Day Zero, Part 6

Similar catastrophic spectacles to Sydney played out across the world. Anything controlled by computers was out of control or off.

Mai woke Anna a little while after she had gotten up and brushed. She had the radio on and was listening to the news. Reports were coming into BBC, via AP, about the devastation across the world.

A firestorm had engulfed the US cities of New York, Atlanta and Detroit. There was no news at all from Singapore, like it had gone dark. Every major city in the world was devastated and most small cities were struggling to contain the fires. “Electric is off.” She reported.

Several small fires had broken out in the Dorm, but were easily taken care of. Everyone had their doors open and people were running up and down the halls, talking or yelling. Anna wondered if this was happening in his wing too.

People were packing up and heading home, which seemed amazing because so much of the infrastructure was inoperable. The few students with cars left immediately, but trains and planes were a no-go. A few students were going to hike all the way home to Germany. It was getting warmer these days, so it actually sounded a bit feasible.

With all the havoc, no one was going to come knocking on the door, so Anna figured he was safe for the moment. Even leaving school now wouldn’t raise eyebrows, because most of the students were leaving too. He decided to head south.

“Mai, lets go see Budapest.” he asked her.

“No, we have class to do, I can’t.” she sputtered. She turned and walked back to the kitchenette to make more tea.

Anna went to the window and pointed towards the center of campus and said “It’s all on fire Mai, there won’t be classes for a long time.” Several buildings were engulfed in flame.

She looked over her shoulder and nodded. Turning back to the tea, she thought about the idea. She had never been to Budapest. Without looking, she asked him, “No problems there? You know?”

“No, I don’t know, but it’s an old city and won’t burn up like the big cities.” He hoped he was right.

She flashed an unconvinced look over her shoulder. “I don’t know too.”
As he grabbed his coat and turned to the door he told her “I am getting my stuff together, I will stop back in a little bit.” He left her.

Back in his Dorm, things were about the same as in Mai’s. He went to his room and packed up everything he figured he needed in his backpack and a carry bag. He stopped by the common room and used his stash of change to buy as many cracker and cheese packs as possible from the vending machines.

Anna headed back to Mai’s room, but she was gone. “What the hell?” he muttered. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited for a few minutes. Looking around the room he noted her coat and shoes were gone. Maybe she had headed over to my room and I missed her?

Anna headed downstairs and out the door. He stood in between the two Dorms and called out for Mai. He noted a few rooms still had smoke filtering out of the windows. A girl jogging past him told him to shut the hell up, which he did. He stood there for some time, baffled. I have to go now.

Anna strode towards the main campus gate and didn’t look back. He traversed the shortcut path quickly and left the campus through the main gate. On the streets, accidents were all over and some cars and trucks were on fire. He walked towards 5 Kvetna, the main road towards Hungary. He passed several petrol stations where people were in fist fights over something. With the power out, they can’t get fuel.

As Anna passed a shop he looked in the window and saw Mai inside at the register. He stopped and waited for her to come out.

As she exited the store she spotted Anna and walked over to him, awkwardly carrying a case of bottled water. “We needed these.” She smiled.

Anna was stunned for a minute and then smiled too. They divided up the water and filled their backpacks and coat pockets with bottles. Together they silently walked towards the highway, which was packed with stopped cars. Staying off the road, but near it, they passed the Subway Services Station to their left. It was deserted. They headed south east.

Mai and Anna started their life together that day, inseparable and in a new world. They had never been more secure.


“Day Zero” is a term given to a computer virus attack that was not foreseen or the result of a known vulnerability. There have been many of these in the past and more are coming.