EMMA WOODHOUSE vs The Zombie Apocalypse

By William Marte

The Story So Far…

Emma Woodhouse—handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition—seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little distress of vex her. But then, almost out of nowhere, came the horde of flesh-eating mutants.

Emma was once the youngest of a family of four. A sweet older sister, an indulgent father, and an loving mother. But all too soon her mother was ripped out of her hands by the clammy, rotting, maggot-infested clutches of a herd of zombies. Things didn’t get much better when Emma’s older sister, Isabella abandoned the family and moved on with a different group of survivors. These tragic events had a profound impact on Emma and they would’ve left her lost and confused had it not been for the excellence and affections of a zombie-hunter named Miss Taylor. Prior to the downfall of mankind, Miss Taylor had been a close family friend for nearly sixteen years. She provided not only a tender, motherly love for Emma when she needed it most, but also the rigorous training, practice, and discipline she needed to defend herself against the onslaught of the undead. It was bitter work, but through all the hardships and struggles, Miss Taylor and Emma managed to strike up a friendship in good time.

But it was not meant to last. For when Ms. Taylor left Hartfield, a community of survivors that included Emma and Mr. Woodhouse, to search for more survivors. Leaving Emma alone to look after herself, her father, and the members of Hartfield…

 

1815

Highbury, the large and fortified center of the community of Hartfield, stood tall and without equal for years at the heart of the town. To the Woodhouses, it was the closest thing any of them could call home. From there, they could manage and oversee the towns operations at a safe distance and provide an emergency shelter in case the worst were to ever happen in the undead came pouring in. But in lieu of Miss Taylor departing to parts unknown,  Emma couldn’t help but feel a wave of melancholy wash over her as she walked down barricaded halls of Highbury to her fathers chambers to begin their morning report. It was an unnecessary procedure to say the least as Emma had always done a good job in securing and reinforcing the barriers that protected the townsfolk from then relentless herd beyond. It was done more so to soothe the heart and mind of her father every morning for he was a nervous man that became depressed easily whilst also hating any kind of change brought before him. In someways, he never really did reconcile with his losses in the past and, due to this fact, transformed into a broken shell of a man right before Emma‘s eyes. The empty and decaying halls of Halbury were nothing compared to the vacant, soulless eyes of Mr. Woodhouse as he sat miserably in his bedroom at top a rotting, cushioned armchair and stared out into the broken town before him through a broken window.

Emma could not help but sigh over it and wish for impossible things. As she open the door leading into her father’s master bedroom, she felt it was necessary to be cheerful and hide her inner longing for Miss Taylor as well as anything else that troubled her mind. Emma tried to smile and chat as cheerfully as she could to keep him from such a miserable thoughts but he soon found out that it was impossible for him not to say exactly what was on his mind.

“Poor Miss Taylor!—I wish she were here again. Why couldn’t she have been like you, Emma? Loyal to her family.”

“Miss Taylor was loyal to us, father. But she was also loyal to the world. She couldn’t stand isly by and watch the world be torn asunder by this terrible plague. She was too good for that. In any case, you would not have survived if Miss Taylor did live with us forever. Bearing through all her practices and discipline was the real terror.”

“Bah! Where’s the advantage in helping anyone but yourself? We’re three times as likely to be attacked by those monsters beyond the fences without her. If anything, her actions put innocent people in even more danger.”

“Father, I sympathize with you. I really do. But now is not the time to be thinking about ourselves—We must endure and survive! We must begin; we must go and pay the people respects very soon. Lift their spirts with good news.

“My dear, how am I to get so far? I could not walk before this tragedy, let alone now.”

“No, papa. The thought of you walking…I will handle the responsibility. I must go on foot, to be sure. But reassured, Hartfield is in safe hands.

It seems like slowly but surely, as the months went by, Emma was being tasked with more and more of the responsibilities that came with maintaining the security of her beloved group. Her father was no longer in a fit condition to judge the security of anybody let alone a community of starving, distraught, and unfortunate survivors. Everything came down to Emma now, but she spared no expense in maintaining the happy flow of hope ideas and energy needed to maintain the spirits of the members of Hartfield. It was a self-sacrificing act, not nearly as rewarding as it should be, but it was something that needed to be done and Emma understood that because of Miss Taylor. And she made her way to the center of town where most members resided she was met by one particular survivor, Mr. Knightly.

He was a sensible man about seven or eight-and -thirty who was not only a close friend of the family but was deeply concerned with the well-being and protection of Emma. Even in the poor condition of his clothes and the bags under his eyes symbolizing a lack of sleep, he still carried an air of charm to him that made his very presence a relaxing one. It was like seeing a best friend or an older brother come to greet you in the middle of a nightmare. Even though she would never of gone for him given the considerable age gap, Emma still had to admit to herself that even in their dire circumstances, he looked pretty handsome. When she walked up to him, he was already reaching out to shake hands in a show of goodwill and respect.

“Acting alone again I see, Ms. Woodhouse?”

“Please don’t test mr this early Mr. Knightley. I have yet to pick up Lucille from her storage. but even in this state I will not hesitate to do to you what I have done to undead outside our walls.”

“Message received.”

“Good. Now, I’m off to inspect the premises. Would you care to join me?”

“I didn’t realize you were in the business of excepting help from others. This is quite surprising.”

“Yes well, we all have to make sacrifices given the situations. A morning stroll with you by my side seems like it would be the least troubling even to occur to me thus far.”

“Ah. Yes. Has your father‘s condition improved in any way?”

“Every day he seems to slip further and farther from our plain of life. I’m losing him, George.”

“Emma… he’s lost almost everybody dear and dearest to him. I don’t…I don’t think he…”

Emma stopped dead in her tracks to look at George straight in the eyes so he understood precisely how serious her next chosen words were about to be.

“Don’t. Please don’t.”

“I wasn’t going to just as long as you already know.”

“ I do it’s just…I thought me and you being here would be enough to keep him with us. To give him the motivation to fight and live on. But every day I just see him getting sadder and sadder on that god-forsaken chair. It’s like…he’s given up without even being dead.”

“Emma…”

“It’s nothing. If it happens it happens. C’mon, we have work to do.”

But before either of them could’ve even formed a thought, a well worn-out courier came charging at them from beyond their view with a panicked expression smeared across his face. He looked as though he had been running for miles just to reach the two and it left Emma and  George feeling as though something terrible was about to happen. A terrible feeling of unease crept into her stomach before Emma asked the courier what was wrong. The courier took sporadic breaks to catch his breath as he spoke to them with fear dripping out of his voice.

“Ms. Woodhouse, come quick! Survivors spotted outside the gate! They came knocking. One of them is wounded.”

“Any bites?”

“None that are visible at least.”

“Take me to them. Straight away.”

 

End of Chapter 1

 

Reflecting on EMMA WOODHOUSE vs The Zombie Apocalypse

What an start, huh? Things are a little different from the original story this time around and it’s with good reason I assure you. Before I began writing this adaptation of the classic novel it may not be surprising to hear that I had been ingesting a lot of zombie related media beforehand. Shows like The Walking Dead and games like Resident Evil (who coincidentally also has it’s fair share of strong heroines) had a huge impact on me and my taste when it comes to stories so it seemed pretty obvious that the idea of mixing in the zombie apocalypse into the world of Emma Woodhouse and her community over at Hartfield came very quickly. It’s definitely banking on cheesiness and a playful attitude with a couple moments of dour and somberness sprinkled in there given the dire situation. But at first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even include these moments and just go into maximum cheesiness territory because the subject was so over the top. But as I started writing the adaptation, my mind came up with this plot thread about Mr. Woodhouse slowly but surely becoming unhinged and I couldn’t just ignore that. So this adaptation plays both the seriousness and the responsibilities of running a community of desperate survivors and at the heart of it is Emma. Now I don’t know if it’s just me but there’s something about the situation of a zombie apocalypse that just seems to bring out the true nature of characters. When they’re put into some extremely personal and dark situations it’s easy to find out who these characters really are and what they’re capable of doing. My interpretation of Emma Woodhouse’s character from the original story was that she was a well-meaning but flawed character who was willing to take up and own her mistakes when needed be. Her biggest flaw was that she had never realized how much power she had over the lives of other people that even the slightest mistake in directing these people could lead to disaster. In my adaptation, this is further exaggerated with the fact that Emma has much more pressing responsibilities to attend to this time around, as now the lives of her entire home are at stake, and the introduction of Harriet later in the story as a new member of the community would’ve only further serve to exacerbate her responsibilities as the takes one the role of mentor. At first glance there doesn’t seem to be anything about Emma Woodhouse that screams “strong leader” but I should stress that this is only at first glance. When one really stops to ponder the details of her story, Emma Woodhouse displays the qualities of a hero and this is what led me to answer the question about what makes a hero or heroine. To me the most important quality that a hero or heroine must posses is the ability to learn and improve from their mistakes. There’s no question that Emma Woodhouse is the epitome of this sentiment. This quality is what drove me into reimagining Emma for the story from the character that she used to be into something more along the likes of Jill Valentine or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Just an element of cheese and ridiculousness to add a top what supposed to be a different take on her character. A more responsible and mature version of Emma. But a Zombie Hunter is only as good as their teacher and for that Miss Taylor needed to be completely reimagined for this interpretation of the story. She’s been upgraded to a badass Zombie Hunter of epic proportions that was able to teach Emma everything she knew before departing into the untamed world to help others in need. A different reason neeced to be given for Miss Taylor‘s departure this time around and one for the reason she took Emma in as her student. Sadly Mrs. Woodhouse would’ve not made an appearance in this adaptation in fact one could say that her new fate is much worse given the circumstances of her untimely demise. But that kind of motivation for Emma to begin training and be the best she could be was necessary to match the tone of other entries in the zombie apocalypse genre. It’s a genre that thrives on characters being physically fit and mentally sturdy enough to survive any and all hordes being thrown at their way. But the major reason why I chose this setting for my adaptation leads to the second question I was trying to answer for this work, which is why so many people are drawn to Gothic stories. There’s no question that zombies, their very presence, add an atmosphere of dread and tension to any sort of situation. The moaning, the shambling, the tattered clothes, and the excessive amount of gore could make any hardened fan of horror squeamish. This is the reason why I chose to add a legion of the undead to the story simply because it adds a level of horror not in the original Jane Austen book. To me, Gothic must be scary and a hero or heroine must be willing to accept their mistakes in order to learn from them. These were the two most pressing things that I was trying to get across as I was writing this and I really hope I succeeded in doing that. Other than that, there was one little cheeky reference thrown into the mix at the expense of The Walking Dead. You might’ve noticed earlier that Emma was talking about someone called Lucille. In The Walking Dead, Lucille is a wooden bat coated in barbed-wire at the tip that a particularly brutal character named Negan used to smite his enemies. There were some incredibly impactful scenes from the TV show that involves Lucille and I felt as though it would’ve been a crime not to make at least one reference to her in Emma Woodhouse VS The Zombie Apocalypse no matter how short it might’ve been. Who knows? I’m so intrigued in this project that I might even just take it up over the summer and make a short story out of it.