Dead Earth (old version)

Chapter Six - Martin

Martin was sitting on the couch in his living room listening to Sophia, a family friend, chat with his mother. 

It was kind of sad, he supposed, that he was still living with his parents when he was 18. Of course, he'd just graduated high school, and college hadn't started yet. Perhaps that made up for it. It was sadder still that Sophia, who was 29, still lived with her parents at the house next door. 

He tuned out the conversation they were having and turned on the T.V. in the adjoining kitchen. He flicked through the channels, but all that seemed to be on was the news. Some chick, who looked rather strange due to what seemed to be multiple plastic surgeries, was talking about someone setting a building on fire and killing a bunch of people downtown because they were "Infected". 

He sat up straighter and paid a little more attention. According to the scrolling bar at the bottom of the screen, it was a virus being called Cerebral Necrosis.  He turned the volume up to better hear what she was saying. 

"An unidentified man accused of arson, reportedly set a fire on the second floor of an office building just an hour ago. He claimed to have done so because the people in the building were 'infected with a nasty disease'. There is no word on whether these people were indeed infected, but scientists say that it could have been a recently identified disease called Cerebral Necrosis." The lady said in that strange way the news reporters talk.  

She paused and pressed a finger against her ear to listen to what someone was telling her over the line. 

"This just in, we have received instructions from the NYPD to warn everyone about this disease."

The screen changed from the reporter to a power-point slide showing numbered lines as the reported narrated in the background. 

________________________________________________

Safety Guidelines for the General Public

1.) Stay in your houses and lock all of the windows, doors, and any other exits to your houses. 

2.) The turned people are extremely dangerous, do not attempt to engage in any activity or confront with someone who: 

       a.) Has discolored eyes

       b.) Has any recently disfigured body parts that are still openly wounded

       c.) Anyone who appears to be, or is, dead. 

       d.) Anyone who is not responding to any form of communication

3.) As said above, do not try to confront someone who is infected with this disease. If contact is necessary, and the person attempts an attack, a head wound is the only way to bring them down. 

4.) Anyone who is infected, but not yet turned, will have the following symptoms:

        Fever, headache, chills, runny nose, pains in what will seem like random places of the body, and a         constant hunger and thirst. 

5.) Having been turned means the infection has seemingly killed the person, but they are still in a state of living. 

6.) We regret to inform you, that this disease appears to make the dead rise again. They are currently being called the Risen, the Undead, or the Living Dead. As of yet there is no cure, but your government is hard at work protecting your country from harm.  

________________________________________________

The reporter looked rather shaken as she finished reading aloud. 

"We'll be... we'll be back after this short break." She finally said, faintly, as she tucked a string of blonde hair behind her ear. The screen suddenly turned to a commercial about yet another new car. 

Martin suddenly realized there was no more chatting coming from the living room. He turned around to find Sophia standing immediately behind him.

"Ahh!" He shouted. Sophia jumped backwards and placed a hand over her heart as if it were him who startled her. 

"Jeez, Sophia! Don't creep up on people like that!" He said, quieter now. 

"A young boy like you shouldn't be watching horrible shows like that."

"I'm eighteen, Sophia. And that was the news, not some 'horrible T.V. show'," He mimicked her soft, slightly irritating, Professor Trelawney voice. He wondered why Sophia left the living room, and why his mother was still sitting in there silently.

She blinked slowly at him through her black-rimmed hippy glasses. "Then a strapping young boy like you should get a nice girl. Not live with your parents." She was now squinting at him, as if to see why he still didn't have a girlfriend. 

They'd had the same conversation at least twelve times, and not once had it pertained to the previous conversations they were having. 

"Not exactly my area of expertise, Sophia." He shouldered his way past her so he could go outside.

"That's not a good idea. Your little news show said to stay in, boy." She called after him.

"The name's Martin." He shut the sliding glass door behind him, wishing he could lock Sophia in so she wouldn't follow him. He turned around to see Sophia not making an attempt for the door, she was just standing there, staring. He held back a shudder and walked out of his backyard to get to the street. He was surprised to find about half the neighbor hood wandering around aimlessly.

A growl came from the bush next to him and he found what appeared to have once been Andrea, yet another irritating neighbor. 

She reached out a gnarled hand and grasped weakly at the air, trying to snatch his face, but was hopelessly entangled in the bush and couldn't get out. Martin quickly backpedaled as fast as he could and ran back inside, where Sophia was waiting. 

"I told you, boy. You won't like it out there."