confirming in his own mind that the population of
southern England had been so depleted in the first disaster that
there simply were insufficient numbers of people left to propagate
the sort of infection which swept across the area last time.
Nevertheless, he realised that he would have to ensure no stray
infectees were able to break through the quarantine barrier he had
put in place.
'The problem is, Minister, that some of the Facility employees
here may have been infected and we are not yet certain of the exact
numbers of Kilkorne residents who are safely away from the
village.'
'So, what are you doing about it?'
'The army is liaising with the county council records office
via the police to identify everyone apprehended, dead or alive.
Simultaneously, we interrupt all TV and radio programmes every half
hour with public service bulletins, instructing anyone currently
outside the Kilkorne quarantine area that they must contact the
police on a designated number immediately.'
'What else?'
'I have some preliminary research results on the detection of
zombie blood, using Ultra Violet light.'
'Anything for early detection, so we know who's contaminated
and who's not?'
'Nothing yet but…'
'But you're working on it. Day and night, I should hope. What
about the vaccine?'
Mason saw that the Minister was working himself up into
another fury. 'Vaccine production has been scaled up to produce
sufficient quantities for a trial.'
'Trial? The only trial it's likely to get is immediate use on
all infected subjects.'
'There may be ethical implications to consider with taking
that route.'
'Ethics? This entire project crossed all ethical boundaries a
long time ago. There are international treaties against this sort
of research. For good reason. I don't need to remind you that your
actions will be scrutinised with the utmost severity and that there
may well be charges of criminal negligence to follow, if your
clean-up operation does not proceed in a satisfactory
manner.'
'Minister, I understand perfectly,' Professor Mason said with
all the calm he could gather. 'I understand that if I am unable to
bring about a positive outcome, you also will be forced to resign.'
Without waiting for the minister's expected retort, Mason replaced
the phone on its rest and, feeling as grey and tired as he looked,
picked up an army issue walkie-talkie.
Chapter 2:
Weapons Check
Inside the Kilkorne school canteen, the small band of the
survivors: five adults and five teenagers sat slumped around a pair
of the big, laminated canteen trestles. It was late afternoon on
the first day of the second zombie outbreak. The harbourmaster,
Janet Reynolds, and four friends had found a way to keep out of
harm's way and meet up with the teenagers who had spent most of the
day in the castle, until they headed back to the school. In the
still intact canteen, they found some much-needed sustenance in the
form of meat pies. Janet's own son, Steve, had escaped with four
other teenagers: Alex, Maisie, Rachel and Fred, who were all from
the same class. Since the two groups had got together, only Janet
and Alex had shown much determination about what to do next. The
rest of the individuals were still reeling from the events earlier
in the day.
'Why'd the zombies have to come here?' Maisie said, her face a
picture of dejection. Her pale blue school blouse had small rips on
the arms where she'd had an argument with a bramble patch when they
left the castle and her heavily streaked, mousey hair hung around
her face in a disorganised tangle. 'They like never bothered us
before.'
'Last time they did a pretty good job of wiping out everyone
in five counties,' Graham said. He was in his forties and kept the
TV repair shop. His wife Sarah sat next him, with Karen and her
husband Bill sitting opposite.
'About half the population of southern England,' Sarah
said.
'Yeah, well the Ministry and the army handed them that on a
plate, herding everyone together, infected or not,'
southern England had been so depleted in the first disaster that
there simply were insufficient numbers of people left to propagate
the sort of infection which swept across the area last time.
Nevertheless, he realised that he would have to ensure no stray
infectees were able to break through the quarantine barrier he had
put in place.
'The problem is, Minister, that some of the Facility employees
here may have been infected and we are not yet certain of the exact
numbers of Kilkorne residents who are safely away from the
village.'
'So, what are you doing about it?'
'The army is liaising with the county council records office
via the police to identify everyone apprehended, dead or alive.
Simultaneously, we interrupt all TV and radio programmes every half
hour with public service bulletins, instructing anyone currently
outside the Kilkorne quarantine area that they must contact the
police on a designated number immediately.'
'What else?'
'I have some preliminary research results on the detection of
zombie blood, using Ultra Violet light.'
'Anything for early detection, so we know who's contaminated
and who's not?'
'Nothing yet but…'
'But you're working on it. Day and night, I should hope. What
about the vaccine?'
Mason saw that the Minister was working himself up into
another fury. 'Vaccine production has been scaled up to produce
sufficient quantities for a trial.'
'Trial? The only trial it's likely to get is immediate use on
all infected subjects.'
'There may be ethical implications to consider with taking
that route.'
'Ethics? This entire project crossed all ethical boundaries a
long time ago. There are international treaties against this sort
of research. For good reason. I don't need to remind you that your
actions will be scrutinised with the utmost severity and that there
may well be charges of criminal negligence to follow, if your
clean-up operation does not proceed in a satisfactory
manner.'
'Minister, I understand perfectly,' Professor Mason said with
all the calm he could gather. 'I understand that if I am unable to
bring about a positive outcome, you also will be forced to resign.'
Without waiting for the minister's expected retort, Mason replaced
the phone on its rest and, feeling as grey and tired as he looked,
picked up an army issue walkie-talkie.
Chapter 2:
Weapons Check
Inside the Kilkorne school canteen, the small band of the
survivors: five adults and five teenagers sat slumped around a pair
of the big, laminated canteen trestles. It was late afternoon on
the first day of the second zombie outbreak. The harbourmaster,
Janet Reynolds, and four friends had found a way to keep out of
harm's way and meet up with the teenagers who had spent most of the
day in the castle, until they headed back to the school. In the
still intact canteen, they found some much-needed sustenance in the
form of meat pies. Janet's own son, Steve, had escaped with four
other teenagers: Alex, Maisie, Rachel and Fred, who were all from
the same class. Since the two groups had got together, only Janet
and Alex had shown much determination about what to do next. The
rest of the individuals were still reeling from the events earlier
in the day.
'Why'd the zombies have to come here?' Maisie said, her face a
picture of dejection. Her pale blue school blouse had small rips on
the arms where she'd had an argument with a bramble patch when they
left the castle and her heavily streaked, mousey hair hung around
her face in a disorganised tangle. 'They like never bothered us
before.'
'Last time they did a pretty good job of wiping out everyone
in five counties,' Graham said. He was in his forties and kept the
TV repair shop. His wife Sarah sat next him, with Karen and her
husband Bill sitting opposite.
'About half the population of southern England,' Sarah
said.
'Yeah, well the Ministry and the army handed them that on a
plate, herding everyone together, infected or not,'
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