan moved closer to touch Leon's shoulder. "Evan is a total badass. He can handle it."
Disregarding Ryan, Evan directed an evaluating gaze to the slightly older man. Leon appeared fit and had been able to keep a steady pace the previous day. He was wearing a thick black sweater and heavy brown slacks. Gloves adorned his hands so not much of his dark skin was exposed. "Okay. Let's go then."
Evan paused to give Jennifer a parting kiss, then departed, leading the way outside for the small party. He briefly halted by the gate for a moment, then faced Leon. "If you had to, could you- do you think you could kill one of them?"
Leon nodded wordlessly after a deep breath, a determined look on his face. Evan hefted the bloodied axe, offering it. Shaky hands gripped the handle, but settled into a tight grip after a moment.
Evan turned to check the gate's immediate proximity. Faint wailing was audible, echoing from some unseen point. Satisfied the immediate vicinity was clear, he pushed the gate open a crack and slipped through. His companions ventured after him, Minoko trailing. "It's not too far away", she whispered tensely.
"Okay", Evan motioned in reply as Minoko and Leon gazed around. "Lead the way. If you see something coming, let us know but keep going."
Minoko led them along the side walk beside the building and out of the university grounds. There was a moment of hesitation before they crossed into the open corridor of the intersection, glancing around nervously for any moving figures in the distance before proceeding.
Onwards they trekked, walking in the street and into the open green space sweeping through the downtown blocks. Wailing echoed from some distant place. The echo of their own footfalls added to the surreality of lonesome emptiness. Occasional motionless forms littered the area; remaining as vague, distant shapes.
As they proceeded hastily across another street, Evan noticed a heap of rubble and twisted metal on the sidewalk. Scorch markings lined the near surfaces. At the top of the building, a sizeable section of brickwork was missing. Along another street, a bus was partly embedded into another building. Luckily, the damage appeared superficial in both cases. Few vehicles remained left abandoned on the road. A moving figure was walking in the road a long way off, but didn't seem to notice them.
Minoko led them away from the park after traversing along them a few blocks. Pausing just before entering the next intersection, she motioned towards the corner. "Almost there." She glanced at Evan and Leon only briefly, then advanced into the middle of the intersection.
Something just out of sight began a mad dash. Minoko screamed out as she jerked back and almost stumbled in her haste to retreat. A distinctive wail pierced the silence with the thumping feet.
Leaping forwards into the intersection, Evan moved to intercept whatever was coming. A charging figure came into view; barrelling towards him, hands ready to grasp. "Get behind me!" A moment later, Evan kicked out and hopped away perpendicularly, connecting with a thump just hard enough to topple the attacker. The momentum of its charge left it rolling onto the pavement, limbs flailing. "Go!" Evan shouted and waved as Minoko broke into a dash. Leon hesitated, but moved quickly afterwards, keeping his distance.
Circling around carefully and walking backwards, Evan watched the zombie tensely. Its frail form was wreathed in a heavily abused coat, its white, cold skin littered with cuts from the tumble. It used to be a man, but its overall frame seemed small enough to not give it much reach. Its messy, short dark hair was missing a patch.
It rose again and came for Evan in its mindless dash, both of them moving in the direction of their arrival. Leading it away gave it plenty of time to gain speed, then once again Evan jumped aside, this time a strong kick down at one knee produced a wet crack. A tense feeling gripped Evan's heart as he felt grasping at the arm of his coat, but fingers slipped away without purchase. The figure tumbled once again.
Moving to catch up with his peers, Evan took a moment to quickly survey the environment. One figure stalked in the far distance, but thankfully the immediate area seemed clear. Nobody but them was running, in any case. With luck, the figure behind them would no longer be able to run with the blow just inflicted.
Ahead, Minoko swung open the driver's door and unlocked the vehicle's other doors with an audible click. A moment after, the engine flared harshly to life. Leon opened the back and stepped closer to Evan, raising the axe as Evan ran. Footsteps behind Evan came closer as he heard the unsteady moaning grow louder. His leg ached as he moved with a faltering gait, the blows he had dealt taking a greater toll on his body than he had first realized.
Moving just past Leon, Evan halted to face his pursuer. Leon's arms swung down, the axe just missing the skull and slamming blade down into the attacker's shoulder. The strike met, sending the figure crashing to the ground. Leon released his grip as the blade wrenched downwards, jammed deep in the monster's shoulder.
Leon hesitated as the zombie struggled in its efforts to rise again, its limbs hardly able to bear its weight. Evan could see Leon's intent to retrieve the blade and pulled him away forcefully. "Leave it!" Together they piled into the back of the vehicle. Minoko tore off, leaving the solitary straggling figure behind a corner after only a moment.
The engine idled as the three recovered their breath. Each door was secured, but eyes still darted around nervously. There was nothing moving again on the streets. Only the scattered remnants of the city's former residents.
"So what do we do now?" Minoko whispered.
"Whoa, there's a whole bunch of them out there. Maybe over a dozen." Ryan broke the silence as he scratched at patchy bits of brown hair on his chin. He had ambled away from the doors as Evan entered, but still gawked from nearby in a winter coat. "Where do you think they all came from?"
"Lots of people were trapped in the convention center." Evan exhaled a warm, misty breath. He gazed tensely at the moving shapes. Some were making weak motions to climb upon the gate and one another, but inelegant, uncoordinated movement forbade any success. "Maybe some of them were left behind like we were when the rescuers withdrew."
"Dang. I guess they tried to escape on their own and it didn't work. That sucks."
"Yes, Ryan. That does suck." Evan suppressed an impulse to audibly sigh, inhaling chilly air. The victims were probably desperate to find food and water before low stocks and bitter winter nights weakened them to the point an escape attempt would be impossible. All the more reason for them to enact their own exodus.
Gazing out beyond the glass at the mob, Evan steeled his nerves. If they were going to retrieve the vehicle, he knew there would be no choice but to slice a sanguine trail. Any such effort to reach that end needed to be before the clumsy, grasping figures became numerous enough to use each other as a grisly ladder to surmount the restraining barricade.
If they became numerous enough, Evan corrected his thoughts. That single word felt critical.
While waiting for the others to rouse, he set out to gather what he would need for the task ahead. The nearby rooms had more than enough clothing. Ryan followed Evan and provided assistance, a signal he at least had some semblance of understanding the situation. There were plenty of coats, gloves and knit masks available, so quickly building a protective outfit was trivial.
While adorning himself in heavy layers, Ryan spoke to Evan with an uncharacteristic tone of concern. "You sure you don't want to just wait here until things settle down?"
Evan pulled a knit face mask and overlaid it with an abandoned pair of thick-rimmed glasses as he replied. "So far, it looks like things out there have been getting worse, not better." The large lenses of the frame distorted his vision only marginally.
"Huh." From his tone, Ryan seemed unconvinced of the inherent plight of staying put indefinitely, but didn't press the issue. A brief silence lingered as Evan finished wrapping himself in protective garments, then retrieved the fire axe he had used the previous day. Examining the edge briefly, it had been blunted and scored; he could only hope it held as long as necessary.
Ryan spoke again. "So do you think the zombied guy we have locked up brought them here?"
"I don't know."
"Are we going to- you know- put him down at some point?"
"I don't know." Evan replied as he unlocked the front doors. The room containing Robert's hazardous corpse had been meticulously sealed the previous night. A sturdy wooden table propped on its side obstructed the hallway. Pinned in place with an assortment of heavy objects, it provided an obstacle for the zombie that it should not be capable of circumventing. Although the body was also restrained inside, it was wiser to not rely upon a single point of failure. "Maybe before we leave."
Evan turned and strode through the gaping doors, frigid air spilling over him. The unpleasant wailing death- held back with an iron lattice- awaited his focus. A rapid cascade of swift, but careful strikes numbed his mind as heavy cracking and icy thumps resonated disturbingly. Evan tried not to let his mind linger upon the handful of smaller figures amidst the clustering, reaching throng. All amidst the crowd were an equal threat.
As undead bodies fell into a growing mass of reeking viscera, those remaining did not hesitate to step onto the corpses of their fallen peers. Once the final target had been slain, an unpleasant heap blocked the entryway. Eerie semi-silence reigned the desolate city streets; broken only by the distant wail of other monsters. The bloodied implement clattered to the ground as Evan stumbled back, abruptly hitting the wall.
Damp clothing had been rumpled, but clean. Despite an unhealthy pallor and a few minor scrapes, almost every zombie had shown no serious injuries. Disposing of one or two pristine looking dead was one thing, but to mutilate so many human bodies in rapid succession had been exhausting in an intangible sense. Echoes of the actions replayed in his mind, the way the vibrations travelled down the handle of the implement and into his arms. The heavy thud as cleaving metal struck its target soundly. What was necessary had been done, but lingered.
Exhaling harshly, Evan redrew his focus: his task was incomplete. The next step would be to clear the gate. Faint sounds echoed from an unknown distance, prompting nervous vigilance. Moving closer, he looked about before wrenching the gate and slipping through for a better survey. Finally satisfied the immediate vicinity was presently clear, he moved the mutilated corpses with heavily gloved hands.
The small one-way street was lined on the near side with an allotment of parking spaces. Only a couple cars were still here, but not wanting to leave the inhuman detritus in plain sight, Evan opted to drag the horrific slaughter slightly up the street and deposit it on the far side of a two door junker with cracking blue paint. Skin exposed to the hard pavement tore, leaving a grinding trail of red flecks and torn clothing to the accumulating pile. Larger chunks of flesh were unceremoniously flung on top last.
Heavy quilts carefully placed would cover the worst of the carnage at the gate. Though the lingering vile odor was probably impossible to mask. Once finished, he sealed the portal and peeled away the slapdash hazard suit. Cold air rushed against bare skin, seeping warmth. New and old rust-spattered garments now laid along the corridor's side. Laying the quilts afterwords only took a moment.
Jennifer parted the door with a heavy white coat ready as Evan strode inside. The few inhabitants of the building were gathered together in uncomfortable silence. "We're ready to go." Nobody quite made eye contact as he spoke, or lifted their heads to see the results.
With great trepidation, Minoko moved forwards and spoke with an uneven voice. "I am ready." She was zipped tightly in a dark blue coat with the hood concealing her long hair. Somewhere, she had found some tight fitting jeans to replace her black skirt. It wasn't the most ideal of clothing, but the heavy materials and long sleeves should at least help resist a bite attack if they had to. Keys jingled mutely in her clasped hands.
"Me too." Leon took a deep breath. "Another set of eyes, just in case."
"Dude, you don't have to go." The light danced as Ryan moved closer to touch Leon's shoulder. "Evan is a total badass. He can handle it."
Disregarding Ryan, Evan directed an evaluating gaze to the slightly older man. Leon appeared fit and had been able to keep a steady pace the previous day. He was wearing a thick black sweater and heavy brown slacks. Gloves adorned his hands so not much of his dark skin was exposed. "Okay. Let's go then."
Evan paused to give Jennifer a parting kiss, then departed, leading the way outside for the small party. He briefly halted by the gate for a moment, then faced Leon. "If you had to, could you- do you think you could kill one of them?"
Leon nodded wordlessly after a deep breath, a determined look on his face. Evan hefted the bloodied axe, offering it. Shaky hands gripped the handle, but settled into a tight grip after a moment.
Evan turned to check the gate's immediate proximity. Faint wailing was audible, echoing from some unseen point. Satisfied the immediate vicinity was clear, he pushed the gate open a crack and slipped through. His companions ventured after him, Minoko trailing. "It's not too far away", she whispered tensely.
"Okay", Evan motioned in reply as Minoko and Leon gazed around. "Lead the way. If you see something coming, let us know but keep going."
Minoko led them along the side walk beside the building and out of the university grounds. There was a moment of hesitation before they crossed into the open corridor of the intersection, glancing around nervously for any moving figures in the distance before proceeding.
Onwards they trekked, walking in the street and into the open green space sweeping through the downtown blocks. Wailing echoed from some distant place. The echo of their own footfalls added to the surreality of lonesome emptiness. Occasional motionless forms littered the area; remaining as vague, distant shapes.
As they proceeded hastily across another street, Evan noticed a heap of rubble and twisted metal on the sidewalk. Scorch markings lined the near surfaces. At the top of the building, a sizeable section of brickwork was missing. Along another street, a bus was partly embedded into another building. Luckily, the damage appeared superficial in both cases. Few vehicles remained left abandoned on the road. A moving figure was walking in the road a long way off, but didn't seem to notice them.
Minoko led them away from the park after traversing along them a few blocks. Pausing just before entering the next intersection, she motioned towards the corner. "Almost there." She glanced at Evan and Leon only briefly, then advanced into the middle of the intersection.
Something just out of sight began a mad dash. Minoko screamed out as she jerked back and almost stumbled in her haste to retreat. A distinctive wail pierced the silence with the thumping feet.
Leaping forwards into the intersection, Evan moved to intercept whatever was coming. A charging figure came into view; barrelling towards him, hands ready to grasp. "Get behind me!" A moment later, Evan kicked out and hopped away perpendicularly, connecting with a thump just hard enough to topple the attacker. The momentum of its charge left it rolling onto the pavement, limbs flailing. "Go!" Evan shouted and waved as Minoko broke into a dash. Leon hesitated, but moved quickly afterwards, keeping his distance.
Circling around carefully and walking backwards, Evan watched the zombie tensely. Its frail form was wreathed in a heavily abused coat, its white, cold skin littered with cuts from the tumble. It used to be a man, but its overall frame seemed small enough to not give it much reach. Its messy, short dark hair was missing a patch.
It rose again and came for Evan in its mindless dash, both of them moving in the direction of their arrival. Leading it away gave it plenty of time to gain speed, then once again Evan jumped aside, this time a strong kick down at one knee produced a wet crack. A tense feeling gripped Evan's heart as he felt grasping at the arm of his coat, but fingers slipped away without purchase. The figure tumbled once again.
Moving to catch up with his peers, Evan took a moment to quickly survey the environment. One figure stalked in the far distance, but thankfully the immediate area seemed clear. Nobody but them was running, in any case. With luck, the figure behind them would no longer be able to run with the blow just inflicted.
Ahead, Minoko swung open the driver's door and unlocked the vehicle's other doors with an audible click. A moment after, the engine flared harshly to life. Leon opened the back and stepped closer to Evan, raising the axe as Evan ran. Footsteps behind Evan came closer as he heard the unsteady moaning grow louder. His leg ached as he moved with a faltering gait, the blows he had dealt taking a greater toll on his body than he had first realized.
Moving just past Leon, Evan halted to face his pursuer. Leon's arms swung down, the axe just missing the skull and slamming blade down into the attacker's shoulder. The strike met, sending the figure crashing to the ground. Leon released his grip as the blade wrenched downwards, jammed deep in the monster's shoulder.
Leon hesitated as the zombie struggled in its efforts to rise again, its limbs hardly able to bear its weight. Evan could see Leon's intent to retrieve the blade and pulled him away forcefully. "Leave it!" Together they piled into the back of the vehicle. Minoko tore off, leaving the solitary straggling figure behind a corner after only a moment.
The engine idled as the three recovered their breath. Each door was secured, but eyes still darted around nervously. There was nothing moving again on the streets. Only the scattered remnants of the city's former residents.
"So what do we do now?" Minoko whispered.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Unreliable
"Hmm, maybe we can do something with this." Lucas mumbled to himself as he scrawled another speculative equation. Like a dozen other disjointed notes, he figured there was a chance it could be used in some way to assist with the interpretation of the gathered data. There was no telling what might ultimately prove useful, so everything that came to his mind was added to the inchoate tapestry of science.
"Damn it, we can't get anything from this." Chloe lamented. Thoroughly working the sheet of scratch paper before her, the writing was neatly structured into sections and clearly labelled. Sitting together in the otherwise abandoned common room at a broad circular table, notes had been laid out over the table's surface.
The curtains were drawn wide open, revealing the stark emptiness of the rain-slicked walkways outside. The windows themselves could only open partway along the top edge, which Lucas had done earlier in the day. The only sounds perceptible through them so far had been the patter of the day's variable rainfall. Lucas and Chloe were dressed in light coats; thankfully the moisture outside prevented the temperature from falling unbearably low.
"Huh?" Leaning over, Lucas examined the strictly ordered calculations. A big graphing calculator beside Chloe displayed a lingering calculation he couldn't quite read in the gradually dimming light of the setting sun. "You having trouble figuring out an angle from what we have?"
"Yeah." Chloe looked at Lucas with weary frustration of a long fruitless day lining her face. "We can't do anything with what we have. All that effort going around talking to everyone, measuring distances and it's fucking useless."
"No it's not. There's an area near the walls where people passed out and everyone on the other side remained conscious. All we have to do is figure out where the dividing line is." A casual initial observation revealed that those present anywhere on the sixth floor for either event had passed out, while a couple on floor five did not. So that more or less confirmed about two floors of shielding was needed to keep one from being knocked out. "Since we have a rough idea of how much shielding is needed, we can work backwards from there to estimate an angle of origin."
"Yes. That's what I was trying to do. And given what we have I think you were probably right about the event being more or less uniform. But figuring out anything specific beyond that like an angle of origin just isn't possible." Chloe sighed and shook her head before mumbling to herself. "Not that it would even matter."
"No, it's simple." Lucas leaned over to check the formatted data Chloe had meticulously produced from the disjointed collection of testimonies. "Just see how far away someone was at most from one side of the building and still got knocked out. Then look at how close someone was to the wall and didn't pass out. The line would be somewhere in between those two things." After that, they could repeat the process with the other wall to arrive at a direction. A rough indicator of where within the city the alien wormhole was likely to be.
"That's actually the problem." Chloe selected and pushed a sheet of paper towards Lucas as she spoke. "People don't actually have any idea where they were standing when it happened."
"Huh?" Lucas stared at Chloe quizzically. "How could they not remember where they were?"
"Just look at these two from the first event, for example. This person estimates they were about four feet from the door and didn't pass out. And this other person-" Chloe traced her fingertip across the paper to another entry. "They claim they were by the stairs- about thirty two feet away and they did pass out."
"What?" Lucas examined the information. The two people would have both been in the main lobby, if their testimony could be believed. Given their assumptions, that shouldn't have been the case. There seemed to be fairly clear evidence that the strange knock out radiation could be blocked and didn't miss anyone who didn't benefit from some kind of shielding. "If our assumptions are true, both those things couldn't have happened at the same time. So maybe something in our assumptions is wrong."
"No, if they were wrong, I think we'd see a lot more variability in the data, like everyone on the top floor not being knocked out. It's just that both of these claims contradict all the other statements given." Chloe waved her hand across the data. "Peoples' memories are just not reliable enough to expect any level of precision with the kind of process we've been using."
"So, just ignore those ones, then. And just use the rest."
"It's not that simple." Chloe pointed to another place on her sheet layered with calculations. "What I pointed out was the most extreme disagreement, but they aren't the only two who disagree. There's disagreement everywhere in what we have here. For both of these events."
"That's a weird problem."
"It's not weird at all. The problem is we waited too long, most people we got to talking to them hours after the thing we were asking them about. And people just suck at remembering things in general. I can't even use my own memory for the first event because I was somewhere in the hallway at the time and every part of the hallway looks the same. At the time, it just didn't occur to me to try and remember exactly where I was standing."
"Huh." Lucas examined the information Chloe referenced. With all the notes they needed collected on one sheet it was plain to see that she was correct about the widespread inconsistency. "Well, can't we still do something to eliminate that problem? Like take averages?"
Chloe turned on a big flashlight and set it upright at the center of the table, producing a slightly diffuse glow overhead. She looked at him with a dissatisfied frown. "You don't know anything about statistics, do you?"
"I know a little. But I haven't really looked into it." Lucas reluctantly admitted.
"If you want, I could give you my old statistics book. But until then, just trust me on this. With a problem like this we can't just do something as simple as using averages. I attempted to work out some very basic analysis to give a range of possible values. But that doesn't work because we have a very small sample size and results that vary enough that our probable angle of origin ends up covering about one quarter of the sky for the first event and very close to half the sky for the second event. It's just not possible to narrow anything down further than that."
Lucas silently considered Chloe's statements. He was hoping their efforts would eventually give them something more precise. If they could at least determine that each event originated from different places in the sky, that would confirm his hypothesis that the source of the events was likely something relatively close that had moved. Somewhere in Portland, or possibly in Earth orbit. Of course, Evan's anomalous warning and the mysterious retreat of the soldiers still gave them some reason to suspect such things. But even well-founded suspicion was not the same as knowledge.
Even with that failure, they could at least still be fairly certain that it took about two floors of shielding to be protected from the knockout radiation. That wasn't nothing. Maybe later he'd suggest that the few people whose rooms were on the top floor ought to consider relocating to a lower floor. Just as Lucas began contemplating a procedure to help raise accuracy, a small voice came to them from the entrance.
"Do either of you have any food?"
"No." Chloe snapped back tersely before Lucas could orient himself to see the speaker.
"Oh. Nobody has any. And everyone's starting to get really hungry." Erin's voice sank. A bulky grey coat wrapped snugly around her body, making her appear heavier than she was. Erin held a downcast flashlight in one hand, partly covered to diminish the intensity of the beam. "I hope the army returns soon."
"I hope so too." Chloe nodded.
There was a solemn pause for a moment before Erin spoke again. "Do you think it's a good idea to have that light on with the windows open?"
"If we hear anything outside, we'll turn it off." Chloe motioned to the slightly opened window; having spent several hours somewhat in the open with Lucas had evidently calmed her unease about what was hinted to be lurking outside.
Erin nodded, not looking altogether satisfied with Chloe's answer; still nervously regarding the desolate, blackening view through the windows. "I'm going to keep asking around, and see if anyone else has any extra food."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Chloe nodded. "Let me know if something comes up."
While the two girls were speaking to each other, Lucas had been stunned into silence. He had been thinking about the small meal they had fabricated from the modest stashes in their rooms. Once the door drifted shut with a soft click and the footfalls receded through the hallway, he whispered to Chloe. "Why did you lie?"
"We don't have enough food to share."
"You shared with me."
"That wasn't sharing, that was a trade." Chloe regarded him with a serious glance as she folded her arms upon the round table. "If we just gave away what little we have, that would only feed everyone for maybe a day, then they'd be back to where they are now, and we'd be in the same situation."
"We're already in the same situation." Lucas paused a moment, then shrugged. "We probably only have to hold out another day, anyway. So that shouldn't really matter."
"If it's just going to be a day, then they can just wait a day." Chloe laughed mockingly for a moment. "You really think it will be just a day before someone comes back to get us?"
"Sure, probably. The zombies aren't any threat at all. And whatever caused the blackout bomb thing was hasn't triggered it again since this morning. We also haven't heard the noises Evan was talking about." Lucas paused there for a moment to shrug passively. "So there doesn't seem to be any direct threats or dangers at the moment."
"Well, if you want to give away what little you have, that's your business." There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
"There aren't really any serious obstacles outside."
"If there aren't any threats, then why don't you leave right now?"
"You know what I meant." Lucas protested. "I meant that there's nothing dangerous to someone who has a chance to adequately prepare. And we know for certain that most of the world has the time to prepare for what they want to do about the zombies." Lucas continued after a moment's hesitation. "Anyway, whatever caused this blackout phenomenon is a bit more problematic."
"That's the understatement of the year." Chloe shook her head with a hint of a sigh.
Lucas frowned at the interruption. "I was about to say, this blackout thing is a problem, but just like the zombies, it's not an impossible obstacle. We know it can be blocked. So if you could control a vehicle by remote control from a safe area, like a drone, then you could safely bring it into the city without the risk of it being lost to the phenomenon. It's only going to be a matter of time before someone tries that. Heck, they may already be looking around inside the city to figure out what's going on here."
"Investigating inside the city is not the same thing as a rescue."
"It's not. But when they do that, they're going to see that there's people here who aren't zombies. Then they'll just send some remote controlled cars in to get us."
Chloe studied Lucas's face, her eyes intensely focused on his in deathly serious candor. "If this is really some kind of alien invasion, the first priority will be to stop it before making any effort to get us out of here. If they come to get us, it's going to be a long time before that happens."
Lucas flatly shook his head. "The zombies and the blackout creating entities are both problems that need to be addressed in order for things to return to normal. If whatever created the blackout is really gone, the only problem to solve around here will be the zombie problem. So that means preventing the creation of more zombies will be the top priority."
"And if whatever caused the blackout is still around they're not going to pay any attention to us."
"Yeah, that's possible I guess. But if it were still around, we should at least be seeing some evidence of that. Evan said he heard some kind of sounds outside. And we haven't heard anything all day." Lucas shrugged and motioned to the open windows. "Also, if whatever caused that is still around, when the drones are sent here those entities will trigger another blackout phenomenon. No more blackouts means we just have to wait for the people out there to do their thing."
"Well, do whatever you like then. But leave me out of it." Chloe sighed and pushed away from the table, standing up. "It's been a long day, I'm going to go get some rest."
"We're at least going to have some idea of what to expect." Lucas spoke assuredly as Chloe took her flashlight with her from the tabletop. She left the room without a reply, leaving Lucas alone with his thoughts.
Turning on his spare flashlight, Lucas began to examine the notes Chloe had abandoned. Although he couldn't verify the correctness of the statistics equations, there didn't appear to be any mistakes from what he did understand. After a few minutes of contemplative silence, he decided to look outside the windows for any signs of activity.
Ever since Evan's warning the remaining denizens of the building were dead silent. It was almost as if everyone else had already departed. Standing, Lucas approached the windows with his light readied. The empty walkways running between the dorm and the library were slick with the day's rain. On the other side, the small clearing along the inside edge of the building's perimeter were lined with benches, bushes and pine trees. There was nothing moving to examine and with the windows positioned as they were he couldn't check other buildings in the city for lights.
Lucas thought to go to the rooftop to get a better look, but he felt rather tired now that there were no distractions. Confident the morning light would bring its own set of answers, he gathered up the preliminary equations and data he and Chloe had worked hard on through the day. Nobody met him as he returned to his room. Opening the window curtains to black skies, he laid down whilst idly gazing into the darkness. Wondering what was going on in the outside world, he soon drifted away into a dreamless slumber.
Awakened by the morning light and hearing a faint, low sound, Lucas journeyed downstairs to see what new evidence would have presented itself overnight. With light still minimal and battery power precious, Lucas guided himself through the dim hallways by his hands and carefully progressed to the ground floor.
The whole trip, Jorge was the only person he encountered; standing alone at the bottom of the front lobby stairs. He was nervously watching as several figures rattled the doors, all producing a familiar, characteristic moan that mingled into a foul white noise.
"Hey." Lucas slowly descended the steps as Jorge turned with a start to peer at him. "What's going on?"
"Just doing a check." Jorge exhaled slowly and cautiously returned his attention to the outside. He was holding a heavy baseball bat in both hands, fingers flexing on the grip. "They came this way at some point in the night and have been there ever since. They know we're in here."
"You've been down here all night?"
"No." Jorge looked at him only briefly, but released one hand from his weapon to scratch at the traces of stubble on his chin. "Simon set up a watch and we've been taking turns coming down here to check up on things. Does anything look cracked or damaged over there?"
"Huh?" Lucas descended the steps and moved past Jorge before casually turning around. "No. It looks fine to me."
Jorge exhaled deeply, a nervous tension visibly flowing from his strained muscles. Regardless, he lowered the bat only very slowly.
"So was someone awake all through the night?"
"Yeah, we're set up in a room just by the stairs to keep a watch out."
"There was another blackout event, wasn't there?" Lucas asked.
Jorge replied as he began to creep backwards up the steps. "No. No, I don't think so. Nobody mentioned one. I should probably go back now." Jorge eagerly retreated.
Remaining behind, Lucas gazed outside, thinking about what that news could mean. As he did so, he began to truly worry for the first time since the outbreak had begun.
"Damn it, we can't get anything from this." Chloe lamented. Thoroughly working the sheet of scratch paper before her, the writing was neatly structured into sections and clearly labelled. Sitting together in the otherwise abandoned common room at a broad circular table, notes had been laid out over the table's surface.
The curtains were drawn wide open, revealing the stark emptiness of the rain-slicked walkways outside. The windows themselves could only open partway along the top edge, which Lucas had done earlier in the day. The only sounds perceptible through them so far had been the patter of the day's variable rainfall. Lucas and Chloe were dressed in light coats; thankfully the moisture outside prevented the temperature from falling unbearably low.
"Huh?" Leaning over, Lucas examined the strictly ordered calculations. A big graphing calculator beside Chloe displayed a lingering calculation he couldn't quite read in the gradually dimming light of the setting sun. "You having trouble figuring out an angle from what we have?"
"Yeah." Chloe looked at Lucas with weary frustration of a long fruitless day lining her face. "We can't do anything with what we have. All that effort going around talking to everyone, measuring distances and it's fucking useless."
"No it's not. There's an area near the walls where people passed out and everyone on the other side remained conscious. All we have to do is figure out where the dividing line is." A casual initial observation revealed that those present anywhere on the sixth floor for either event had passed out, while a couple on floor five did not. So that more or less confirmed about two floors of shielding was needed to keep one from being knocked out. "Since we have a rough idea of how much shielding is needed, we can work backwards from there to estimate an angle of origin."
"Yes. That's what I was trying to do. And given what we have I think you were probably right about the event being more or less uniform. But figuring out anything specific beyond that like an angle of origin just isn't possible." Chloe sighed and shook her head before mumbling to herself. "Not that it would even matter."
"No, it's simple." Lucas leaned over to check the formatted data Chloe had meticulously produced from the disjointed collection of testimonies. "Just see how far away someone was at most from one side of the building and still got knocked out. Then look at how close someone was to the wall and didn't pass out. The line would be somewhere in between those two things." After that, they could repeat the process with the other wall to arrive at a direction. A rough indicator of where within the city the alien wormhole was likely to be.
"That's actually the problem." Chloe selected and pushed a sheet of paper towards Lucas as she spoke. "People don't actually have any idea where they were standing when it happened."
"Huh?" Lucas stared at Chloe quizzically. "How could they not remember where they were?"
"Just look at these two from the first event, for example. This person estimates they were about four feet from the door and didn't pass out. And this other person-" Chloe traced her fingertip across the paper to another entry. "They claim they were by the stairs- about thirty two feet away and they did pass out."
"What?" Lucas examined the information. The two people would have both been in the main lobby, if their testimony could be believed. Given their assumptions, that shouldn't have been the case. There seemed to be fairly clear evidence that the strange knock out radiation could be blocked and didn't miss anyone who didn't benefit from some kind of shielding. "If our assumptions are true, both those things couldn't have happened at the same time. So maybe something in our assumptions is wrong."
"No, if they were wrong, I think we'd see a lot more variability in the data, like everyone on the top floor not being knocked out. It's just that both of these claims contradict all the other statements given." Chloe waved her hand across the data. "Peoples' memories are just not reliable enough to expect any level of precision with the kind of process we've been using."
"So, just ignore those ones, then. And just use the rest."
"It's not that simple." Chloe pointed to another place on her sheet layered with calculations. "What I pointed out was the most extreme disagreement, but they aren't the only two who disagree. There's disagreement everywhere in what we have here. For both of these events."
"That's a weird problem."
"It's not weird at all. The problem is we waited too long, most people we got to talking to them hours after the thing we were asking them about. And people just suck at remembering things in general. I can't even use my own memory for the first event because I was somewhere in the hallway at the time and every part of the hallway looks the same. At the time, it just didn't occur to me to try and remember exactly where I was standing."
"Huh." Lucas examined the information Chloe referenced. With all the notes they needed collected on one sheet it was plain to see that she was correct about the widespread inconsistency. "Well, can't we still do something to eliminate that problem? Like take averages?"
Chloe turned on a big flashlight and set it upright at the center of the table, producing a slightly diffuse glow overhead. She looked at him with a dissatisfied frown. "You don't know anything about statistics, do you?"
"I know a little. But I haven't really looked into it." Lucas reluctantly admitted.
"If you want, I could give you my old statistics book. But until then, just trust me on this. With a problem like this we can't just do something as simple as using averages. I attempted to work out some very basic analysis to give a range of possible values. But that doesn't work because we have a very small sample size and results that vary enough that our probable angle of origin ends up covering about one quarter of the sky for the first event and very close to half the sky for the second event. It's just not possible to narrow anything down further than that."
Lucas silently considered Chloe's statements. He was hoping their efforts would eventually give them something more precise. If they could at least determine that each event originated from different places in the sky, that would confirm his hypothesis that the source of the events was likely something relatively close that had moved. Somewhere in Portland, or possibly in Earth orbit. Of course, Evan's anomalous warning and the mysterious retreat of the soldiers still gave them some reason to suspect such things. But even well-founded suspicion was not the same as knowledge.
Even with that failure, they could at least still be fairly certain that it took about two floors of shielding to be protected from the knockout radiation. That wasn't nothing. Maybe later he'd suggest that the few people whose rooms were on the top floor ought to consider relocating to a lower floor. Just as Lucas began contemplating a procedure to help raise accuracy, a small voice came to them from the entrance.
"Do either of you have any food?"
"No." Chloe snapped back tersely before Lucas could orient himself to see the speaker.
"Oh. Nobody has any. And everyone's starting to get really hungry." Erin's voice sank. A bulky grey coat wrapped snugly around her body, making her appear heavier than she was. Erin held a downcast flashlight in one hand, partly covered to diminish the intensity of the beam. "I hope the army returns soon."
"I hope so too." Chloe nodded.
There was a solemn pause for a moment before Erin spoke again. "Do you think it's a good idea to have that light on with the windows open?"
"If we hear anything outside, we'll turn it off." Chloe motioned to the slightly opened window; having spent several hours somewhat in the open with Lucas had evidently calmed her unease about what was hinted to be lurking outside.
Erin nodded, not looking altogether satisfied with Chloe's answer; still nervously regarding the desolate, blackening view through the windows. "I'm going to keep asking around, and see if anyone else has any extra food."
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Chloe nodded. "Let me know if something comes up."
While the two girls were speaking to each other, Lucas had been stunned into silence. He had been thinking about the small meal they had fabricated from the modest stashes in their rooms. Once the door drifted shut with a soft click and the footfalls receded through the hallway, he whispered to Chloe. "Why did you lie?"
"We don't have enough food to share."
"You shared with me."
"That wasn't sharing, that was a trade." Chloe regarded him with a serious glance as she folded her arms upon the round table. "If we just gave away what little we have, that would only feed everyone for maybe a day, then they'd be back to where they are now, and we'd be in the same situation."
"We're already in the same situation." Lucas paused a moment, then shrugged. "We probably only have to hold out another day, anyway. So that shouldn't really matter."
"If it's just going to be a day, then they can just wait a day." Chloe laughed mockingly for a moment. "You really think it will be just a day before someone comes back to get us?"
"Sure, probably. The zombies aren't any threat at all. And whatever caused the blackout bomb thing was hasn't triggered it again since this morning. We also haven't heard the noises Evan was talking about." Lucas paused there for a moment to shrug passively. "So there doesn't seem to be any direct threats or dangers at the moment."
"Well, if you want to give away what little you have, that's your business." There was an awkward silence for a few moments.
"There aren't really any serious obstacles outside."
"If there aren't any threats, then why don't you leave right now?"
"You know what I meant." Lucas protested. "I meant that there's nothing dangerous to someone who has a chance to adequately prepare. And we know for certain that most of the world has the time to prepare for what they want to do about the zombies." Lucas continued after a moment's hesitation. "Anyway, whatever caused this blackout phenomenon is a bit more problematic."
"That's the understatement of the year." Chloe shook her head with a hint of a sigh.
Lucas frowned at the interruption. "I was about to say, this blackout thing is a problem, but just like the zombies, it's not an impossible obstacle. We know it can be blocked. So if you could control a vehicle by remote control from a safe area, like a drone, then you could safely bring it into the city without the risk of it being lost to the phenomenon. It's only going to be a matter of time before someone tries that. Heck, they may already be looking around inside the city to figure out what's going on here."
"Investigating inside the city is not the same thing as a rescue."
"It's not. But when they do that, they're going to see that there's people here who aren't zombies. Then they'll just send some remote controlled cars in to get us."
Chloe studied Lucas's face, her eyes intensely focused on his in deathly serious candor. "If this is really some kind of alien invasion, the first priority will be to stop it before making any effort to get us out of here. If they come to get us, it's going to be a long time before that happens."
Lucas flatly shook his head. "The zombies and the blackout creating entities are both problems that need to be addressed in order for things to return to normal. If whatever created the blackout is really gone, the only problem to solve around here will be the zombie problem. So that means preventing the creation of more zombies will be the top priority."
"And if whatever caused the blackout is still around they're not going to pay any attention to us."
"Yeah, that's possible I guess. But if it were still around, we should at least be seeing some evidence of that. Evan said he heard some kind of sounds outside. And we haven't heard anything all day." Lucas shrugged and motioned to the open windows. "Also, if whatever caused that is still around, when the drones are sent here those entities will trigger another blackout phenomenon. No more blackouts means we just have to wait for the people out there to do their thing."
"Well, do whatever you like then. But leave me out of it." Chloe sighed and pushed away from the table, standing up. "It's been a long day, I'm going to go get some rest."
"We're at least going to have some idea of what to expect." Lucas spoke assuredly as Chloe took her flashlight with her from the tabletop. She left the room without a reply, leaving Lucas alone with his thoughts.
Turning on his spare flashlight, Lucas began to examine the notes Chloe had abandoned. Although he couldn't verify the correctness of the statistics equations, there didn't appear to be any mistakes from what he did understand. After a few minutes of contemplative silence, he decided to look outside the windows for any signs of activity.
Ever since Evan's warning the remaining denizens of the building were dead silent. It was almost as if everyone else had already departed. Standing, Lucas approached the windows with his light readied. The empty walkways running between the dorm and the library were slick with the day's rain. On the other side, the small clearing along the inside edge of the building's perimeter were lined with benches, bushes and pine trees. There was nothing moving to examine and with the windows positioned as they were he couldn't check other buildings in the city for lights.
Lucas thought to go to the rooftop to get a better look, but he felt rather tired now that there were no distractions. Confident the morning light would bring its own set of answers, he gathered up the preliminary equations and data he and Chloe had worked hard on through the day. Nobody met him as he returned to his room. Opening the window curtains to black skies, he laid down whilst idly gazing into the darkness. Wondering what was going on in the outside world, he soon drifted away into a dreamless slumber.
Awakened by the morning light and hearing a faint, low sound, Lucas journeyed downstairs to see what new evidence would have presented itself overnight. With light still minimal and battery power precious, Lucas guided himself through the dim hallways by his hands and carefully progressed to the ground floor.
The whole trip, Jorge was the only person he encountered; standing alone at the bottom of the front lobby stairs. He was nervously watching as several figures rattled the doors, all producing a familiar, characteristic moan that mingled into a foul white noise.
"Hey." Lucas slowly descended the steps as Jorge turned with a start to peer at him. "What's going on?"
"Just doing a check." Jorge exhaled slowly and cautiously returned his attention to the outside. He was holding a heavy baseball bat in both hands, fingers flexing on the grip. "They came this way at some point in the night and have been there ever since. They know we're in here."
"You've been down here all night?"
"No." Jorge looked at him only briefly, but released one hand from his weapon to scratch at the traces of stubble on his chin. "Simon set up a watch and we've been taking turns coming down here to check up on things. Does anything look cracked or damaged over there?"
"Huh?" Lucas descended the steps and moved past Jorge before casually turning around. "No. It looks fine to me."
Jorge exhaled deeply, a nervous tension visibly flowing from his strained muscles. Regardless, he lowered the bat only very slowly.
"So was someone awake all through the night?"
"Yeah, we're set up in a room just by the stairs to keep a watch out."
"There was another blackout event, wasn't there?" Lucas asked.
Jorge replied as he began to creep backwards up the steps. "No. No, I don't think so. Nobody mentioned one. I should probably go back now." Jorge eagerly retreated.
Remaining behind, Lucas gazed outside, thinking about what that news could mean. As he did so, he began to truly worry for the first time since the outbreak had begun.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Abandoned
"Should we turn on a flashlight so we can see what's out there?" The pensive voice carried with it an undercurrent of creeping dread. Hints about unstoppable forces lurking within the uninhabited regions of the city made people deeply cautious of spilling light. Given the scant knowledge they possessed, the imagined risks such an act entailed made the idea feel intuitively foolish.
"Not unless we absolutely need to." Evan replied softly to Jennifer, who wholeheartedly nodded in grim concurrence. He glanced towards the other barely perceptible outlines of people as he began to address them all with a slightly louder voice. "Since it's night now, we should hold off on what we were planning until tomorrow morning." A chorus of silent affirmation swept across the figures gathered amidst the shadows.
While time had pressed onwards in daylight, nervous apprehension had somewhat faded into a subdued background discomfort. The emotional dread had previously been broken with a productive task on their minds, and while waiting they had shared food from the building's supply. Intermittent casual chatter followed for the remainder of the day while passively mindful to not being easily visible from outside. The mood was, while not altogether untainted, lightened considerably.
Occasionally, a faint breeze weaving through cracks would bring with it a whiff of decay from the slain corpses outside the gate. The combination of chill and the stony, wet scent of the storm had proven to be a great masking boon. It was an obtrusive reminder of their situation, even while subdued enough to mostly ignore. Now that it was growing dark outside and there had been no further contact with the outside world, agitated apprehension had begun trickling back into their mood.
"Why didn't the black note happen again?" Minoko's words were uneven, but Evan could detect a hint of exasperated relief despite the shaky tone and her natural accent. Before, time had been unmarked and unacknowledged. Now the day had completely passed with no evident attempt to mount another rescue. One's mind naturally concocted unwelcome explanations to address such facts.
"The aliens must have abducted everyone they wanted." Ryan crunched into a graham cracker and spoke, sprinkling tiny crumbs into his immediate vicinity. "They must have gone back to their spaceship, so we're safe."
"...we probably are." Evan's agreement came out like molasses, having considered denying the tentative assertion. He didn't think it would be good to contravene what miniscule sense of relief that notion might provide to others. As long as it was dark outside, they ought to remain concealed anyway; there was no reason to further dissolve their somewhat relaxed ease. Even so, they shouldn't chance lives on such speculation. "But we should still consider our options to escape. There's still zombies out there and we can't stay here forever."
There was a momentary period of nervous silence as those assembled waited for the encroaching night to swallow the final traces of sunlight. Almost concurrent with twilight, the rain which had been hammering down most of the day had subsided into a fine misting drizzle. The faint, soothing patter on pavement and sidewalk provided some anchoring connection to Portland normalcy in the near pitch darkness. Without electricity the building was cold, but not uncomfortably so while bundled in heavy coats.
Light came from the nearby hallway, intensely bright for a moment just before dimming quite noticeably. Leon shuffled into the small space with his hand mostly covering the glowing source. Selecting for himself a nearby clear area on the floor, he clicked the beam off before carefully sitting. "Zack ate and drank something and went back to sleep. He lost a lot of blood so he's still tired, but he should be okay."
"Thank you, again." A figure that was Jennifer reached over to touch Leon upon the shoulders in a partial embrace. "For coming here."
"Just glad to be a help." Leon made a gesture in the dark that may have been a shrug.
A few seconds of welcome calm persisted before Ryan broke the reverie. "So what do you think is going on out there?"
"Doesn't seem to be much of anything happening right now." Evan unscrewed a bottle of water and took a sip. His thoughts uncomfortably shifted to the few cases of liquids they had access to. If they were careful, their water and food should be able to last the six of them for about a week, but he suspected the people in the Blackwood building were not as fortunately stocked. "There don't seem to be any more zombies around right now and we haven't heard anything out there."
"Not around here. The rest of the world, dude." Ryan spoke between noisy crunches. "Do you think the aliens are attacking anywhere else? How do you think the rest of the world is reacting to all this?"
"They're fighting back." Jennifer replied after a few seconds.
"Yeah." Leon added. "And since it's obvious these creatures have some kind of knockout weapon, the military is going to quickly realize they have to fight them from a distance with drones or something like that."
"Or just nuke them wherever they land." Ryan posited. He had a peculiar unawareness of the unease such an idea presented to those gathered.
"That doesn't seem very likely." The idea they could be obliterated via nuclear fire (as an action for the benefit of humanity at large) had crossed Evan's mind as well. But he didn't consider it worth ruminating over. Escape was already their primary collective goal, so that possibility wasn't anything he could prepare for or do anything about. Since they would be at ground zero for such an event worrying about it would be pointless.
"Yeah, if the aliens have spaceships in orbit, hitting a small group of them on the ground won't really accomplish much except kill a lot more people than invaders. I don't know what can really be done about a ship in outer space- I don't think anyone has missiles designed to hit something up there." Leon speculated. "They're going to have to do something special about those."
"But they're going to stop them." Jennifer asserted.
"Oh, yeah, I bet they're already thinking about how to find them out there and shoot them all down." Leon added.
"Yeah, man. That is going to be so awesome." Ryan replied.
Evan wasn't quite as confident much could actually be done about creatures in a spaceship who could apparently create zombies and trivially make an entire army fall unconscious in the blink of an eye. Such actions far beyond human ability- not to mention coming to Earth from the void beyond- implied other feats of power they were hopelessly incapable of matching.
Yet on an optimistic note, from what he had observed during the chaos inflicted by the black note, rigorous military discipline successfully held order amongst the soldiers at the least. If it was true anything productive could be done, those in charge might be able to do it.
"Anyway," Evan began. "We should probably get some rest for tomorrow. When the sun comes up, we should be working out an escape plan."
"Yeah, the military is probably going to be too busy fighting the aliens to help us." Ryan's grin could be heard in his voice, sounding almost wistful as he no doubt reflected on the awesome nature of beating back an alien invasion force with lasers and missiles.
Despite the consuming shadows now concealing what- if anything- laid directly outside, the atmosphere within the enclave was still surprisingly relaxed. While they all knew forces were at work far beyond their ability to handle, an objective and a clear goal in mind somewhat limited the extent of their despair.
Disbanding with only minimal further use of light, the refugees secluded themselves away for rest and to await the fresh dawn. Upon arising with the morning light, the relaxed atmosphere rapidly died as a fresh horde of death thrashed at the iron barrier outside.
"Not unless we absolutely need to." Evan replied softly to Jennifer, who wholeheartedly nodded in grim concurrence. He glanced towards the other barely perceptible outlines of people as he began to address them all with a slightly louder voice. "Since it's night now, we should hold off on what we were planning until tomorrow morning." A chorus of silent affirmation swept across the figures gathered amidst the shadows.
While time had pressed onwards in daylight, nervous apprehension had somewhat faded into a subdued background discomfort. The emotional dread had previously been broken with a productive task on their minds, and while waiting they had shared food from the building's supply. Intermittent casual chatter followed for the remainder of the day while passively mindful to not being easily visible from outside. The mood was, while not altogether untainted, lightened considerably.
Occasionally, a faint breeze weaving through cracks would bring with it a whiff of decay from the slain corpses outside the gate. The combination of chill and the stony, wet scent of the storm had proven to be a great masking boon. It was an obtrusive reminder of their situation, even while subdued enough to mostly ignore. Now that it was growing dark outside and there had been no further contact with the outside world, agitated apprehension had begun trickling back into their mood.
"Why didn't the black note happen again?" Minoko's words were uneven, but Evan could detect a hint of exasperated relief despite the shaky tone and her natural accent. Before, time had been unmarked and unacknowledged. Now the day had completely passed with no evident attempt to mount another rescue. One's mind naturally concocted unwelcome explanations to address such facts.
"The aliens must have abducted everyone they wanted." Ryan crunched into a graham cracker and spoke, sprinkling tiny crumbs into his immediate vicinity. "They must have gone back to their spaceship, so we're safe."
"...we probably are." Evan's agreement came out like molasses, having considered denying the tentative assertion. He didn't think it would be good to contravene what miniscule sense of relief that notion might provide to others. As long as it was dark outside, they ought to remain concealed anyway; there was no reason to further dissolve their somewhat relaxed ease. Even so, they shouldn't chance lives on such speculation. "But we should still consider our options to escape. There's still zombies out there and we can't stay here forever."
There was a momentary period of nervous silence as those assembled waited for the encroaching night to swallow the final traces of sunlight. Almost concurrent with twilight, the rain which had been hammering down most of the day had subsided into a fine misting drizzle. The faint, soothing patter on pavement and sidewalk provided some anchoring connection to Portland normalcy in the near pitch darkness. Without electricity the building was cold, but not uncomfortably so while bundled in heavy coats.
Light came from the nearby hallway, intensely bright for a moment just before dimming quite noticeably. Leon shuffled into the small space with his hand mostly covering the glowing source. Selecting for himself a nearby clear area on the floor, he clicked the beam off before carefully sitting. "Zack ate and drank something and went back to sleep. He lost a lot of blood so he's still tired, but he should be okay."
"Thank you, again." A figure that was Jennifer reached over to touch Leon upon the shoulders in a partial embrace. "For coming here."
"Just glad to be a help." Leon made a gesture in the dark that may have been a shrug.
A few seconds of welcome calm persisted before Ryan broke the reverie. "So what do you think is going on out there?"
"Doesn't seem to be much of anything happening right now." Evan unscrewed a bottle of water and took a sip. His thoughts uncomfortably shifted to the few cases of liquids they had access to. If they were careful, their water and food should be able to last the six of them for about a week, but he suspected the people in the Blackwood building were not as fortunately stocked. "There don't seem to be any more zombies around right now and we haven't heard anything out there."
"Not around here. The rest of the world, dude." Ryan spoke between noisy crunches. "Do you think the aliens are attacking anywhere else? How do you think the rest of the world is reacting to all this?"
"They're fighting back." Jennifer replied after a few seconds.
"Yeah." Leon added. "And since it's obvious these creatures have some kind of knockout weapon, the military is going to quickly realize they have to fight them from a distance with drones or something like that."
"Or just nuke them wherever they land." Ryan posited. He had a peculiar unawareness of the unease such an idea presented to those gathered.
"That doesn't seem very likely." The idea they could be obliterated via nuclear fire (as an action for the benefit of humanity at large) had crossed Evan's mind as well. But he didn't consider it worth ruminating over. Escape was already their primary collective goal, so that possibility wasn't anything he could prepare for or do anything about. Since they would be at ground zero for such an event worrying about it would be pointless.
"Yeah, if the aliens have spaceships in orbit, hitting a small group of them on the ground won't really accomplish much except kill a lot more people than invaders. I don't know what can really be done about a ship in outer space- I don't think anyone has missiles designed to hit something up there." Leon speculated. "They're going to have to do something special about those."
"But they're going to stop them." Jennifer asserted.
"Oh, yeah, I bet they're already thinking about how to find them out there and shoot them all down." Leon added.
"Yeah, man. That is going to be so awesome." Ryan replied.
Evan wasn't quite as confident much could actually be done about creatures in a spaceship who could apparently create zombies and trivially make an entire army fall unconscious in the blink of an eye. Such actions far beyond human ability- not to mention coming to Earth from the void beyond- implied other feats of power they were hopelessly incapable of matching.
Yet on an optimistic note, from what he had observed during the chaos inflicted by the black note, rigorous military discipline successfully held order amongst the soldiers at the least. If it was true anything productive could be done, those in charge might be able to do it.
"Anyway," Evan began. "We should probably get some rest for tomorrow. When the sun comes up, we should be working out an escape plan."
"Yeah, the military is probably going to be too busy fighting the aliens to help us." Ryan's grin could be heard in his voice, sounding almost wistful as he no doubt reflected on the awesome nature of beating back an alien invasion force with lasers and missiles.
Despite the consuming shadows now concealing what- if anything- laid directly outside, the atmosphere within the enclave was still surprisingly relaxed. While they all knew forces were at work far beyond their ability to handle, an objective and a clear goal in mind somewhat limited the extent of their despair.
Disbanding with only minimal further use of light, the refugees secluded themselves away for rest and to await the fresh dawn. Upon arising with the morning light, the relaxed atmosphere rapidly died as a fresh horde of death thrashed at the iron barrier outside.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Unnatural Consequences
Lucas savored the sensation of empty isolation the broad shadowy chamber provided, idly watching the outside storm and listening to the soothing, muted patter of the rainfall's variation. It was a rather welcome relief after being a helpless witness to abject stupidity and panic.
Terror of the unknown curtailed the dormitory population's usual clamor, for the time being. Those few who entered the common chamber mostly arrived to momentarily peer out the windows or collect some tap water from the faucet. Lucas ignored most everyone who arrived, thinking, mostly idly staring out the windows while others were near.
Now and then someone would enter and be shocked the curtains were drawn wide. Without asking, they would spend some time securing the drapes, but apparently still agitated would leave only minutes after the completion of their task. Once they departed, Lucas would rise from his seat and proceed to undo the efforts.
Once Lucas returned to his place on the couch from such a visit, Chloe spoke again. "So what do you think of that warning we got about the whistling and snapping?"
"The thing Evan was talking about?" Lucas turned to face Chloe nearby, but soon gazed out the window beyond her. "None of the zombies have made any sounds like that and so far they haven't been very different from one another. So apparently there is something else out there besides the zombies. And Evan thinks it would also be interested in us if it could see us in here."
"Aren't you worried, then?" Chloe projected a rather relaxed attitude on her surface. Yet occasional wide-eyed surveys of the scenery through the big windows betrayed a rather obvious apprehension at being openly visible. As much as they were visible from outside with the miniscule presence of light.
"It's more interesting than it is scary. Besides, we haven't heard any sounds like that so far." Lucas casually mentioned. "Plus, we already basically knew something like that was going on. Since the blackout event originated from the sky, the zombies couldn't have been the source of that bursting radiation. At least now we have a better idea of what may be behind this."
"So you're thinking the same force created both the blackout radiation and the z-rays, then."
"Aliens." Lucas grinned as he gestured with his hands. Chloe had little reaction to the declaration other than a disapproving glare. "Though I guess technically the zombies are alien life too. So these would be different aliens, besides the zombies."
"The zombies are aliens now?" Chloe produced an exasperated sigh but responded to her own statement after a moment's consideration. "Well, I guess superficially, zombies reproduce similarly to how a virus does. So if you were feeling generous, that would at least make them as much a form a life as a virus is."
"Sure. Only a virus hijacks one cell at a time to create new copies of itself so it can enter more cells. These things hijack entire brains so they can infect more brains." Lucas pondered how best to present his more absurd ruminations. "How that process actually works is a mystery, but if you think of them as a form of life that would make some ability to detect conscious brains make a sort of sense. Such an ability would be immensely useful to spread and survive in the wild. Not that we really have the evidence yet to verify that. But like I said before, it makes a sort of sense."
"So if something out there did create the zombies, what would be the purpose for it? Are they trying to kill us?"
"Maybe. We don't know how the z-rays were formed, but if they were difficult enough to create, they might not be able to fire enough of them at our planet to kill all of us. But there's another possible motivation." Lucas drew in a steady breath of air before continuing. "Besides the brain thing, we know the zombies operate by some unknown physics we have no prior knowledge about. They are so completely alien to us they don't even rely on the same physical forces we do."
Chloe shifted in the big armchair, leisurely crossing one leg over the other. "You're referring to how they are able to move around even with major blood loss."
"Exactly. Movement without access to oxygen shouldn't be possible according to modern knowledge. But since they are moving, we know something we don't quite understand must be happening inside a zombie's body. After all, the energy to move still has to come from somewhere. It can't just appear out of nothing."
"Maybe it can. I mean, if it were coming from nowhere, that would explain it too." Chloe offered before giving another wide-eyed peer to the outside world.
"Sure that's possible- I guess- but it's possible in the same way that it's possible the Earth is flat and we've just been very wrong thinking it's a spheroid this entire time. It's way more likely that the energy is just coming from somewhere we aren't noticing." Lucas paused as a man and woman arrived to collect a quantity of water from the tap in empty jugs. After it became apparent what they were doing, Lucas ignored them and resumed his reasoning in a quiet voice. "Anyway, we can't really run the tests necessary to eliminate all the other possibilities, but consider this. What if they were pulling the energy from some other place entirely?"
"You mean like a wormhole?"
"Exactly. Whatever the zombie effect actually does with a conscious brain, we still don't know. But if the z-rays were somehow interacting with the machinery of consciousness to open a tiny wormhole network, maybe they could siphon energy from those wormholes directly into the muscles of their bodies, so they no longer require oxygen to move. Then when the brain becomes damaged, that linkage is destroyed. Hence the zombie just goes back to being a regular dead body after that."
"So, you think the zombies were created- or seeded here by these other aliens in order to create wormholes?" Chloe arched her eyebrows skeptically as she finished the line of reasoning Lucas was about to deliver. "That's even crazier than what you said before."
"It is. But zombies existing at all are pretty crazy to begin with." Lucas nudged at the frame of his glasses and brushed his hair with one hand. "But if you could discover some method to increase the size of these wormholes, it might be possible to use this form of life as a basis of space travel. So this could also explain why there appears to be a new type of entity out there that produces clicks and whistles. And why that sound seems associated with another new phenomenon."
"If someone threatened to destroy your gateway, you'd defend it." Chloe leaned forwards and rubbed her temples. "So the thing that knocked us out may have been part of this second alien's strategy of defending the gateway it had constructed for itself. Sort of like a flare or firework shot into the sky so it would spread the radiation over as broad an area as possible."
"Right. So there could be an open wormhole somewhere inside the city." Lucas exhaled and slouched on the couch, looking away from outside for a bit to stare at the ceiling tiles. Although it was certainly possible there were other explanations, none as elegantly concise were readily apparent to him.
Another expanse of watery silence suffused the cavernous chamber. Ears strained to listen to the conditions outside for a moment, but still no strange noises became apparent. Lucas knew what he had proposed was quite strange, but he couldn't get the implications of the concept out of his mind.
Sighing with resigned boredom, Lucas wished he had some direct investigative route to pursue with the ample time available. Waiting around was intolerable when the limitless possibilities of interstellar exploration loomed on the horizon. But with the Internet gone, there was little he could do to discern plausible theory from wild shot in the dark.
Even if another zombie arrived, everyone else in the building would likely be too scared to perform any sort of experiments with it. And if something strange was visible from the rooftop, he hadn't noticed it before when he was there. Not that he even knew what he would be looking for. Beyond that, it was certainly a bad idea to go outside looking for the theoretical wormhole.
"It's been a while since one of those blackout flares." Chloe observed flatly.
"Yeah." After a momentary delay, Lucas shot bolt upright to look into Chloe's eyes. "Hey, wait a minute!"
"Do you hear something?" Chloe's white eyes stood out starkly against her slate skin, a startled look draping the sharp features of her face.
"We have a way to measure that blackout radiation! If we find out where everyone was standing in the building during each burst of radiation and whether they passed out or remained conscious, we might be able to learn something." The data was already around to collect and examine. Doing such a thing seemed pretty unlikely to be protested by the residents. And best of all, it would give Lucas something to do with the plodding stretches of time while waiting.
With little convincing needed to attain assistance, Chloe was quickly recruited to help gather the available data.
Terror of the unknown curtailed the dormitory population's usual clamor, for the time being. Those few who entered the common chamber mostly arrived to momentarily peer out the windows or collect some tap water from the faucet. Lucas ignored most everyone who arrived, thinking, mostly idly staring out the windows while others were near.
Now and then someone would enter and be shocked the curtains were drawn wide. Without asking, they would spend some time securing the drapes, but apparently still agitated would leave only minutes after the completion of their task. Once they departed, Lucas would rise from his seat and proceed to undo the efforts.
Once Lucas returned to his place on the couch from such a visit, Chloe spoke again. "So what do you think of that warning we got about the whistling and snapping?"
"The thing Evan was talking about?" Lucas turned to face Chloe nearby, but soon gazed out the window beyond her. "None of the zombies have made any sounds like that and so far they haven't been very different from one another. So apparently there is something else out there besides the zombies. And Evan thinks it would also be interested in us if it could see us in here."
"Aren't you worried, then?" Chloe projected a rather relaxed attitude on her surface. Yet occasional wide-eyed surveys of the scenery through the big windows betrayed a rather obvious apprehension at being openly visible. As much as they were visible from outside with the miniscule presence of light.
"It's more interesting than it is scary. Besides, we haven't heard any sounds like that so far." Lucas casually mentioned. "Plus, we already basically knew something like that was going on. Since the blackout event originated from the sky, the zombies couldn't have been the source of that bursting radiation. At least now we have a better idea of what may be behind this."
"So you're thinking the same force created both the blackout radiation and the z-rays, then."
"Aliens." Lucas grinned as he gestured with his hands. Chloe had little reaction to the declaration other than a disapproving glare. "Though I guess technically the zombies are alien life too. So these would be different aliens, besides the zombies."
"The zombies are aliens now?" Chloe produced an exasperated sigh but responded to her own statement after a moment's consideration. "Well, I guess superficially, zombies reproduce similarly to how a virus does. So if you were feeling generous, that would at least make them as much a form a life as a virus is."
"Sure. Only a virus hijacks one cell at a time to create new copies of itself so it can enter more cells. These things hijack entire brains so they can infect more brains." Lucas pondered how best to present his more absurd ruminations. "How that process actually works is a mystery, but if you think of them as a form of life that would make some ability to detect conscious brains make a sort of sense. Such an ability would be immensely useful to spread and survive in the wild. Not that we really have the evidence yet to verify that. But like I said before, it makes a sort of sense."
"So if something out there did create the zombies, what would be the purpose for it? Are they trying to kill us?"
"Maybe. We don't know how the z-rays were formed, but if they were difficult enough to create, they might not be able to fire enough of them at our planet to kill all of us. But there's another possible motivation." Lucas drew in a steady breath of air before continuing. "Besides the brain thing, we know the zombies operate by some unknown physics we have no prior knowledge about. They are so completely alien to us they don't even rely on the same physical forces we do."
Chloe shifted in the big armchair, leisurely crossing one leg over the other. "You're referring to how they are able to move around even with major blood loss."
"Exactly. Movement without access to oxygen shouldn't be possible according to modern knowledge. But since they are moving, we know something we don't quite understand must be happening inside a zombie's body. After all, the energy to move still has to come from somewhere. It can't just appear out of nothing."
"Maybe it can. I mean, if it were coming from nowhere, that would explain it too." Chloe offered before giving another wide-eyed peer to the outside world.
"Sure that's possible- I guess- but it's possible in the same way that it's possible the Earth is flat and we've just been very wrong thinking it's a spheroid this entire time. It's way more likely that the energy is just coming from somewhere we aren't noticing." Lucas paused as a man and woman arrived to collect a quantity of water from the tap in empty jugs. After it became apparent what they were doing, Lucas ignored them and resumed his reasoning in a quiet voice. "Anyway, we can't really run the tests necessary to eliminate all the other possibilities, but consider this. What if they were pulling the energy from some other place entirely?"
"You mean like a wormhole?"
"Exactly. Whatever the zombie effect actually does with a conscious brain, we still don't know. But if the z-rays were somehow interacting with the machinery of consciousness to open a tiny wormhole network, maybe they could siphon energy from those wormholes directly into the muscles of their bodies, so they no longer require oxygen to move. Then when the brain becomes damaged, that linkage is destroyed. Hence the zombie just goes back to being a regular dead body after that."
"So, you think the zombies were created- or seeded here by these other aliens in order to create wormholes?" Chloe arched her eyebrows skeptically as she finished the line of reasoning Lucas was about to deliver. "That's even crazier than what you said before."
"It is. But zombies existing at all are pretty crazy to begin with." Lucas nudged at the frame of his glasses and brushed his hair with one hand. "But if you could discover some method to increase the size of these wormholes, it might be possible to use this form of life as a basis of space travel. So this could also explain why there appears to be a new type of entity out there that produces clicks and whistles. And why that sound seems associated with another new phenomenon."
"If someone threatened to destroy your gateway, you'd defend it." Chloe leaned forwards and rubbed her temples. "So the thing that knocked us out may have been part of this second alien's strategy of defending the gateway it had constructed for itself. Sort of like a flare or firework shot into the sky so it would spread the radiation over as broad an area as possible."
"Right. So there could be an open wormhole somewhere inside the city." Lucas exhaled and slouched on the couch, looking away from outside for a bit to stare at the ceiling tiles. Although it was certainly possible there were other explanations, none as elegantly concise were readily apparent to him.
Another expanse of watery silence suffused the cavernous chamber. Ears strained to listen to the conditions outside for a moment, but still no strange noises became apparent. Lucas knew what he had proposed was quite strange, but he couldn't get the implications of the concept out of his mind.
Sighing with resigned boredom, Lucas wished he had some direct investigative route to pursue with the ample time available. Waiting around was intolerable when the limitless possibilities of interstellar exploration loomed on the horizon. But with the Internet gone, there was little he could do to discern plausible theory from wild shot in the dark.
Even if another zombie arrived, everyone else in the building would likely be too scared to perform any sort of experiments with it. And if something strange was visible from the rooftop, he hadn't noticed it before when he was there. Not that he even knew what he would be looking for. Beyond that, it was certainly a bad idea to go outside looking for the theoretical wormhole.
"It's been a while since one of those blackout flares." Chloe observed flatly.
"Yeah." After a momentary delay, Lucas shot bolt upright to look into Chloe's eyes. "Hey, wait a minute!"
"Do you hear something?" Chloe's white eyes stood out starkly against her slate skin, a startled look draping the sharp features of her face.
"We have a way to measure that blackout radiation! If we find out where everyone was standing in the building during each burst of radiation and whether they passed out or remained conscious, we might be able to learn something." The data was already around to collect and examine. Doing such a thing seemed pretty unlikely to be protested by the residents. And best of all, it would give Lucas something to do with the plodding stretches of time while waiting.
With little convincing needed to attain assistance, Chloe was quickly recruited to help gather the available data.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Public Information
"Would you like me to take you back to your dorm now?" Evan asked as Leon announced he was finished and stashed the remaining bandages in the medical kit. Zack had been propped up against the wall with his arm in a fabricated splint. The blood nearby had been carefully cleaned and disposed of in a nearby waste bin.
"One sanctuary is as good to me as any other." Leon emitted an exhausted sigh as he returned to inspect his patient.
"What if someone in your building needs help?" Zack posited, barely able to keep his head up.
"They'll be fine. It's not like I was the only one around with some experience in this sort of thing." Leon shrugged. "Besides, if whatever that thing was is going to strike again, I'd rather not risk being caught outside."
"I'd rather not risk standing." Ryan contributed from a sitting position just by the stairway. While Leon was busy tending to Zack's wounds, he had been jangling the set of keys for the building in his hands. But at some point he had apparently grown bored with the activity and set them in his lap instead. "You know, in case we hear that black note again soon."
Those few who weren't already in a seated position took one throughout the small chamber. Minoko had been sitting morosely by the elevator, her knees drawn up against her chest and arms folded around them. Jennifer sat with her in some meek attempt to raise her spirits. Leon had not directly exchanged words with the Japanese girl, but in an apologetic glance it was clearly evident he was aware of what must have transpired. Uneven silence reigned as the hiss of water surged against the building.
Recollections of those phantasmal sounds in a lifeless world gnawed at Evan's mind as time trickled onwards. The spectacle of shredded vehicles and discarded possessions felt like a distant memory. Whether the malevolent entities generating the clicking whistles would return should that cascading chord once more shake the foundations of reality was his primary concern.
The paradoxical serenity was interrupted as Ryan's curiosity and boredom overcame him. "So dude, did you see aliens or something while you were running around out there?"
Evan was momentarily caught off guard by the blunt question. "What?"
"You told me I should get everyone to hide if I heard strange noises. So what did you find out there to make you say that?"
During the sedate interlude, Evan had been thinking about how best to inform the others of what he had discovered. They had a right to know remaining within the zone of that odd phenomenon might be dangerous. Perhaps it would even be best to attempt to flee rather than wait for whatever natural resolution would arrive to greet those choosing to hide. Either way, he didn't feel right making that decision for others. Yet he knew the kind of disorganized panic such knowledge created prior. Responsibility made him feel hesitant to put his thoughts to speech. "There's something else out there. Something besides just the zombies."
"Dude, just say what it is you saw." Ryan replied with rapt fascination.
The others present were too weary from the recent ordeal of their shared experiences to respond. Their faces revealed little terror or surprise at the declaration. Perhaps- Evan thought- his trepidation to speak to his current audience had been unnecessary. Nobody appeared energetic enough for a compulsive desire for escape to override good sense. So Evan explained his observations, from the unearthly sounds to the empty street laden with torn metal. As indirect as the evidence had been, everyone seemed convinced what they had to mean.
"So what do we do now?" Jennifer asked once Evan's explanation concluded.
"Dude!" Ryan seemed more excited than anything else. He had an awed look on what was visible of his face through his greasy hair. "Aliens are abducting people!"
"It seems so." Zack exhaled heavily and closed his eyes, as if speaking drained his reserves of energy.
Evan finally allowed himself a moment to breathe. He was glad to have the private burden of such knowledge lifted from his mind. "Yes. So now we have to decide what we're going to do."
"If they stun us while we're escaping, we would be helpless. Plus the zombies are still around so they could also attack us while we're out there." Leon spoke thoughtfully as he stroked his hand over his shaved head. "But since whatever is out there can tear its way through metal, we probably aren't going to be safe inside if it comes this way and discovers that we're in here."
"Hey, you said you didn't hear those whistles after the second black note, right?" Ryan spoke, watching Evan nod thoughtfully. "Maybe that means they're heading away from us."
"Could be." Evan didn't much like the idea of betting upon such a notion, but he couldn't really critique it either. Without more knowledge, every decision would be a gamble. "We could stay here and hide if we hear those whistling noises approaching. It's kind of hard to describe. It sounds almost musical, actually."
"Then shouldn't we remain here?" Jennifer suggested. "If these aliens or whatever are heading in the other direction, we'll at least still be safe from any zombies still around."
"Yeah." Ryan shrugged. "Besides, even if we did have a way to escape on our own, we could still be knocked out by another black note. It's probably better just to wait for the army to return and rescue us."
"Maybe we should still try to figure out some kind of escape plan." Leon scratched at his chin, looking at the floor in front of himself as he thought aloud. "We have no idea how long it will take for all this to end. What if they end up not coming back for us?"
Nobody quite knew how to respond to that, so there was no immediate follow-up to the speculation.
Jennifer frowned as she finally sighed. "It's not like we have weapons to defend ourselves with or even a working vehicle. So what could we actually do to prepare for escape on our own?"
"There's a car a few blocks away." Minoko's small voice contributed as she produced a set of keys from her pocket. "We could maybe take a few people at a time out of the city."
"Bad idea, dude." Ryan commented. "If the black note happens while you're driving, you'll just end up wrecking the car."
"What if we wait until the tone hits us again?" Evan considered. "If a couple of us were to go outside just then, maybe we could be sure it wouldn't strike again for at least as long as the effect lasts. That would give us several minutes at the very least."
"If it happens again." Jennifer revised the unstated assumption.
"Then what? Drive out of the city?" Ryan shook his head. "It doesn't last long enough to really drive anywhere."
"It doesn't need to. Just park it outside so it wouldn't be so far away." Evan exhaled slowly, thinking about those lost weapons strewn along the desolate street. If he had been thinking at the time he could have retrieved some of them. Unfortunately, if any were still around, retrieving them during a ticking clock was probably a bad idea. "All we're doing is trying to come up with some kind of escape option in case we need one later on."
"As long as there aren't any zombies outside at the time, that sounds like a pretty decent plan." Leon glanced through the glass into the rainy corridor outside. Nothing yet waited for them at the gate.
Evan met Minoko's eyes with his own. "The next time that black note hits us, do you think you could lead the way to where that car is?"
Minoko drew in a deep breath, her voice hitching in her throat. Instead of speaking, she replied with a solemn nod. An expectant silence came afterwards, as the group waited in dreadful anticipation for a followup black note.
As the minutes turned to hours, uncomfortable chatter began to fill the void of uneasy solitude. A dry meal and water were shared out amongst the gathered supplies. Zack was carefully transported to a nearby room to recuperate in a soft bed, the window curtains bound shut in paranoia. The rainstorm outside faltered now and then and occasionally halted but never quite entirely ended as the day marched onwards in seclusion.
No third black note arrived before the early winter sunset blot out most available light. But thankfully the tones of that dreadful alien entity (or entities) did not return either.
"One sanctuary is as good to me as any other." Leon emitted an exhausted sigh as he returned to inspect his patient.
"What if someone in your building needs help?" Zack posited, barely able to keep his head up.
"They'll be fine. It's not like I was the only one around with some experience in this sort of thing." Leon shrugged. "Besides, if whatever that thing was is going to strike again, I'd rather not risk being caught outside."
"I'd rather not risk standing." Ryan contributed from a sitting position just by the stairway. While Leon was busy tending to Zack's wounds, he had been jangling the set of keys for the building in his hands. But at some point he had apparently grown bored with the activity and set them in his lap instead. "You know, in case we hear that black note again soon."
Those few who weren't already in a seated position took one throughout the small chamber. Minoko had been sitting morosely by the elevator, her knees drawn up against her chest and arms folded around them. Jennifer sat with her in some meek attempt to raise her spirits. Leon had not directly exchanged words with the Japanese girl, but in an apologetic glance it was clearly evident he was aware of what must have transpired. Uneven silence reigned as the hiss of water surged against the building.
Recollections of those phantasmal sounds in a lifeless world gnawed at Evan's mind as time trickled onwards. The spectacle of shredded vehicles and discarded possessions felt like a distant memory. Whether the malevolent entities generating the clicking whistles would return should that cascading chord once more shake the foundations of reality was his primary concern.
The paradoxical serenity was interrupted as Ryan's curiosity and boredom overcame him. "So dude, did you see aliens or something while you were running around out there?"
Evan was momentarily caught off guard by the blunt question. "What?"
"You told me I should get everyone to hide if I heard strange noises. So what did you find out there to make you say that?"
During the sedate interlude, Evan had been thinking about how best to inform the others of what he had discovered. They had a right to know remaining within the zone of that odd phenomenon might be dangerous. Perhaps it would even be best to attempt to flee rather than wait for whatever natural resolution would arrive to greet those choosing to hide. Either way, he didn't feel right making that decision for others. Yet he knew the kind of disorganized panic such knowledge created prior. Responsibility made him feel hesitant to put his thoughts to speech. "There's something else out there. Something besides just the zombies."
"Dude, just say what it is you saw." Ryan replied with rapt fascination.
The others present were too weary from the recent ordeal of their shared experiences to respond. Their faces revealed little terror or surprise at the declaration. Perhaps- Evan thought- his trepidation to speak to his current audience had been unnecessary. Nobody appeared energetic enough for a compulsive desire for escape to override good sense. So Evan explained his observations, from the unearthly sounds to the empty street laden with torn metal. As indirect as the evidence had been, everyone seemed convinced what they had to mean.
"So what do we do now?" Jennifer asked once Evan's explanation concluded.
"Dude!" Ryan seemed more excited than anything else. He had an awed look on what was visible of his face through his greasy hair. "Aliens are abducting people!"
"It seems so." Zack exhaled heavily and closed his eyes, as if speaking drained his reserves of energy.
Evan finally allowed himself a moment to breathe. He was glad to have the private burden of such knowledge lifted from his mind. "Yes. So now we have to decide what we're going to do."
"If they stun us while we're escaping, we would be helpless. Plus the zombies are still around so they could also attack us while we're out there." Leon spoke thoughtfully as he stroked his hand over his shaved head. "But since whatever is out there can tear its way through metal, we probably aren't going to be safe inside if it comes this way and discovers that we're in here."
"Hey, you said you didn't hear those whistles after the second black note, right?" Ryan spoke, watching Evan nod thoughtfully. "Maybe that means they're heading away from us."
"Could be." Evan didn't much like the idea of betting upon such a notion, but he couldn't really critique it either. Without more knowledge, every decision would be a gamble. "We could stay here and hide if we hear those whistling noises approaching. It's kind of hard to describe. It sounds almost musical, actually."
"Then shouldn't we remain here?" Jennifer suggested. "If these aliens or whatever are heading in the other direction, we'll at least still be safe from any zombies still around."
"Yeah." Ryan shrugged. "Besides, even if we did have a way to escape on our own, we could still be knocked out by another black note. It's probably better just to wait for the army to return and rescue us."
"Maybe we should still try to figure out some kind of escape plan." Leon scratched at his chin, looking at the floor in front of himself as he thought aloud. "We have no idea how long it will take for all this to end. What if they end up not coming back for us?"
Nobody quite knew how to respond to that, so there was no immediate follow-up to the speculation.
Jennifer frowned as she finally sighed. "It's not like we have weapons to defend ourselves with or even a working vehicle. So what could we actually do to prepare for escape on our own?"
"There's a car a few blocks away." Minoko's small voice contributed as she produced a set of keys from her pocket. "We could maybe take a few people at a time out of the city."
"Bad idea, dude." Ryan commented. "If the black note happens while you're driving, you'll just end up wrecking the car."
"What if we wait until the tone hits us again?" Evan considered. "If a couple of us were to go outside just then, maybe we could be sure it wouldn't strike again for at least as long as the effect lasts. That would give us several minutes at the very least."
"If it happens again." Jennifer revised the unstated assumption.
"Then what? Drive out of the city?" Ryan shook his head. "It doesn't last long enough to really drive anywhere."
"It doesn't need to. Just park it outside so it wouldn't be so far away." Evan exhaled slowly, thinking about those lost weapons strewn along the desolate street. If he had been thinking at the time he could have retrieved some of them. Unfortunately, if any were still around, retrieving them during a ticking clock was probably a bad idea. "All we're doing is trying to come up with some kind of escape option in case we need one later on."
"As long as there aren't any zombies outside at the time, that sounds like a pretty decent plan." Leon glanced through the glass into the rainy corridor outside. Nothing yet waited for them at the gate.
Evan met Minoko's eyes with his own. "The next time that black note hits us, do you think you could lead the way to where that car is?"
Minoko drew in a deep breath, her voice hitching in her throat. Instead of speaking, she replied with a solemn nod. An expectant silence came afterwards, as the group waited in dreadful anticipation for a followup black note.
As the minutes turned to hours, uncomfortable chatter began to fill the void of uneasy solitude. A dry meal and water were shared out amongst the gathered supplies. Zack was carefully transported to a nearby room to recuperate in a soft bed, the window curtains bound shut in paranoia. The rainstorm outside faltered now and then and occasionally halted but never quite entirely ended as the day marched onwards in seclusion.
No third black note arrived before the early winter sunset blot out most available light. But thankfully the tones of that dreadful alien entity (or entities) did not return either.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Tentative Hypothesis
Lucas hated being in crowds. Worse yet, he hated having important things to say when nobody would listen. Just before, the only viable course of action was refused on the basis that nobody would believe him. Those who were outside were incredibly fortunate that Evan was still in the area. Also, once they returned, their terror made them finally realize that their only viable course of action was to wait.
Once news of Evan's cryptic warning propagated, the common room was fearfully abandoned by the building's residents in favor of lightless hallways or personal areas. Many tall, broad windows lining the left and right walls of the chamber allowed murky light to spill inside. The curtains were drawn wide apart, revealing unblinking eyes open to the desolate world. But there was acute awareness the broad surfaces would allow a watcher to gaze in just as easily. A slight mismatch between the floor in here and the outside meant the windows were about five feet off the ground.
That suited Lucas just fine, now that he had a relatively isolated space to contemplate. It was even fairly quiet in here, so any atypical sounds should be easy to notice. Just in case whatever the warning was about came to pass. It was rather unfortunate Evan had not remained around to explain further, but Lucas knew that meant he had something important to attend to.
"Okay, so the infected don't attack each other. I understand that." Chloe tentatively entered the common area and glanced around the abandoned, shadowy domain. She crept cautiously around various furnishings as the door drifted closed behind her. "Why do you think that means they can see consciousness?"
"You mean besides that zombie not choosing to attack the people who were passed out?" Lucas turned to watch her approach from his place on the couch near the powerless television.
"Yeah. It seems way more likely to me that she just somehow didn't notice them laying there." Chloe delicately removed her rain coat and draped it over the back of a nearby chair. She then walked around and sat in a soft armchair beside the couch.
"Well, it also agrees with all the other information we have about the undead."
"Would you mind explaining your reasoning there?"
"It makes a sort of sense if you think about their traits." Lucas hesitated, unsure how best to proceed with his line of thinking. He realized it had to sound pretty out there. Despite having come up with the notion and considering it yesterday, he still had a hard time believing it could be true. "To start with, they only target living humans and not each other. So there has to be something they are keying in on."
"Animals can recognize others of their kind. Maybe that's what's going on." Chloe suggested. "Some kind of instinct that's triggering in the infected, directing them to attack people while neglecting those who are behaving the same way they are."
"That's what I figured too at first. But remember, we also have pretty solid information about z-rays. Even though it happened only the one time that we know about, we can be reasonably confident it struck random locations all over the planet. Actually, that's probably the single most reliable bit of information we have about this phenomenon so far."
"What does that have to do with some ability to detect consciousness?"
"Not anything directly. But remember how you pointed out to me that z-rays didn't appear to strike animals?" Lucas paused a moment to direct his attention outside for a few seconds. Despite recent events, the storm had a familiar, soothing quality about it. "We do know that probably isn't technically true, considering what little we do know about the strikes of z-rays. What is more likely to have happened is that the z-rays also hit some animals, but it produced no effect on them."
"So animals are immune to z-rays, but humans are not. What, because animals aren't conscious and humans are?"
"Animals are conscious, but the sort of awareness they have is not nearly as intricate as the type of consciousness a human has." Lucas shrugged. "Anyway, because just now the unconscious people were missed, it seems likely that is the primary factor of the difference."
"Seems like kind of a stretch."
"Maybe it is. It could be something else." Lucas halted there, then added after a lapse in the conversation. "But consider this. Whatever else this plague is doing, we know it halts once the brain is damaged or destroyed."
"So, if the brain is no longer suitable for whatever the infection does to someone, it will cease. And if it wasn't ever suitable to begin with the disease won't begin doing whatever it does in the first place." Chloe thoughtfully concluded.
"Right, so animal brains aren't sufficient to produce the zombie effect." Not long ago, Lucas had privately speculated about how an undead could be tricked into biting an animal. A careful test could provide more evidence to support the immunity hypothesis, but he had no capability of performing such an experiment. Lucas chortled as he added. "They want to eat our brains. It should have been more obvious, really."
Unfortunately, Chloe was not nearly as amused by the conclusion. "Okay. Let's say the disease is affecting the brain like that. So how do you get from there to some sort of magical power to directly observe consciousness?"
"Well, remember that we're trying to think of what those things are detecting that makes us valid targets yet also does not prompt them to attack one another. They must have some means of recognizing what targets can become a suitable carrier. Even if the only targets they might choose among also have a human shape."
Chloe nodded a bit to that, obviously baffled he didn't elucidate further. "Yeah?" Maybe when they still had access to the Internet, she hadn't watched many of the videos showing the zombie attacks. The video evidence he perused were suggestive that their ability to distinguish was inerrant and consistent among their peers.
"So, that's the question. What is actually the difference between us and them that they could be responding to?"
"The- uh, zombies move differently. And they make that annoying sound."
"So if someone does those things, would the zombies ignore them?"
"I wouldn't want to bet on it."
"Right. But we could still run an experiment. Try acting like one of them with only one person nearby and see if it's still interested in them." Lucas raised his arms up and jerked about in his seat to illustrate the mimicry.
"Uh- Did you do that?" Chloe smirked a bit, evidently bemused by the absurdity of such a ruse, despite her usual stoic mood.
"Well, no. It might be a good idea if someone did attempt that, though. Just to eliminate that possibility." Lucas regret missing the opportunity only a little, after all, he was already fairly confident such a scheme would not succeed. Nobody else seemed willing to indulge such curiosities, which made experimentation like that in the crowded dormitory impossible. "But the blackout that just hit those people outside was a similar sort of experiment. It tested whether or not people who were unconscious would be targeted."
"What if it just ignored them because they appeared to be dead?"
"That's a pretty good question. We could test whether they respond to motion by having someone pretend they were dead, or by having someone sleep close to one and see if the zombie eventually loses interest in them." Again, Lucas recalled the videos from the Internet he had been able to examine the previous day. It was hard to be certain from the evidence he had studied, but such a ploy didn't seem to work for at least one unfortunate victim who had attempted such a tactic. "But the question you should be asking is why they would respond differently to a body they encounter whether or not it is dead."
"If someone is dead, then the brain isn't going to be intact, so the disease wouldn't have what it needs for the infection to do whatever it does."
"Yes, so it does make sense why they wouldn't waste time with a dead brain. But how could they possibly realize a brain is dead? They don't appear to have any cognitive awareness or intelligence, and determining that would take a person at least a few seconds of time. But they still focus on something that guides them only to conscious humans and not to each other." And likely not to the dead either, Lucas thought to himself.
Chloe frowned, thinking about the question in silence. An interlude of peace over which the assaulting storm was the dominating ambiance persisted. "I don't know if I entirely agree with that. But I guess if it just ignored the people who passed out because it thought they were dead, your plan still would have worked."
"Well, the next time a zombie shows up, we could perform some of those experiments to see what happens. If I'm right, a zombie should only lose interest in someone if they are asleep."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea."
A pensive, austere calm permeated the surroundings for quite some time after that.
Once news of Evan's cryptic warning propagated, the common room was fearfully abandoned by the building's residents in favor of lightless hallways or personal areas. Many tall, broad windows lining the left and right walls of the chamber allowed murky light to spill inside. The curtains were drawn wide apart, revealing unblinking eyes open to the desolate world. But there was acute awareness the broad surfaces would allow a watcher to gaze in just as easily. A slight mismatch between the floor in here and the outside meant the windows were about five feet off the ground.
That suited Lucas just fine, now that he had a relatively isolated space to contemplate. It was even fairly quiet in here, so any atypical sounds should be easy to notice. Just in case whatever the warning was about came to pass. It was rather unfortunate Evan had not remained around to explain further, but Lucas knew that meant he had something important to attend to.
"Okay, so the infected don't attack each other. I understand that." Chloe tentatively entered the common area and glanced around the abandoned, shadowy domain. She crept cautiously around various furnishings as the door drifted closed behind her. "Why do you think that means they can see consciousness?"
"You mean besides that zombie not choosing to attack the people who were passed out?" Lucas turned to watch her approach from his place on the couch near the powerless television.
"Yeah. It seems way more likely to me that she just somehow didn't notice them laying there." Chloe delicately removed her rain coat and draped it over the back of a nearby chair. She then walked around and sat in a soft armchair beside the couch.
"Well, it also agrees with all the other information we have about the undead."
"Would you mind explaining your reasoning there?"
"It makes a sort of sense if you think about their traits." Lucas hesitated, unsure how best to proceed with his line of thinking. He realized it had to sound pretty out there. Despite having come up with the notion and considering it yesterday, he still had a hard time believing it could be true. "To start with, they only target living humans and not each other. So there has to be something they are keying in on."
"Animals can recognize others of their kind. Maybe that's what's going on." Chloe suggested. "Some kind of instinct that's triggering in the infected, directing them to attack people while neglecting those who are behaving the same way they are."
"That's what I figured too at first. But remember, we also have pretty solid information about z-rays. Even though it happened only the one time that we know about, we can be reasonably confident it struck random locations all over the planet. Actually, that's probably the single most reliable bit of information we have about this phenomenon so far."
"What does that have to do with some ability to detect consciousness?"
"Not anything directly. But remember how you pointed out to me that z-rays didn't appear to strike animals?" Lucas paused a moment to direct his attention outside for a few seconds. Despite recent events, the storm had a familiar, soothing quality about it. "We do know that probably isn't technically true, considering what little we do know about the strikes of z-rays. What is more likely to have happened is that the z-rays also hit some animals, but it produced no effect on them."
"So animals are immune to z-rays, but humans are not. What, because animals aren't conscious and humans are?"
"Animals are conscious, but the sort of awareness they have is not nearly as intricate as the type of consciousness a human has." Lucas shrugged. "Anyway, because just now the unconscious people were missed, it seems likely that is the primary factor of the difference."
"Seems like kind of a stretch."
"Maybe it is. It could be something else." Lucas halted there, then added after a lapse in the conversation. "But consider this. Whatever else this plague is doing, we know it halts once the brain is damaged or destroyed."
"So, if the brain is no longer suitable for whatever the infection does to someone, it will cease. And if it wasn't ever suitable to begin with the disease won't begin doing whatever it does in the first place." Chloe thoughtfully concluded.
"Right, so animal brains aren't sufficient to produce the zombie effect." Not long ago, Lucas had privately speculated about how an undead could be tricked into biting an animal. A careful test could provide more evidence to support the immunity hypothesis, but he had no capability of performing such an experiment. Lucas chortled as he added. "They want to eat our brains. It should have been more obvious, really."
Unfortunately, Chloe was not nearly as amused by the conclusion. "Okay. Let's say the disease is affecting the brain like that. So how do you get from there to some sort of magical power to directly observe consciousness?"
"Well, remember that we're trying to think of what those things are detecting that makes us valid targets yet also does not prompt them to attack one another. They must have some means of recognizing what targets can become a suitable carrier. Even if the only targets they might choose among also have a human shape."
Chloe nodded a bit to that, obviously baffled he didn't elucidate further. "Yeah?" Maybe when they still had access to the Internet, she hadn't watched many of the videos showing the zombie attacks. The video evidence he perused were suggestive that their ability to distinguish was inerrant and consistent among their peers.
"So, that's the question. What is actually the difference between us and them that they could be responding to?"
"The- uh, zombies move differently. And they make that annoying sound."
"So if someone does those things, would the zombies ignore them?"
"I wouldn't want to bet on it."
"Right. But we could still run an experiment. Try acting like one of them with only one person nearby and see if it's still interested in them." Lucas raised his arms up and jerked about in his seat to illustrate the mimicry.
"Uh- Did you do that?" Chloe smirked a bit, evidently bemused by the absurdity of such a ruse, despite her usual stoic mood.
"Well, no. It might be a good idea if someone did attempt that, though. Just to eliminate that possibility." Lucas regret missing the opportunity only a little, after all, he was already fairly confident such a scheme would not succeed. Nobody else seemed willing to indulge such curiosities, which made experimentation like that in the crowded dormitory impossible. "But the blackout that just hit those people outside was a similar sort of experiment. It tested whether or not people who were unconscious would be targeted."
"What if it just ignored them because they appeared to be dead?"
"That's a pretty good question. We could test whether they respond to motion by having someone pretend they were dead, or by having someone sleep close to one and see if the zombie eventually loses interest in them." Again, Lucas recalled the videos from the Internet he had been able to examine the previous day. It was hard to be certain from the evidence he had studied, but such a ploy didn't seem to work for at least one unfortunate victim who had attempted such a tactic. "But the question you should be asking is why they would respond differently to a body they encounter whether or not it is dead."
"If someone is dead, then the brain isn't going to be intact, so the disease wouldn't have what it needs for the infection to do whatever it does."
"Yes, so it does make sense why they wouldn't waste time with a dead brain. But how could they possibly realize a brain is dead? They don't appear to have any cognitive awareness or intelligence, and determining that would take a person at least a few seconds of time. But they still focus on something that guides them only to conscious humans and not to each other." And likely not to the dead either, Lucas thought to himself.
Chloe frowned, thinking about the question in silence. An interlude of peace over which the assaulting storm was the dominating ambiance persisted. "I don't know if I entirely agree with that. But I guess if it just ignored the people who passed out because it thought they were dead, your plan still would have worked."
"Well, the next time a zombie shows up, we could perform some of those experiments to see what happens. If I'm right, a zombie should only lose interest in someone if they are asleep."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea."
A pensive, austere calm permeated the surroundings for quite some time after that.
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