I wake up to the sound of everything ringing. My phone lays beeping with a notification from the news, and my TV is lit up with a warning signal. I jump out of bed in a panic and run into the hallway where I see Mum and Dad making their way downstairs, and Oliver and Sofia sticking their heads out of their rooms. I beckon them to follow me downstairs where we all sit in the living room and turn the flashing TV on.
“Urgent news!” The news announcer calls out. “We’ve just had intel that the Department of Military and Weapons has lost control. They had been working on a new experiment which involved a biotechnological serum with the aim of enhancing speed, strength and intellect. The serum has had dangerous effects on the volunteers and their violence is uncontrollable. We have a clip of a recording from the Department. Footage may be disturbing.” A short clip of video footage plays showing someone throwing a scientist across the room. In the background, I can see what looks like a girl biting into the arm of a seemingly unconscious scientist.
“Shit.” Oliver says under his breath, just loud enough to hear. The person comes closer to the camera, and we see dark purple veins crawling up his pale skin. Even with the bad quality, we can see the huge pupils and veined eyes. With a punch, the man shuts the footage off and we return to see the news announcer once again.
“Warnings have been issued for citizens in and around Newcastle to evacuate immediately. Mass transport will be provided until 3am in order to quickly and safely evacuate everyone. Good luck and I hope you all reach safety.” The TV channel cuts out and the screen goes black.
“Well fuck.” I let out, feeling my blood run cold. “I knew something would go wrong. I just never anticipated this. I thought death, not...zombies?”
“Whose mind would go to zombies? They’re a work of science fiction, right?” Sofia asks, her voice rising in pitch.
“I would have said so two hours ago. At this stage, who knows?” I reply, my eyes darting to the clock in the living room. “It’s almost midnight now. We’d better get moving soon if we want to get out of here.” I look at my parents, but they’re just sitting there, in shock.
“Mum. Dad.” I shake them slightly and they snap out of it.
“You’re right. We need to get out of here. Pack sensible clothes. Only pack essentials. Chargers so we can contact people, toiletries, some bottles of water each. Only pack what you think you need. Meet down here in no longer than half an hour.” Our Dad says, looking each of us in the eye.
We all rush upstairs and I pull one of my larger bags down off a shelf in my closet. Everything I pack offers warmth but I pack so I can remove layers. I exit my wardrobe, grabbing two pairs of shoes as I leave and drop them on my bed before heading to my en-suite. Piling soaps, shampoos and my toothbrush into my toiletry bag, my mind suddenly blanks and I freeze. My throat closes up and I start gasping for breath. I see my hands shaking as my vision blurs in and out, and I loosen my grip on the bag which falls to the floor, spilling all of the contents. Oliver rushes into my bedroom and catches sight of me hunched over. Rushing forward, he places his hands carefully on my back, talking in a soft, soothing voice.
“Matty, you’re okay, you’re just having a panic attack. We’re going to be okay. All we need to do is get out of the city. We have plenty of time. Everything will sort itself out. Just breathe. In and out, slowly. In and out, do as I do.” He begins demonstrating a breathing method and I attempt to follow his lead. After a few minutes, I feel my heartbeat slow down, and my throat open up slightly. My hands stop shaking as much and I slowly begin to return to normal.
“How’d you know what to do?” I ask him as I try to regain my normal breathing.
“One of my friends from boxing has panic attacks. I’ve found that those types of breathing techniques help for him.” He says with a shrug, straightening up.
“Well, thanks. I didn’t know what was happening. It just came on all of a sudden.” I give him a hug of gratitude before we collect all of the bottles spread across the floor. He leaves to go finish packing his stuff and I return to my bed to pile everything else in my bag, still shaking a little bit. I don’t add much else, just a charger, and some water from my mini-fridge. I get changed out of my pjs into some leggings and my favourite oversized sweater, and slide my vans on over fluffy socks, for once, not really caring about them going together.
As I’m about to leave my room, my eye catches my old comfort elephant plush from when I was little. For five years now, Effie has sat on my chest of drawers, there to offer comfort but never thought about. My hand rushes out to grab hold of her, and I pull her to my chest as I walk downstairs. Sofia is already sitting on the sofa when I get into the room, so I dump my bag and go sit next to her. Her body leans towards mine and I wrap my arm around her back.
“I’m scared Matty, what’s going to happen to our home?” she asks in a whisper.
“I’m scared too, but we’ll be fine. We have over an hour until the last transport leaves and we’ll be at the airport soon enough. We’ll have plenty of time to leave. Our house will be fine. Once they get control over the volunteers, we can return. I’m sure we’ll be back in no time.” I say to her, lying somewhat in an attempt to make her feel better.
I honestly doubt we’ll be back here any time soon. The volunteers won’t leave any time soon. The scientists couldn't control them. The military base couldn’t contain them. They’re incredibly strong. We all saw how easily one of them threw the scientist across the room. Like he was no heavier than a pillow. I’ve already lost my cool once tonight, I won’t do it again. Not in front of Sofia. She doesn’t need to be worried about this too. Oliver comes downstairs with his bag, shortly followed by Mum and Dad each with their own bag. They both head into the kitchen as Oliver sits on the sofa next to Sofia and I. I wrap my right arm around his back and he leans into me too, his head resting on my shoulder. Effie sits on my lap until Oliver takes her in his hand and pulls her to his chest.
“I remember when you got her. I teased you for weeks about calling her Effie, I thought it was the most unoriginal name ever.” He says softly.
“I was only five, what did you expect?” I laugh in indignation.
“I was only two and a half and mine all had better names.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. The child who thinks calling a teddy “Runner” was better?” I retort.
“Much better than Effie, at least mine was original.” He scoffs, causing me to punch his shoulder.
Mum and Dad return to the living room then with some crisps, cereal bars and some water.
“All ready to go?” Mum asks with a wavering smile. My siblings and I stand up and each grab a bag to take to the car. We throw them in the boot and slide into the back seats. Oliver passes Effie back to me and holds onto my hand as we look out of the window and try to see a glimpse of the house in the dark. Dad turns the key and the headlights light our house up until we are fully backed out of the drive. A collective sigh is let out as we drive away from our home for who knows how long.
When pulling out of our street, we reach a trail of traffic. Pairs of headlights can be seen for miles, all either at a stand-still or inching forward at an unbearable speed. To pass the time, I take out my phone and check my messages. I have about ten from Esme, and it looks like she’s stuck in the traffic too. Her family are closer to the airport than we are, so she’ll probably be one of the first to leave. She tells me she’s freaking out, and that I, of course, was right. One of her texts says that she’s been on snapchat and all of the science whizzes are having a field day. Apparently they have unseen footage, so I check my snapchat, and sure enough, there’s hundreds of stories on. I look at Jonathan’s snapchat- he has a video from the back of the room that shows the start of the volunteers losing control. Most of them look pissed off, and stand for a few seconds, riling themselves up. I see one of them - a girl - rush out undetected, who knows what for. He’s sent me a few messages, giving me a little more info based on what he could find from the system, as well as asking how I am. I send a couple of messages back in response, only glancing at the facts briefly, not wanting to start panicking again.
It takes us ages for anyone to let us out and we get to the airport with only half an hour left. We don’t actually manage to get near the airport in our car due to the mass numbers of people here. Abandoning the car, we take our bags out of the boot and begin the ten minute walk to the airport entrance. With Effie stuffed in my hoodie pocket, I feel a slight wave of reassurance when I see the lights of the airport. The place is plastered with signs directing us straight to the take off and landing strip. We follow the dwindling line and watch as one plane takes off. My eyes are drawn to two more, one of them looking ready to leave any minute. We reach a large, orange plane where two men greet us to take our bags. We hand them over and begin walking up the steps with ten minutes left. The other remaining plane begins to back out before hurtling down the runway and taking off. I get to the top of the stairs and we enter the almost-full plane.
We each find a seat, Oliver, Sofia and I in a row together, Mum and Dad two rows behind. My hand reaches into my pocket to grab Effie, but rather than being met by the fur, I’m met with nothing. I jolt up and look around frantically.
“What’s wrong?” Oliver asks with a frown.
“Effie’s missing, she was right here in my pocket and she’s gone.” I say, my voice rising in distress.
“Ah that’s awful, but we can get one when we get out of here.” Sofia says, reaching for my hand.
“No, that’s not the point. I need her. I can’t leave her. She means too much. I’ll go out and look for her, she can’t be far. We’ve got ten minutes, I’ll only be two. Don’t worry. I’ll be back in no time.” I hop out of the seats and rush along the crowded aisle, making sure Effie isn’t there.
I run down the stairs, essentially taking two at a time. I do a quick scan around the plane, taking my phone out to use the torch. Unable to see Effie there, I start retracing my steps, swinging my phone left and right to see if she’s on the ground anywhere. I check my phone and see I still have four minutes, so I go a little bit further. Giving up, I begin to walk back to the airstrip in defeat. I’m about to round a corner when I hear the engines begin to whir.
“No, no, no, no!” My pace picks up and I try to run to the strip in time, but I ventured further than I thought and I see the plane speed past before I’m anywhere near to where I was supposed to be.
“Shit!!” I yell out, pissed off with myself that I was so stupid.
In a fury, my hand darts out and punches the crate next to me. “Ah, fuck!!” I spit in pain, cradling my fist in my left hand and wincing. Tears spring to my eyes and I can’t focus on anything but my fist for a while, forcing the panic down. Once the pain has ebbed to a bearable numbness, an uneasy feeling settles in my stomach. That was the last plane. That was my last way out of here. Unless I can find the control room and contact the plane. I rush to the doors leading inside and push it open, sprinting to the main part of the airport, I try to look for any sign of a control room. I speed-walk around for ages until I’m about to give up. My heart leaps when I spot a small room and I rush in hopefully. All of the lights are off. The computers, the buttons, everything. I try turning something on, but all of the power and communications must be cut. I let out a string of expletives, kicking one of the chairs in frustration.
I make up my mind to try to get back to my house. After all, throwing myself a pity party won’t help. I leave the controls room and head back out the way I came in, shining my torch so I can actually find my way to the car park. As I’m nearing it, I stumble over a small object, which, when I shine my torch downwards, find to be Effie. I pick her up, a slight feeling of relief passing through me and carry her in my arms for another ten minutes until I reach our abandoned car. Due to us having to actually evacuate Newcastle, we didn’t bother taking the keys, and by some miracle, the car is still unlocked. I slide into the front seat, placing Effie on the passenger seat. I turn the key and check that there are no cars behind me. I’ve had three driving lessons so far, but none of them have been in a car this big. Cautiously, I pull away and turn around, beginning my journey back home.