• David and Johanna watched the screen from each of their own computer chairs. ”The lower intestines don’t change at all, see?” David flashed the mouse over the bloody red part of the picture. One of the many bloody parts. It showed a high definition picture raw. file of an opened corpse. The skin was far to grey to resemble that of a healthy human, and the ribs and flesh looked rotten to the core.
    ”Nothing changes in their intestinal system and yet they stalk around like Jehovas witnesses looking for a door to nag on or something. Without food, Johanna.” He stroked the keyboard with a gentle touch. ”It doesn’t add up. Nothing does anymore.” He sighed. ”This would appear so much more simple if Charles was here.”
    ”Miss him?” Johanna tried. Her beautiful eyes stunned him for a second.
    ”I’m a guy,” he replied shortly. ”Even if I did, I would never admit it. Specially not to him, if he was ever to return.” A smile shot across his face while he scrolled down the remaining pictures of corpses in glass containers. Some were of women, some of men in different ages, but they all had the same looks; eyes rolled up into random directions, grey skin and horrible, infected wounds.


    These…things. They had no real word for it, besides living dead, zombies or deadmen. Charles had called them the infected. He never said more than that, he took all his research papers with him to the raid on the army base. He was on the chase of something big. That night, Charles was lost in the maze of infected. Had it not been for the extreme amounts of weapons, the rest of the team would’ve gone as well. It was sick. All of it. Kids from eleven years up, pointing guns at things, pulling the trigger with death in their eyes. The catastrophe had forced everyone to grow up faster than possible. Those who didn’t were food for the infected, and, eventually, became one themself. A child wounded with the infection had come walking through the desert once, a girl dressed in typical kids trademark clothes, looking like she just had minutes left before the infection took her over. She had begged for food and water. Noone had the guts to help her, but noone could end her life either. So Suio had to do it himself. Noone could watch exept Kyle and Nicholas, the subleaders of the colony. Suio had prayed that the girl was reunited with her family wherever she went after this life. Then he pulled the trigger with tears in his eyes.

    Suio, the leader of the colony, was not the oldest in the group of over a hundred people, neither was he the strongest or the most charismatic. But noone could deny that Suio, fifteen year old immigrant from Norway, was a full fledged genious. His body was weak, his looks skinny and pale, but his mind… Charles once said that if there was ever hope for humanity after the outbreak of the infection, the answer was not strength nor courage. It was intelligence. And Suio was the smartest person he had ever met.

    David gave it all a thought. Then he smiled again.
    ”Charles would so kill me for touching his computer files,” he said.
    ”And that amuses you?” Johanna asked in a serious tone. ”Guys are so wierd sometimes.” She looked back at him from the computer screen. He was beautiful, she thought. His euro asian bloodlines made his face look smooth without a flaw. The strong, intense blue eyes looked so unique on his asian face. His raven black hair made his eyes stand out even more. She started breathing heavier. David noticed.
    ”Are you okay?” he frowned.
    ”Sure,” she replied, catching her breath again. ”This whole think still hasn’t sunk in, you know?” She looked so fragile and lost in the computer chair. David could feel his heart beat faster as well.
    ”Whatever,” she said, leaving the chair. Her blonde hair whipped down her beautiful back. David could smell the faint perfume in her essence. He blushed. ”I’m goin’ to bed.”
    ”’Kay, I’ll hit the barracks too, after some more reports on the May twentyfirst pics.” he replied.
    Johanna hesitated. ”Umm, David…?”
    ”What?” he said, scrolling down the fourteenth page of the picture files.
    ”Wanna sleep at my room tonight?” The moment the words left her lips, she was struck by regret.
    ”What?” said David, a little stunned. ”Why?”
    ”Well…” she replied. The floor suddenly looked so appealing to feast her eyes upon. ”The nights get colder this time of year. Body warmth, you know…” David looked thoughtful.
    ”I’ll give it a shot,” he said, his sight flaking swiftly between Johanna and the computer files. ”Get some sleep, I’ll come over after I’ve packed my bags for tomorrows field trip to Vegas.”
    Her heart skipped a heartbeat.
    ”Want me to wake you up when i come over?”
    ”Nah, don’t bother.” she replied. She wouldn’t be able to sleep the whole night anyway, with him lying there beside him, so close to her naked body. ”Nighty, David.” She walked out the barracks door. David looked at his wrist watch. Seven o’ clock. Damn, she must be tired. David started cropping files down to a compilation in Adobe Photoshop. He wanted to keep working. But he couldn’t. Not now. All his fatigue broke the surface, and all his negative emotions came out in one sentence.
    “Charles, I miss you so damn much right now…” David whispered. Then the tears started running down his cheeks.