(Chapter 12) Philip, Caroline & Holly

The following interview was transcribed verbatim from a recorded session and written alongside several personal observations.

For the first time, I have a family to interview and I must admit to an eagerness. One man and one woman, quite elderly, along with their daughter who seems younger than most I see in this settlement, most likely she was born pre-war.

AA - A family! You've no idea how delighted I am to finally meet you.

(They each smile broadly, if somewhat tiredly.)

PA - Well we're happy to finally meet you too.

HA - Yeah, the whole town's talking about you right now.

AA - Oh?

CA - You must admit you pique interest quite easily, another survivor is one thing but...well…

(She trails off.)

AA - And I'm the new oddity?

PA - Basically, yeah. No offence intended of course.

AA - None taken, I assure you. I suppose I have crafted a mysterious image around myself.

HA - Not to mention you keep doing these interview things with everyone, it's a good way to stand out!

AA - Well, that works to my benefit I suppose. It helps that people actually want to meet and spend time with me, even if it's to discover something of a mystery.

PA - Nice to have one that won't blow you up I suppose.

CA - That's a little...on the nose.

HA - Even for you, dad.

PA - I'm a man of many talents!

AA - Including, I hear, keeping this town safe, by all accounts.

PA - Stopping it from burning down is more like it.

AA - I see, and that's what you did before everything?

HA - Before the world ended, you mean?

AA - In a somewhat blunt way, yes, before the world ended.

PA - Holly…

(He says in a textbook 'fatherly' tone.)

HA - What, it's true! The world did end.

CA - We're still here my dear, it hasn't ended for us.

PA - Discounting all of the family and friends we lost, of course.

HA - Then there's the civilisation that entirely collapsed.

PA - Don't forget everything we once knew and relied on.

HA - All those daily little luxuries, lost.

CA - While that's all true, there's no need to keep bringing it up!

(They each have a sly grin on their faces, I think they've done this before.)

AA - Good to see that humour wasn't one of the things you lost.

PA - Well, got to do something. We have to get over it at some point, why not today?

HA - Have that ever actually worked for you?

PA - One day it will, I swear.

CA - You've always said that.

PA - Have to keep trying!

HA - You always say that too.

AA - Platitudes aside, what is it you three do around town?

PA - Well, I was a firefighter before 'the world ended' so-to-speak so it makes sense that I keep doing it.

HA - He's a fair odd-jobsman as well though. He can pitch in anywhere he's needed really.

PA - Well, not much in firefighting these days.

CA - He always says that too.

HA - He's got a truck and a crew and everything! Never seen it used though…

PA - Not much call for it when, you know, there aren't any fires to fight.

AA - It's not just that though, is it?

PA - Hah, I suppose not. Well, there isn't much of anything anymore, no car crashes, no flooding, not even a cat up a tree.

HA - You always told me it was a puppy stuck in the tree.

PA - Well there's even less of that!

CA - He's underplaying it a tad, but he mostly teaches fire safety now.

PA - Not that I need to anymore either really! There are no smokers here, not even us anymore.

HA - Not that there's anything to smoke, what a nightmare.

(Laden with sarcasm.)

PA - Yeah well, I guess we had to quit sometime.

CA - It's for the best really, there's not even any alcohol left around. Another good thing really.

PA - Yes, surprising how many fires people are avoiding now when they're not being stupid.

HA - Helps that everything is being rebuilt from the ground-up, we can help people be safer now.

CA - Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

PA - It's more than that though, it's almost like time travel. We can build from scratch knowing where we went wrong. It's remarkably easier now.

AA - Apologies for interrupting, but I've just remembered I forgot to ask you three to introduce yourselves before we started. If you'd be so kind, just state your name for the record.

PA - Oh, sure, makes sense. I'm Philip Ahmed.

CA - I'm Caroline Ahmed.

HA - I'm Holly Ahmed.

AA - Perfectly succinct, thank you very much. I can assume you're a family unit?

PA - That's how it's always been, technically anyway.

AA - Oh?

CA - I'm not Holly's biological mother, he means.

HA - You might as well be though, the whole thing never bothered me. You can slap a label on anything.

AA - That's fair, in a strange way I guess.

PA - Definitely not the strangest thing that's happened around here anyway.

AA - That leads nicely into what I wanted to discuss with you, actually.

HA - Hah! Told you he wanted to hear about zombies!

PA - We don't know that Holly, so what do you actually want to hear about?

AA - Ah, well...zombies.

PA - Of course…

CA - Gossip survived the apocalypse apparently.

AA - Nothing sinister, I assure you. My research while travelling has led me to the conclusion that such things may have existed and people around here are under the impression that you've actually seen them.

HA - Called it.

PA - Well we certainly saw...something.

CA - It just seems a little scifi to call them 'zombies' right out of the gate, doesn't it?

HA - You mean like the world ending?

PA - Mutated humans?

HA - Mutated animals?

PA - World war three?

HA - Energy weapons?

CA - I suppose after all that...either way it was always just called a virus.

AA - From what I can tell, that's exactly what it was. It had some...unintended side effects, however.

HA - You mean like people turning into monsters?

PA - Hunting humans?

HA - Eating their flesh?

PA - I think there was a name for that…

CA - Pretty sure it was zombies.

HA - Yeah, that's them.

AA - From what I can tell, they didn't manage to come back from the dead, or pass the infection to one another using a bite.

PA - Dress it up however you want, no matter how long left we have on this planet they'll be forever known as zombies.

CA - There are a million different names for them.

HA - That's what happens when you have a million different TV shows pretending to be special.

AA - I do seem to recall zombies being a pop culture trend at one point.

PA - Many points, hell they were popular when I was a kid.

CA - Same here, never got into it myself. There are only so many ways you can cover the same topic.

(They seem to have a very good rapport with one another, even considering their familial ties.)

AA - Whatever people choose to call them, let's settle with 'zombies' for now.

HA - Where'd that word come from anyway?

PA - I think it has West African religious origins, relating to voodoo and the like.

AA - The original term was 'Zumbi', it was a snake god with later ties to reanimated corpses.

HA - Right on the money then.

CA - Very impressive.

AA - Ah, you learn a lot when you've been around as much as me.

PA - Which is how long?

AA - Ah, let's not worry about that. Now then, back to zombies.

PA - Sure, well we spotted them not long after coming out of the bunker.

HA - Which is also never explained.

CA - We packed up and headed...I guess south. No particular reason. That's just the way the wind blew us, I guess.

PA - We managed to get a car working not long after, pretty good luck all things considered.

HA - I think we drove for a few days before passing close enough to a town to get a good look at things.

PA - We went in to find some supplies and maybe see if anyone was around.

CA - We joked about finding civilisation perfectly intact and we had sequestered ourselves away for no reason.

HA - Then we'd be the freaks!

PA - Man, if only that had been true! What we saw was a lot worse.

HA - Just...fields of bones, picked perfectly clean.

CA - At first we figured it was probably just the birds or the animals trying to survive.

PA - It was pretty gruesome. We turned to leave and must've knocked over a bin or something. Next thing you know the buildings started growling at us.

AA - The...buildings?

HA - That's what it felt like, anyway.

CA - We got outta dodge pretty damn quick after that, let me tell you.

PA - Don't think I've ever been so scared in my life! We barely made it back to the car before they started coming for us.

AA - They?

HA - Zombies.

PA - Whatever they were, or are, they didn't look too friendly.

CA - They just had this...speed to them. This finality.

PA - We got in the car and sped off as fast as we could…

HA - They just kept coming, mile after mile, sprinting after us.

CA - We got a good look at most of them and, well…

PA - They really were an a-typical zombie. Rotten flesh, ripped clothes, the lot.

HA - They reacted the same way a very hungry, very dangerous animal would have if you just dangled a freshly slaughtered animal in front of it.

CA - Makes sense, in the context. I guess we were their first 'fresh food source' for some time.

PA - How they survived that long, I'll never know. Maybe they rationed or something, but we just kept driving.

HA - They just fell further and further behind until they disappeared over the horizon.

CA - We found this place a few weeks after. We camped outside at a distance for a while, to make sure the zombies hadn't followed us.

PA - Seemed all clear to we knocked on the door and here we are.

HA - I've never felt so special!

CA - Yeah, to say they welcomed us with open arms would be an understatement!

PA - We told them our story, as I guess people do.

HA - They seemed to believe us, some people had stories that made ours look like a fairytale.

PA - Roger posted scouts on the horizon for a good few weeks after we got inside, but the zombies never showed up.

CA - I think he's planning on sending a scouting party toward the city we found, but it was a good few days ride away.

HA - City is probably bursting with stuff we could use, probably have to go there eventually.

AA - You don't seem to be short on resources for the time being, so I imagine that journey is a long way off.

HA - Knowing Roger he'll see if anyone wants to volunteer.

CA - Yeah, I doubt he'd send more than four or five people.

PA - To be honest, I doubt the town could spare any more scouts than that.

CA - Yeah, this town is situated really well, next to a few big cities and plenty of smaller towns and services.

AA - I might go with them myself when the time comes. I'd very much like the opportunity to study these zombies up close.

PA - Better you than me!

AA - Agreed my friend, agreed! So what are your plans in town now?

CA - We're pretty settled in now.

HA - I'm helping out at the farm every now and then, just filling in where I can really.

PA - Holly's excellent at keeping the kids around town happy.

AA - That's good news indeed, there's enough wrong in this world, a little more light would do us good, I think.

PA - Meanwhile I'll keep it from burning down, but these people are bright, they know the basics.

CA - You'll remind them regardless my dear.

AA - Well, I've taken enough of your time for the day. Thanks so much for taking the time today.

PA - Anytime.

CA - Very nice to meet you.

HA - Let me know what the zombies are like!

END

Fantastic to see a functional, happy family unit still surviving and sticking together as well as they do. Though the mother may not be biologically linked to the daughter, you'd never be able to tell.

Not much extra to note here, I'll be keeping a close eye on their family structure as time goes on. It's fascinating to consider what people still find important enough to guard.