Metropoli-Z: A New Dawn

By Rodrigo Duarte Fuentes, Mauricio Ormazábal and Macarena Inchausti G.

The stench of death was his delight, each macabre image fanned his distorted thinking. Blood and guts, torn skin ... Christopher Harris, 17, little misunderstood genius, machines how to perform his greatest desire, a world full of Zombies. He, of course, would be their leader. His superior intellect will allow him to survive the transformation process and become more than just a beast. This was what he thought, at least.
Could Christopher manage the consecuences of his own creation?
Metropoli-z, an amazing story of zombies, like you haven’t imagine before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ebooks del sur
• Release date: Oct 2, 2016

Book preview

-

Author: Rodrigo Duarte F.

Artwork: Mauro Ormazábal V.

Translation: Macarena Inchausti G.

Direction and Design Publisher:

D2 Productions.

All Rights Reserved.

This publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, or recorded or transmitted by any retrieval system information, in any form or by any means, mechanical, photochemical, electronic, magnetic, electro optical, photocopying and/or otherwise, without prior written consent from the authors or D2 Productions Ltd.

Parental Guidance recommended.

© Rodrigo Duarte Fuentes, 2016

© D2 Productions, 2016

www.metropoli-z.com

eISBN: 978-956-9274-41-1

Digital design: ebooks Patagonia

www.ebookspatagonia.com

[e-mail]

INDEX

Prologue

The dusk

The night

The dawn

Kill or die

The last shelter

Few steps away from salvation

Dedicated to all those who believe and strive to make their dreams come true.

The stench of death was delightful, each macabre image fanned his distorted thinking. Blood, guts and torn skin... Christopher Harris, 17, a little misunderstood genius, plots how to fulfill his greatest desire, a world full of zombies. He, of course, would be their leader. His superior intellect would allow him to survive the transformation process and become more than just a beast. This was what he thought, at least.

Christopher had nurtured his head with thousands of zombie comic books and movies, getting valuable information. His diploma in Biochemistry would help him assemble the final puzzle. The jokes of other youngsters and a strict father figure have never been enough reason to stop. Not even now, that he was about to create a perfect world in his improvised but complete basement laboratory, where he has worked hard to develop a zombie virus. After hundreds of trials and errors his plan eventually worked, and his notes and formulas succeeded in explaining this aberration. Both the rabies virus and the cause of catalepsy, Christopher’s own discovery, give life to the dead: the Z agent, as he baptized it.

Afraid, after a brief time and several attempts, Christopher released the virus in a very busy place. Later, the inevitable began: the road to the death of human civilization as we know it.

The rapid contagion and the lack of medical information on this epidemic unleashed a global crisis that nearly wiped out humanity from the face of the earth. After a few years fighting the virus, governments failed and collapsed. Ultimately 80% of the world’s population had disappeared, almost all of the remaining people had turn into zombies and a reduced number of survivors were still struggling on the surface. The remains of humanity had fled to underground cities in a desperate attempt to stay alive and to adapt to this new world, but also hoping to find a way to recover what they lost.

Paradoxically, Christopher was immune to the Z agent and had no hint of an explanation for that. He had learnt to keep his teenage experiments a secret, despite all his difficulties. However, there was something much stranger than Christopher’s immunity to the virus. The zombies, after so many years on the surface, began to show a very unusual behavior; attitudes that were characteristic of the human behavior. No one knows why in the underground, even the keenest minds had not imagined something like this.

People call the underground cities apocalyptic cities. Located under the surface of the earth, they were secretly built by the elites of the world, the wealthier families, the most influential and corrupt politicians, senior military officers, the heads of the biggest mafias, religious leaders and their inner circle. Qualified scientists and leading engineers in crucial fields were of course conveniently allowed in the cities. Included were also some famous artists and ordinary people, the latter as labor and servitude in general. These bulky underground constructions that housed the survivors were being conceived in secret since the 50s, anticipating a collapse of human society triggered by several reasons, like the failure of the economies, overpopulation, pandemics and even the Third World War. Obviously there were people who had access to unlimited resources, and they were not going to sit idly doing nothing before these threats, serious enough to terminate their very existence and their future offspring.

Apocalypse 1 (of a total of 7) was the largest underground city, with two million inhabitants crowding together, a real ghetto. The cause of this was simply an explosive increase in population: births, new survivors who could pay their stay and illegal survivors, those who violated security and somehow managed to enter the city. In Apocalypse 1, the streets were narrow and dirty, full of exciting places such as bars, casinos, nightclubs and every imaginable den of iniquity. Paradoxically, violence was not an issue because of a simple fact: a death penalty applies against anyone who disturbs the peace, a necessary measure to avoid chaos. The districts were divided into areas for the wealthy, the military, privileged citizens and the rest, the ordinary people. All the districts were under the supervision of a large number of guards, former military who were responsible for preserving order. Nothing moves without them knowing, no one speaks without they hearing and no dissent is accepted. By decree, in the cities everyone is equal, although this is not actually true. The Leader (he calls himself The Leader) is a clumsy and corrupt dictator; and the real authority lies with the counselors, who have always held the power to rule. In the cities the resources are limited, food crops are subject to plagues, water is rationed, and non-perishable foods are a luxury, as everything is collapsing. More than twenty years of confinement have affected this new order. Although this crisis is not widespread and the population does not perceive the problem to its full extent, the elites want to return to what they were: privileged leaders, idols, in a world that will meet what they expect. Somehow they want to return to the surface.

It is noon and people go about their normal life. Everyone is trying to fulfill their role for the city to remain self-sustaining: those who work in the factories or in the basic services, those who clean up and those responsible for the crops. Everything seems normal until a shrill noise upsets the normal day. It is a loud horn announcing that, in a few seconds, the Leader will speak from the balcony in his much protected fortress. Everyone should listen:

– Citizens of Apocalypse 1, still there is no cure, still the beasts dominate our beautiful world, but there is hope. As the genius of Einstein said: ‘there is no greater power in the universe that the human will’. There will be more news next Friday, around the same time.

– Always the same, one in the crowd says.

– Always the same shit, agreed Christopher, now a 40 year-old privileged citizen thanks to a PhD in Zombie Chemistry. Nobody knows his real story. He is the one and only creator of the virus. Next to him, his long-time friend Claire Patterson, a beautiful military guard, a tough girl with a sour smile.

– Do not talk like that of the Leader; he gives us hope, you should do something, invent a cure or something. Aren’t you so smart?

– Hey ...that’s what I am doing, okay? It is not so easy... Do you want a jar of Colombian coffee? – asks Christopher.