Primeval fic: Not With A Bang
Title: Not With A Bang
Author: knitekat
Word Count: 876
Characters: Connor Temple
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N: For my Primeval Bingo (round 2) Card prompt: Zombies. Thanks go to Fifi for the beta, any remaining mistakes are mine.
Warning: Angst, zombies, character deaths, the end of the world, no happy endings.
Connor looked out over the silent city, remembering how it had been so full of life only months ago. He knew the world was ending and that he couldn't stop it. He had hoped to protect Abby from the hungry hordes but... he had failed even in that.
He sighed as he remembered the day everything had ended, not that anyone had known it at the time, or even noticed it. By the time the first cases of a new strain of flu had been identified it was too late to stop its spread, as the delay from infectious to symptomatic had been long enough to allow travellers to spread it to every country on Earth. Panic had gripped the world as fears over the mortality rate of this new strain grew, would this be the new 'Spanish Flu'? The World Health Organisation had calmed those fears when they announced that although highly infectious, the new strain of flu had a low death rate, and the world breathed a collected sigh of relief.
Of course, as the few survivors now knew, that sigh of relief had been premature and it had quickly turned into a scream of horror. Oh, the flu hadn't killed that many people, no more than the normal strains did. The problem was... those it killed hadn't stayed dead. They had come back hungry. To start with the authorities had handled it quietly, rounding the... well, he might as well call them what they were... the zombies up and destroying them. Decapitation and fire seemed to do the trick and the problem appeared to be solved... until someone who had survived the flu died of natural causes and came back just as hungry.
Connor sighed as he recalled finding the information on a secure government server. How research into the virus showed it lay dormant in the DNA of the survivors, flaring back up again when they died and bring them back hungry. How someone - presumably one of the uninfected - had suggested that everyone who had been infected should be locked up, until it was pointed out there weren't the facilities to lock everyone up and one of the health experts had added that some of the infected would have been asymptomatic, no one would know they had been infected until they died and came back.
Before a decision could be made, some media hack with an eye for a scoop got hold of the story. Riots broke out across the world and people were killed in the violence, when they came back hungry, panic erupted. More deaths had resulted - both from riots and suicides - and the hungry dead grew in numbers, especially when it was discovered that someone bitten became a zombie within days. Not that anyone could be sure if they had been uninfected originally or merely asymptomatic, the extra virus triggering their change into zombies.
Lester had immediately declared an emergency and locked down the ARC, but everyone knew quarantine was useless when there had to be asymptomatic carriers within the staff, it was for the same reason that going through an anomaly was vetoed - they couldn't risk spreading the virus to another time. Lester put in measures to protect the safety of everyone in the ARC, a list of known infected was posted and anyone who died within its walls was decapitated and incinerated by known infected, but everyone knew it was only delaying the inevitable.
Connor shuddered when he remembered the names of the fallen, those who had died to protect others, many of them people he knew and worked closely with -
Cocksure Danny, who had become even more reckless with his own life when it came to protecting his uninfected colleagues. He'd faced off against a horde of the hungry dead, yelling at his team mates to save themselves. Becker had dragged Connor away but not before he'd seen Danny overwhelmed by the zombies.
Becker, who was determined to do his duty when he could have stayed at the ARC, safe and well with the others who were apparently uninfected. He'd been injured saving Jess from someone they'd missed within the ARC and she'd never forgiven herself. She'd wanted to hold him as he shook and shivered from the fever that had gripped him, but she couldn't, she could only watch Becker succumb to his wounds. She'd cried in Abby's arms when they'd come to dispose of his body.
The truth that they'd failed had hit Matt hard, he'd saved the world from the future predators and Burton, only to watch it die from another cause. Connor thought that knowledge had driven Matt mad, he had certainly thrown himself into the fight and Connor believed he had found release when he'd fallen.
The list of those who had died seemed never ending and the survivors grew fewer in number each day. He shook his head, scattering his morbid thoughts. He hadn't given up hope yet and would continue his search for a cure. He had to, he had promised to protect Abby with his last breath... and he would, even though he knew his own days were numbered. That they had been ever since he'd developed that hacking cough and fever.
Author: knitekat
Word Count: 876
Characters: Connor Temple
Rating: 18
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. Certainly not me. Writing for fun and will replace.
A/N: For my Primeval Bingo (round 2) Card prompt: Zombies. Thanks go to Fifi for the beta, any remaining mistakes are mine.
Warning: Angst, zombies, character deaths, the end of the world, no happy endings.
Connor looked out over the silent city, remembering how it had been so full of life only months ago. He knew the world was ending and that he couldn't stop it. He had hoped to protect Abby from the hungry hordes but... he had failed even in that.
He sighed as he remembered the day everything had ended, not that anyone had known it at the time, or even noticed it. By the time the first cases of a new strain of flu had been identified it was too late to stop its spread, as the delay from infectious to symptomatic had been long enough to allow travellers to spread it to every country on Earth. Panic had gripped the world as fears over the mortality rate of this new strain grew, would this be the new 'Spanish Flu'? The World Health Organisation had calmed those fears when they announced that although highly infectious, the new strain of flu had a low death rate, and the world breathed a collected sigh of relief.
Of course, as the few survivors now knew, that sigh of relief had been premature and it had quickly turned into a scream of horror. Oh, the flu hadn't killed that many people, no more than the normal strains did. The problem was... those it killed hadn't stayed dead. They had come back hungry. To start with the authorities had handled it quietly, rounding the... well, he might as well call them what they were... the zombies up and destroying them. Decapitation and fire seemed to do the trick and the problem appeared to be solved... until someone who had survived the flu died of natural causes and came back just as hungry.
Connor sighed as he recalled finding the information on a secure government server. How research into the virus showed it lay dormant in the DNA of the survivors, flaring back up again when they died and bring them back hungry. How someone - presumably one of the uninfected - had suggested that everyone who had been infected should be locked up, until it was pointed out there weren't the facilities to lock everyone up and one of the health experts had added that some of the infected would have been asymptomatic, no one would know they had been infected until they died and came back.
Before a decision could be made, some media hack with an eye for a scoop got hold of the story. Riots broke out across the world and people were killed in the violence, when they came back hungry, panic erupted. More deaths had resulted - both from riots and suicides - and the hungry dead grew in numbers, especially when it was discovered that someone bitten became a zombie within days. Not that anyone could be sure if they had been uninfected originally or merely asymptomatic, the extra virus triggering their change into zombies.
Lester had immediately declared an emergency and locked down the ARC, but everyone knew quarantine was useless when there had to be asymptomatic carriers within the staff, it was for the same reason that going through an anomaly was vetoed - they couldn't risk spreading the virus to another time. Lester put in measures to protect the safety of everyone in the ARC, a list of known infected was posted and anyone who died within its walls was decapitated and incinerated by known infected, but everyone knew it was only delaying the inevitable.
Connor shuddered when he remembered the names of the fallen, those who had died to protect others, many of them people he knew and worked closely with -
Cocksure Danny, who had become even more reckless with his own life when it came to protecting his uninfected colleagues. He'd faced off against a horde of the hungry dead, yelling at his team mates to save themselves. Becker had dragged Connor away but not before he'd seen Danny overwhelmed by the zombies.
Becker, who was determined to do his duty when he could have stayed at the ARC, safe and well with the others who were apparently uninfected. He'd been injured saving Jess from someone they'd missed within the ARC and she'd never forgiven herself. She'd wanted to hold him as he shook and shivered from the fever that had gripped him, but she couldn't, she could only watch Becker succumb to his wounds. She'd cried in Abby's arms when they'd come to dispose of his body.
The truth that they'd failed had hit Matt hard, he'd saved the world from the future predators and Burton, only to watch it die from another cause. Connor thought that knowledge had driven Matt mad, he had certainly thrown himself into the fight and Connor believed he had found release when he'd fallen.
The list of those who had died seemed never ending and the survivors grew fewer in number each day. He shook his head, scattering his morbid thoughts. He hadn't given up hope yet and would continue his search for a cure. He had to, he had promised to protect Abby with his last breath... and he would, even though he knew his own days were numbered. That they had been ever since he'd developed that hacking cough and fever.