The doctor smiled. “Fellas, go with the sergeant, please.” Johnny and Aaron both glanced to Bucky. Their expression for that second told him that they knew something he didn’t.
“Catch you soon,” Johnny said. Aaron flipped him the peace sign. They left with Sergeant Drake, closing the door behind them.
“What is it?” Bucky asked, now unnerved. Lacey clutched his hand.
“Bucky,” Doctor Ealing began, “Lacey and I decided you should know this as soon as you awoke. We thought it would be best for you.”
“What? How long have I been out?”
“About two months,” Lacey replied.
“That long?”
She nodded. “You’ve been in a coma.”
“Bucky,” the doctor began, “there’s no easy way to tell you this. When you fell in the field and Sergeant Drake rescued you, there had been a problem. It was a very big problem which jeopardised your life.”
“What? What kind of problem? What was it?” he asked. Lacey rubbed her thumb across the back of his hand.
“I’m going to be blunt and to the point with you, Bucky. You had been bitten. One of the zombies had taken a bite from your calf muscle.”
The news hit Bucky like a freight train. “Am I going to turn?” he asked, his heart leaping from his body.
“No, no, no. You’re not going to turn, not now, but we did have to take some drastic measures.”
Bucky sat upright.
“Take it easy,” Lacey whispered. Beneath the blue blanket his left leg ran to a point where his foot protruded like a tiny hill. His right leg ran to his knee and vanished.
“Oh no! No!” Bucky screamed.
“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Doctor Ealing replied, placing both hands on shoulders.
Bucky wept as he slumped back. Lacey wiped the tears from his cheeks.
“It was that or you would have turned,” she explained, attempting to comfort him. “The doctors said it was the only way you could be cured, and they allowed us to make the decision, Johnny, Aaron and me. We didn’t think you’d want to turn. Not after surviving our long walk home.”
Bucky rubbed his eyes. “Okay, okay,” he said as mucus filled his nose. “No, you’re right. I wouldn’t have wanted that.”
Doctor Ealing placed a hand on his shoulder. “If it makes you feel any better, everything else is fine. We expect you to make a full recovery.”
“Listen, I’m going to get a drink. I think you may need a bit of time to yourself. Do you want anything?” Lacey asked. “They have Coke. I can bring one back for you in a while?” she smiled.
“Yes, you know what, that would be great,” Bucky replied. Tears still welled within his eyes.
Lacey released his hand and grabbed a crutch that perched next to her chair. “I’ll be back in a while. Take it easy.”
Bucky watched as she hobbled away. It took him a moment to realise. Something was wrong with her. “Lacey!” he said, his voice full of concern. “No. Please tell me no. Your leg, too?”
She smiled and nodded. “That gash I received at the factory. It became infected before we even got here to school. I had to have the same operation as you did. Same leg, too.” Bucky stared at her. Her right leg vanished just above her knee. “You get used to it, apart from the damn itching. I still feel it itching at times even though it isn’t there. Guess my brain just can’t understand it. I’ve picked up the crutch no problem. In a few days, they’re fitting a prosthetic. We’re going to see how that goes.”
Bucky had nothing to say. Not a word. Lacey smiled at him. As she turned away he spoke out.
“Lacey. What about our families? Did any of them survive? Are any of them here?”
Lacey pursed her lips together. “I don’t think now is the right time…”
“Lacey, just tell me. I travelled all this way with the hope of seeing my family again. We both did. Are they here? Are they still alive?”
Lacey shook her head. “No. They’re dead. All of yours, all of mine, all of Johnny’s and all of Aaron’s. No one survived that we know. The army took this place back from the zombies. Everyone inside had turned. There are no survivors here that are from our local area. Everyone is from out of town, except the four of us.”She looked to the floor. “Get some rest,” she told him before turning and hobbling out of the room.
“I agree with her. Rest up, Bucky. I’ll be back soon.”
Bucky sighed as the doctor left, leaving him on his own. Nothing worthwhile from the old world existed anymore. Not for him, anyway. Everyone called the infected people ‘zombies’ now.
He lay there, recalling the journey they’d made to get here, and considered if it had been worth it. If nothing else, though, it’d make a great story to tell someone one day, if there was anyone else out there he could tell it to.
Twenty-Five Years After Day Zero
“Tell me the story again, Dad,” Lucas said as he rolled into bed.
Bucky reached down and pulled the duvet across him. “I’ve told you a thousand times already. You know it better than I do.”
“But I like it, especially the bit where you beat the zombies in the factory. Do you think the factory is still there now? And the White Witch?”
Bucky shrugged. “Maybe.”
“Can you take me there one day?”
Bucky laughed. “No, Lucas. The whole country is a prison. You can’t get in or out unless you commit a very bad crime.”
“Why do people go to prison there?”
“Well, back when everything happened, and everyone knew they couldn’t fix it, the governments of the world decided to send criminals there to stop them from causing anymore crime. Since they started doing that, the crime levels across the world have fallen, and most people are now living in safety. That’s because all the criminals are too frightened to do anything. They don’t want to go and live there with all the zombies.”
“But
