"This Is An Emergency Broadcast : Everything Will Be Fine, I Repeat. Everything WILL Be Fine"

A little zombie horror story with a twist. Its a lot more then meets the eye, my first one of these, tell me what you think.

"This Is An Emergency Broadcast : Everything Will Be Fine, I Repeat. Everything WILL be fine." 

The first signs of infection were spotted in major cities across the U.S . At first you didn't hear much about it on the news, just minor riots, civil unrest, and what usually fills up the ten o' clock news hour between the latest celebrity scandals and over dramatized murders. 

The first bit of any real news dealing with the virus was coming from the renegade underground radio stations of the cities underbelly. The jockeys all claimed something was "different" about that particular evening. 

They said something was "in the air". 

As a preface to all of this I had been asleep on my couch. I was not employed, I had nothing to look forward to in the morning, so I decided to sleep in. When I did awaken I heard the sounds of the morning news on my television. I did not pay much attention to what the anchorman was trying to say or what message he was trying to get through to me. The only thing that concerned me was my morning coffee and if I had forgotten to turn the lights off before I dozed off. 

I made my way downstairs in a scarlet daze. I use the word scarlet because of how flustered my face had been when I looked into the mirror. As I made my way into the kitchen I stopped by my porch door. Quickly glancing out the window I searched for a sign that my paper boy had finally done his job proper, it was a disappointment of course. There it was, the morning paper fifty feet away on a misty, groggy morning. While this would usually be not as much of a daunting task, there was something off about today. 

I was on my way to retrieve the paper when I noticed a eerie silence had overtaken my usually bustling suburban  neighbourhood. I stood there partaking in this silence with just my homely garment and ripped briefs covering my skin while my naked feet sunk in to the callow grass. My eyes went in a parabolic motion as I surveyed the horizon. 

The sky had a yellow overtone as the clouds had a hue of a pale blue. The rooftops of my neighbours houses joined the streetlights and met on top of the early morning haze.

I then tilted my head downwards and swept my body from side to side as I became breathless at what was occurring underneath the pulchritudinous skyline. Men and women were running from each other, children were left alone on the uncaring asphalt of their families carbon copied driveway. The local stores were becoming overflown as human beings acted like animals competing for the last meal. 

I had no other choice but to retreat into my home, in a somewhat ungraceful fashion.

It was then I finally listened to the radio stations. They were warning me of some kind of "global conspiracy", something to cover up an outbreak of some kind of virus. 

After hearing what seemed to be a bleak future, I scrambled through my flat to find anything that would become useful in such an emergency. Flashlights, canned preservatives, my fathers old hunting bow. Everything has a purpose. 

Everything HAS a purpose. 

I made the decision around twelve to head out to my car. If I was going to flee the city I was going to have to do it fast. 

The major radio stations had picked up the story before I even was out of my street, they had been talking about it different then the other radio station though. They talked about it in a more calming fashion, like I had nothing to be worried about. They assured me that everything will be fine. 

Everything WILL be fine. 

I had drove for what seemed like hours. In my exodus I had seen people jumping out of buildings, people jumping off bridges, people jumping off staircases. Wherever I went I was only "assured" that there would be somebody jumping out of something. I drove up and down the street, every time I would get close to an exit , it would become unattainable. Either because of a cluster of cars or a horde of mindless, blood sucking infected. 

I realized that the only place that would be not swarming with these monsters would be in the isolation of the countryside. The only problem that had dawned on me was my inability to even leave the f*****g city. This would surly put a damper on my quest for the quiet and peaceful tranquility of the countryside. 

It was pointless for me to just sit in my car and fantasize about the solitude that would awaken me If I wasn't stranded in this city of mindless background noise. So I decided I had to move, I had to find my way out of the city somehow. 

I drove for hours. 

Every street just led to more infected, every corner just led to more infected, every alleyway just led to more infected. 

I kept driving until I was forced to stop over my lack of gasoline. It was like I had been given a sign from God saying, "here, go ahead and fantasize about those green meadows and all of the self indulgence your heart desires". Either that or it was a giant "f**k you". 

I must of really have done something to piss him off because the moment that the last fumes of gasoline had abandoned my car a swarm of infected arrived. I was forced to flee. I ran up and down the streets passing by stores and library's, jumping on the hoods of cars and sliding down staircase railings. I ran pass television monitor after elevision monitor, each one of them stuck with the painstaking task of broadcasting the evening news. Finally the television stations had picked up on the obvious journalism's dream story. The only problem was that they were talking about it just like the mainstream radio stations had been talking about it. They all told me "everything will be fine". 

Everything WILL be fine. 

If there was a television broadcasting something besides news it had just been a recording of people killing people. People killing people in a barbaric, senseless fashion. 

I kept running until I couldn't run no more. My lungs had been completely deprived of all oxygen and my heart was pumping blood faster than it ever had before. Along the faded brick walls I could see the shadows of the infected. In a last ditch effort I wandered into a opened building a few feet down. I crawled up the front steps and made my way into a narrow hall. Trying to regain as much strength as possible I scrambled to get to my feet. The room had a eerie silence. There was yet another television monitor in this building, but this one was different. It was not broadcasting news, or people killing people, it didn't even have the volume turned up. All it said was todays date. 

November 6th, 2012. 

As I went to reach to turn the television off I heard a loud screech coming from the front porch. Startled I ran in to the nearest room I could find. I smashed through the door with such intensity that it completely broke the door off its hinges. The clamps of metal fell to the ground as so did my body. I began to lift myself off of the splintered wood and broken shards of metal when I realized I was not alone in the room. Quietly I looked up to see hundreds of infected looking at me. They all looked at me with their bloodthirsty eyes and one of them began to come closer. This one was not like the others. This one began to speak to me. 

"Hello sir, did you come to vote today? There is an empty booth over here for you to cast your ballot. I assure that you will see that everything is fine."

Everything will be fine…

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

A very interesting tale. Held me to the good ending. Thank you.
Coyote

[Celestial Witch Child]

Love it. The ending threw me off a bit at first, but this is a quality piece.

[Laura Maidah]

For a seventeen year old, this is an A. NOt that I'm in a place to judge or anything. just IMHO

[Aarontastic]

O I see what you did there :) Nov. 6th 2012 is election day USA, is this...is this zombie satire?? That's actually a pretty good idea, but I think maybe the point you were trying to make is too subtle. Because I don't get it %100 and Idk if anyone else did either. Are you just drawing parallels between zombieacolypse and the clamor and bs leading up to election day, or is there something deeper going on? Or am I just over thinking it completely? Not really sure.

Anyways, story-wise I think this was more than decent. It wasn't very scary and only a little bit suspenseful, but it kept me engaged til the end. I don't think you were taking it too seriously and that's part of the reason it's entertaining and fun to read, but personally I think zombies have tons of potential to write about, seriously. You're good at describing things and moving a story along though, so nice work.

[Dayran]

Shades of ' Invasion of the body snatchers ' by a young man's perception of the encounter with normal society today. These days this may not be entirely unusual for a lot of young people everywhere. The home builds a high reliability on virtue while outside, the world has grown pragmatic. But it does say a great deal about the way young boys first react and then adapt themselves. A tickling read.

[Marie]

Very good. The reapeated use of the phrase "Everything will be fine" leads the reader to realize, of course, that everything will NOT be fine...

[Owlgirl]

Wow! Great job! Amazing story! The ending is what made it, and it was epic :)

[Sean]

Terrific story! Loved every bit of it! Quite the twist at the ending. Write more!

[eeoopig]

Good story - captivating! I had to read through to the end. A good story, and I loved the twist - well done

[V.J.C.]

Oh the ending, O_O . This story was put together very well. There is a sense of plot, you sort of get to know the character which is just the perfect amount for this short story. Thanks for this nice read.