A survivor for now, she woke up to the moans of hoards of zombies around her home. She'd learned of her luck when the group had taken care of the zombies and come in to look for supplies. They found her alongside the supplies. She'd really had some luck there. And she'd never said her real name to anyone of them.
Spectra felt the pain. She felt the pain of so many others on her shoulders. From this war, she'd heard her allies and friends cries and anguish, resisting the strong urge to turn back. Only because she knew it was too late for them. They were the last hopes for humanity. And she was one of them. She'd place the ratio of men to women at about 3:1. Why? Men are made for physical labor more so than many women.
Spectra had cropped her hair to about the top of her ears or the bottom of them, whatever. She'd done it at the beginning of this war so the enemy would have less to hold onto. Loose clothing and long hair could be a deathtrap. She let out a soft chuckle. What had this world come to? One day, her and her family and friends are celebrating Christmas, when suddenly a zombie appears right in front of their eyes.
She set the barrel for the zombies incoming. They were eating George Sanchez. Call her silly, but she felt a need to learn their names. He placed the glock pistol he held up against his head. Bam. Spectra was frozen for a moment. She was snapped out of her daze by him ordering her to run. He'd been the leader of the group- and her group had been severely decimated. But they still held together. She hated running away, not being able to help her fallen teammates.
In the beginning she'd cried for them, but she'd quickly learn that it slowly ate away at the time. That little time that they had to pack up and run, relocate. The chance for a new zombie around every single corner- it chipped away at the mind until it became numbed to it. She couldn't look back. And she still had a few small items from her old life- a couple bows that were her baby sisters, a small pack of Hello Kitty notepads from her other sister, the collars to the family cats and dogs, and of course some family photos. Spectra needed these to keep sane. Of course, she was still saddened deeply by the loss of them all though.
Clap, clap, clap, clap. She heard her footsteps on the pavement of a back alley. Every time that one of them died, this thick silence followed when the others were told. If the press had not concealed the fact that they were zombies, not psychopath murderers, maybe this whole thing could have been stopped! But no, they didn't do it for the people, but ratings and money! Look what they did!
She grabbed onto the discrete rope the team had placed for entry to their haven and climbed like there was no tomorrow. There might not even be a tomorrow for her. George lost his. She knew he'd had a family too, and his brother was with him when he'd arrived to the group. They'd both been uninfected, and like everyone else they'd sworn that they would shoot themselves if infected. They all made this vow so one less zombie would walk the earth. As Spectra climbed, she heard the moans. Eyes widened, she picked up speed. That zombie had almost caught her presence, and if it had the group would surely vanish.
She huddled up in a corner, afraid to move lest any zombies know of her presence. She couldn't afford that. Everyone was out to get them- and of course everyone meant all the zombies. How many survivors were even left? She wished she could say there was half a million. But that was too high a measurement in her opinion. Maybe fifty to a hundred thousand left? And how fast would they vanish? She wondered how the human race could survive this new world. One where the precious few that had skills of nature, like botany for example, or a strong knowledge of geography, a sense of location would survive.
She heard another member of the group come up. It was George's brother, Vincent. He had a vast knowledge of mechanics, construction, things like that. George had knowledge of the little vital things- he knew over fifty ways to make a fire, how to tell if a zombie was nearby, basic traps and hunting techniques. Fortunately, he'd taught those skills to Vincent. He knew he'd die. He did it so the two of them could get away.
An awkward silence fell between the two. Spectra warily eyed him from her place in the corner with her hand on a sharpened knife. She was watching for any violent or zombie like behavior from him. She figured he was doing the same from his corner. He didn't have a weapon directly in hand, but rather close.
Spectra broke the silence, even though it was very faint. Her voice was little more than a whisper.
"Vincent?" She spoke quietly, enough so that he would hear, but barely.
"Yeah Spectra?" He responded with the same quiet voice, though still slightly louder. She noticed his hand move to his knife.
"It's about George…" She trailed off, averting her gaze from the man across the room from her.
"What about him, exactly?" Spectra spared a quick look at him to see his expression. What she registered was a look of suspicion and anger, or sadness, maybe a mix of those two?
"You are aware that he's…" Spectra paused, looking for words to ease the pain for him. But she found none. "… He's dead Vincent."
He looked uneasy.
"Your brother, George, is dead Vincent."
He looked like he wanted to fall apart right then. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way, she really couldn't. After all, he was the family he'd had left, all that was left of it. His brother and he both made it past the initial assault, for his brother to die in the end. And he couldn't have been there at his last moments.
Spectra brought her face up from behind her knees to look at him. He was shaking with what she believed to be sadness as he slowly lifted his head up to acknowledge her. Spectra noted that his eyes were really filled with rage. Rage that was directed towards her.
"Vincent, please calm down just a little, this wasn't my fault!"
"Yes it was. I'd left to check for the others since you'd volunteered to watch his back for me. You failed, and look what happened because you were so careless."
"It was an ambush of sorts Vincent."
"Whatever… Just leave me alone."
The silence returned, again filling Spectras head with emptiness. She wanted another survivor to come by soon, very soon. And yet no one did.
Spectra began to feel very uncomfortable with the emptiness. It was getting to her.
"But you see, it's not me, it's not my family, in your head, in your head, in your head, they are for dead, with their tanks and their bombs, and there bombs and their guns, in your head, in your head, they're there for dead. It's the same old theme, since 1916, in your head, in your head, their still for dead, with their tanks and their bombs, and their bombs and their guns, in your head, in your head, they are dying…" She softly sung to herself. The song just occurred to her at that moment.
Finally another came up the rope. It was Emily. She was quite pretty, really. Spectra thought that Emily was quite friendly, a beacon of humanity in this dark, desolate world. She somehow held onto hope in the worst of times- these times. Spectra thought that if they'd met before the apocalypse, they could have been good friends. Spectra thought Emily was amazing in how she was such an optimistic person, even now.
"Hi guys. Kat didn't make it this time. When I left, Janie was alive, but running here another way. I don't know if she made it or not this time."
"Great," Spectra said. "Two more people are known to be lost, and a thirds status is unknown."
Emily looked at her confused. Spectra looked at Vincent. He was looking away. "George… he's dead."
"Oh… I'm sorry Vincent."
"Don't. Talk. About. It."
"We're all for dead, aren't we? Look how many have vanished- George, Kat, Christopher, Georgia, Alexandria, Hunter, Bryan, Brandon, James. Yet we continue to fight. But for what, may I ask you both? It is an cause that proves fruitless. Yet we toil on. Because we are the survivors, the last hope for humanity. I tell you, we have indeed lost a great many brothers and sisters in this war. But we remain. We are the chosen ones in this new land. We will work to preserve mankind, to continue its legacy."
"Spectra. Why are you saying all of this?"
"Only because it is true Emily. Only because it is true."
Janie climbed in, panting. Behind her were two men, sweating heavily.
" I found these guys on the way back. I've already inspected for bites. They're clean."
"Thanks for the report Janie." Emily replied. "Now may the two gentlemen please introduce themselves?
The first, a tall white man who looked like he was in his mid-twenties, spoke. "I'm Savion. I was on my own after Madison died. I struggled to kill her- her zombie form. The sedimental attachment I had with her, ya'know? We'd been friends since we were in seventh grade. I can't believe that I'd turned around for a split second and that was it! It's my entire fault…" He said the last part through gritted teeth. He was rather cute, with short, shaggy dark brown hair and matching eyes.
The second, another tall man, this time African American, spoke then. "I'm Amhad. I ran into Savion on a forging mission. I was on my own too. We've been this little dynamic duo since then…" He paused and looked around, seemingly missing something. "Where are Sarah and Leah?"
Savion looked at him sadly. "Dude, Sarah didn't make it… I have no idea if Leah did or not…" He looked crushed, Amhad.
Spectra went over to them. " Amhad, who was Sarah to you?"
He frowned out of sadness." She was my wife. And my friend of many years. Our child was killed in the first wave- we were all each other had to hold onto. She'd kept me going; she gave me a reason to keep on moving on. I needed her for my life to have any meaning. Leah was her sister; they were born a year apart. Leah was the younger one. She told me that they called their old neighborhood "the hood". They couldn't have been more unalike before the apocalypse, both physically and mentally. Sarah was more bubbly and perky than Leah. Leah was a lot stronger than Sarah- like a man in a woman's body. They were different, but still glued at the hip. I guess it was sisterly love, that bond that siblings have. I'd never gotten to experience that bond, because I hadn't had any siblings. Anyway, they were a team. I think Leah's teasing made her stronger, more enduring so to speak. She was this rock that people could lean to and trust to cheer them up. She was always in good sprits."
Spectra nodded." I wish I could say I understand, but I don't. I never let anyone special into my life. I refused to allow myself to be hurt because I let someone into my life. It was something I could not afford, living on my own. I had to take on the odd jobs that no one wanted, do chores for extra tips to get by. So entanglements were again something I could not afford if I wanted to live in that world. I guess living on the streets toughens you up a bit, at least physically. Not mentally in my case."
"Hey Janie," Emily said, "what about your life dear?"
Janie laughed. A warm friendly one none of them had heard for a long time. It felt good. "Not much darlin'. I was a cook, husband loved to travel. Never had a kid, wish I could have. Grew up whole and good in the south. You?"
"Well Janie, I was a florist for a while. Then I went into art. So I was an artist. I was actually good at that. Zack, he was my boyfriend then. We were engaged. Of course, that didn't happen. The zombies happened. My art sold for decent prices. Zack loved chocolate. So did I. He worked at a Pizza Inn as a teenager. When I met him he was a lawyer. Fun though. Not that stereotype of a boring, all business lawyer. Traveled across the country. We'd planned to travel the world. It was rather nice, since we lived simple lives."
Spectra tapped Vincent's shoulders lightly to get his attention. "What about your life Vincent?" She cocked her head slightly, widening her eyes. She'd always done this look with a question, she didn't know why.
He laughed. That caught the attention on Emily, Spectra and Janie. They'd never heard him laugh before. It was nice. "I and George, we both went into construction. We'd always been rather fit, so this was, we thought, a good way to make good use of our skills. George loved the Legos and train tracks we were tots. Mom and dad knew he'd go into that. I was a curious little kid. In school I'd never gotten the best grades, but I was still noteworthy I guess. Pure strength. Like Spectra, I'd never really gotten into romances or relationships."
Savion smiled. "Nice heart to heart chat starting huh?"
Spectra looked up at him and smiled. "Why haven't you and Amhad sat down yet?"
He shrugged. "Guess it didn't occur to me that we had to."
"You don't have to, just thought it might be more comfy."
Now it was his turn to smile. "Yeah, we'll sit."'
Spectra tapped her foot a couple of times. "So what hobbies did you haves Emily? I enjoyed using the internet when I could; I used it to write a lot. I also sang a lot. It made me feel free.
"Well Spectra, I had the green thumb. I gardened a lot. I'd also play with my pet dogs, Pixie and Jackson. Savion, what were your favorite foods?"
"That's an easy one. Pizza, Ice Cream, Any meat, and boiled eggs. Vincent, what is your favorite imaginary creature?"
"The griffon. Ahmad, what was the name of your last pet?"
"The Joker."
"Like from Batman?" Exclaimed Savion. He was laughing hard. Spectra liked his laugh. Then again, she hadn't heard too many laughs in her life.
"Yeah, so what?"
Everyone laughed at that.
They heard the moans again, taking them out of their seven minutes in heaven. They all went dead silent. Everyone turned vigilant and picked up a weapon, and one look from Vincent told them they were opting for the back to back strategy. Thick silence followed. She didn't know just how long it lasted, just that it went on and on. Ahmad spared a peek out the window to shoot his crossbow. Down went the zombies. Bam. Point one for the survivors.
"Ok guys, you can all sort of relax," Ahmad told everyone else in his very deep voice. He sat down and the others followed suit.
"Anyone have a card game with them?" asked Ahmad, causing Spectra to look at him funny. "I'm just trying to keep everyone entertained."
Spectra spoke. "I have some books, just old stuff though- Moby Dick, A Tale Of Two Cities, Jane Eyre, Hard Times, The adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I also have some of the Warriors books with me, and the hunger games novels, and ten national geographics. Will that do?"
Spectra spread them out on the floor for people to take a pick. All together they added some DC and Marvel comics, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, some mangas and amines, Eragon, War&Peace, The diary of a wimpy kid books, and a few baby books as reminders of a time lost. The books were directed towards teen audiences. That was just fine with them, since they were all still in their youth.
They were all rather close together, since the space available only allowed everyone so much room. Spectra was nest to Savion and Emily, and Janie was across from her. Spectra had it in her head that Janie liked Vincent. She really hoped that Janie would be able to find happiness in this forsaken place.
Spectra started to nod off, she'd tired out in the past few days quickly. Of course that may be due to the fact she kept saying she'd take watch and pushing aside the volunteers for the job so they could rest themselves. Yeah, that definitely helped her tire out. She felt as if she could sleep forever, on a bed of sharp metal and rock if it had to be. The recent deaths were of no help either. Spectra could feel her eyes getting heavier, but was putting up a fight to not let the lids touch. Maybe she'd developed a dear for the safety of those around her, she didn't know. She couldn't know, could she? Thought she was unaware of the fact that she was leaning onto Savion's shoulder. Still she refused to sleep. But her eyes were finally closing shut against her will. Funny, Savion had already fallen asleep.
Looked like Janie and Emily were taking watch tonight.
"Don't you think it's about time that she got some sleep?"
"Of course I do. She can't stay up forever."
"And you know Janie, they actually looked really cute next to each other."
"Who?"
"Spectra and Savion, who else?"
"Well, I guess I have to agree with that, right?"
"By the way, Janie, Spectra said that she thought you like Vincent."
"Is it obvious?"
"Not really, no."
"I guess that that's a relief."
"You really don't want him to know that you like him Janie?"
"No Emily, I don't want him to know at all."
"But why?"
"Because of George. I was going to tell him how I feel but I'm reawakened to the fact that would never work out here."
"And why do you think exactly it would never work between you and Vincent Janie?"
"Because if he loves me, and one of us dies, what would happen?"
Emily bit her lip. "Bit of a point you got there…"
"It's only true Emily."
"But I still want you two to be happy Janie."
Janie sighed. "I know you have good intentions at heart, but it just wouldn't work."
"You're awfully calm about this all Janie. How is that?"
"Emily, I just have to be. If one of us goes insane, the others will too. I've wanted to break so many times now I've lost count.""
"Well, it's amazing to me how you never cave under all this pressure."
" It's amazing to me just how much you can stay all happy and perky."
"I'm really not at all. I put on that disguise for the groups morale."
"Well it's a darn good one. I wish I had that acting skill. Before this, I'd wished I could dance. I couldn't dance to save my life."
"Neither could I. But I enjoyed dancing a lot."
"Did you ever watch Dancing With the Stars?"
"A bit. I wasn't the biggest fan of it though."
"I loved the show. I tried to copy them when I was alone. It must have looked ridiculous."
Emily giggled. "Maybe, who cares as long as you had fun though?"
Janie giggled in response. "Yeah, you're right, and I did have a lot of fun. A whole lot of it." She smiled.
"I'm glad you did. What kind of clothes did you wear?"
"Like my fashion style, what I found comfy, other stuff like that?"
"Yeah, you got it."
" I liked skinny jeans. I guess with my legs I felt confident. I'd wear a lot of novelty t-shirts for casual wear, and for formal wear it'd always be a sparkly, loud dress."
"I wore flared jeans with boots a lot. U loved tank tops and scoop tops. And for formal wear, I'd prefer to wear a mid-thigh length dress, my choice would be a rich red or bright, pretty purple."
" I like the color purple. I also liked blue. That changed when it made me feel blue."
"I liked white and red together."
"Aren't we going to have to wake the others up now?"
"Janie, you're right! I forgot this time."
"Remember, we have to be careful doing this. If they yell when we wake them up, we are all as good as dead."
Emily smiled at her. But she knew it was true. They had to be careful or the zombies would find them.
Emily went around waking them all up.
"Vincent, wake up please."
"Huh?" Vincent groggily spoke. "Oh, good morning Emily."
"Ahmad, wake up."
"Morning. I' m a really light sleeper."
"I can see that. Spectra, Savion, wake up you two."
"What?" They said at the same time, sounding almost drunk which made everyone else laugh.
"I said wake up you two."
"Savion stood up first. Savion says he's awake now. Savion wonders why she ain't getting up like she's dead."
"Why are you talking about yourself in the third person Savion?" Spectra said once she stood up. Of course, she did the thing where she widened her eyes, and cocked her head a little.
"Just a bit bored. Thought everyone could use a laugh."
"Well," Emily started, we all could. Thank you."
They heard a knock on the entrance to their base. Gripping their silenced guns and knives, Ahmad spared a look out.
"Guys, it's another survivor."
"Are they infected?" Inquired Vincent.
"No, they aren't- wait, that's Sarah! Sarah," Ahmad said in a fairly quiet voice, at least compared to his normal volume, "Over here!"
She noticed them and came over, franticly climbing the rope. Once the women had entered, panting heavily, Spectra noticed that she must have been through a fair bit. Her hair was covered in old blood, dirt, and grease, a lot more so then the other ones. She had healing wounds that looked like ones from a knife fight. She must have run into some other hostile survivors on the way here. Along her body there were several bruises. There was a cut above her right eye brow and she'd taken some cloth from her shirt and two sticks to make a makeshift cast. "Poor woman," thought Spectra.
When she was safely inside Ahmad gave her a bear hug. They were both fighting back the tears of happiness at their little reunion with each other. It was clear they had both ben convinced their significant other was dead. Which would explain just why they were both so happy at seeing each other again, even though it had only been a short amount of time since they'd last seen each other. Spectra was happy for them. She didn't understand why they felt that way- again, she'd never felt that way, ever. And now she didn't thin that she'd ever feel that way about somebody. Ever. SO there was still this bottomless pit in her, but she didn't really care- right?
"God, I'm so happy that you're here Sarah."
"I feel the exact same way right now Ahmad."
Janie, Emily and Spectra all smiled at each other. This was like a thing in the bodies of women, they were always suckers for love. None of them could understand why, of course. The other guys just stood there awkwardly, not really sure what to say or do in reaction to the event going on in front of them. Guys weren't by nature, the most adapt at understanding love at all. They were far from it.
Sarah took off her pack and pulled out checkers, chess, go fish, war, blackjack, and old maid. Good, some card games they could do. They couldn't read the same books over and over again. She also took out the books Yellow fever 1793, White fang, Black beauty, and to kill a mockingbird. More classics. To bad they didn't have Gone with the wind.
"I'm also glad you brought some more books and some card games Sarah," Said Savion. "New entertainment will be good for our mental health.
"That's why I have them." She replied to him.
A brief silence followed.
"Wonder if we could have avoided this crisis if the media was more honest." Said Spectra, reflecting the thoughts of those around her.
"Probably would have made it through, not brought this world to flames and demons everywhere." Replied Savion.
"We could have made it and learn a lesson," Said Emily. "Maybe they would even have stopped trusting the media."
Savion snorted. "That's a day I'd love to see, the day people ignore the media."
"I wish they would get over the money and ratings and be honest, or would have. There isn't one left anymore when you think about it," said Janie.
"The media is a joke. It ended up killing everyone, almost, except, the prepared," said Ahmad. Sarah nodded in agreement. "Look what they helped cause, a desolate wasteland crafted by their own selfish greed."
"The world as we know, or knew it, is over for good it seems. Future generations, if there are any, will more than likely have to share this burden caused by their predecessors," said Vincent bitterly. "Now we deal with this, our children will deal with this, and the children of our children will have to deal with these demons! This is not fair for us, and will not be fair for them!"
"Calm down a bit Vincent," said Spectra.
He was clearly annoyed, but stopped the rant anyway. "Fine. Only because I know of the danger out there, the things that haunt the earth now."
"Thank you Vincent." Spectra sighed out of relief.
"When will we eat today?" Emily asked to no one in particular.
Spectra shrugged like all the others. "Now, I guess. If your hungry guys."
"I think we are, aren't we?" Emily again asked. Everyone nodded.
Spectra looked at all of them to check and told them what to eat. " take a water bottle and a fiber one bar. You all can have a couple pieces of orange after that."
Vincent looked at her in surprise. "We actually have a little bit of fruit?"
"Yes. Sarah brought it here." He looked at her for verification and she smiled. "I sure did."
He was clearly pleased at that. Probably because fruit had become a luxury item in these days. Days where kin turned on one another for a piece of bread. Days where you struggled to food and water. No electricity. Survivor fights, group against group. It was a raging war, with no end in sight, but the end seeming farther and farther every day that it went on. There was no war effort, just fight to survive.