"We're All Infected" (Nature)

“Nearly there now!” Erica was proud to announce. The group continued trekking, but they had become exhausted. “Erica…” Tina stopped her girlfriend, “Can you hear that?” They both listened carefully, and then turned around, “Everyone be quiet!” Confused by her outburst, they all went silent. “Stomping?” Elliot noted, “That’s like… Dinosaur stomping! The question is, where is it coming from, and what’s causing it?” The group raised their weapons and looked around.

Elliot was the first to notice the menace approaching from behind them, “Uh, guys…” They all slowly turned around, their faces flooding with dread at what they saw. “Is that… A lizard?” Gwen questioned. “Not just any lizard Gwen, that’s a mutated komodo dragon…” Elliot informed them all, looking up at the gigantic tyrannosaurs-rex sized creature in front of them. It looked down at the group, preparing to throw its’ tongue out. “Everyone split!” They all darted to the side of the street, hiding in between buildings.

Elliot noticed it took several seconds from the komodo dragon to retract its’ tongue from the ground. “Sticky tongue, hey?” He was thinking of an idea, as he noticed it turning towards his friends opposite him. He turned to Reed behind him, “Reed, that machete on the side of your bag. Give it to me! Quickly!” Not questioning what Elliot’s plan was, Reed pulled his machete off the side of his bag and handed it to Elliot, “Now get well back!” Reed scuttled behind decaying rubbish bags.

“Hey, you! Giant radiation-mutant-scaly-lizard-thing!” Elliot picked up several rocks, lobbing them at the dinosaur-sized komodo dragon. “You want to eat someone? Eat me! Come on then! The lizard redirected its’ attention to Elliot. Its’ mouth opened slightly, preparing to flick its tongue out. As it threw its tongue out, Elliot darted to the side, raising his machete, bringing it down on the lizard’s tongue with all his might.

He sliced directly through the tongue, causing the overgrown lizard to cry out in pain, and retract it. As it twitched violently, Elliot brought up his rifle, and shot wildly at the mutant. “Come on everyone! Let’s finish this bastard!” They all jumped out from where they were hiding, lighting the mutant lizard up with their firearms.

Once everyone was finished, they gathered around the creature. “These mutants are getting weirder, and weirder, and weirder…” Elliot remarked. In the distance ahead, they could hear deep barking and growling. “Seriously? A pack of wild dogs?” Pierre remarked. “More than just that, mutated dogs I reckon…” Elliot froze for a moment before turning back to the lizard.

“Look at its eyes everyone.” With Reed and Pierre’s help, they prised one of the eyelids open. “It’s the same with every single mutant we’ve seen thus far: they’ve all got dark red eyes. No pupils or anything. The red just floods the whole thing out. Now, why is that?” He had taken Erica’s role of playing teacher to the rest of the group. Celeste raised her hand, “The devil!” She held tightly onto her Holy Cross necklace. Elliot shook his head, “No Celeste, don’t worry about that, it isn’t. This is far worse than anything the devil could produce.” He looked to the other members of the group awaiting more guesses. Gwen had a feeling she knew the answer, “Is it the radiation by any chance?” Everyone turned to face her, as Elliot nodded, “I think so. Now, let’s see if you and I reached that conclusion the same way. Tell me, why do you think it’s something to do with the radiation?”

Gwen swallowed deeply, “When Fabien was dying, his eyes turned red. I don’t mean a bloodshot-esque red, I mean the blood vessels inside them were exploding.” Elliot nodded impressively, “That’s how I reached the conclusion as well. Because you see, that’s the reason why you all have pink in your blood. It’s the same with the mutants, they’ll have pink in their blood as well. All the blood circulates into their eyes due to the radiation blocking up veins and arteries. The resultant force of gallons of blood trying to escape through your eyes simply causes the vessels in it to burst. That’s why their eyes are completely red, all the blood in their body floods it. Any blood further produced by the heart clogs it up, again due to the radiation. That’s why these creatures have become a little bit smarter. It’s similar to the parasites in the fact that their mind becomes independent, it dictates your entire body callously, without any thoughts being produced. At least that’s my theory.” Rather than being impressed, everyone was lost and confused by Elliot’s conclusion.

The one person who had been following him however, Erica, had a question still. “So, if your theory is correct, does that mean all of us can become mutants as well?” Reluctantly, Elliot nodded, “I’m afraid so. Fabien was lucky in the fact that his body couldn’t handle the reaction: Death was the best option for him. But as for those of us which live still, at any moment, we could be struck down by our internal bodily functions. If we’re lucky, we’ll die in that phase, but if we’re unluckily, then we may become mindless mutants as well.” Everyone shivered at the thought, “I’m trying to think of a word better than zombies,” Reed unnecessarily added.

Elliot’s theorising had lead everyone into going silent again, continuing their journey towards the refugee camp. “So!” Reed initiated a group wide conversation, “Anybody want to tell us what they were doing on Day Zero? Or even before they joined this group at all?” Evidently, nobody did… Except one. “Alright,” Erica began. “I don’t quite remember what I was doing on Day Zero, but I remember the day we took control of London. That was the highlight of my life…

''… “Ok, you sure you can handle them?” Olivia made sure Erica was up to the task. “Yes, absolutely.” She took a deep breath, “It’s funny really. The day this city went into lockdown, I was just on a day trip. Now here we are a year later, and I’m helping you take control of the place.” The two women laughed. “Alright, suppose I’d better take that soldier out then,” Erica took a deep breath again, before walking up to the soldier – who was facing away from her. ''

 

''She tapped on the soldier’s shoulder, prompting him to turn around. As he looked behind him in one way, she stole his gun from the other side and pointed it at him. “Don’t even think about using your radio, I really do not wanna kill anybody…” She was sincere with her pistol aim. “However, I’m open to performing a light knockout.” With that remark, she slammed the butt of the pistol over his head, knocking him out. “Right, now throw him into the sewers,” Olivia instructed. “Into the sewers? That’s a bit extreme isn’t it?” Erica protested this part of the plan. “Well I think that placing a lockdown on the city I live in and forcing us to stay here for the past year is a bit extreme as well, yet still it was done.” Erica could see the logic, “Alright then. Guess I’ll just casually dispose of him down a manhole… Kind of brings a literal sense to the word.” She joked. “The word already had a literal sense. It’s called a manhole because it’s a hole, which a man climbs down, to access tunnels and sewers.” Erica didn’t know that before. “Well, I guess even in the apocalypse you learn something new every day, huh?” They laughed, and then lifted the soldier up. Sneaking away to drop him down a manhole. ''

In the present day, Olivia was laughing with Erica as well, fondly remembering that day.

“Alright then, anybody else? Apocalypse stories? Day Zero?” Reed asked around. Zach raised his hand, “I do!” The group were still walking, but listened to the stories at the same time. “I was only eleven years old on Day Zero. It seems like such a long time ago now… Well, I mean three years, I guess it was…”

''… Mischievously, Zach pulled the chair away from the table and next to the counter. He was smaller than most kids his age, therefore needed help with getting on top of the counter to raid the biscuit tin. He knew exactly where they were kept. Opening the cupboard, he pulled the biscuit tin out. Upon opening it however, his father had anticipated this move. There was a French note in it which translated to ‘[Zach! What did I tell you? No going against mummy and daddy!]. Afraid of being caught out, he put the biscuit tin back into the cupboard – but not just in roughly the same area, he placed it perfectly back in, right down to the millimetre. ''

 

''In the front room, he could hear his two parents arguing. As he went to investigate, he noticed his older brother eavesdropping on them outside as well. Zach joined him at the door, as they listened in together…''

 

... “I don’t remember too clearly what they were saying exactly. But roughly, they were arguing about what they should do following the reports of a ‘Virus’ spreading rapidly across not just Europe, but the entire world too. My mum didn’t perceive it to be such a big threat. She didn’t realise it could spell the end of civilisation. My father however, he knew something wasn’t right. He begged and begged and begged my mother for us to flee the neighbourhood and find a safe-zone or something. He even suggested living in a boat out on the ocean. I also remember the argument being cut short. We could hear my mum screaming, and my dad choking. My brother and I rushed in to help. When we got in there, he was just like 98% of the globe. His face was red, his veins were swollen, he couldn’t breathe at all, he just simply died. Whatever caused the apocalypse had gotten to him. I remember being too young to understand what was even going on. So, we phoned up my uncle, and asked to stay at his home on the water for a few days. But by the time we got there, he’d gone. He wasn’t dead, he’d just left his house. No note, no signs, nothing.”

Everyone was touched by Zach’s story, “What happened to your mother and brother?” Reed asked, but he didn’t answer, looking remorsefully at the ground, “I’m sorry.” Zach then decided to answer anyway, “My mother went to find my Uncle. We never saw her again. That’s when those government agents took us in. That ultimately lead to my brother dying…”

Reed didn’t ask for anyone else’s stories after that revelation. “Guys, I think I see the camp!” Erica stated, everyone rushing ahead to see if it was true. “That’s it!” Elliot was relieved, “I can’t believe it! We made it!” But suddenly from up ahead, the sound of wolf-howling travelled back to the group, as everyone’s grins dropped into frowns of terror. “So, that’s the price which Life is making us pay today. If we want sanctuary, we have to fend off a pack of wolves…” -The episode title is a reference to a line spoken by Rick Grimes in AMC's The Walking Dead.
 * Rick tells his group "We're All Infected" at the end of the second season. The difference being that in the "Nature" universe the characters are infected by Radiation rather than a Zombie virus.