The Early Days of the Zombie Apocalypse

Location: Confederation Installment

Aliens: Rivan, Human

The Planarians have done this to us. I know that much. We should have known when Suri - no, she doesn’t get that - when *Patient Zero* showed up out of the blue. But I didn’t listen to the more cautious among us. The Planarians knew our basest instincts, our “primitive brains” as they are fond of saying, would want to care for someone so obviously helpless. That was just a week ago. And now…now we’re here. At this abysmal point.

There are neutron missiles and laser grenades. They could have just blanketed our little makeshift village and we’d all be smoking corpses. But that’s not the Planarians’ style. They need to make everything an experiment, another step further down the path of cruelty. I am sending this broadcast on all available channels so that others might be prevented the same fate. And for those not quite ready to join the resistance to know exactly why we’re fighting.

Patient Zero stumbled down the dirt path, gasping for air, tripping over her own feet. She was pale, like a blind cave thing that never developed the need for eyes. But she still had her eyes, nearly completely devoid of the usual Rivan amber color. They hadn’t bothered to clothe her, just pointed her in a direction and made her move. The only color anywhere on Patient Zero was her lips. A vicious red. We thought they had busted her lips. On the contrary, it was the one bit of flesh she had not dotted with scars or brands. Her inhibitor circlet seemed to be surgically infused into her skin. Pretty gruesome stuff.

Our doctor was the first to respond, of course. Mia rushed out of her little container house and caught Patient Zero right before she fell face first into the dirt. Mia warned others away, but we humans aren’t very good at following instruction. Some others helped carry Patient Zero to the “hospital” (another container house directly connected to Mia’s). There were some patients in there already, recovering from broken bones and a bout of fever that had spread through our community right before Patient Zero’s arrival. We’re not sure if this exacerbated the virus, or made it affect us more quickly. You’ll have to forgive me, Mia was the only one with anything approaching medical training.

From there, it’s all a bit of a blur. We fed Patient Zero and clothed her. She seemed to regain her strength. She told us her name, where she came from. How she had been a researcher in a Planarian laboratory. We should have just shot her there and been done with it. But we knew the Planarian cruelty. Knew she was just one of countless victims to their “scientific advancement” scattered among the stars.

It happened overnight. When Mia made her morning rounds, the other patients were quickly becoming pallid. Patient Zero was fully catatonic at this point. She was still breathing, but barely. The others complained of thirst and hunger, but vomited up anything given to them, even water. Mia quarantined the area, including herself. It would have been cruel, but we could have put them all out of their misery then.

Instead, the next day began with Mia’s screams. Someone broke the quarantine to try and help. Patient Zero had bitten into Mia’s arm as the doctor was checking on her. The bite immediately inflamed and Mia’s lips turned that same crimson color, like all her blood was rushing to them. The others were agitated, starving and dying of thirst. Mia continued trying to care for them until the bitter end.

The one smart thing we did was too late. We locked off Mia’s house and the hospital. We barricaded the doors and posted guards outside the windows. It was horrific. Everyone hated me. Called me a ghoul. I just didn’t want whatever was happening to spread to anyone else.

Much like the Planarians might, I didn’t account for compassion.

After a day of isolation, of the entire village hearing the patients’ screams, their pleading cries for something to eat, someone caved. I won’t say who, because I don’t intend to blame them. But they opened the door to the hospital.

And that was that.

The patients burst out into the dirt road and into whatever buildings were closest. The guard’s froze, unsure of what to do. By the time they decided to react, it was too late. Mia among them, the patients…they. They started to eat. Any living thing they could get their hands on. Their irises all but washed away, they held down their prey and feasted.

I did something about it. I began firing on them. Some tried to fight me. Others helped. But as you can guess, it was all too little too late. Those bitten, even those mostly eaten, continued to breathe. Those infected had no interest in one another, only uninfected. I’ll be quiet for a moment so you can hear them.

That’s them pounding on the door. Clawing at the hull. They’ve done it for the better part of a day now. There’s only a few of us left that are uninfected. As long as the ship holds, we can survive on the ship’s rations for another day or two. There’s been an attempt to get the ship off the ground, but I’ve decided against it. The others might overpower me, so I’ve rendered the ship useless. When I end this broadcast, the computer will begin erasing all known protocols and dump the fuel cells.

If there’s a chance we could spread this horror to anyone else, I refuse to do so.

Wish us luck.