Erik Sundqvist is a supporting character from the 2025 British horror film 28 Years Later. He is a Swedish soldier who was a part of the NATO taskforce enforcing the quarantine zone around the British Isles. After his ship is mysteriously sunk, he and seven other surviving soldiers are forced to land onto the British mainland where they face certain death at the hands of the Infected.
History[]
Erik was one of several North Sea Patrol soldiers stationed on the HMS Öresund when it sustained damage, took on water and set on fire after colliding with something off the coast of Scotland. He was part of a group of eight soldiers who abandoned ship in a life raft, with others refusing to do so without being heavily armed. With the Öresund sunk, Erik's group tried to stay away from the shoreline for as long as possible. In a final broadcast to NATO Command, he mentioned how despite having been trained to fight the Infected, he never thought he would actually end up facing them. Erik remarked his men may have a chance, as they have weapons and people have managed to survive in the British Isles for a long time. He requested that his parents be told he tried to help. However, the mayday call went unanswered and no rescue boat arrived. The winds blew the raft closer to the shore, which forced them to beach on the mainland, thereby placing him and his colleagues in the Unconditional Isolation Zone.
After setting foot on the shores of Northumberland, they were quickly chased by a large group of Infected, and fled to the safety of the an abandoned concrete structure. Two soldiers were bitten and quickly became infected, forcing Erik and others to gun them down. Once inside, his two surviving colleagues were quickly killed by the Alpha known as Samson, with Erik barely escaping. He later came across Isla and Spike at an abandoned service station close to the Angel of the North. Noticing the two were being chased by a group of Infected inside a building, he yelled at them to get down, and then opened fire. This ignited a build up of benzene gas, which killed the standing Infected but spared the crouching Isla and Spike, on account of the gas being lighter than regular air. With the reality of his situation beginning to sink in, and realising that the two would not be able to help him get out of the country, Erik remarked that he should have saved his bullets instead of rescuing them.
Nevertheless, Erik assisted Spike in taking Isla to Dr. Ian Kelson, and informed him that the NATO-enforced quarantine of the island meant he would not be rescued. Erik lamented he would not be able to see his fiancé again, and darkly joked that he was now "pissing away" his life, having previously judged a close friend named Felix for doing what he viewed as the same by working as a delivery driver. As the group took a rest break, he noticed his cell phone was on 1% battery, and used it to look at a picture of his fiancé for one last time before the device died.
Death[]
Getting closer to Kelson's compound, Isla heard screaming coming from an abandoned train, she followed the sound with Spike and Erik in tow. In the train, the group came across a pregnant Infected woman giving birth, whose symptoms of the Rage Virus appeared to have subsided during the labour process. Erik was shocked and horrified at the fact that the Infected could give birth, remarking that they shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. After gunning down the Infected woman, he backed up and began to threaten Spike and Isla to drop the newborn so he could shoot it. However, he was then attacked by Samson, who had been drawn to the noise, who killed him by ripping off his head.