World War Zed

15. Interview with: General Andrew Campbell

Neil's Yard Café, London

Interview with: General Andrew Campbell

Just before he is due to go back on another tour of duty with the UN combined army forces, who are currently trying to clear out the mountain ranges through eastern Europe; I catch up with an old friend. During the War, Andrew was Army Liaison to the British Prime Minister during the exile of the government to the Isle of Wight.

Once we've settled down with a good wholesome bowl of soup and some roughly made bread he reminisces about his time during the war.

"We started at the bottom and worked up. Morale was none existent when we started, and in some ways, we were defeated before we even got moving. The country was in ruins, the government was in exile, and we had spent weeks quarantining people and patrolling the coast of the Isle to try and maintain some sort of safe zone. You've spoken to Professor James, so you already know about the people who were allowed onto the Isle of Wight, those "strategically required".

"A couple of months after the Outbreak we knew we were going to be pretty much on our own. We still had contact with the Americans through channels set up over the previous decades and we knew they had sealed themselves tight under the Rockies. The French, or at least what was left of the poor bastards, had similarly retreated to the Alps. In fact, it was a similar story across the world as most of those not eradicated, like Iceland, were holed up in various fortresses and secure locations dotted around the globe. Most of these we only linked back up with towards the midpoint of the war when we started going back on the offensive, but I'll get to that in a moment.

"The Isle of Wight is a funny little place in many ways. It's quite secluded, full of history, and quirks of geology have made parts of it very steep and secure. Other sections, unfortunately, are in almost constant danger of collapse, like Ventnor which is in effect one giant landslide. It even has a small oilfield. More importantly perhaps, there is still a good amount of farming land and so we were able to feed the community, what was left of it.

"Everyone was put to work. Those who had useful skills were utilised in their specialist roles, those who didn't, and I suspect I'll offend a few people here, such as estate agents, shop assistants, lawyers, and so on were re-educated if they showed aptitude, or just put to work in the fields or as manual labourers. It's amazing how many people insisted on the value of their importance from the world previous to the infection. We had people demanding to see a lawyer, protesting their human rights. For those who simply refused to work, we showed them video footage of a group of Zeds tearing through a shopping centre to remind them what sort of world they were now living in. Those who still refused were given the stark choice of work or exile. Few debated that choice.

"The RAF used local airfields to fly recon missions; the navy patrolled the coasts and sank Zed infested ships, or escorted those uninfested for processing. The army patrolled the coast and occasionally carried out essential missions to the mainland to pick up supplies or materials. That was pretty much it for some time. We were narrowly missed by the swarm that hit France, and the bulk of the Infected population of the UK headed out through London and east to hit the French coasts along Normandy. We saw it from the air and sea though and gave them a hand where we could. The PM went pale when he saw how close we'd been to becoming Zed food on that one and redoubled his efforts. He's a good man, but by God those years in exile aged him.

"We were so much better off than other survivors. We had power, food, protection, security, and a working government fighting to find a way through the situation. Some of the people on the Isle never even saw a Zombie unless it was on the news. We even had a local TV network for Pete's sake, although we did get heartily sick of the re-runs. Thankfully it only went on air for a couple of hours a day, but I swear I'll never watch another episode of Blackadder in my life. It's good, but after about forty times you find yourself repeating the lines verbatim. It was like being a student again.