Margaret M MacDonald

Necrophyte

Six Days to Redemption

The Series

Mayor Riley, like most of the wealthy 1%, thinks the zombie epidemic is an urban myth, but when a spirited young activist orchestrates an attack that gets Riley bitten, he’s left with six days to save himself from the debilitating disease and to save his crumbling city from the zombie hoards, all while fighting his ever growing hunger for flesh.

Episode 1 “The Morning After”

Sunrise in a city full of once elegant but now crumbling structures, where a few glittering towers, testaments to modern wealth, throw shadows over streets littered with shanty towns. Behind one of those floor to ceiling glass windows high above, lies James Riley. After awaking from a sweat soaked nightmare, he goes about getting into his usual designer attire. There’s just one thing disrupting his routine this morning, the gruesome, human-shaped bite, deep into the flesh of his forearm. He’s going to have to keep that well hidden, his reputation as the always calm and controlled Mayor relies on it.

Despite his staff being alarmed by the Mayor’s less than stellar appearance that morning, it’s not long before Riley is diving straight into the business of the day. First up, how he will respond to the young protesters hounding his public appearances and demanding his admittance that the zombie epidemic is real. Riley throws the “believers” a bone by agreeing to meet with Joe Zeffer, head of the controversial anti-zombie lobby. Behind closed doors, he is much more interested in getting the scoop on the protester’s leader, a high spirited 15 year old girl named Chase. Leaving that task to Dean, his in-house council and long term friend, Riley tries to continue on with his work and keep up appearances, while ignoring the psychotropic visions that appear every time he closes his eyes.

Meanwhile, Chase gets a rude awakening as a building next to her squat is demolished in the name of progress. With yesterday’s protest seeming to have little effect on the Mayor and his continued support of private developers taking over what little housing is left for the poor, her friends are starting to lose hope. But Chase knows something about the Mayor that they don’t, something she assures them will change everything in time. What exactly happened last night when Chase spotted Mayor Riley chasing tail at a seedy nightclub? And why won’t she reveal her secret to her friends?

As another day in the city ticks away, Chase and her friends go about the task of finding enough food to keep them going, while Riley begrudgingly takes his meeting with Joe Zeffer. Appearing nothing short of zealous, Zeffer takes advantage of this opportunity, not to hound the Mayor for support, but to pose questions about the city’s rising number of murders and missing persons. Riley leaves the office convinced of nothing more than Joe Zeffer’s insanity.

Shaking off the odd events of the day, Riley heads to his obligated dinner with Dean and his wife Sasha. Finding out that Sasha, an emergency room nurse, is about to start shifts at a hospital frequented by zombie bite victims, Riley is willing to admit for the first time that the stories just might be true. Despite being finally relaxed amongst friends, Riley’s nightmare visions soon return. Dismissing his abrupt reactions to the disturbing illusions as a lack of sleep, he rushes home.

That night, as Chase silently contemplates her next move, Riley attempts to sleep away his fear, but memories soon flood back to him. Chase was there, the moment he was bitten, and she shared this warning; “Six days. That’s all you have left. I hope you know how to use them.” Those were words he could ignore until the moment he woke up with his teeth sunk into a raw steak.

The clock is ticking...