Luke's Diary: An Unlucky Man In A Zombie Apocalypse. Entries 757 to 956

Entry 870: Wednesday 13th February 2019

Personally, I thought Blade could have been a bit firmer. The last thing we need is to be stuck in an island full of people who think the infected should be treated with care and dignity. "Well he sounds like he meant business to me," said Mum, "Maybe some of the people who think infected should be cared for will change their mind after listening to Blade." "I doubt it," said Ash, "We saw some of those people yesterday. They seemed pretty radical and fundamental to me. I can imagine that they'd have a response for everything Blade said. I don't think we've seen the last of these marches or protests." "I think Ash might be right," I said, "Blade didn't tell people to stop. He just said don't be violent. He more or less said, carry on but be peaceful." "What if people start hiding infected in their houses?" asked Richard. "The mandatory reporting system will fix that," I said, "If someone doesn't report then GRID will look into it."

After Blade's announcement Kyle, Roz and I went to take Leo out for a walk.  I think we may have gone out too soon after the announcement as we were confronted by a crowd of angry people. "It's that boy," one woman said, pointing at Kyle and walking over to him, "He's the one that killed that little girl, Ella Jones." "We're just out for a walk," I said, "We don't want any trouble." "That's his Dad," another woman said, "Well what can you expect from someone when they've got a Dad like that. I heard he ate some dog sh*t." "He went to my niece's school and pooed on her," another person said. "And he sexually abused one of the women who works at Whippance Farm," a man said. "He thinks he can do what he wants because he's the famous frozen man," another voice said. "You should control your son," said a woman, "What he did to that little girl was just awful." "Yeah," the voice of the angry woman said, snapping at Kyle, "Are you proud of yourself? Killing a defenceless, innocent little girl?" "You're a f*cking monster," another voice from the crowd said. "Right, that's enough!" snapped Roz, "All of you just back off! We're just out for a walk. Didn't you hear the announcement? You need to leave Kyle alone." "Yeah, and me while you're at it," I said. "That poor little girl didn't have to die," said one of the women, "You could have just removed her arm. You didn't have to kill her." "Listen to yourself," said Roz, "Do you really think it's that easy? Have you ever had to chop off someone's arm? A little girl's arm? Have ANY of you had to do anything like that?" Silence fell and the crowd exchanged awkward looks suggesting they were slightly embarrassed. "Have any of you come up close and personal to any infected?" Roz asked. Again, another awkward silence followed. "Have any of you had to survive, on your own, out there on the mainland where there's thousands of those things?" snapped Roz, "Have you ever had to kill so many people; infected and not infected, that you've lost count?" A solemn silence followed. "No!" snapped Roz, "I didn't think so. Well this 15-year-old boy has. Don't any of you dare stand there and judge him for what he did. None of you have got a clue about what it's like to deal with the infected. Yeah Kyle could have chopped Ella's arm but why should he? There were dozens of people there watching what happened, why should it have been the job of a 15-year-old boy who's been through enough sh*t, to chop off the arm of an infected little girl? You lot and the others who were there did nothing to help. No one else stepped up and took control, but a 15-year-old boy did and because he didn't do what you think he should have done you judge him and berate him for it. Would any of you of been able to walk up to that little girl and chop her arm off?" The crowd looked embarrassed. "No, I didn't think so," snapped Roz, "So don't criticise Kyle for doing what none of you had the balls to do. Maybe next time, instead of standing there with your mouths open you should have stepped up and done something. When someone gets infected it's better to take action than runaway." I was really impressed with Roz's speech and whilst it shamed many members of the crowd it didn't seem to change their minds. "You should have let the GRID people deal with the little girl," one woman said. "There were only two GRID soldiers around," I said, "And they were being eaten. If Kyle had have done nothing and waited for more GRID soldiers to arrive that girl would have died, turned and eaten the first person she saw. You saw how fast the whole thing spread." "But she was just a little girl," said a man. "Yeah," said a woman, "An innocent eight-year-old girl." "So?" snapped Roz, "It doesn't change the fact that she was bitten. The virus doesn't discriminate. God, you're all so f*cking naive." "No, we just care," said a man. "Yes," said a woman, "We care a lot. You don't seem to care at all that a little girl died." "I want to hear from the boy," an angry man said, "What have you got to say for yourself?" "Leave him alone," I said, "He did what he did and he stopped the infection spreading." "Let him speak," a man said. Silence fell and everyone looked at Kyle and waited for him to say something. "You all want me to say sorry, don't you?" said Kyle, "Well I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry at all. You lot are stupid if you think I shouldn't have killed that girl. Yeah, it's sad cos it's a little kid but she got bit and that means that cute little kids turns into a monster that wants to rip your face off. Not a cute little kid anymore. Sometimes it's kill or be killed and like Roz says confronting the situation is better than running away from it. You're all cowards. I did what none of you could do and you all judge me for it. Well f*ck you." "He's an animal," one of the women said. "An absolute disgrace," a man said. "You know something young man," an angry woman snapped at Kyle, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself. That little girl, in fact all of those people you killed, didn't need to be killed or have any part of their body amputated. They could have just been segregated from everyone and quarantined until a cure was sorted out." "Jesus Christ," I exclaimed, "Didn't you hear what Blade said today? We could be waiting years for a cure." "Then we look after our infected for years," said a man, "It's not up to a teenage boy who lives and who dies." "What did you want him to do?" I snapped, "Find a way to miraculously herd six infected people into a closed off area whilst you lot ran off sh*tting yourselves? Get a grip!" Everyone in the crowd said that the infected people should not have been killed and that finding a way to quarantine them was the right thing to do. There was just no reasoning with them. It started to get rather heated and eventually two nearby GRID soldiers stepped in and told the angry crowds of people to go away.

When we returned home, we told the others what had happened. "So, is that what it's going to be like from now on?" asked Richard, "Getting attacked by mobs when we go out?" "Richard, calm down," I said, "We weren't attacked. It wasn't a mob and to be honest they're not going to give a toss about you. It's Kyle they want to have a go at." "I don't care," said Kyle, shrugging, "I don't care what any of them think. They're stupid. Just stupid." "Yeah well I think you should make sure you've got one of us with you when you leave the house," I said. "I think that's a good idea," said Roz. "I'm not a kid," said Kyle. "Kyle, please," said Roz, "It will make us feel better." Kyle sighed. "Yeah, fine, whatever," said Kyle, "But I don't think there's any need." "This whole thing might fizzle out," said Ash, "Not long ago everyone was ransacking the shelves of Sainsburys and panic buying, and now everything's gone back to normal. Maybe in a few days people will stop thinking that infected have rights, should be kept safe and treated with dignity until we have a cure." "I don't know, Ash," I said, "You saw all those people on that march, and those people me and Roz saw earlier on were pretty determined. I've got a bad feeling about this." "Oh, I get those all of the time," said Richard, "I have a bad feeling about three times every day and they usually turn out to be true. Today I had a bad feeling that the tea bag in my cup of tea had ripped open and that there were yucky tealeaves all stuck to the bottom of my mug. I was right. Then I had a bad feeling that the answer to twelve down on the crossword I was doing was wrong because it affected the answer that ran across it. I was right. And now I've got a bad feeling that something bad's going to happen with all these people wanting to round up any infected and keep them safe." "Yeah well you don't have to worry too much Richard," said Roz, "There aren't any infected around, and if someone does get infected and these looneys try to hide them, the mandatory reporting system will help identify the problem."

I hate to say it but I share Richard's sense of impending doom. Kyle doesn't seem bothered, but he's a fifteen-year-old boy so I can't imagine anything that would bother him too much. I just think we all need to keep a close an eye on him. Not only because he can be a loose cannon, as Auntie Meryl puts it, but because I'm not totally convinced this new infected-have-rights movement and the people associated with it don't want to cause Kyle harm...