The End (7 page)

Emma gets up looking for something clean to
wear after getting dressed she walks to the kitchen to check on
them, on the way to the kitchen she realize how silent everything
is, reaching the kitchen Emma can see there was some food made
bread crumbs is on the floor, Emma stresses as she has no idea
where they are, she walks fast trying hard to stay calm.

Emma finally reaches the outside, she smiles
as they are both sitting playing in the sand, and it came as a
surprise to her to see her mother playing with her daughter. Emma
didn’t think she had it in her to still do stuff like this; she
must be bored out of her mind to do something like this.

Emma feels disgusted to the bone, she haven’t
had a bath since she left home, wondering if she can clean herself
in the ocean or at least in the moats, after all, it’s highly
unlikely that this disease could be in the water or at least not
salty water like this. Salt will only do good for wounds like
scratches good way to disinfect pretty much any wound, she convince
herself to do it, she is going to take a semi-bath to clean herself
if she doesn’t try it no one will ever know if it’s really safe or
not and knowing William, no fresh water will be spared for good
cleaning. He really tries too hard to make everything perfect, if
he could only realize that nothing will be the way it was, not
anytime soon, maybe if he knows this then he won’t be so hard on us
and things will go better I am pretty sure about that, after all,
hygiene is also important.

Emma sits on the edge of the moat with her
feet hanging in the water, the temperature is perfect, she use her
hands to scrub her feet then grab some water for her shoulders its
really uncomfortable to wash like this, she get up and removes all
of her clothing except for her underwear before she gets into the
water entirely its colder at the bottom, but just the feeling of
water against her dirty skin is enough to convince Emma to stay and
finish cleaning herself.

She will still need to find a way to rinse
away any ocean sand, she gets out and uses her own shirt to
semi-dry herself before she gets dressed, she calls her mother and
daughter loudly, though they are having fun and don’t hear
anything, Emma ignores to call out for them again she continues to
go inside to get dry clothing.

Day 1: Food

We have a long day ahead of us we need to try
and get as much food, water, and fuel before the day ends before we
go back, the more we get now the less we will go on these runs, of
course, we will eventually go further as supplies get scarce close
by. William is in a very good mood today he actually seems friendly
maybe because the wheels are starting to turn, though the way I
know him this can change in seconds.

The weapons we have is not meant for fighting
its only for defending a few at a time, they got damaged fast the
last encounter we had, we also know that we should just go for the
head to end it as fast as possible however we should try and avoid
this at all times we can’t afford an injury or waste any time, we
are strictly here to gather supplies.

Danny agrees politely, Danny didn’t hear half
of what he said except for the non-conflict part, he really wants
to believe that, though it’s a bit hard when everything wants to
kill you, other than that Danny is filled with fear, even if he did
eat, it feels like he didn’t get any food for days the feeling of
starvation is making him feel uneasy, he knows if he doesn’t do
anything about it the feeling will drive him insane.

Danny insist that when they get close to a
clinic they should stop there and get medicine, William doesn’t
agree with this, we should stick to the plan, if we don’t we will
surely fail, it’s a fact that most people fail due to not planning
or not following the plans they made.

Sure okay let’s just go Danny replies
sarcastically, this reaction tips William that something must be
bothering him, William says nothing still he will be on the lookout
to what the problem might be. They set up and grab their bags and
head out in to the streets these things are getting more and more,
they also seem to have different reactions every day that passes,
William isn’t really sure yet what to make of this except that
every day will be different and they will have to expect the
unexpected.

Hours later, house to house, food and clean
water was scavenged, it was way too much to carry the food trolley
they got didn’t last long so a lot of packets was left on the
street for when they return the best plan they have is to find a
small truck and on the way back it will be picked up, all this will
last for months, though even so, we will still do the runs
regularly no need to wait until we almost have nothing left the
more we have the better we will be off to focus on other needed
things.

If we go down Eaton St we should reach a
church, Danny we should check it out there might be people there,
we just go and check then return and continue to the docks do a few
more places before we find something large enough to get everything
back to the boat, Danny really wants to say no, however, that won’t
do anything, Danny agrees with a smile on his face it’s really the
only thing he could do that will give good results.

From a distance they can see the church there
is many at the front door and still a good amount surrounding the
church, well there you go nothing there let’s head back, William
insists that they stay a little longer just to be sure it’s just
strange to see so many of them, they must be there for a reason,
Danny rolls his eyes and sits down he might as well rest while he
can.

Surely not long after he went to sit down,
gun shots were fired from the top windows, some of them that was
banging on the front door fell to the ground still moving around
struggling to get up eventually they do and continue to bang on the
door even harder with more approaching.

William draws the gun he found, he takes out
a paint can from his jacket and starts spraying on the tar road in
big “We can help you, aim for the head” now to get their attention,
William aims his gun right next to the window and fire one shot he
waits before he fire one more shot, this time, hitting the window,
it shatters, William hope he didn’t hit someone.

William can see the rifle sitting there and a
few seconds later someone tucks their head out aiming at William,
he could see this clearly, his hearts pounds faster and faster, his
face gets hot, the man aims back down to the door and every shot he
took was a clear hit to the head. Another person joined at the
window on the right just across the broken window also firing on
them, they still moved for a minute or two but the results were
perfect and not long after most of them was on the ground dead, a
few people came rushing out the door taking care of the remaining
few that was still standing around.

Some of them approached William and Danny
before he could even say something William interrupts him giving
him all the details as fast as he can, we can do introductions much
later, if you want to live then you should come with us, we have
enough food, water and soon we will also have the power to run
basic electrical needs.

Without a second though or second passing the
man replies no “you should come with us” he points his finger
beside William’s head, William turns and pauses in fear, there is
so many of them it must be close to a hundred if not more, the man
pulls his arm, Williams body shifts slightly and they all rush back
into the church with all inside, they start putting up new
barricades and repairing the ones they had nailing any lose planks
back on the door and lower windows.

William is surprised they have so many
weapons not handmade, but guns and some of them seem really
experienced with a gun, but this isn’t it he is surprised that he
counted 28 survivors, it would be wonderful if they could join,
then we will be standing strong especially with some of these
people. They seem strong and know at least what they are doing,
William also sees an entire stack of food and water bottles next to
it, and they have clearly been here at the church for some time
now.

Combining their goods with the goods they
found then we can focus on some reel progress, it’s getting late we
are supposed to go home Emma don’t have much food, it might be
enough for today and maybe tomorrow, William looks through the
window, now there is a few approaching from Duval St to, from both
sides, knowing it will be impossible to pass a big group like this
or rather hordes like this, the only chance they have is to make a
stand and have some faith and hope.

Many of the group believe, that this is the
end for them, the horde approaching will overwhelm them in a few
minutes, rotten flesh, bone on bone they approach faster and
faster, these things are so hard to understand, William have not
the slightest idea how to explain them, once something is marked
down it gets crossed out the next day, they start banging on the
doors no one has opened fire in hopes they will pass.

The planks holding the doors down is
loosening rapidly it’s just a matter of time before they fall off,
some of the survivors starts heading higher, before they lose hope
they hear a large bang in the distance like a very big explosion,
the banging stops slowly but surely they start moving down the
streets in all directions, this is good but also a problem now they
are scattered all over the place. William has a very good feeling
they won’t be going back for today and most likely not tomorrow
either.

It’s strange some of them are moving towards
the explosion, but then there is a good amount that seems kind of
confused by all the movement; it’s starting to make more sense to
William. Even the ones moving away doesn’t look all that rotten and
disgusting like the ones that follow movement, their flesh isn’t
falling off like the day all this started.

William doesn’t want to believe what came up
but it’s impossible to ignore the fact that the more this disease
is spreading the more it evolves its maybe the only thing that can
explain this behavior nothing else unless it has something to do
from person to person but I hardly doubt that. The only sure way to
find out is to wait longer and see, if it’s true then the first
ones will die out like some do when reaching a critical point,
William knows for sure that this is very bad news if he were to be
correct.

The streets is overrun by them it’s
impossible to leave now, the others will have to make do with what
food they have, I am sure they can manage for a few days or at
least until we can slip by, it will also give me enough time to try
and convince this group to come with us. It will be riskier to get
out of here with all of them but once we all reach the fort we will
be much stronger together.

I do not want to rush this, after all, they
just met us, we will have to wait and see what happens
tomorrow.

Chapter 3: Dark Roads

Everything is going so well, nothing has passed my little setup it
really wasn’t the best I could do but the last few days I have been
patching up my defenses and raided all the houses in my block. I
want to believe everything is going as planned; I want to believe
everything will be okay but it’s not, the other day I found
graffiti around my lazy barricades, however not with inside almost
like someone is making sure no one is home or more like someone is
trying to draw me outside.

I didn’t pay too much attention to it but a
few hours ago not far from my block there was an explosion, it
could be a bunch of stupid hippies, I would like to believe that,
though in today’s new world you can only trust the most horrifying
thoughts.

I can’t take any risks I will have to make
sure about this we can never be to safe, only realizing this now
that explosion must have lured them away in some way but that will
kill all my facts if that were to be true, they go after movement
and not sounds that much, it’s getting very hard to predict these
things if they do respond to sound or anything else then I have no
option but to test it and I will have to test this as soon as
possible.

Jason goes inside taking his homemade map it
might look like a bunch of scribble to others however this map
shows every house Jason raided in every street, there is still a
few more hotspots left, to get to these hotspots for supplies will
be very risky it will be the furthest from home, far outside the
barricades, we have so much resources, food, medical supplies and
even fuel to last us for months to come, of course more is
better.

I will head out early morning it will take at
least 12 hours to get there and 12 hours to get back, these things
don’t even really bother me anymore, my most concern, is all that
graffiti it could be any one and for all I know can be a big risk
for all of us.

Jason wants to predict that his daughters
will be fine, he almost wants to be sure of it since nothing ever
passed the barricades over such a long period of time, it’s only
reasonable to believe that 24 hours won’t make a difference in
that.

Jason goes to his bedroom, his official
working room, this is where Jason has an entire setup from spades,
broomsticks, knives, machetes anything he could find to make a
weapon out of is stored in this room, including all the materials
needed to put something special together, this also include tools
like screwdrivers, ratchets and bits and much more. Sooner or later
another room will be needed to store these items, if only there
were more people to use them then it would have been perfect
besides there is enough to clear out blocks and keep them cleared
from these monstrosities.

The day passes by slowly, early the next
morning Jason is on his feet ready to move out, knowing that Jacky
and Maggie knows exactly what’s going on and why he has to go, they
know all the safety precautions to take while their dad is out on
runs.