BLITEOTW 2010

3 Survivors. Castle. #Norwich
We're calling them Zombies now. For a while we called them infected, Others, stuff like that. I guess for a while we treated them like humans but we took a vote on it and we're calling them Zombies now.

Alice and I argued for. Mark argued against. We said it was easier not to care about the heads we're breaking if they're not human. Mark said it's scarier being attacked by animals. Like, you can't reason with them and you can't understand why they're doing it so you just panic. I pointed out that that's kind of what happens when the Zombies attack us, so we won the vote. I reckon Mark was bitten by a dog as a child or something.

I'll post a link to this on twitter. Call it #zombies and #infected. Maybe someone else will look for the hashtag and find this post, maybe get in contact with us. Unlikely. Disease and Bite were trending topics for a while, but now the only posts are of the stlye "3 survivors, brixton academy #london" and those are getting rarer. I'm the only person I've seen with a #norwich tag. That's how Mark found me. "Alone. Female toilets Playhouse #norwich", updated from my phone before the network went down.

In my defense, had the male toilets been an option, I would have hidden there instead. Had I the choice I wouldn't have chosen toilets at all. Alice, however, will never let me live this down.

We look like we belong in comics, the three of us, dressed like the world's worst superhero team. Like we decided to do 'Kick-Ass' for halloween at the last minute. We raided sports shops and specialty shops and any shop we wanted to. The zombies move pretty slow so it's not been a problem losing them. There're less in the city centre than you'd think; the infection broke here late evening, after the shops had all closed. Terrorism's the theory we all agree on. Only way to explain how it happened everywhere all at once. You'd think they'd've unleashed it during the day, when everyone was out and about, but I guess it was still daytime in America, and we're not the prime target.

Actually, we don't look as bad now as we did a few days ago. The shin pads were the first to go. I'm not sure now why I ever thought they'd be a good idea. And we ditched the American Football helmets early on. Field of vision's more important. Speed and wits are our best defenses. Kevlar gloves are my best find. While being bitten is the potential future that keeps me up at night, broken glass is the more common foe. But I guess if you're reading this, you've already figured this stuff out.

"This is a baseball bat. It's like a pony, except for two things: One. You won't need to feed it as much hay and two. It's a baseball bat." Alice told me, on the second day. "You aim at their heads and every cell in your brain will tell you to shut your eyes before impact. Don't. If your swing misses you're off balance and probably won't get time for a second attempt."

She was right. It's horrible, seeing a man's face cave in. The sound of the bone breaking. The warmth of the blood that sprays back against you. You never, ever want to see that happen, to know it's your fault. But if you look away, if you don't watch your aim, you give them time to fight back and time is all they need.

"With your weak girl arms you'll probably only be able to bruise them but it should give you a chance to run away."

She was wrong there, it's surprising how fragile skulls seem. In my head I take a step back from the action. It's a weird, lucid panic. My limbs do exactly what they need to while my brain watches like it's some documentary. "And here we have another zombie. This one is wearing a hard hat. Perhaps a sign of some primitive survival instinct. Maybe they're getting smarter. No wait, it's a construction worker. Probably a few more like this about then." Does anyone else get this?

Anyway. We're in Norwich, at the Castle. Not the pub, the actual castle. It would be so cool if it wasn't this tragic. Supplies are running low so we'll be making a run for Tesco tomorrow. Will let you know if we all make it. Join us here if you can. Contact us if you can.