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Zombie Apoc-Fur-Lypse-- Cadence VanHousen's Prologue

copyright 2010 comidacomida

Few people understood physics in the way that Cadence did. Energy, Force, Direction, Vectors, Waves, Rays, Velocity, Frequency--- the majority of people in her field viewed these things as formulas, or parts of formulas... as mathematical equations... concrete, mathematical truths... certainties. She scoffed at their ignorance... their... stupidity.

She spent her life coming to realize that people spent all their time trying to figure out equations... and that meant that they ignored the most important thing: the variables. She realized that life, like physics, was all about the variables. Cadence looked at her watch: 12:26:13. Most people never bothered with the seconds in a minute; they left out a very important variable.

The old Macaque Monkey sat at her table in the tea shop and slowly stirred her cooling beverage. Since plenty of people used cream in their tea, it only made sense for the shop to serve the drinks at maximum temperature; if the patrons were going to cool it down with cream then there was no reason why 100 degrees was unreasonable. Patrons used cream in their tea thus the shop brought the drinks out at a hotter temperature. Cause and effect, she told herself. She smiled quietly as she considered how much of a domino effect could be caused with the right starting action. She looked at her watch again: 12:31:17.

It had been a long night for her. Cadence got very little sleep working on one of any number of projects; she was always at her best when she was focusing on multiple problems at a given time. Professor Scott had been the one to answer her call that morning for a substitute professor to take over her quantum physics class. Out of all of her classes, quantum physics was the one that the old monkey liked the most... few other physicists could wrap their analytical mind around the fact that by merely observing something a scientist could change the event itself. She looked to her watch: 12:36:21. "Perfect." she told herself.

Cadence stood up and left the tea room without drinking her tea; she never could stand the stuff. Or Coffee. Not Squash either. If it wasn't water, Cadence really wasn't interested... too many ingredients... additives...variables. She exited the shop and made her way down the street on foot. She was not a fast walker by any means; a lab accident nearly two decades previous had left her with a permanent limp, and then, about a half-dozen years ago, a drunk driver had clipped her, requiring that a portion of her hip be removed. She never forgave herself for not listening to the equations... the variables... the signs; it had been a bad night to be walking. She looked up at the clock situated in the middle of the square: 12:41:25. She was on time.

The monkey turned and entered the small store to her right. It was one of those 'always be prepared' stores that popped up around the 2nd world war. While most of them slowly bled out into oblivion, she still knew where to look to find some that clung tenaciously to life. The badger behind the counter didn't look up from his post and she didn't bother greeting him; she had shopping to do. It took her some time to find what she was seeking but, in the end, the shop did not disappoint and Cadence found their selection of LED torches. She pulled out a plastic bag and began pulling them off the shelves. The clock on the wall said 12:51:33.

"Hasn't been that windy lately... really think the power'll be out THAT often?" the shopkeep made idle chit chat. Cadence sighed, having been reminded why she preferred the bigger stores where the cashiers didn't bother talking except to say the total of the purchase. When she didn't reply, the shopkeep got the message, "That'll be one hundred twelve pounds, forty seven."

She looked at the batteries sitting on a stand next to the register and pointed, "Those as well, if you please." she stated matter of factly.

"How many, ma'am?" the shopkeep inquired. She didn't comment on the way the question mixed with his buck-teeth made him come across as positively moronic.

"As I said... all of them." she answered stiffly.

"Well... sure." he answered, scratching his head, "I suppose you need enough power for all a them." he offered a half-smile as he motioned at the mini torches. Cadence did not return the smile, looking to her watch instead: 13:01:41. She didn't take the time for him to give her a total, merely throwing 200 pounds onto the counter before leaving with her bags; she didn't have time for the badger's inane comments. At least he wasn't American-- the monkey didn't think she had the will to avoid making a snide response to a 'have a nice day'.

She continued down the street, heading for the shopping centre. Cadence had never been a big fan of malls, and Lowbridge Ratherbig was no exception, but it was just one more variable in a very complex equation. The equation could have worked out just fine without it, but she wasn't about to take her chances-- variables were always more important than the functions into which they were placed; quantum physics at work, and she knew she would have to watch if she wanted to influence the outcome. She looked at her watch: 13:06:45.

She strolled into the mall amidst the foot traffic of shoppers arriving by bus. Cadence had never really liked the bus; there were too many people jammed too close together making too much noise without enough space. The tube wasn't much better, but at least people tended to be quieter and more self-reflectant-- much less likely to stop reading the post and strike up a conversation. She moved past the central doors and into the mall, pausing only long enough to orient her facing. "South east..." she told herself, slowly turning toward the right as people moved past her amidst the crushing throng of bodies; Cadence didn't stop until she was facing the exit to the mall, "South east." she acknowledged. A large circular clock above the door read 1:11; Candice hated non-digital clocks... especially ones without second hands.

Wasting no time, Cadence moved with the crowd into the central area of the mall. She split from the main press of bodies and stopped at the lift. She kept an eye on her wrist watch, lamenting the amount of time wasted as the lift doors remain closed. When finally they opened, she pushed past the shoppers emerging from it and pressed the "2" button. She was forced to wait even longer as others entered with her and one, much to her chagrin, pressed the "1". She impatiently waited as the lift rose up, first to the first floor, and then, once some shoppers exited and others entered, to the second.

Once the lift finally arrived at the second floor she waited impatiently yet again for shoppers to leave and more to enter, and the lift made its way back to the ground floor; more precious time had been wasted by the pushing and shoving of all of the bodies around her. Cadence got out on the ground floor and quickly left the mall. Things were quickly falling into place and her time was short. She looked around the shopping centre one more time before leaving. As she stepped out of the doors she looked at her watch: 13:21:57.

Cadence hustled across the parking lot as quickly as she could. Time was running short, and she knew that everything was fitting into place. She made her way across the car park and to the main road that went past the mall. She glanced left, then glanced right; there was traffic and no zebra crossing to be seen. The monkey looked down to her watch: 13:26:01. She needed to head south east, and she needed to right away. She moved into the road as quickly as she could... right in front of a car.

Cadence slowly picked herself up off of the highway. Eveything hurt and her head spun from the impact. The car had come to a stop on the other side of her and she realized that she must have been thrown up and over it. Her forehead was bleeding and her vision was blurry, but she was alive. She looked at her watch: 13:26:04. The plastic protective layer over it was broken, and she watched as it repeatedly changed from 13:26:04 to 13:26:05 and back again.

She looked to the car that had hit her; the driver was missing. The monkey looked around to the busy highway which was no longer so busy. Glancing to the sky, she realized that it was much eaerlier than it should have been for the afternoon. Cadence pulled a small pocket watch from her coat and opened it up. The watch was dented, and, though it wasn't digital, it was still working: 9:45:17. It was the following morning. The police had not come to the scene of the impact; there was nobody around.

Cadence knelt down and gathered the scattered torches and batteries that had fallen from her torn bags. Once she had gathered all she could find, the monkey looked south westward and began walking. Something was happening. An event had begun and she had every intention of observing it... because in her observation of the event, she was certain she would change it.