[ WP ] Its been five years since the zombie outbreak was put down by the world military . A reporter for your national news comes to your house to ask for your story on how you and your family survived the outbreak .

Part 1 
 
 `` Thanks for speaking with me. It's basically a short piece on how families made it through the war. So lets begin how'd you and your family make it through?'' The reporter explained as he slid the lid off his pen and prepared to take notes. 
 
 
 The question hung in the air for a few seconds while I composed my response. I'd told the story a lot, trimmed the fat and made it more palatable where I could. 
 
 
 `` Well for a start I was n't with my family when this all started.'' I explained. 
 
 
 `` You're Irish?'' The thin reporter said not even trying to hide the shock in his voice. He'd been so focused on getting me to stop and speak to him he had n't noticed my accent. 
 
 
 `` Aye and powers of perception like that you must be an investigative journalist.'' I said with a smile. 
 
 
 `` I...'' The reporter started but he was speechless. I laughed gently and continued. 
 
 
 `` I was in London with work, I was single back then but I still had Mum, Dad and the rest of the family back home.'' 
 
 
 `` Where's home?'' 
 
 
 `` Dublin.'' I explained. `` Course London was the last place in the world you wanted to be when the whole thing kicked off. Too many people, too tightly packed. Was a friggin mess.'' 
 
 
 
 `` You were lucky. Not many made it out of London.'' 
 
 
 I shrugged. `` You needed two things to get out of London. Brains and Speed. Brains told you to get in the Underground. Tubes were n't running anymore which meant the tracks were pretty clear. Course did n't stay that way for long.'' 
 
 
 `` The Underground Marathon?'' 
 
 
 I nodded. `` People say it was a race between the living the dead. Fall behind and they got you. Truth is it was a race between people, you did n't have to win you just had to be faster than slowest runners. I saw this one guy trying to trip people up to try to slow down the infected.'' 
 
 
 I shook my head at the memory. 
 
 
 
 `` Jesus.'' 
 
 
 
 `` I ran the Northern line from Charing Cross all the way to High Barnett. Thirty nine minutes is how long it would take on a tube and the average speed of an underground tube was 33km. Means I ran about 21KM. No idea what my time was.'' 
 
 
 
 The reporter raised an eyebrow. I guessed he was perplexed at the amount of thought I'd put into it. 
 
 
 
 `` It's hard to put into words. The sounds down there were... If I never hear anything like it again it'll be too soon and it was constant, got to a point where you could n't tell the screams from their echoes. I remember running past this one girl who was just sitting at side staring at us running past. Not looking just staring.'' I explained. 
 
 
 `` Was it not dark? How'd you see?'' 
 
 
 `` Pitch black mate but back then everyone had phones with little torches on'em, or they used the screens to guide their way. Saw one guy with an actual torch, as in an oily rag wrapped around a stick, was like Indiana Jones or something.'' I chuckled at the memory. 
 
 
 `` So once you made it out then what?'' 
 
 
 `` Well it's not like we all got medals and a slap up dinner. Being out of the tunnel only meant we had more directions to run. Me, I was lucky I had nobody to go after so I just pushed on north. A lot of people where torn though. Musta been tough, I mean, do you save your own skin and spend your life wondering what happened to your wife and kid or do you go back into the city you just ran for your life from? In retrospect it was a no brainer but hind sight is always 20/20. I passed a lot of people going back in.'' 
 
 
 The reporter shook his head. `` Why'd you go north?'' 
 
 
 `` To begin with I just happened to be on the Northern Line and there was a lot less screaming to the north. When I got out I figured the further I could get away from London the better. I wound up walking alongside the M1. Most people walked on the road but I gave it a wide berth. Lotta dead people in those cars, lotta sick people in the crowd. By in large I just stayed away from people, kept to myself and above all avoided Groups.'' 
 
 
 `` So you just kept walking?'' 
 
 
 `` Yeah stopped off at a few places now and then but it was happening all over. See back then I thought it was a London only thing. Probably thought that for longer than I needed to because I was avoiding talking to people. It was only when I spoke to a bloke from Birmingham that I found out every city was a no go. It was around then that I started thinking of home.'' 
 
 
 `` Dublin.'' The reporter said in a effort to show he'd been listening. 
 
 
 `` Right. Obviously nothing was working, phones, Internet, TV all fucked. So I had to depend on Rumours which is never good. I spoke to people so infrequently though that the rumours were always wildly different. Some said they had it worse in Ireland, some said they had it under control others said it is was clean. Thank God they were right.'' 
 
 
 `` When did you know Ireland was untouched?'' 
 
 
 `` Not till I made it to the Moors up in Yorkshire and I heard GB had been placed in Quarantine by, well, basically the rest of the world. It was weird hearing the news. Everyone else was wondering why the EU or the Americans were n't coming to save them but I was happy, my family was safe.'' 
 
 
 `` But you were n't.'' 
 
 
 `` Well... no not really but it's well over 200 miles from London to the Moors. you do n't make it that far without picking up a thing or two about killing zombies.'' 
 
 
 `` How'd you make the journey?'' 
 
 
 `` On foot mostly. I do n't know how to start a car without keys and to be honest the roads were just a mess. Could n't go two foot with out running into something blocking the way. Took the guts of two months. To begin with I was heading for Scotland but when I hit the north of England the countryside opened up and things were better. Stumblers like cities because everything is nice and flat. They're rubbish on uneven ground. Moors had a lot of that.'' 
 
 
 
 `` What about other people?'' 
 
 
 `` Yeah I fell in with a small group led by an ex military guy. Was weird he was actually from the province.'' 
 
 
 The Reporter shot me a confused look. 
 
 
 `` Northern Ireland. We all worked well together. You hear some horror stories like that nutter in Sheffield but by in large most people want to work together. We're a social lot, humans, we evolved to be that way so it makes sense that when the shite hit the fan we'd work together. None of this Mad Max every man for himself bollocks. In a way the whole thing brought people closer together.'' 
 
 
 `` So you just spent your days tending the farm.'' 
 
 
 
 `` Yes and no. Going back to evolution the Outbreak did one thing well, it made survival of the fittest a thing again. So after a few weeks the only people left were smart or fit. Point is we were able to do a lot of things pretty well for ourselves because we had to. Problem was though there were always going to be things we'd need that we could n't make on our own. Pesticides, medicines, tinned goods for winter. That was my job scavenging stuff from around us.'' 
 
 
 
 `` That was breaking your own rule though, going into cities.'' 
 
 
 `` Yeah but my priorities shifted, like I said people want to work together and you end up lo... caring about people.'' 
 
 
 The reporter smiled. `` Caring. You care about anyone in particular?'' 
 
 
 I thought back the summer days nearly five years ago and faintly smiled as the familiar pit formed in my stomach. I shook my head with annoyance. Frustrated that even after all this time I still let it annoy me. 
 
 
 `` You ever watch the Walking Dead?'' I asked 
 
 
 `` Course, everybody's seen it.'' 
 
 
 `` Well it was kinda like that... I mean obviously it was like that, what with the walkers and all. I mean the Rick, Lori, Shane thing. Way things fell I was the Shane.''
