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whatisthatmelody | Zombie AU
After a month of no contact from Lunar Ops all of them were beyond concerned on Horizon. They'd double, triple and quadruple checked everything to make sure it wasn't something on their end. Harold knew it wasn't, something had to be going on back home. When he couldn't get a hold of Lucheng either he knew something serious was going on. Nothing could even be sent through to them. Neither. Nothing.
With no contact and no supplies having been sent in that time, they would run out within another month surely. Someone had to do something and as much as he hated to leave, he felt he could trust the others to keep things going here while he took one of their shuttles for an emergency return to Earth. Before he goes he makes sure to stop by Subject 28's room, telling him he'll be back soon. He just has to make sure everything is okay. He won't be gone long.
The last time he sees the young primate is standing beside one of his colleagues waving goodbye to him as he gets into the shuttle. That bright smile will haunt him later, but for now he has no idea what he's heading down into. At first everything goes fine, the launch goes smoothly, things are a little bumpy as the shuttle enters the Earth's atmosphere, but that's nothing to be worried about. When things go awry is when his control console flickers and it seems like some sort of malfunction happens, he's not sure what, but he knows that the coordinates are not what he'd put in before, he's most definitely not heading to China.
Harold panics, hoping he doesn't end up in air space that could get him shot down, or worse, that he doesn't end up in the middle of a city. Neither option is good and as he tries to slow his decent some, coming through the clouds, his fears are realized. That's a city alright. He has no idea where, but it looks packed, there could be people any where. There's only so much control over this shuttle, but he tried to abort the landing and put in new codes. Anything. Something.
The last thing he sees before everything goes black is the his shuttle rocketing towards a large building with a million glass windows. The impact knocks him out almost instantly, but the shuttle doesn't come to a complete stop for about a mile, crashing through that one building into another before finally coming to a rest. To say he'd made quite the commotion would be an understatement. Within a few minutes there was a small group ambling in to see what had happened, but there was something... off about them.
With no contact and no supplies having been sent in that time, they would run out within another month surely. Someone had to do something and as much as he hated to leave, he felt he could trust the others to keep things going here while he took one of their shuttles for an emergency return to Earth. Before he goes he makes sure to stop by Subject 28's room, telling him he'll be back soon. He just has to make sure everything is okay. He won't be gone long.
The last time he sees the young primate is standing beside one of his colleagues waving goodbye to him as he gets into the shuttle. That bright smile will haunt him later, but for now he has no idea what he's heading down into. At first everything goes fine, the launch goes smoothly, things are a little bumpy as the shuttle enters the Earth's atmosphere, but that's nothing to be worried about. When things go awry is when his control console flickers and it seems like some sort of malfunction happens, he's not sure what, but he knows that the coordinates are not what he'd put in before, he's most definitely not heading to China.
Harold panics, hoping he doesn't end up in air space that could get him shot down, or worse, that he doesn't end up in the middle of a city. Neither option is good and as he tries to slow his decent some, coming through the clouds, his fears are realized. That's a city alright. He has no idea where, but it looks packed, there could be people any where. There's only so much control over this shuttle, but he tried to abort the landing and put in new codes. Anything. Something.
The last thing he sees before everything goes black is the his shuttle rocketing towards a large building with a million glass windows. The impact knocks him out almost instantly, but the shuttle doesn't come to a complete stop for about a mile, crashing through that one building into another before finally coming to a rest. To say he'd made quite the commotion would be an understatement. Within a few minutes there was a small group ambling in to see what had happened, but there was something... off about them.
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What had started as a minor news story had escalated to what equated to societal collapse. Siebren de Kuiper had been shocked at just how fast everything had gone to hell so completely. The cities had been evacuated. Quarantines had been set up to attempt to contain whatever virus had broken loose. It was a pandemic.
Siebren had had nowhere to go, so he remained in his lab, running out for all the supplies he could carry on multiple occasions, dodging the authorities and hunkering down in his lab...making sure it was prepared for the worst. Working on controversial gravity experiments seemed to have worked out in his favor. It was constructed like a bunker-secure, back up power generators...tanks of potable water...the perfect place to ride out the apocalypse until the rest of the world came back online.
As the days and weeks rolled on, it turned out that that was not a likely scenario. Luckily, he had communication lines with other people and he checked in with them on a regular basis. He helped connected with other survivors in The Hague to get a grasp on what was happening.
It sounded fake.
Outrageous even.
The dead were rising...feasting on the flesh of the living.
It sounded like something out of a midnight movie...but here they were.
Whatever it was was thankfully not airborne...and was spread through physical contact and even then it seemed to be transferred through body fluids...like saliva and blood entering the body via bites from reanimated corpses.
Ghastly.
He had thought he had seen everything....and then a space shuttle came barreling through the city.
He had been out on a supply run, clad in his grey lab suit. It worked out that it was equally as protective against the teeth of the undead and shrapnel from his experiments. Fortunately, the crashed ship left a very obvious trail to where the ship had eventually landed in the middle of a park after crashing through numerous buildings. Well, at least he would not have to climb to the roof of a building to check on the small ship's inhabitants....or rather...inhabitant. It looked as though it was a single person craft.
Uh. Oh.
It appeared he was not the only...person to notice the crash. A small gaggle of the undead were shuffling towards the crash site.
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His helmet only had so much padding in it. Still, dazed and confused, he wakes, vision skewed slightly from one of his lenses being cracked significantly. Blinking he tries to make sense of what's going on, lights are flashing warning him if a million different things that aren't working, the thudding sound that had woken him... what is it?
That's when he sees a hand banging and clawing at the thick pane of glass on the window of the shuttle. But the sound is all around him, are they trying to get him out?
He's about to remove his helmet and call out to them when a face peers into the window next. What he sees makes him keep it on. God they look like death, diseased. What in the world is going on?! Instead he unbuckles and opens up the emergency supply kit, fishing in it for anything to defend himself with. There's a flare gun and three flares. A flashlight... water, a self inflatable raft.
This isn't looking good.
Not that they should be able to break the the glass, they shouldn't, but that if they don't go away he won't be able to get out. His suit only has so much oxygen in it and after a while he's suffocate inside the shuttle. Or starve to death.
"Go away, go away." This is a horror movie, a nightmare. Maybe he hit his head so hard he's hallucinating.
Harold takes the flashlight, shining it in the sickly faces, which makes them reel back a bit, annoyed, before hitting at the glass more.
"Shitshitshit-"
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He reached on his pocket for his set of hyperspheres-a fancy name for magnetic boomerang balls. He could take out these trouble makers...but he would have to be fast. The noise would attract other zombies....and the crashed pilot might be dead already...but he had to try.
Siebren raised his hand and rolled the hyperspheres in his hand like he was about to roll dice. Well, in a way, that is what he was about to do. He could not help but smile to himself as he aimed and released the spheres. They hit the heads of two of the ghouls, leaving three, he caught another on their way back. The balls came back to his gloves hand and he gave them another toss. The spheres both hit the last one and its rotting skull exploded, gore hitting the front windshield of the shuttle.
Siebren winced.
Ohhhh. What a mess.
He slipped his returned spheres into a ziploc bag for decontamination back at the lab. He then quickly made his way to the shuttle, removing his goggles and unzipping his face mask, revealing a healthy man underneath.
"Hoi! Hello? Ni Hao?
He hoped the passenger spoke English or Dutch. Mandarin Chinese was not his strong suit, as he noted the markings on the shuttle.
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The only thing that distracts him from throwing up for the moment is the sudden quiet and the pounding being gone. He tries to see outside, but it's even harder now.
Then there's a face all of a sudden and Harold shrinks back with an unkind word. Catching his breath he knocks on the window, calling out to whoever is out there.
"Hello! Hello is it safe to come out?!" He'll go with English, only because he figured it was the easiest out of the options. Harold unbuckles from the security straps and reaches up to use the manual override to open the door.
He's going to take a risk in coming out only because he's starting to get claustrophobic and the sight of that gore on the window is about to do his stomach in. He'll be careful to not hit the other man with the shuttle door, hauling himself out and finding being on solid ground a little much for a moment.
That and the bloodied corpses are what finally get him, the scientist ripping his helmet off to go empty his stomach off to the side a bit.
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Siebren eased back, doing his best to avoid the door popping open. He offered his hand, but the ship's occupant did not notice-hauling himself up and out, ripping off his helmet off to the side. Siebren averted his eyes, but kept an eye out elsewhere, scanning their surroundings quickly.
"My name is Siebren. Siebren de Kuiper. You had a rough reentry there. Are you alright?"
He peered into the open door, looking to see if there was anything he should grab.
"Is there anything you need from inside your craft?"
They should probably get moving as soon as possible.
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Spitting, Harold tries to ignore the bitter acid taste in his mouth, moving back to the shuttle to grab a bottle of water to wash it out. Ugh, better. It's then that he really realizes things are. Off. Really off.
There were no sirens of emergency crews racing to their location, not much noise at all.
"... I'm sorry, what- there's no emergency crew on their way?" Harold may have hit his head pretty hard, but he knew that wasnt right. Then he's looking down at the disgusting rotting bodies that had been attacking his shuttle.
"What in the world are those?" His mind supplies the answer for him, but he doesn't want to believe it.
"Where is this?"
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"Oh my...you really don't know, do you?"
The poor hapless soul had no idea what had happened over the last few months....that or he hit his head harder than he thought. Siebren slowly shook his head.
"No. I'm sorry. I'm afraid there is not. The cities have all been evacuated. There are no more emergency services. My lab is safe...secure. I have medical supplies."
He nodded toward the gruesome bodies.
"Those? Poor souls who fell ill with the virus in the pandemic. In short, reanimated corpses. I can explain more once we get out of the open. It isn't safe to be out after such a loud entrance."
He smiled.
"You are in The Hague on the western coast of the Netherlands. A little far from China. You meant to go there, I take it."
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Zombies. Actual zombies, scattered around them.
"I..." What does he even say to all of this? Harold lamely nods, "Y-Yes we lost communication with our contacts in Lijiang, after a month of trying to reestablish it again I decided it would be best to make contact in person." He knows a lot of that probably means nothing to Siebren, but he feels rather numb at the moment, mind trying to process things. Harold looks around, peers out into the streets through the broken wall of the building and then back to the other man.
"Thank you for your help, it must be dangerous to come out here like this." Obviously, by the carnage around them. He has so many questions, but Siebren is right, they have to go.
"I'll follow your lead, my questions can wait." They'll have to.
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"Yes, I agree. It was sound logic on your part. Unfortunately, you got off course and ended up hear instead....but fortunately, I was nearby and was able to ah...remove the problem you had on landing."
He gave a smile at the thanks.
"Of course. I'd like to think someone would do the same for me."
He folded his arms and nodded.
"Right....this way."
He gestured to his left and starting to make his way toward the campus where his lab was located, moving briskly, but not too quickly, giving the surely disoriented man a little room to work with. All the while, he kept his eye out for any zombies.
"This area isn't overrun. I'm grateful for that. There are some wandering packs here and there...but overall most of the city was evacuated before it got too bad. Never hurts to be careful."
He pulled up his facemask and zipped it.
Another few blocks and it was clear they were on a university campus. Siebren led his guest to a building labeled "Department of Astrophysics" and it looked like a base of some sort. It had to be. The walls were thick black stone and the door looked like it belonged on a cartoon safe not a college.
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He still can't believe how quiet it is.
It's almost like he's outside on the surface of the moon. Beyond the soft chirping of birds flying overhead, he wouldn't know the difference. Well, there's gravity here for one. Harold puts his helmet back on when Siebren zips up his face mask, understanding what he means. Safe is better than sorry.
He follows in silence, just taking it all in, mind having so many thoughts. How will he get in contact with Horizon? What is going to happen to them up there? A terrible thought creeps into his mind that makes his throat feel tight, but he pushes it away for the time being once they make it to what seems to be a university. An impressive campus even with signs of some ruin going on.
Mostly it's like nothing is wrong, beyond there being no one around. The hallways echoed as they walked down them and he can't help but gawk at the large door they come to. It looks like some kind of vault, high security.
What in the world were they doing here to require that? He regards his new companion with some weary, but so far he has no reason to not trust him.
"... are there others here as well?" He asks, voice muffled by his helmet. A set up like this could probably protect a sizeable group after all.
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"Go ahead. I'll close it."
He shook his head at the question.
"Not at the moment. Well...no humans, anyway. I am in contact with people, though. I'm just the only one here holding down the fort, as it were."
Once they were inside, he closed the heavy door behind them and bolted it multiple times. When he was finished, he removed his face mask and unzipped his denim jumpsuit, revealing a black turtleneck and black jeans underneath. He hung it on a rack that was to the left of them.
"I'm not alone, though. Koekje is around here somewhere. She's my cat."
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Winston.
He's surveying the the damage to his glasses with a frown when Siebren says he's in contact with other people. His head pops up at that.
"So there's still easy access to power and communication?" Clearly this place had power, but it could be a generator. Who knew how long that would last or perhaps it ran off solar panels. A lot of schools did that to save on cost.
"... just how bad is it out there? Have a lot of people died or have they managed to find safe places to live?" He's only seen a mere glimpse after all.
"Mm? A cat? It must be nice to have some company being alone out in the middle of all this."
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"Horizon Lunar Colony? Impressive. You've a long way from home."
He'd seen the ship crash...but it took seeing that jumpsuit here in his lab for it to really sink in.
"You know...I had hoped to visit you all up there at some point before it all went to hell down here."
He nodded at Harold's question.
Yes. Between solar and generators, we've got power. Mostly solar. We use it to charge backup batteries...and our cooling tanks make for great sources of potable water. Ha. Not running too many experiments these days. We have a whole system for collecting rain water for them. It came in quite handy."
He sighed.
"It isn't safe to travel alone. The situation is dire...but luckily it was addressed in time for there to be some order. A lot of people have died...a lot of people will...but there are many survivors as well. There's still hope things will get turned back around...it will just take some time."
Sadly, it might take more time than many people had.
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"There's still a lot of people up there. The primates too. Our specimens." He remembers little Specimen 28 waving goodbye to him before he left and feels terrible.
"There's enough shuttles to get my colleagues back to Earth, but not... and if they stay up there? They'll starve to death." Feeling overwhelmed his head swivels for something to sit on, finding the nearest flat surface to rest.
"I'm sorry, this is just a lot to take in." He can't imagine how it was to be down here when it all started.
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Siebren cautiously laid a hand on the other man’s shoulder.
“I’m happy to help any way that I can. I’d still like to make it up there one way or another. In the meantime, I am honored to help a future co-worker.”
He gave Harold’s shoulder a soft squeeze.
“I’m happy to have found you before those ghouls could do you in, or else your friends really would have been in trouble.”
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"Thank you, thank you I- I'll do whatever I can to be of help here. I don't want to be a drain on your supplies." He'll make himself useful, he can't just sit around knowing his friends and colleagues are you there waiting for him to make things right.
"Whatever you need me to do, just as long as we can try to make contact with the Horizon colony."
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“I am sure that I will find a way you can help. In the meantime, let’s get you something to eat and drink. Then we’ll try to raise someone in China. On the communications. Not...you know...as an undead.”
Siebren shrugged before smiling.
“Ah, Koekje. There you are.”
A small, warm...and very fluffy body rubbed on Harold’s ankles. The cat meowed before starting to purr.
“She’s a sweetheart. I brought her from my apartment when it looked like things were getting ugly. She’s great company. You can hold her if you like.”
He opened a small locker beside him and began to look through it. He retrieved a bottle of water and handed it to Harold before returning his attention to the offerings inside. There were a lot of canned goods, bagged foods and many kinds of candy.
“See anything you like?” Siebren asked, gesturing at his supplies
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His focus narrows to something rubbing against his ankles and he hears Siebren talk to it. Koekje. A cat. He'll offer her his hand to sniff then pets behind her ears when the cat seems to find him agreeable. At first he opts to lean down and pet her, running his hand from head to tail, before more scritches behind the ears.
"She's beautiful. I'm glad you've had some company, even if it wasn't human." A man could go mad all alone for too long. Picking her up carefully, Harold places the cat in his lap and she happily curls up for all the attention, purring away. He lifts his head to look over at the selection of things Siebren offers him, he's surprised at first at the amount of candy... but it's probably the easiest thing to find in a situation like this. Everyone would have scavenged food that went bad quicker to eat first, then canned and packaged foods that lasted longer. Candy and sweets were no doubt low on the list. Candy wrapped and stored properly could last for a while too and while not the most nutritious, it was "food".
"... to be honest I think I'll stick with water for now. I don't know if my stomach could handle food at the moment." He can't help but remember those things, the... god they had been people once, living breathing people who became mindless monsters. The gore of their scattered remains after Siebren saved him still stuck in his head. Food later perhaps.
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“I know they are...startling at first... and to put it mildly.”
He remembered how his own stomach had turned over on itself the first time he had seen the ghouls pulling at the living and feeding on them before their own dead brains blown out.
“They kill your appetite when you first see them, but...life goes on. Take your time. It took me a few days to find my appetite again and let me tell you that is something. I’m normally a fiend with a terrible sweet tooth.”
Siebren set the collection down on the table and pulled over a wheeled office chair. He took his laptop from the tabletop and sat cross legged on the chair, which was quite an accomplishment for someone of his stature. He flipped open his laptop and powered it up.
“I am lucky to have satellite internet. It is not the best and is quite finicky in rough weather...and it takes twelve hours to download a motion picture, but it is certainly better than nothing. So you have anyone in particular you would like to attempt to reach?”
Siebren was a man who was true to his word, especially when time was of the essence.
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"Can't say I'm looking forward to getting used to this." The zombies. Siebren's company, sure? He seems like a kind fellow, he saved him after all. Offered him food and drink. Safety. Now he's trying to help him get in contact with Lijiang, to save the lives of his friends and colleagues. It's probably naive of him to trust him so fully already, but why would someone go out of their way and put themself in danger too, to help him if they had any ulterior motive.
When asked if there's anyone he'd like to attempt to reach he'll nod, "I can make you a list." whether that's with pen and paper or on a tablet, Siebren gets a list of names and the way to contact them. Any passwords and the like needed to prove that it's one Harold Winston trying to make contact he'll give. With a forlorn look he'll go back to petting Siebren's fluffy companion, before asking-
"... do you think it could reach the horizon colony?"