Lockdown (AM13 Outbreak Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

normally do when I arrive home from work, but I instantly realise this is a bad mistake. There seems to only be news program after news program on every channel. Where’s all the trashy TV? Isn’t there always a bad sitcom on somewhere? Why can’t I find anything else to watch?
    Suddenly I see the very thing I’m trying to avoid. My picture. That God-awful photograph and my name. I want to turn the TV off and ignore it, but I just can’t seem to do so. The anchor is talking about me, so I pause and slide down to a sitting position on the floor, expecting the absolute worst. I wait for the awful words that were yelled at me outside to be repeated.
    Yet somehow this doesn’t happen.
    I’m not quite sure what news programme this is; it isn’t one I’ve watched before. I know I should be up-to-date with all the competition, but that’s never been of interest to me. I’ve always been one of those people who only works whilst at work. As I listen intently to the words being spoken, I can’t believe my ears. Here is someone who actually agrees with Jamie, and discusses the virus in great detail. I’m not being shown as a deluded idiot, but as a hero for bringing this to the forefront, giving the world an opportunity to fight it—just in the way some people were doing online. The ones I’d thought were crazy.
    I move closer to the television set, completely absorbed by this more positive perspective of me.
    Wow, this show has really done its research. I recognise all of the early symptoms being discussed: acute tiredness, feverishness, sluggish mindset. It’s all written down in the notes I took whilst reading through the forums for information. Clearly the news researchers from this program followed the same online route I did.
    It’s not-so-subtly mentioned more than once that the government needs to come up with a solution, which I can’t help but think is nuts. Do they really think the prime minister is going to care about some fake zombie virus? Whoever started this whole hoax must be absolutely wetting themselves with laughter. Not only did our show play out to their ideas, others seem to be following too. Even the people who don’t believe it will have a little niggle of doubt that it must be based in some element of truth.
    Then, with an indestructible air about me thanks to that news show, I make a huge mistake and Google myself. Even as I type, I know it’s going to be a mistake. After all, it’s common knowledge you should never do that, isn’t it? I cover my eyes and peek through my fingers as the page loads. As I scroll down through the results, I’m terrified.
     
    ***
     
    Well, it could have actually been a lot worse. At least half the websites I’ve looked at are suggesting that I’m great for bringing this story to the mainstream media. Of course there are a lot of posts with the opposite opinion too, but I’m choosing not to focus on them and their nasty words. Because I know there was a lot of belief and information about the AM13 virus online before any of it hit the news, I’m not too concerned it’s my fault people are afraid. Although I am very concerned about how seriously people are taking it. I wonder why they can’t seem to see just how absurd it is.
    It is absurd, isn’t it?
    I shake that thought out of my head very quickly. No, I refuse to be tricked as well. I know it was a joke; it was my fault it got passed on. Just because I’ve been reading so much about it, doesn’t make it any less ridiculous.
    But what can I do? I can’t exactly write ‘ hey guys, it isn’t real, you know? ’ to the only people who aren’t calling me every name under the sun from ‘attention seeking bitch’ to ‘fucked up loser’—okay, I may have paid some attention to the spiteful comments posted. The things people will write from the anonymous position of behind their computer screens is unbelievable.
    When I log on to Facebook and Twitter I have loads of new friend requests and