The island amongst a sea of blood

“Cure?” The guard asked, “ain’t no such thing.”

“Of course there isn’t. We’re here to help create it…” Kana responded.

“Oh. Forgive me for sayin’, but ya don’t seem the scientist type…”

They kept their guns trained on us, even though they knew we were human. Guess even in a world filled with murderous goop monsters, we still struggle to come together.

“Ya must excuse em, last time them there gates opened to new blood we ended up gettin quite a shock, ya know.”

“We’re not trying to cause trouble. This is the biggest safe zone in the country, correct?”

“Either this one or Nagano… heard Osaka’s is holdin strong.”

“Then you have a lab?”

“If ya can call it that.”

“Where we came from, we had a Solipsys system. We used it to meet Dr Pawel Kozioł and took his research notes. We’re happy to give them to you.”

“Well that’s mighty nice of ya, but what makes ya think we ain’t jus gonna kick ya out after we take em?”

“You need us.”

“An’ how you come up with that conclusion my man?”

“You opened the gate. If you didn’t trust us you would’ve just spoke to us from behind your walls.”

“How you know we ain’t robbin ya?”

“You do that often?” Kana asked.

He chuckled to himself. This guard was a peculiar guy, looked to be in the twilight of his life but looked strong. That accent, not a lot of people travelling around the country with everything going on, either he got stuck here or was a complete idiot…

“Alright, alright. Ya welcome in, we need the extra hands.”

The gates closed behind us.

“We part of Japanese Defence Force… or whatever’s left of it anyway. The name be Oran.”

He took my hand, awkwardly shaking it with a grim smile.

*-*-*

We were told this place was called Sanyari, Three Spears dug into the ground thrown as a lifeline from the gods for mortal men. The spears were high rises, the left and right being the living quarters of the workers, and the central one being allocated for the VIP’s like the soldiers and management. Surrounding the giants were smaller huts for storage and workstations. Oran explained that once someone joined the safe zone, they would be put to work, you don’t work your keep, you leave. New blood was assigned a role based on their skill, and it could range from the complete safety of cleaning the zone, to the suicidal work of soldiers or hunters.

“West wing’s for men, east for the girls. Supplies like ammo and first aid’s under lock and key. If ya need access to em, speak to one of them folks wearing them red armbands, theys got keys and’ll escort ya there. Make sure ya don’t take what ya don’t need, ya will be thrown out.”

“Thrown out? Like… out out?” Kana asked

“Yep. Food’s under constant surveillance as well, and only the trusted few gets to enter the storage room. Meals’ll be prepped by the cooks, if ya get assigned this role ya will request what ya need and it will be brought to ya. Any questions?”

“Sounds like less of a shelter, more of a prison.”

“Prison’s good, thick walls and ya get free food.”

“I guess… why is there so much security though? Surely there can’t be many people wanting to risk getting thrown out, right?”

“Ya’d be surprised. Couple months ago we got a group of six survivors come through. Said they survived on acorns and berries. Three days after they came, the farms were picked clean and them boys were nowhere to be found, figured they grabbed what they could and ran for the hills.”

“That’s stupid, why would you leave the safety here?”

“Guess them boys smarter than ya. Safety ain’t a thing in this world no more. What feels safe now ain’t ever truly safe.”

“And that means?”

“Ya never know when shit’s gonna hit the fan. Them there walls hold strong now, but what they lookin like a year from now, or if them walkers learn to fly. Real danger be people anyway. Human’s ‘a real selfish, ain’t give a damn what happens to the next guy if it mean he gets to live another day. People nowadays rather trip up they friends jus so those monsters eat them instead.”

I’d seen enough of it to know he was correct. We forgot how to be humans the moment our lives were threatened, and that bravado the human race had built up after years as the apex, crumbled as a sandcastle to the wind and waves.

“I’d suggest ya get to ya wings, sun gettin low and work starts early.”

We followed his instruction, not bidding goodbye to each other, but see you soon… goodbyes in this new world had gained a rather dark omen.

*-*-*

We spent our first night away from the base, away from seclusion and in the company of people we barely knew. Trusting others is a hard thing when your life is on the line, back at the base we knew we could count on each other, but here, you start to remember just how good you had it.

But you don’t think about them tearing down the doors and going after you, you worry about them leaving you be while they go after the other side. You worry about not knowing, you worry about sleeping silently as the ones you cherish call your name, only to be left in the dark.

Nothing to be done, I guess. Nothing to worry about either. This place has guards watching 24/7, if anything made it through we would know in advance. I guess old habits. At our base, Kana was within arms reach, especially after the incident with her base. We slept next to each other, it made us feel safer.

Now we were in completely different buildings, there were already too many mouths to feed, and pumping out kids wasn’t exactly going to help that situation.

…not like we’d do anything like that anyway…

It was hard enough trying to sleep without thinking of things like that, especially when I thought back to the hotel room…

*-*-*

In the morning, we were given roles in the camp. It was slim pickings, but I managed to bag a spot in the kitchen, and Kana did what she was so talented at, hunting. Being part of the kitchen staff was more difficult than I had first thought. The first shift was complete and I already felt like I was back at the restaurant I was an intern at many moons ago.

The cooling breeze froze the beads of sweat on my brow, and the morning haze made the camp around me hold a grey hue. Slowly but surely my eyes got used to the rising sun.

The kids of the camp had taken a liking to the new hunter, Kana was always sat by herself, the loner type. I’m sure she preferred it that way, but those kids were having none of it. They took her by her hand and dragged her along, she tried to protest but I could see the joy in her eyes. It was nice, feeling like this, like the world was held within the walls, like nothing else mattered.

It was a feeling I feared. More often than not in this new world, I had felt like that, like I could make it out alive and keep the people I loved close to my chest. But time after time, they ended up ripped from my grip, reaching out for my embrace again.

“It’s different this time” I told myself, but if I believed that or not I couldn’t be completely certain.

In my daydream I missed the other staff joining me.

“She is cute though, she with you?” He asked. When I looked over, they were watching Kana as I was though, I doubt we were thinking the same thing.

“Kana?”

They eagerly nodded.

“With me? What, you mean like…”

They nodded again, even more eagerly.

“Nah.”

The boys reeled back.

“Really? You into guys or something?” He rudely asked.

“No, I just don’t see her that way. She’s a kid… reminds me of my sister. Annoying and acts tough, but she’s scared under all that armour.”

“So that means she’s up for grabs?” The taller one said, ogling at her like some sort of beast in heat.

I don’t think they heard me. Then again, this was Kana…

“I really wouldn’t if I was you.” The next shift was starting soon, the mise were en place, but the true grunt work was to begin. They followed shortly after, trying to catch a glimpse at the girl I just equated to my little sister. If we didn’t need to play nice here I probably wouldn’t have been able to hold back.

Seems Kana noticed the attention she was getting, also seemed like she was used to it. Her joyful smile changed to that of a threatened tiger and the boys soon realised, Kana was vicious.

*-*-*

Once dinner prep was complete and I had finally had a chance to try the meal I’d made, we were whisked off to the centre of the zone, to the house owned by the man they placed in charge, the so called Sheriff. He lived in the central high rise that was once a 5 star hotel, naturally he took the penthouse.

We were escorted by half a dozen of his soldiers, constantly watching our every move.

His office was like that you’d expect a president to live in. A large open space looking over his people and beyond the wall. The place was a textbook definition of decadence, dark oak pillars contrasted white stone with highlights from the golden trim. The bed was massive, enough to fit 10 people comfortably, however, I’d doubt these days it saw more than one.

The man was not what we were expecting. The image I had in my head was of an army general, battle hardened, greying hair and filled with wisdom, yet still emitting an aura of pure power…

Instead, he was overweight and short, seemed only a few years older than me, and I’d suspect the only battles he’d seen came from behind a screen. Still had the gold around his wrist and fingers, gold that most had lost to looters a mere day after the rot broke free, but he didn’t look the type to courageously fight off thugs. The mere fact he survived so long, and his lodgings told us everything.

He took his big cushy seat at the expensive looking desk, cupped his pudgy hands and looked down at us like peasants.

“You stand in the office of the man that built this safe zone. Be grateful.”

I was amazed, this little man? “YOU built this?!”

He scoffed, “nay, it was my father. Ichijyo Masaru! He single-handedly created this island upon a sea of blood. Once he had completed his work, he left it in the hands of his beloved son Junichi!”

The ball of a man lifted out a bottle of high quality whiskey from a drawer on his desk. Even when the world was alive, that stuff was out of reach of 90% of the population. He didn’t even get a glass, he just lifted it close to his face and breathed in the fumes. Then took it all in one swig, gaining a pinkish hue in the process.

“You are here to work. You will carry your own weight or my soldiers will carry it off the wall. Once your work is done you may spend your time as you wish. Follow the rules, stay out of trouble, and any funny business will be stamped out violently. Any questions?”

“When we asked your men, they said you do have a lab. We brought information from Dr Kozioł so we’d like to speak to your science staff as soon as we can.”

“Ah, yes. They did mention that. We do indeed have something of a laboratory manned by the so called scientist…”

“So called?”

He clicked his tongue, “don’t interrupt me. His name is Alex Curie. He’s our doctor… a complete quack if you ask me but he has his uses. I’ve been told he’s started experimenting and whatnot, a waste of resources if you ask me.” He yawned loudly and rested his giant head on his hand, the rolls of his face curled up.

“If it means we find a cure it’ll be worth it.” Kana responded.

Junichi scoffed. “A cure? Well, yes if it’ll get rid of those blasted monsters, just the smell of them is revolting never mind the look of them. But other than that I don’t see a need in one, we are perfectly safe in these walls.”

“Are you serious?” I shot out of my chair, “There are millions of people out there fighting to survive and losing! We can change that.”

He looked me dead in the eye, not a shred of humanity in them, just pure selfishness and hubris. “The weak die.”

I could feel my blood boiling.

“The sooner they do the better, then those damn things will starve and we can finally go back to our lives.” His pig mouth curled into a twisted grin.

We were done, violence would only get us thrown out and we couldn’t afford that now, best to suck it up. Kana followed suit, leaving before me.

“I knew someone like you once, Junichi. He was so afraid to risk what he had, the safety he had, the future he wanted. He hid behind thick walls and held his hands to his ears, blocking out the screams of the people around him, refusing to reach out to them, fearing they’d pull him in with the dead. The day he died was the day he went to a walker infested base with nothing but a revolver loaded with a single bullet, all to save someone he’d known for a day.”

He looked amused, “what happened next, did he die horribly?”

“No, he’s looking right at you.”

*-*-*

The post did nothing wrong, but it took a punch regardless. In hindsight, not the best idea ‘cause I had to hold a poker face.

“That fat fuck!”

“Calm down.” Kana ordered, “what does it matter? It’s not like he’s stopping us from trying to make the cure, he’s just all talk.”

“I know.” I assured her, resting against the same post I punched, watching the night sky. “Guess he just riled me up.”

She giggled. “You really are dumb.”

“Oi!”

“Forget about that weirdo. For now, let’s get some sleep. We can go meet Curie in the morning. Who knows, we might find a cure tomorrow.”

“I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy, but here’s hoping.”

Weirdly, this was more awkward than sleeping beside each other, something so common to us now.

“Uh, I’m this way.”

“West wing’s the other way genius. You go that way and you’ll have some pissed off girls chasing you.”

“Ooh, sounds hot.”

She had disgust on her face. “…ew.”

She stormed off to her wing.

“Night!” I shouted, aggravated she hadn’t said the same. She responded with an arm in the air, waving her hand.

*-*-*

While we stared out into the night sky, hopeful of the future, we were ignorant to the fact something was staring back at us. Breaking through the tree line upon the horizon. It was our doom, a creature created of mangled corpse and twisted virus. Everything it touched turned to black and dead, it’s hand caressed the tree and it wilted and cracked. It’s radioactive yellow eyes split open and it peered out into the distance, to its destination and it saw it, so close it could touch it.

A wall, and three towers.