Chapter one: Just another day? The day the infection first came to light wouldn't have otherwise been extraorinary. It was overcast, with a chance of mild autum showers, and most of the human population were just beginning to drag themselves out of bed for work, or what have you. If you were to ask Morris what she was doing when she encountered her first zombie on that cloudy day she would first give you a withering glare, having been asked to regale the story nearly every time she interacted with survivors, and then she would say promptly, and without much enthusiasm, "I was at the office, I shoved a pencil through a zombies eye." And that would be that. However the real story was somewhat more involved.
In her former life Morris had worked at a call center, directing calls and troubleshooting customer complaints for Phillopson Thermometer inc. Other then a rather extensive knowledge of thermometers and their workings that would otherwise prove useless in the world outside of her cubicle, her work didn't give her much job satisfaction. She'd spent far too long sitting in a bare-walled cubicle, and playing countless games of minesweeper while trying to sound interested in customer concerns.
Sure, she could attempt to brighten up the place. She could very well line the cubicle walls with smarmy pictures of her family, and motivational posters adorned with whatever adorable baby animal she was willing tolerate looking at every day. But Morris figured she already spent enough energy getting to work, and losing minesweeper, and the extra effort wasn't warranted for something that wouldn't actually improve her mood.
"Well sir," She intoned, frowning in mild annoyance as she uncovered a mine, "I'm no doctor,so I can't really tell you the reprucussions of using a thermometer rectally, but Philopson Thermometers does not reccomend you use their products in any way other then how the package instructs you should." She paused, restarting her game.
"What was that? You threw the packaging away? I'm sorry sir. If your truly concerned about about any possible health risks, I'd reccomend you call your physician." Another pause, "No sir, I would not use the thermometer in your mouth after inserting it rectally. I- Yes sir I understand your concern. I really think you should call your doctor."
She cast her cubicle-mate a sidelong glance. He was attempting to stifle his laughter, while evidently pretending to read paperwork. Sadly enough calls of this nature were fairly commonplace. It was hard to laugh at it when you dealt with it on a daily basis. At about that point the man began to yell unintelligably, and she sighed rolling her eyes.
"Sir I'm sorry you're upset, but please try to understand that I'm here to help you in any way possible." The man didn't seem to acknowledge her attempt to make peace, continuing to yell. She leaned back in her swivel chair, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sir?" She tried one more time but was interupted when the man started to scream, nearly causing her to topple backwards. She steadied herself on the cubicle wall, and ripped off her headset. The screaming stopped as suddenly as it began, and she slapped her palm down on the end call button. The odd phone call should have been her first clue that something wasn't quite right that day. But that morning she was so tired she hit the snooze on her alarm clock one time too many, and had to forgo her usual detour to the local coffee shop. Without some sort of caffiene in her system Morris could not be considered a fully functioning member of society. So it was all very well that the abrupt and alltogether strange end to her phone conversation didn't raise any alarms.
"I'm taking my break" She muttered, as her cubicle-mate finally burst out laughing. Morris hated her job. She weaved her way through the maze of cubicles, and headed to the cafeteria. It was still too early for the kitchen to be open, but that was alright. She really wasnt all that hungry anyway. What she really needed now was caffiene. The head ache throbbing in her temple was more then enough to confirm that. The cafeteria was at the front of the building, just off the bustling city street. The entire outside wall was lined with windows, which, even on a sunny day did little good to brighten up the stifling atmosphere of the office building. She fed the machine a dollar which it proceeded to spit back out.
"Damnit." She swore, feeding it back in. She was so wrapped up in her task that she failed to notice a women shuffle into the building. Her walk was slow with a limp, her clothes dirty and torn, and her eyes gaunt and unfocused. At first upon entering the building she simply stopped and stood, swaying slightly as if compelled by some imaginary breeze. She was slumped forward, head hanging limp for just a moment before she started the short limp to where Morris stood, now banging on the vending machine because it had eaten her dollar. She bent down to attempt fishing around inside the machine in case the soda had gotten stuck, just as the women, who had finally made her way to her, had given a feeble lunge. Morris smelled her rancid stench before she realized what was happening. The obviously dazed women stumbled forward, tripping over her and slamming her head, and most of her upper torso into the vending machine.
"What the hell?" Morris spat, but her confusion gave way when the resulting jolt to the machine caused it to finally relinquish her soda. The feeling of victory was short-lived though as the women let out a long gurgling groan, and her stench swept over Morris again. Morris stumbled back, away from the offensive smell, and shot her a look of pure disgust. She was obviously homeless, and either drunk or blitzed out of her mind.
"Look, thanks for the help with the machine and all, but this is a private office and you can't stay here." She fought back the urge to wretch. The smell was really that terrible. Now that she knew the women was there she couldn't believe she hadn't smelled her before. She felt unclean, as if the womens filth had rubbed off on her, and infected her with yuck. The women stared at her blankly, and then slowly advanced advance. Morris only now realized why the women was moving so slow. She had an obviously broken leg, crusted with dried blood, and what appeared to be some kind of deep festering wound.
"Ugh, oh lady... you should really get that leg checked out or something, there are some clinics in the area that help out people that cant afford a doctor you should really..." She trailed off. The women had begun to hobble faster toward her, obviously uneffected by the pain she was sure to be feeling. She kept making gutteral growls, and forced gurgling, her hands outstretched toward her grasping at the air. Something was wrong here.
"Lady, back off! I'll call security!" She brandished her coke bottle, and when the women kept coming toward her she did the first thing she could think of. She chucked the soda. It hit the women square in the forehead, bounced off, and went sputtering across the floor. The women only paused briefly to get angrier.
"s**t..." Morris breathed, backing up against the registers. The women hobbled full speed toward her screaming like a deranged animal, and so Morris reacted instinctually. She reached back for something, anything and her hand closed on a pencil. And in one confusing moment the women collided with her, and she, well... shoved the pencil through her eye, the womens own speed lodging it deep within the confines of her head. And that, was how Morris encountered her first Zombie. Obviously the next thing she did was freak out. For all she knew she'd just murdered a homeless drug addict having a really bad trip. But it soon became apparent that some sort of Chaos was brewing outside. She stepped gingerly away from the womens lifeless body, trembling from the encounter, and slowly approached the glass. A man shoved a screaming women up against it and began to rip at her throat with his teeth. Yup, something was definitely wrong. Well s**t.
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