Chapter 1: Branching Out

Bang. Bang. Bang. The idiots were at it again. Setting fireworks off at 8 o’clock in the morning for no reason at all. Saves using an alarm clock at least.  There weren’t any police stop them anymore. No laws. No rules. Darwin’s theory of evolution said that the strongest survived but now it seemed like the stupidest survived.

Pete had slept in a freezing cold warehouse overnight which was pretty close to the muppets setting off fireworks. Surprisingly, he managed to get a good night’s sleep but that was probably down to having hyperthermia or being too malnourished. It was nearly Christmas but there was no festive spirit here, just the big possibility of death and misery. No Christmas presents from Santa would be coming anytime soon. He had to get out of this area; surely there must be somewhere that had survived this complete disaster. Somewhere which offered some hope; some light at the end of this extremely long, seemingly never-ending tunnel. Hopefully there’d be less idiots as well; maybe he would even make some new friends. It would be nice considering all his friends were dead.

It had been a year since it had all kicked off and most of the population had been completely wiped out. An extremely deadly virus had suddenly come out of nowhere and spread around the world like wildfire, bringing death and carnage with it. Not many survived. It didn’t matter how rich or poor you were or how good the health system was where you lived. This virus was untreatable, unpredictable and killed almost instantly. It spread through the air and through the water. Mother Nature had really screwed mankind over this time.  

Pete was one of the ‘lucky ones’. He had a rare genetic mutation meaning the virus had no effect on him whatsoever. A mutation that meant his immune system could instantly recognise the virus and destroy it to stop it from replicating.

 

 

 

 

He didn’t consider himself very lucky though. Every day was a fight for survival having to find food and stay warm. Finding water was tricky as well as all the rivers and lakes had turned and turned a murky green colour for some reason. The weather was different, and it was never sunny. The permanent stench of burning filled the air, and it felt like the apocalypse was going to arrive any minute. Pete wouldn’t be surprised if Satan himself arrived next. Pete had read enough disaster books to know that staying in the same place was not a good idea so he began to get ready to leave. He cracked open a tin of pineapple and quickly shoved its contents down his throat. It did not settle well, and the familiar feeling of nausea began to take over. Pete knew how to keep it from coming back up though, he had plenty of experience of keeping numerous vodka shots and dirty pints in his stomach at University. Not to mention the Jäger bombs. Pete smiled. Just over a year ago he was at Uni with all his friends, getting drunk almost every night and making very poor decisions. He hadn’t a care in the world. Everything had changed now though. The fun had stopped. He quickly snapped out of reminiscing, gathered his things and headed towards the exit door.

 

Suddenly, a group of voices filled the air. “He’s there! Get him!”  Pete immediately spun around to find four men sprinting towards him.

“Come here you little rat!” screamed one of the men aggressively. It was definitely time to go. Pete spun back round and legged it out of the warehouse. He was greeted by the rain absolutely beating down to the ground, instantly burning his face as it hit him. He forgot that the rain had turned into some sort of toxic acid as he frantically ran down the road next to the warehouse. He cursed and quickly pulled his hood up. The road was a complete mess and littered with numerous objects and the rain had made it into a very slippy obstacle course. Crashed cars, rubble from burnt out buildings, even tables and sofas were just a few examples.

As he ran, he could hear feet splashing into the puddles behind him. They were getting closer. Pete’s heart was pounding, what the hell did they want? He didn’t want to find out. He summoned the last bit of energy to increase his speed whilst manoeuvring around all the crap in his way.  If there was one thing he was good at, it was running and running fast. He could hear the group panting behind him; it seemed like they didn’t have much left in the tank. The relief was short-lived, however, as another group of thugs appeared out of nowhere further down the street. It appeared that this was some sort of pre-planned ambush. Pete was slowly running out of options as both groups began closing in on him. He frantically began looking for options; maybe an alley or a shop to run into. There was nothing. The group in front formed a line which covered the whole width of the road; whilst the group behind continued to chase. Pete felt like a lone striker having to somehow get past a full defence and get in on goal and score. Almost impossible. It became clear that this was a lose lose situation. The only option was to charge forward and hope that a gap would appear. And that’s what he did. The group in front, who seemingly expected Pete to stop and surrender, were startled and began to converge towards him. Perfect, Pete thought to himself. This was amateur defending from them. A huge gap appeared to the left and just like a game of British Bulldog on the school playground, he skilfully weaved in and out of the oncoming thugs and surged through the gap. He was now in front of them all.

 

 He quickly turned his head round to see a comical scene unfolding.  One of the men slipped in a puddle, the man behind him fell over him and landed face first into a puddle and the other two had their hands on their knees, too knackered to run any further. The others who were lagging behind had also thrown the towel in. Luckily, Pete knew these parts quite well and there were plenty of places to hide and refresh nearby. A small Tesco Express was just around the corner. He got inside and sat in his usual spot behind the till. The shop had been completely stripped clean and all that remained were a few magazines on the floor. Sitting behind the till offered a full view of the street and somehow the CCTV camera which monitored the rear of the shop was still working. Pete finally began to relax.

The effects of the adrenaline rush began to wear off and Pete felt exhausted. That was a very close call. If them thugs could’ve ran properly, they could have easily caught him. Pete had heard some horror stories from some of the others who hung around the area. Stories of a mad doctor who hired thugs to hunt people down so could perform experiments on them. A shiver ran down his spine. He thought the others were just paranoid but what if they were right? Why else would be hunted down by such a big group? It wasn’t like he had anything valuable on him and money had no value anymore. By looking at the size of them, it didn’t look like they needed any food either. Whatever the reason was, Pete didn’t want to hang around and find out. It was definitely time to leave this place. He had no idea where to go next but it had become clear that he had overstayed his welcome and that a bounty was now on his head.