It all happened so quickly. I don’t think that anyone anticipated how contagious the virus actually was. No one even knew where it came from until it was too late. Two weeks after the first outbreak nearly half of the world’s population was gone. It was the strangest thing to be standing there watching everyone I knew and love die. Somehow, the virus never spread to me. There were rumors that some people were just immune to it and I just happened to be one of the unlucky few.
The world is a much different place now. It’s been four months since it all began and I can’t put into words the bizarre occurrences. Many of the survivors have just gone insane because the virus did effect them, but in a non-lethal way. I have started to call these people zombies, but they aren’t really the walking undead. They can think, feel, and hunger just like the rest of us, yet they have bouts of dementia and some seem to be morally void.
My sister, brother, and I survived the end of the world. We had to watch our parents die and our friends wither away. Three weeks ago one of the zombies got my sister. She was raped and then murdered. We never got a chance to save her. We found her body two days later. She managed not to contract the virus, but she couldn’t live through the tortures that he put her through.
It’s just my brother and I now. Sometimes we walk through the street looking for food or water or anything that we could use. We barely talk to each other anymore. He and I were very close, and I would say we are even closer now. Of course, we have to be, since the other’s life depends on your trust.
We’ve been looking for others like us that didn’t become zombies. Though whenever we meet someone with potential, it turns out they were just trying to lead us into a trap. With my brother’s military training and my former employment as a police detective, we’ve been able to survive decently.
When the riots started, my brother called us over to his home. I remember his five year old daughter, Lesley, lying on a blanket in the cellar. Her skin was graying and her hair was falling out. She was infected with the virus that came to be known as the Judgment Day Virus. Her father’s immunity was not passed onto her like we had hoped, although she did fight it for a lot longer then most.
My brother practically had an entire arsenal in his cellar, and we loaded ourselves up on anything we could carry. Rifles, shotguns, handguns, and all the ammunition. We had been on the way to our family’s cabin out in the country, when they attacked our car. I had only shot two people in my life as a cop, and neither of them died. That day, in that single moment, I killed six people without hesitation. I had to. They were attacking the only family that I had left. My brother also took lives that day, one of them being his own daughter.
She was suffering so much. Blood splattered everywhere when she coughed. Our sister was more then willing to carry her, but Alec didn’t want his daughter to suffer anymore. He took her away from us and the only thing we heard was a single gunshot, and then he returned. We never talked about it again.
Because of the attack to our car, we were unable to use it. The people had set it on fire before we had a chance to react. So, now we were stuck here inside the city. Any cars that we came upon were set ablaze. I told Alec that I thought the zombies were doing it to keep people from escaping. He seemed to agree with me.
Anyway, that was the end of the world for me. Now it’s just me and Alec trying to stay alive, even though it would be so much easier to lie down and die. At least that’s what I think at night when I am laying there staring at the McDonald’s sign. Then it’s time to wake up and we have to go back out there. Safety in numbers type deal, so we have to find more people like us.
I don’t know how we manage to gather enough strength to even try. My mind keeps echoing, “It’s worthless. This is all in vain! Just let me die already!” Then we are attacked and I defend myself to live another moment. If I didn’t have Alec with me, I would probably have let them kill me. He can’t take another person dying on him. I can already see the surrender in his eyes. The only reason he goes on is because of me and visa versa.
Maybe if I just told him that I wanted to die, then he could tell me the same. No, I can’t let him kill himself. I am not by any means a religious person, but suicide isn’t the answer here. There might be a reason we were left on this earth. This might just be punishment for our sins.
My eyes scanned our surroundings. None of the buildings had a single window intact. We were passing by the mall as we usually do. After four months it had been picked dry of practically everything useful. I know as most of it was done by the rioting and the rest was done by me and Alec.
I saw Alec’s six foot frame out of the corner of my eye. He had stopped and was looking through a wired fence. His light brown hair was being tossed by the winds and I reminded myself that I needed to cut it when I got the chance. As I approached him, I noticed the small orange tabby cat in the alley that he was trying to coax over to him with a piece of tuna. He had opened the can earlier so that we could snack on it as we did our rounds.
The cat seemed to decide it was more hungry then scared and slinked over to us. With a quick swipe, it grabbed the tuna from his fingers and began to growl as it chewed it down. As much of a cat lover that I was, I knew that we shouldn’t be wasting our few food supplies on stray cats.
“We can’t keep it.” I announced.
Alec’s dark eyes looked up to me as he had been bent over. “I know, but we can share can’t we?” Standing up, he stood four inches taller then me.
“With humans, sure.” I surveyed the area as he gave the cat another piece, “Come on, it looks like rain. We should head back.”
He straggled behind for a moment before catching up to me and offered the can of tuna up. I snatched it from his hand and finished it off, before throwing the can over my shoulder. “What’s up?” I asked when I noticed the worried look in his eyes.
“This isn’t working.” Alec sighed, “We aren’t going to find anyone not affected by the virus by walking around in circles everyday.”
I nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we are going to have to move. It’s a tough choice to make though, because at least here we know where everything we need is.”
“Those supplies won’t last forever.”
“And if we head out in the wrong direction we could end up starving to death or worse.” I tried to ignore the frustration that I heard in his tone.
He looked up to the dark clouds forming in the sky, “I doubt anything will be there, but tomorrow we should pack up and head to the hospital. We might find some drugs there or better yet, it’s a good place for people to hole themselves up in.”
“We don’t need drugs.”
Alec frowned at me. He knew that I suffered from back pain. It was a spinal injury that happened to me when I was a young girl. I was in a car accident that had paralyzed me for nearly two years, but I refused to give up on myself. I went to rehab every week until I was walking again. Unfortunately, my back would still object occasionally to holding my weight and I would find myself bed ridden for the rest of the day, at least without pain medication.
I could feel the prescription bottle in my coat pocket, and knew there were only four pills left. I had been trying to ration them out and only taking them when the worst of pain hit. Neither of us knew what we were going to do once I was completely out. If there was one thing that Alec couldn’t stand, it was seeing his older sister in pain. Even if I tried to pretend that it didn’t exist, he knew when I was having a hard time.
“So, to the hospital then?” He asked once the McDonald’s was in sight.
I nodded my head, “Yeah, we will head out tomorrow.”
He opened the door for me and I made my way over to the small campsite we had made inside the fast food restaurant.
We both began to make ourselves more comfortable by removing any excess clothing and weapons from our bodies. Alec was wearing his army combat uniform, where I was in a pair of jeans, a black sweater, and one of his camouflage jackets. I had a black leather jacket, but Alec insisted that I wear some camouflage.
My clothing wasn’t exactly clean, but I wasn’t too worried about bathing or laundry at the moment. Both us probably stunk to high heaven, but we had gotten used to each other’s unwashed smells.
When I was comfortable, I began to dig through some of our canned goods to find what we would be having for dinner. I settled on a can of chili, and opened it with the small can opener on Alec’s key chain. It was a pain in the ass to use, but that was all we had.
I used my fingers to dig my portion of the meal into my mouth, while Alec waited patiently for me to finish. He took the can from me when I offered it to him, and ate in the same fashion. We gave up on spoons and forks, because we didn’t want to waste water cleaning them.
Pulling out a hairbrush, I pulled my hair from its French braid and brushed my dark blonde locks. When I was finished I re-braided my hair and then brushed my teeth with no toothpaste just the brush. Laying my head down on my bundled up jacket, I closed my eyes. Alec and I switched off during the night to take watch. Every two hours we would switch, but he always took first watch.
“Elliot?” I heard him say after a few moments, “You asleep, yet?”
“No.” My eyes fluttered open and I looked at him.
He was sitting crossed legged beside me with a shotgun in hand. “You think…” He began then looked down at his feet.
“What is it?” I asked as I propped myself up on my elbows.
He inhaled deeply, “What if we are the only ones like us? Maybe this virus was suppose to take us back to our more animalistic forms. Since we didn’t, maybe we are the weaker species and are suppose to die.”
I frowned, “I certainly don’t like the thought of that.” My words did nothing for him, so I continued. “Let’s not worry about that until we’ve tried for a little while longer. There has to be more people out there like us.” I put my head back down and closed my eyes. After a moment, I felt Alec take my hand into his for reassurance.
Even though he was bigger and more capable then I was, he still saw me as his big sister. The one who protected him from bullies as kids, and that he had to listen to when I babysat for our parents. It was comforting in its own way, I suppose. Even though I would have probably been killed by now without him, he needed me by his side for strength.
Mornings just don’t feel the same anymore. I remember waking up with the sun shining through my bedroom window and the birds outside singing away. I felt refreshed and alive then. Going into the kitchen, my boyfriend, Drew, would be making us breakfast. He was a chef who owned his own restaurant. We had been discussing marriage and children, though we didn’t have any set plans. I was still pretty new to the police force and wanted to get firm standing in my career before I did anything else.
I don’t know why, but all these months later, I still expect to wake up in our apartment and find him in the kitchen. I hear the sounds of him humming his little happy tune while I take my shower. The smell of fresh coffee and pancakes fill the apartment and I can’t wait to start my day.
Then I open my eyes and it’s all over. I remember Drew’s body being wracked with pain so unbearable that I couldn’t hold back my tears. He would scream constantly and beg for it all to end. His face that always carried a smile was moist with sweat and contorted to look like the agony he was feeling on the inside. I remember his red hair falling out in my hand as I stoked his head trying to let him know that I was there.
Most of all, I remember him dying. He didn’t even know who I was in those last days. Not that he could talk at all through the pain, but I could see the unfamiliar stare in his eyes when he looked upon me. I think what hurt the most was when he started calling out the name of his ex-girlfriend when he was in the most pain. What could I do, but sit there and accept that he had no control over his mind anymore. I even pretended to be her a couple times so he would stop screaming.
With his last breath, he said, “I love you.” I don’t know if it was directed at me or towards the ex-girlfriend, but I like to think he had a moment of clarity before he died. Maybe I am just fooling myself. It’s still a nice thought.
We don’t get too many of those now. Happy thoughts or endings seem like they are so far out of reach that they are impossible. Luckily, I can always remember being happy even if it was only for a moment.
I knew Alec did the same as me, as I would see him smile or laugh while he slept. On one occasion, he actually said his daughter’s name and I knew that he was in a happy moment. It had been my time to wake him, but I decided to give him a few more minutes in that dream. He had done it for me before.
Now all that prior happiness had to wait for another night, because Alec and I had to make our way across town. We should of done this months ago. The hospital is probably picked clean by now, but we have to try. Besides a hospital is a good place to hide in, though most of the sick were there. So, if it isn’t a place where people like us have made a home then it is where the zombies have.
Alec and I loaded up everything we owned. Our tents, weapons, and all of our food. We looked more like we were going on a hunting expedition in Africa then crossing a city in the USA. I took a couple pills before we started, knowing that all the extra weight would begin to toy with my back. My brother tried to take as much as he could and he did have most of our canned goods.
It must have been two hours into our trip before we said anything to each other. Of course, that was only to tell him that I saw something move in the building beside us. We weren’t going to investigate, but instead we kept on moving down the street. However, we prepared to shoot anything that might jump out on us.
Keeping a close eye on our surroundings we hurried our pace. Walking in this unfamiliar territory was dangerous, but a risk that we had to take. Alec and I had pretty much claimed the area around McDonald’s and we didn’t have to worry much about intruders. The zombies apparently realized that we were hazardous to their health and stayed away. Now, we were in their territory and the rules had changed.
Most of the buildings were without windows from the riots, all cars had been set on fire, and were nothing more then charred remains now. It wasn’t uncommon for streets to have from a couple to a hundred dead bodies littered about. The smell of death was always around us, and the rains from yesterday only made the odor worse.
Our footsteps were heavy as the streets were slightly flooded with water. Both Alec and I knew that we were making too much noise and tried to ease our footsteps even as we hurried. The sounds of a little girl crying forced me to stop and look around for its source. This was a trick both Alec and I were all too familiar with, but it would guilt us if we didn’t at least investigate to make sure it was indeed a trap.
I looked at my brother who seemed almost reluctant to check out the cries. It was both safer and easier to just walk away and pretend we never heard the child. However, if it was indeed a human girl with resistances like our own then we would be leaving her to death. I seriously doubted that this far into the apocalypse that she would have survived without adult help, but maybe she had gotten split from her group. That was another reason that we had to look. She might know where more people like us are. We couldn’t just walk away from that.
After a couple minutes of search, we narrowed down the cries to an alley. In the distance we could see a metal trashcan with a fire burning inside. Alec motioned that he is going in and that I was to cover him, which I acknowledged my understanding by nodding.
He begins down the alley towards the trashcan with his gun barrel pointed towards the sky. I didn’t even notice that he had removed the items he was carrying and dropped them beside me. There was no time for me to do the same, my job was to watch out for his safety. I did, however, unlace a couple bags that are attached to my belt.
Hiding behind a dumpster, he raised his hand and waved me over. I dropped the rest of my supplies and made my way down the alley to kneel down beside him. There was a small camp ahead of us with four men. Their clothes were tattered and they were eating what appeared to be a small dog of some sort. Their diet was the least of my concerns right now, because behind them was a young girl. She looked to be of Latin descent with her tan skin and straight black hair and was no older then nine. Her hands were bound to her ankles. Blood covered her bright blue shirt and jeans.
“Not a trap.” Alec whispers to me as if that needed to be said.
He headed back down the alley to our supplies and found himself a rifle. When he positioned himself next to our items, I knew that he planned to take his shots from there. My job would be to shoot anyone who came past the dumpster. To be on the safe side, I looked at the group of four men again. I was pretty sure that they were zombies by their grayish skin and their grunts. What they wanted with the little girl is something that I was afraid to ask myself. I knew what they did to women, and I hoped that hadn’t befallen her.
Alec took his first shot and it was right on target. With a loud thud, the man who was shot fell over. The other three looked confused and began to look around to figure out where the attack had come from. I noticed that the little girl was now looking around. There was a small glimpse of hope in her dark eyes.
There was another shot and one of the standing zombies fell. This time they had a vague idea that it was coming from down the alley and looked towards the dumpster. With my handgun ready, I waited for them to come around to inspect it. One did make his way and I began to pull the trigger, but Alec spared me the kill with a bullet to the zombie’s head.
The last one doesn’t seem to like his odds and ran down the alley away from us. My eyes wandered over to Alec when he motioned for me to go help the girl and he would keep watch.
She was shaking fiercely when I approached her. Not wanting to look at me and trying to scoot away the closer I got.
“It’s alright.” I said in my most pleasant, calming voice. “We are here to help you.” Kneeling down beside her, I pulled a knife from my belt and cut her ropes. “My name is Elliot, what is yours?”
“Amabel.” She mumbled the name and when the last of her bounds fell to the ground, she turned her dark eyes to me. “Everyone calls me Mabel.”
I helped her to her feet with a grin, “You can call me Elly.”
My brother Alec must of decided that there was no more danger about and came to see how we were doing. Mabel grabbed my hand and pressed her body against mine when she saw him. Obviously, she wasn’t sure if he was a zombie or not.
“This is my brother, Alec.” I informed her and pointed at him.
She didn’t say anything, but did nod at him with acknowledgement. I can’t say that I blame her. Alec was tall and muscular, and for such a sweet man, he always looked like he was angry. There was a scar across his forehead from an encounter three months earlier, and the scowl that he carried didn’t add any pleasantries to his face.
“Where is your family?” Alec asked her, and kneeled down in front of her to lessen his intimidating stance.
“We were going out to the country. My Uncle Cole, he’s a doctor, said that we needed to start a farm and…” She frowned, “I was suppose to stay in the middle of them, but I saw a kitten.”
I rubbed her shoulder, “We’ll find them, don’t worry.” My eyes went to my brother allowing a little bit of hope to shine through.
Alec asked, “Do you know which way they were heading?”
She pointed towards the north, “I think. The infected ones took me so far away, maybe they went another way.”
“How many of them were there?” He asked her and reached out to touch her hand in a reassuring manner.
Mabel shied away from his touch, “I don’t know.” Her hand that held mine was shivering, which informed me that she was terrified of my brother.
“How long ago did they take you?” He continued his questioning despite my glares that were trying to tell him to wait until later, when the girl had calmed down.
“Two days.” There were tears welting up in her eyes, “We are never going to find them, are we?” She was looking up to me for the answer.
“We are going to try.” We had to try. There were others out there like us, and our only hope would be to find them and join our forces.
“Should we still go to the hospital?” Alec questioned me. I don’t know why he was asking, since it wasn't like I was the one in control of what we did. Yet, it was another big sister responsibility that I had. He and Olivia, our sister, had always believed that I had all the answers and knew what to do all the time.
“I suppose. I am very low on pain meds.”
“Uncle Cole has lots of medicine!” Mabel chimed in, “We were at the hospital when everyone started dying.” She frowned, “We left cause we didn’t have any food and the infected ones were starting to break into the morgue.” With a shake of her head, she returned to her original thought, “Uncle Cole took all the medicine that we could carry. He said we might be able to trade it for supplies.”
“I like your Uncle Cole already.” I told her and it brought a smile to her face.
Alec grabbed my arm and excused us both from the girl’s presence. He walked me over to the dumpster so that we could still see her, but we were far enough away that she couldn’t hear him whispering. “We should check the hospital anyway. What are the odds that we will find this girl’s family?”
I nodded, “You’re right. She said that zombies are all over the hospital. We can’t take her in there.”
“We’ll find her a hiding spot and come back for her when we are done.”
“Here?”
“No, near the hospital.” He sighed, “Besides, I don’t like the idea of blindly following a nine year old.”
Next Chapter: http://rkphunt.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=62
The world is a much different place now. It’s been four months since it all began and I can’t put into words the bizarre occurrences. Many of the survivors have just gone insane because the virus did effect them, but in a non-lethal way. I have started to call these people zombies, but they aren’t really the walking undead. They can think, feel, and hunger just like the rest of us, yet they have bouts of dementia and some seem to be morally void.
My sister, brother, and I survived the end of the world. We had to watch our parents die and our friends wither away. Three weeks ago one of the zombies got my sister. She was raped and then murdered. We never got a chance to save her. We found her body two days later. She managed not to contract the virus, but she couldn’t live through the tortures that he put her through.
It’s just my brother and I now. Sometimes we walk through the street looking for food or water or anything that we could use. We barely talk to each other anymore. He and I were very close, and I would say we are even closer now. Of course, we have to be, since the other’s life depends on your trust.
We’ve been looking for others like us that didn’t become zombies. Though whenever we meet someone with potential, it turns out they were just trying to lead us into a trap. With my brother’s military training and my former employment as a police detective, we’ve been able to survive decently.
When the riots started, my brother called us over to his home. I remember his five year old daughter, Lesley, lying on a blanket in the cellar. Her skin was graying and her hair was falling out. She was infected with the virus that came to be known as the Judgment Day Virus. Her father’s immunity was not passed onto her like we had hoped, although she did fight it for a lot longer then most.
My brother practically had an entire arsenal in his cellar, and we loaded ourselves up on anything we could carry. Rifles, shotguns, handguns, and all the ammunition. We had been on the way to our family’s cabin out in the country, when they attacked our car. I had only shot two people in my life as a cop, and neither of them died. That day, in that single moment, I killed six people without hesitation. I had to. They were attacking the only family that I had left. My brother also took lives that day, one of them being his own daughter.
She was suffering so much. Blood splattered everywhere when she coughed. Our sister was more then willing to carry her, but Alec didn’t want his daughter to suffer anymore. He took her away from us and the only thing we heard was a single gunshot, and then he returned. We never talked about it again.
Because of the attack to our car, we were unable to use it. The people had set it on fire before we had a chance to react. So, now we were stuck here inside the city. Any cars that we came upon were set ablaze. I told Alec that I thought the zombies were doing it to keep people from escaping. He seemed to agree with me.
Anyway, that was the end of the world for me. Now it’s just me and Alec trying to stay alive, even though it would be so much easier to lie down and die. At least that’s what I think at night when I am laying there staring at the McDonald’s sign. Then it’s time to wake up and we have to go back out there. Safety in numbers type deal, so we have to find more people like us.
I don’t know how we manage to gather enough strength to even try. My mind keeps echoing, “It’s worthless. This is all in vain! Just let me die already!” Then we are attacked and I defend myself to live another moment. If I didn’t have Alec with me, I would probably have let them kill me. He can’t take another person dying on him. I can already see the surrender in his eyes. The only reason he goes on is because of me and visa versa.
Maybe if I just told him that I wanted to die, then he could tell me the same. No, I can’t let him kill himself. I am not by any means a religious person, but suicide isn’t the answer here. There might be a reason we were left on this earth. This might just be punishment for our sins.
---***---
My eyes scanned our surroundings. None of the buildings had a single window intact. We were passing by the mall as we usually do. After four months it had been picked dry of practically everything useful. I know as most of it was done by the rioting and the rest was done by me and Alec.
I saw Alec’s six foot frame out of the corner of my eye. He had stopped and was looking through a wired fence. His light brown hair was being tossed by the winds and I reminded myself that I needed to cut it when I got the chance. As I approached him, I noticed the small orange tabby cat in the alley that he was trying to coax over to him with a piece of tuna. He had opened the can earlier so that we could snack on it as we did our rounds.
The cat seemed to decide it was more hungry then scared and slinked over to us. With a quick swipe, it grabbed the tuna from his fingers and began to growl as it chewed it down. As much of a cat lover that I was, I knew that we shouldn’t be wasting our few food supplies on stray cats.
“We can’t keep it.” I announced.
Alec’s dark eyes looked up to me as he had been bent over. “I know, but we can share can’t we?” Standing up, he stood four inches taller then me.
“With humans, sure.” I surveyed the area as he gave the cat another piece, “Come on, it looks like rain. We should head back.”
He straggled behind for a moment before catching up to me and offered the can of tuna up. I snatched it from his hand and finished it off, before throwing the can over my shoulder. “What’s up?” I asked when I noticed the worried look in his eyes.
“This isn’t working.” Alec sighed, “We aren’t going to find anyone not affected by the virus by walking around in circles everyday.”
I nodded in agreement, “Yeah, we are going to have to move. It’s a tough choice to make though, because at least here we know where everything we need is.”
“Those supplies won’t last forever.”
“And if we head out in the wrong direction we could end up starving to death or worse.” I tried to ignore the frustration that I heard in his tone.
He looked up to the dark clouds forming in the sky, “I doubt anything will be there, but tomorrow we should pack up and head to the hospital. We might find some drugs there or better yet, it’s a good place for people to hole themselves up in.”
“We don’t need drugs.”
Alec frowned at me. He knew that I suffered from back pain. It was a spinal injury that happened to me when I was a young girl. I was in a car accident that had paralyzed me for nearly two years, but I refused to give up on myself. I went to rehab every week until I was walking again. Unfortunately, my back would still object occasionally to holding my weight and I would find myself bed ridden for the rest of the day, at least without pain medication.
I could feel the prescription bottle in my coat pocket, and knew there were only four pills left. I had been trying to ration them out and only taking them when the worst of pain hit. Neither of us knew what we were going to do once I was completely out. If there was one thing that Alec couldn’t stand, it was seeing his older sister in pain. Even if I tried to pretend that it didn’t exist, he knew when I was having a hard time.
“So, to the hospital then?” He asked once the McDonald’s was in sight.
I nodded my head, “Yeah, we will head out tomorrow.”
He opened the door for me and I made my way over to the small campsite we had made inside the fast food restaurant.
We both began to make ourselves more comfortable by removing any excess clothing and weapons from our bodies. Alec was wearing his army combat uniform, where I was in a pair of jeans, a black sweater, and one of his camouflage jackets. I had a black leather jacket, but Alec insisted that I wear some camouflage.
My clothing wasn’t exactly clean, but I wasn’t too worried about bathing or laundry at the moment. Both us probably stunk to high heaven, but we had gotten used to each other’s unwashed smells.
When I was comfortable, I began to dig through some of our canned goods to find what we would be having for dinner. I settled on a can of chili, and opened it with the small can opener on Alec’s key chain. It was a pain in the ass to use, but that was all we had.
I used my fingers to dig my portion of the meal into my mouth, while Alec waited patiently for me to finish. He took the can from me when I offered it to him, and ate in the same fashion. We gave up on spoons and forks, because we didn’t want to waste water cleaning them.
Pulling out a hairbrush, I pulled my hair from its French braid and brushed my dark blonde locks. When I was finished I re-braided my hair and then brushed my teeth with no toothpaste just the brush. Laying my head down on my bundled up jacket, I closed my eyes. Alec and I switched off during the night to take watch. Every two hours we would switch, but he always took first watch.
“Elliot?” I heard him say after a few moments, “You asleep, yet?”
“No.” My eyes fluttered open and I looked at him.
He was sitting crossed legged beside me with a shotgun in hand. “You think…” He began then looked down at his feet.
“What is it?” I asked as I propped myself up on my elbows.
He inhaled deeply, “What if we are the only ones like us? Maybe this virus was suppose to take us back to our more animalistic forms. Since we didn’t, maybe we are the weaker species and are suppose to die.”
I frowned, “I certainly don’t like the thought of that.” My words did nothing for him, so I continued. “Let’s not worry about that until we’ve tried for a little while longer. There has to be more people out there like us.” I put my head back down and closed my eyes. After a moment, I felt Alec take my hand into his for reassurance.
Even though he was bigger and more capable then I was, he still saw me as his big sister. The one who protected him from bullies as kids, and that he had to listen to when I babysat for our parents. It was comforting in its own way, I suppose. Even though I would have probably been killed by now without him, he needed me by his side for strength.
---***---
Mornings just don’t feel the same anymore. I remember waking up with the sun shining through my bedroom window and the birds outside singing away. I felt refreshed and alive then. Going into the kitchen, my boyfriend, Drew, would be making us breakfast. He was a chef who owned his own restaurant. We had been discussing marriage and children, though we didn’t have any set plans. I was still pretty new to the police force and wanted to get firm standing in my career before I did anything else.
I don’t know why, but all these months later, I still expect to wake up in our apartment and find him in the kitchen. I hear the sounds of him humming his little happy tune while I take my shower. The smell of fresh coffee and pancakes fill the apartment and I can’t wait to start my day.
Then I open my eyes and it’s all over. I remember Drew’s body being wracked with pain so unbearable that I couldn’t hold back my tears. He would scream constantly and beg for it all to end. His face that always carried a smile was moist with sweat and contorted to look like the agony he was feeling on the inside. I remember his red hair falling out in my hand as I stoked his head trying to let him know that I was there.
Most of all, I remember him dying. He didn’t even know who I was in those last days. Not that he could talk at all through the pain, but I could see the unfamiliar stare in his eyes when he looked upon me. I think what hurt the most was when he started calling out the name of his ex-girlfriend when he was in the most pain. What could I do, but sit there and accept that he had no control over his mind anymore. I even pretended to be her a couple times so he would stop screaming.
With his last breath, he said, “I love you.” I don’t know if it was directed at me or towards the ex-girlfriend, but I like to think he had a moment of clarity before he died. Maybe I am just fooling myself. It’s still a nice thought.
We don’t get too many of those now. Happy thoughts or endings seem like they are so far out of reach that they are impossible. Luckily, I can always remember being happy even if it was only for a moment.
I knew Alec did the same as me, as I would see him smile or laugh while he slept. On one occasion, he actually said his daughter’s name and I knew that he was in a happy moment. It had been my time to wake him, but I decided to give him a few more minutes in that dream. He had done it for me before.
Now all that prior happiness had to wait for another night, because Alec and I had to make our way across town. We should of done this months ago. The hospital is probably picked clean by now, but we have to try. Besides a hospital is a good place to hide in, though most of the sick were there. So, if it isn’t a place where people like us have made a home then it is where the zombies have.
Alec and I loaded up everything we owned. Our tents, weapons, and all of our food. We looked more like we were going on a hunting expedition in Africa then crossing a city in the USA. I took a couple pills before we started, knowing that all the extra weight would begin to toy with my back. My brother tried to take as much as he could and he did have most of our canned goods.
It must have been two hours into our trip before we said anything to each other. Of course, that was only to tell him that I saw something move in the building beside us. We weren’t going to investigate, but instead we kept on moving down the street. However, we prepared to shoot anything that might jump out on us.
Keeping a close eye on our surroundings we hurried our pace. Walking in this unfamiliar territory was dangerous, but a risk that we had to take. Alec and I had pretty much claimed the area around McDonald’s and we didn’t have to worry much about intruders. The zombies apparently realized that we were hazardous to their health and stayed away. Now, we were in their territory and the rules had changed.
Most of the buildings were without windows from the riots, all cars had been set on fire, and were nothing more then charred remains now. It wasn’t uncommon for streets to have from a couple to a hundred dead bodies littered about. The smell of death was always around us, and the rains from yesterday only made the odor worse.
Our footsteps were heavy as the streets were slightly flooded with water. Both Alec and I knew that we were making too much noise and tried to ease our footsteps even as we hurried. The sounds of a little girl crying forced me to stop and look around for its source. This was a trick both Alec and I were all too familiar with, but it would guilt us if we didn’t at least investigate to make sure it was indeed a trap.
I looked at my brother who seemed almost reluctant to check out the cries. It was both safer and easier to just walk away and pretend we never heard the child. However, if it was indeed a human girl with resistances like our own then we would be leaving her to death. I seriously doubted that this far into the apocalypse that she would have survived without adult help, but maybe she had gotten split from her group. That was another reason that we had to look. She might know where more people like us are. We couldn’t just walk away from that.
After a couple minutes of search, we narrowed down the cries to an alley. In the distance we could see a metal trashcan with a fire burning inside. Alec motioned that he is going in and that I was to cover him, which I acknowledged my understanding by nodding.
He begins down the alley towards the trashcan with his gun barrel pointed towards the sky. I didn’t even notice that he had removed the items he was carrying and dropped them beside me. There was no time for me to do the same, my job was to watch out for his safety. I did, however, unlace a couple bags that are attached to my belt.
Hiding behind a dumpster, he raised his hand and waved me over. I dropped the rest of my supplies and made my way down the alley to kneel down beside him. There was a small camp ahead of us with four men. Their clothes were tattered and they were eating what appeared to be a small dog of some sort. Their diet was the least of my concerns right now, because behind them was a young girl. She looked to be of Latin descent with her tan skin and straight black hair and was no older then nine. Her hands were bound to her ankles. Blood covered her bright blue shirt and jeans.
“Not a trap.” Alec whispers to me as if that needed to be said.
He headed back down the alley to our supplies and found himself a rifle. When he positioned himself next to our items, I knew that he planned to take his shots from there. My job would be to shoot anyone who came past the dumpster. To be on the safe side, I looked at the group of four men again. I was pretty sure that they were zombies by their grayish skin and their grunts. What they wanted with the little girl is something that I was afraid to ask myself. I knew what they did to women, and I hoped that hadn’t befallen her.
Alec took his first shot and it was right on target. With a loud thud, the man who was shot fell over. The other three looked confused and began to look around to figure out where the attack had come from. I noticed that the little girl was now looking around. There was a small glimpse of hope in her dark eyes.
There was another shot and one of the standing zombies fell. This time they had a vague idea that it was coming from down the alley and looked towards the dumpster. With my handgun ready, I waited for them to come around to inspect it. One did make his way and I began to pull the trigger, but Alec spared me the kill with a bullet to the zombie’s head.
The last one doesn’t seem to like his odds and ran down the alley away from us. My eyes wandered over to Alec when he motioned for me to go help the girl and he would keep watch.
She was shaking fiercely when I approached her. Not wanting to look at me and trying to scoot away the closer I got.
“It’s alright.” I said in my most pleasant, calming voice. “We are here to help you.” Kneeling down beside her, I pulled a knife from my belt and cut her ropes. “My name is Elliot, what is yours?”
“Amabel.” She mumbled the name and when the last of her bounds fell to the ground, she turned her dark eyes to me. “Everyone calls me Mabel.”
I helped her to her feet with a grin, “You can call me Elly.”
My brother Alec must of decided that there was no more danger about and came to see how we were doing. Mabel grabbed my hand and pressed her body against mine when she saw him. Obviously, she wasn’t sure if he was a zombie or not.
“This is my brother, Alec.” I informed her and pointed at him.
She didn’t say anything, but did nod at him with acknowledgement. I can’t say that I blame her. Alec was tall and muscular, and for such a sweet man, he always looked like he was angry. There was a scar across his forehead from an encounter three months earlier, and the scowl that he carried didn’t add any pleasantries to his face.
“Where is your family?” Alec asked her, and kneeled down in front of her to lessen his intimidating stance.
“We were going out to the country. My Uncle Cole, he’s a doctor, said that we needed to start a farm and…” She frowned, “I was suppose to stay in the middle of them, but I saw a kitten.”
I rubbed her shoulder, “We’ll find them, don’t worry.” My eyes went to my brother allowing a little bit of hope to shine through.
Alec asked, “Do you know which way they were heading?”
She pointed towards the north, “I think. The infected ones took me so far away, maybe they went another way.”
“How many of them were there?” He asked her and reached out to touch her hand in a reassuring manner.
Mabel shied away from his touch, “I don’t know.” Her hand that held mine was shivering, which informed me that she was terrified of my brother.
“How long ago did they take you?” He continued his questioning despite my glares that were trying to tell him to wait until later, when the girl had calmed down.
“Two days.” There were tears welting up in her eyes, “We are never going to find them, are we?” She was looking up to me for the answer.
“We are going to try.” We had to try. There were others out there like us, and our only hope would be to find them and join our forces.
“Should we still go to the hospital?” Alec questioned me. I don’t know why he was asking, since it wasn't like I was the one in control of what we did. Yet, it was another big sister responsibility that I had. He and Olivia, our sister, had always believed that I had all the answers and knew what to do all the time.
“I suppose. I am very low on pain meds.”
“Uncle Cole has lots of medicine!” Mabel chimed in, “We were at the hospital when everyone started dying.” She frowned, “We left cause we didn’t have any food and the infected ones were starting to break into the morgue.” With a shake of her head, she returned to her original thought, “Uncle Cole took all the medicine that we could carry. He said we might be able to trade it for supplies.”
“I like your Uncle Cole already.” I told her and it brought a smile to her face.
Alec grabbed my arm and excused us both from the girl’s presence. He walked me over to the dumpster so that we could still see her, but we were far enough away that she couldn’t hear him whispering. “We should check the hospital anyway. What are the odds that we will find this girl’s family?”
I nodded, “You’re right. She said that zombies are all over the hospital. We can’t take her in there.”
“We’ll find her a hiding spot and come back for her when we are done.”
“Here?”
“No, near the hospital.” He sighed, “Besides, I don’t like the idea of blindly following a nine year old.”
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