Genesis slept curled up on her side and with a gentle moan, her eyelids started to flutter as she woke up slowly. The bed felt warm and comfortable. She wanted to pull the blankets up to her chin and go back to sleep. Then, like a silver bolt of lightning slicing through a dark sky, memories overwhelmed her, and her feelings of contentment shattered into raindrops.

She was dead.

She was a zombie.

Her life, to date, had been a lie.

Everything had changed.

Genesis sat up quickly. The bed she was sitting on was in the middle of a small square room and the fluorescent lights above her made the walls surrounding her appear brilliantly white. There was no other furniture in the room and across from her, there was a large pane of glass which she knew was a one-way mirror because she could feel eyes watching her every move. All Genesis could see was the reflection of a familiar stranger, the her which did not quite look like her anymore. Her eyes looked huge, and her skin was pale. Her black hair had also lost all its colour.

“Good morning,” a voice said at the same time as Genesis heard the soft, sighing noise of an airtight door opening.

Startled, Genesis looked in the direction of the voice. The girl looked about sixteen years old and was beautiful with huge, sky-blue eyes. Her face was perfectly symmetrical, and her skin was flawless. Her long hair was a deep auburn red and fell in heavy waves past her shoulders. She put the bag Genesis recognised as the bag she packed when she was thinking about running away, on the floor beside the bed.

“Morning,” Genesis greeted her with a tremor of uncertainty in her voice.

The girl smiled. “I am Finn, number ten. Welcome home, Genesis,” Finn said warmly.

“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you,” Genesis said, trying really hard to sound as if everything was normal. “You said you are number ten, are you also...”

Finn nodded. “I am, but unlike you, I never left the facility.” She moved her hand in a little sweeping motion. “I stayed.”

Genesis thought she saw a hint of regret or loss, or maybe even hate, in Finn’s eyes.

Just as quickly as it appeared, the look in her eyes changed. “Don’t be afraid. All will be well...” Finn paused and smiled. “Genesis, are you ready to begin your new life?”

Genesis realised it was not as if she had a choice and she had to embrace her destiny. What would the use be of denying she was dead, a zombie. It was what it was. “Yes, I am,” she said and was happy she sounded more confident than she felt.

“Excellent!” Finn said.

Genesis glanced at the one-way mirror on the wall as she slipped her legs off the bed. She was wearing a hospital gown and wondered who had stripped her of her clothes after she had arrived here unconscious. She asked Finn, “Can they see me, or will they stop looking once I start getting dressed?”

Finn smiled at Genesis again and even though she was scared and nervous, she smiled back at her. It seemed as if Finn was happy to meet her.

“Come. I’ll show you where the bathroom is, you’ll have privacy there,” Finn offered.

Genesis lifted her bag from the ground and followed Finn out of the room. They were walking down a narrow, straight hall. The walls were white, and the fluorescent lights overhead made the white tiles on the floor shine even brighter. There were no windows in the hall, and they did not meet anyone else, even though Genesis kept peeking around nervously, imagining her encounter with the others.

“Why did you stay?” Genesis asked Finn, trying to banish the eerie, cold tranquillity of the quiet hallway.

“As my name implies, I am the last,” Finn said, with a small shrug of her shoulders. “I guess they had to have someone stay so they could have a comparison to those who left and lived outside these walls, to see if living normal, human lives will instil a sense of wanting to save the human race from a zombie apocalypse, should it ever happen.” She smiled slightly when she saw the shock on Genesis’ face.

“Which means you don’t care either way, whether the world comes to an end or not,” Genesis said.

Finn dismissed Genesis. “Training will begin at eight every morning and end at three in the afternoon,” she explained. “Today, you will go through a battery of tests, and they will put you on the programme to regulate your hunger.” Finn glanced at Genesis and her small smile warmed. “It seems like a lot to take in all at once, but you’ll catch on quickly. After a day or two, the strict routine will become overbearingly normal.”

Finn remained silent for a few steps, and Genesis took the opportunity to ask, “What kind of training will we be doing?”

“Mostly physical training, how to use different kinds of weapons, and how best to kill zombies who have been affected by a contagion.”

“That sounds interesting,” was all Genesis could think of saying.

“Come on. Let’s get you dressed. I’m sure everyone is waiting for you already.”

They entered the bathroom together, and Genesis asked, “Will the others be there too?”

“Obviously. You will all be poked and prodded with about a million needles.”

Genesis walked into a cubicle and pushed the door shut before she quickly slipped out of the hospital gown and pulled on a comfortable pair of jeans, a red and navy striped T-shirt and a pair of trainers. She raised her voice to ask, “Will you be training with us?”

Finn replied, “I have been poked and prodded with needles since the moment I opened my eyes to this world, so I won’t be joining you today, but I will be training with you from tomorrow.”

“Have you had training before?”

“I have. Since I was able to balance on my own two legs, by myself.”

Fully dressed, Genesis walked out of the cubicle and stopped at the basin where she quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face.

She glanced at Finn. “If we are alike, why do I look like death, while you look so… Alive.”

Finn smiled. “There is nothing a good concealer and a box of hair dye cannot fix.”

Genesis looked back at the mirror for a quick glance. She did not want to look at her own reflection for too long. She did not want to see her deathly pale complexion with hair to match.

“Genesis.”

She looked away from the mirror to find Finn studying her with a concerned expression and realized Finn had probably been trying to get her attention while she had been focussed on the girl looking back at her from the mirror. Even though she did not want to see her, she could not help looking. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

Finn placed her hands on Genesis’ shoulders and turned her to face her. “Genesis, remember, this is new for all of you. Everyone here knows what it feels like, the fear of whether you will survive the change, the shock of your life being turned upside down.”

“Survive the change?” Genesis asked. “What change?”

“I’ve said too much,” Finn said as she started to walk toward the door. “We best be on our way. Everyone is waiting for you.”

They had started walking down the hall when the sound of a ringing phone made Genesis jump.

Finn sighed and smiled apologetically while she pulled a small phone out of her pocket. “Yes,” she said. She listened for a little while. “I’m on my way.” She ended the call. “I’m sorry, Genesis. They need me. You’ll have to make your way to the lab by yourself. Just follow the hallway to the right. The hallway will end in a big reception room, and everyone should be there already to meet you, so you cannot miss it.”

Before Genesis could say anything, Finn was already walking away from her in the opposite direction. She did not like the idea of being by herself in this quiet, creepy hallway. Determined not to be afraid, she started slowly down the hall in the direction they had been heading.

CONTINUE READING