THEAFTERMATH

APOCOLYPSE

The year 2012 really is the end of the world. Just not in the way Hollywood, makes it; no streets upturning themselves, no gigantic tsunami waves, not anything near that. It's not like Hollywood's Universal Studios' War of the Worlds either. No aliens who suck the life out of humans, no robots who vaporize you into thin air. No it's nothing like that,the world just…dies. As if there's nothing in it when there are in fact lots of things in it. It may not seem like it's horrible but it is when the birds stop flying, when the trees stop swaying, no animals are heard. Like an empty chamber. A pin could drop thousands of miles away and you could hear it. So please, if you're out there. If anyone's out there… RUN.

CHAPTER1.

June 8 2014

The road flew by us in a blur as Nate sped through the wreckage of our fellow Vegas homes, short of Las Vegas by twenty miles. Empty, deserted, nothing was out here. Long endless flat nothingness of brown…whatever. Nothing except them: their hollow, unforgiving, lifeless eyes that stared at you without flinching. Their sickly yellow skin that peeled every time they smelled…every time they smelled flesh. Young fresh flesh that needed to be changed. Those long ghastly fingernails, sharper than knives and coral: perfect for tearing, cutting, and capturing prey. But those eyes! I shuddered and wrapped my heavy jacket around me, those eyes, when you looked into them, there's no way to get out of them. They capture your heart: fill it with cold emptiness, trying to force you to see what they see, for you to see that it was okay. It was okay to become like them. Paralyzation quickly comes over your limbs, freezing cold and harsh. They come closer to you, you can't move, and then you smell them; blood, dead corpses, unspeakable things that shouldn't exist. The worst part of the smell is knowing that the blood didn't belong to them; that the skin that's covering them isn't theirs. Stolen, a stolen identity. But…they keep their minds, smart or not smart. They keep the minds and the longer they keep the shell that they live in, they learn more and become keener, faster. As if they had a long endless stream of caffeine in their blood…I wish I had that, this month was harder than last. Running until I was so exhausted that I was running without my mind, a constant stream of false hope trying to keep me alive. I closed my eyes and inhaled sharply, the screams of waking up in the middle of night to see Shady bursting through the door with her hands stained red, her brown eyes terrified and screaming, wondering why this happened to her… and her neck-

"RYDEN!" a new voice jolted me awake; I jumped and felt a hand gripping my shoulder. I freaked and lashed out a hand towards the thing that dared to touch me, "Ry, calm down Hun; it's just me. Sorry I touched you,"

I watched through my bangs to find a pair of old green eyes, looking at me slightly worried. I found myself inhaling deeply and found that it was my hand that was enclosed around the sleek neck. My hand that was gripping the neck of him, not trying to push Shady away from me. I watched numbly as I released my hold on the tanned neck. I looked around me: I was hunched down in a car seat, wrapped in an oversized jacket that had belonged to my father. I felt my knife digging into my leg and my gun cold against my side. He released his hold on my arm swiftly and I sat back up, nobody touched me. Nobody.

"Sorry." I mumbled sitting up in the seat and brushing the hair out of my face. I looked at my hands in embarrassment, "sorry,"

"No problem, you were just starting to cry a little bit. Anyways, we're getting closer to the City of Sin…maybe it's the City of Angels, I never quite figured it out." He smiled. I watched as my friend, my friend, look over at me.

Light brown hair, tinted with thin highlights, greatly faded now and matched with a pair of old grey green eyes. His hair used to shine in the sunlight but with the lack of hygiene we've had to endure it had stopped. I sat up and nodded quietly, watching the way his slightly tanned hands twitched with the urge to grab his gun that was strapped on his shoulder. He had light bags underneath his eyes, but it didn't matter since we hadn't seen any…living people on this planet so far to comment. He had the body of a boy who worked out every other day, the typical teenage boy everyone wanted to be best friends with. Buying only slightly expensive clothes, I smiled slightly as I bent down to double tie my boots. He was number 24 in the football team, (which was his grade for his English class) and the star Quarterback…like I had said, typical. He had turned seventeen last month, a junior in High School while I was a sophomore. I had seen him around the campus a dozen times, watching as his friends and he joked, cursed, and played around and thinking about what it would be like to be popular. It didn't seem too bad and it didn't seem all too great either to be honest. His girlfriend was one of the cheerleaders, blonde with bright green eyes with average money. They were our high school sweethearts, everyone thought they were cute. The way he defended her when his friends accidently called her things, the way she looked up to him. To see the way they looked at each other made you rethink everything. He was living the ideal life you only see in movies.

I was nowhere near that. A sophomore and only fifteen years old. While he was living the perfect life I was living the life of a girl who was constantly ignored by everyone she ever knew. I sat up and looked into the mirror I had found a few days ago. Long black brown hair that hasn't seen the sunlight for such a long time that there was little strands of blonde in them. Brown eyes that have long since turned a horrible shade of grey brown, a dark grey. My body was scarred and burned in the same spots and different ones. I traced a faded scar that had severed the line of my eyebrow, a small one but it was there. I was the girl who wore skinny jeans and band t-shirts. Studying to reach the top of the class and still trying to be cool to her friends. I had a lot of friends but I only had five or six close ones, I had come to love them as family. I had a good home life, my little sister gave me company when our parents were to busy with themselves and taking up the responsibility to take of two little babies that weren't even theirs. Shady was nearly my twin, except she had blonde hair and bright blue eyes and trusted everyone she knew. She was a magnificent little sister. As for my social life…part of it…I had a boyfriend, the first time I laid eyes on him I nearly ran into a wall. He was handsome and I loved every inch of him. He was flirtatious, charming, easy to like…which was his downfall. He wasn't very good at sneaking around with other girls so he was easy to hear about. I had known he had gone out with girls behind the one girl's back but I took the chance anyways. I watched silently and always had the feel of bile rise in my stomach as he kissed, loved and held the other girls. I was never the same after him; I had put to much trust into the one person I thought had loved me. I sighed and watched as Nate focused on the gas light and pushed harder on the pedal. Like I had always told myself; the one person in the world who loves you isn't the one you thought it would be. And he had said he loved me, but I was wrong. Absolutely wrong.

I tried to smile but it was difficult, there was barely anything to smile about anymore.

"So where we heading first?" I asked, "We going gambling or what? Because I'll kick your butt at blackjack."

"Ha very funny, and since I'm the one with all the luck, I'll win at the penny slots." He said sarcastically, dodging a questionable thing in the road, "Plan A; get supplies of food and lots more water, get more ammo then get the hell out of the place because it personally scares the crap out of me. And or slash, if we decide to stay; find a completely deserted place to sleep."

"And if only half of Plan A goes?"

"Flee and never look back with a second thought…well unless there's a unicorn. Get your stuff ready it's a big place." He grinned like a maniac; it was that type of smile that got me worried about him.

I turned around and slipped into the back seat, taking out my two pistols and loading them and then storing more shots in my pocket. I really hated super big guns because first of all they weighed a ton and second of all, littler guns were just so much handier. And of course being the big, strong, idiotic boy he was, Nate had the shotgun. It took me at least a month before I actually got the courage to stop using my knife and go for the gun. I had gone shooting and hunting before with my uncle so I was pretty experienced with guns but they really scared me shitless. I mean, the very first time I picked up a gun I nearly shot my foot, there were so many things to learn like: lock your arms with this gun, don't lock your arms with this one because it was more powerful. Also he said to only put it on safety when you're doing this and blah, blah, blah. Now all I have to do is unhook safety, fire, and safety back on then into the waist holster it went. Simple and clean, now I don't even want to know how Nate handled that big gun. Anyways, I loaded his gun and gave it back to him where he hooked it back onto his holster and grunted in thanks. I made sure my knives were sharp and stowed away carefully, not about to cut open my arm or leg if I tripped, and tore off the oversized coat. I wore a plain black jacket underneath that with this little sewn on thing of a symbol that either said remember or rebel…I think it said rebel. It was sort of my good luck sweatshirt. It was funny; a few years ago we would have been in jail for life for possession of guns, grand theft and arsenal. Now…now that there were no cops; it was no problem. Although it would help if the fucking Army and Marines stayed alive, but I suppose you really can't help it when the virus started in their own barracks…damn it.

I watched again as Nate pushed the pedal even faster, I swear he's going to blow us up if he keeps pushing the thing, I thought, smirking. Nate had found me curled up against a trashcan crying loudly and endlessly. My heart had been shattered and my world was spinning out of control. What else could I do? I had watched my own family fall onto their knees and beg to god to let them live! I was…was so fucking scared and crazed. I couldn't even lift my body up to see if he was going to try to kill me to, I didn't even care. But then I had seen his eyes, clear like the sky had been that afternoon, troubled and pained but clear. I knew I could trust him, but I never let him touch me unless I was too weak to get up. Even though we were basically friends, partners, whatever by pure accident or fate, I never let him touch me, after seeing Shay with her throat…the way she clung to my legs making those noises and convulsing on the floor, I just…I just couldn't let anything touch me. He never touched me, but if they touched me then he touched them back; with a bullet to the head.

Nate pulled over to a slow stop then traded places with me, making me drive while he changed into some newer clothes. He hadn't changed his clothes for six months so I was glad when we raided the mall and took lots of extra clothes. I went to the work places because they have looser and comfortable clothes that were easy to run with, climb and just all around be flexible with. While Nate had originally decided Abercrombie had the best jeans that could work for anything, he finally agreed with me when one of them had gripped his pants and ripped them so deep that I could see his plaid boxers. It was a slightly funny moment. I looked down at myself before starting the engine; dressed in black baggy pants with a thousand pockets it seemed, tucked into black combat boots with the laces tied around three times just for safety. Nothing says 'idiot' bigger then running and tripping over your too big laces when you're running from beings that want you dead. It didn't matter if you looked bad anymore, or if you didn't have makeup on, or even if the shirt doesn't look good. You can't be picky with what you wear or what you steal these days. Nate grunted and I pulled out of the dirt road and onto the pavement that was slowly upturning themselves because of the lack of those street people repaving it and crap. The road was endless as I tuned everything out, trying to focus and just nodding as Nate talked endlessly to fill the silence about nothing. I loved how Nate could just talk about anything and everything and not make it seem boring, he was just that type of guy…or boy; sometimes he can be so immature.

He started loading some extra rounds into our silver Jan sport backpack, better to be safe than dead, and stuck another gun into it. I took it absently and slung it around my back while driving with my knee carefully and shifted so he could sit besides me. Wearing a blue t shirt and faded blue jeans I had seen him pick out from the work place store, he wore his lucky sneakers though. I looked down at his wrist, I love you, was imprinted on his bracelet that he never ever took off. He had told me it was from his girlfriend the day before the whole world shattered, and that it meant the world to him since she was…

"Ready?" he asked silently, fingering the bracelet, and cocking his gun.

"I would say no but you would say suck it up and be a man and that anything else I say is invalid hm?" I questioned back, he chuckled and nodded his head.

"Something like that, yeah."

The sky was nearing nighttime but it always looked like nighttime. For a month or so it actually was total darkness. Almost like an apocalypse but not really, the stars came out every once in a while to twinkle and let us see themselves. I imagined the stars to be the souls of my friends and family, trying to push through the blackness and see me, trying to stay alive for them. Trying to say I love you back silently and wishing they were here. It felt so dead, I felt my heart sink a little, no more winters, springs, or summers. No more seasons, no more anything. Just a lifeless cold planet orbiting around nothing. Yeah, try to get aliens to come here and see if they like what they find. God, I was so paranoid sometimes. There was still snow and unbearable heat; I would be shivering like I was in Antarctica and Nate would be sweating like he was in Africa but it was so hard to tell if it was a cold spring or a cold winter. A hot summer or just a sudden hot gust of air. I felt like a vampire sometimes, cold to the touch, paler than normal, never really allowing myself to sleep. But when I actually did get some long hours of sleep it was from exhaustion or fainting from lack of food and water. Maybe even exhausted from being exhausted…I wish pills didn't go bad; I would kill to just have some sleep pills knock me out for a day. But no, Nate had me take those Five Hour Energy things once a month so I wouldn't become too drowsy. Sometimes I really hated him. I shook it off and kept my foot on the pedal, I had to suck it up; for Nate, myself, and my family. He had to suck it up for himself and whoever else he loved and cared about. He was the star of the football team, no doubt going to get a diploma for it. And he had that all ripped away in a blink of an eye. He had his whole life ripped away, his family, his friends, his loving girlfriend; everything.

He had to suck it up because he had to. There was nothing else he could do about it, we both knew and saw all hope was lost a long time ago for the world to ever be the same again. I still hung onto the memories I had, he did too. They were the only thing that kept us alive; if we couldn't live anymore at least we could still have memories no matter how fuzzy they were. Nate was all I had now; I had to become stronger for him. I sat up a little straighter and pushed the pedal harder, reaching 110 mph. I had to become stronger and colder so he wouldn't worry about me even though I had been a black belt in karate, Tae Kwon Do and was just about to get into my third boxing match over in California; so that I wouldn't get hurt by anyone or anyone, physically that is. I watched as we got closer to the City of Sin, or Angels like Nate said, ha. The lights were long gone and powered out, enveloping the strip and everything else in darkness. I noticed a few floors in the casino and hotel, Excalibur, had a few lights on but that was just about it.

"Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas." Nate read, pointing to the historical sign that was rusted and tearing away now, "not so fabulous is it? Hey wait, wait, and wait! Stop the car. Stop it."

I slowed the car down and looked behind me in the rear view mirror, wondering if he had spotted something. Nothing, I shrugged and turned around about to ask him when I was met with the door shutting on me.

"Nate!" I hissed to myself as I slid out of the car after him and grabbed my gun, walking quickly after him, he had spotted a red BMW, 2008 make maybe. I turned around to make sure that our BMW was okay, "You idiot, you know we don't go out alone!"

"It's still hot." He whispered, I turned and looked around. All there was out here was us, the Vegas up ahead, and the red car. He had put his hand on the car hood and was trying to open it; I sighed and moved around carefully to look inside the windows, ready to shoot anything that moved. Nothing. I went back to Nate and saw that he had popped open the hood with his knife and was inspecting it carefully, I knew nothing about cars so I just stood next to him surveying behind and in front of us, looking for anything that moved.

"Well? Anything exciting?" I asked, watching as he held a wire carefully between his hands, he dropped it and silently moved around to the front door. Doing a perfect job of ignoring me, "Thank you for answering me."

"The hood was still warm, it's been used recently." He said back as he dove into the car, I nodded and went to open the passenger door, "This car has been used recently."

I watched as he sat in the seat and gripped the wheel, running his hands over it and looking in the backseat, I huffed and sat down, curiously poking at what looked to be a McDonald wrapper for a…uh…McRib sandwich? I was never a huge fan of McDonalds but I guess it was okay when you really needed, you know, super greasy foods that weren't even man made. I had heard from my friend that the fries weren't even from real potatoes! I sighed and turned around, seeing more garbage piled up on the backseats. I peered closer to a spot on the carpet, moving some garbage away with my hands.

Blood, lots of it.

"Nate, there's blood back here." I whispered, sliding out of the car and going to open the back doors, "Nate…"

"Open the doors then," he said, half distracted as he messed with the CD changer thing. I rolled my eyes and wrenched open the door with my knife.

McDonalds, Taco Bell, Baja Fresh…Panda Express. Every type of fast food wrapper or box was piled up back here, I bent down; stabbing what looked like a half eaten sandwich; disgusting. I pulled the papers out one by one, keeping my eyes trained on the blood that was slowly getting clearer all over the back seat. I pulled the final wrapper out and sat back on my heels; inspecting the new crime scene.

"Find anything interesting- whoa, crap, that's a butt load of blood." Nate said, appearing across from me at the other car door and staring. I nodded with him and stabbed my knife into the leather seat to lean further in the car. It looked like someone had laid a body back here, macerated him…or her then left them to bleed.

"Check the trunk." Nate spoke up; wiping away some blood he had on his fingers from leaning into the car.

"….excuse me?"

"You heard me. If someone was to…dispose of a body but didn't want to be tracked…then the trunk has to be opened."

"…come with me."

"Don't be so scared."

"At least I'm not afraid of the boogey man-"

"Hey! No joke, that guy's real!" he laughed back, leaning on the trunk as I eyed it warily, I arched my eyebrows at him. This was no time for Ladies First crap…Men First this time, "You going to open it?"

Leave it to him to read my thoughts. I growled inside as I jerked open the trunk.

The first thing that hit me was the smell, like…bad salami and onions with puke and soda. I reeled back and gave a loud throat tearing cough, Nate doing the same. I squeezed my eyes shut and went to close the trunk and then throw the car somewhere far away from my nose when Nate stopped me. He used the barrel of the shotgun to poke around in the darkness. I unfortunately watched as he stuck his gun in, hard. And came back out with a torn head…that was not human.

"They got 'em. Kudos to the kids that landed these beastly asses." Nate muttered as I barfed up acid on the car door. My head spinning in circles as I dropped to my knees. Oh shit, I was so not made for this.

"Can we j-just l-leave you psychotic bastard?" I exclaimed as I slammed the trunk and turned to him, he smiled crookedly before nodding solemnly. I sighed and clutched my stomach. Yeah, so not made for this, "How the hell do those people do it in Zombie land?"

"Well first of all, they're actors," Nate explained as we slipped into our car and turned the heat down, "and their directors don't have enough experience-"

"Shut up, you're making my head hurt." I mumbled as I leaned further down in my seat. Nate opened his mouth to tease some more but stopped, pushing hard again on the gas pedal.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Fine. Just keep driving."

He kept silent as we turned into the City of Sin or Angels. Whatever. I looked outside to see the Excalibur and Mirage in the distance. The once gorgeous and brilliant buildings were now worn out and burnt down looking. Bodies lined the streets like ants after bug repellant. They were mostly drug addicts and prostitutes left to die on the streets. At least the things had enough sense not to take a bite out of them, I scoffed. I blinked a couple times as we shot by the Excalibur. I loved Vegas when I was really young, so bright and so many people to watch. I was ten or twelve when I first came to Vegas for my cousin's baseball game, annoying the hell out of my parents on the way there. A big party had been thrown soon after and our family had gathered at MGM Grand to celebrate. That was the closest I had ever gotten to a lion, in my life. We went to Hard Rock to see if my brother could win a couple hundred bucks at poker…he lost that couple hundred. We had stayed up until early morning walking up and down the strip; eating ice cream, watching the pirate show, seeing the giant fountain lights. My family owned one of the largest companies in the world; Dubcek Enterprises. I never really paid attention to what my dad exactly did to be honest. I sighed and blinked again, it didn't seem that long ago that I was shopping and eating Panda Express. Not so long ago that my sister was braiding my hair as I studied for tests. It never seemed so long ago…anyways, the past is the past and I needed to focus on the present. The future could wait for now.

I watched as Nate stepped on the gas pedal and gunned down the street as if he was in a drag race. I gripped my seat harder as he swerved hard on the left tires and screeched to a stop. He turned to me and grinned slyly, pretending to take off invisible sunglasses.

"That; ladies and gentleman, is what I call driving." He laughed. I rolled my eyes and let out a whoosh of air.

"That; gentleman, was me sighing in relief because I'm alive…sort of." I un-did the seat belt and got out of the car slowly, cocking the gun swiftly at my side. Nate stood out of the car as well and pulled out his shotgun, studying the streets for any signs of danger, I saw none to my side so I inched over to him. It was getting darker by the minute as I observed the sky, inch by inch warning us of the night life. Nate moved forward to an old abandoned store as I unzipped the backpack. The sign of the store had been completely torn away, only a few letters remained

WEL_E _O _ L.

Welcome to hell? I looked down the streets, trying to spot the sign. Ah, there it was, where the prostitutes and drug dealers were. Classy Vegas. Classy.

"I lead, you back up yeah?" he asked as we walked carefully into to the store. I nodded and turned around. Putting my back on Nate's back. I shivered and gritted my teeth sharply; moments like these were the ones that made me want to die. I never let anyone touch me, or I to them. It was true, I was touch deprived. Unable to let anyone even skim their fingers along my shoulders because I hated the touches, hated the way it made me feel; vile, disgusting. But it was also moments like these that I allowed Nate to touch me, just on my back and shoulders like now. Only when we were saving each others back. I looked around us as we moved backwards slowly; ammo was in the back of the store as always. Pills were back there too, I made a mental note to grab some sleep ones. To our left were baby and kids clothes, to our right were was the food isles. We parted the isles and started to pick out the canned foods first. Peaches, pineapples, carrots, even tomatoes were loaded into the bags as Nate stood guard. I grabbed some stray bottles of water and some candy for Nate. Candy never really appeared delicious to me anymore. I was about to get back up and take my gun back from Nate when he suddenly dropped down on one knee and shoved a hand over my mouth tightly. But not before allowing me to grab my gun and aiming his shotgun at the isle ahead of us.

It had come, smelt us out.

I stared at the large man ahead of us, the blood drooling from its mouth and its hands twitched severely as it saw us. Nate slowly pulled the trigger as the thing stepped forward, I zipped the bag back up slowly as it charged, and the noises that it made were-

POP. POP. POP. Shiiiing.

I looked up slowly as I pulled the knife out of the things rather large chest. Nate was hurriedly putting more shells in the gun. Better think twice you asshole, I thought as I wiped the blood off on my jeans.

"Go." Nate ordered as there was a scream towards the back of the store, I ignored him and took off towards the back. We needed what was back there, "Ry! Ry! RYDEN!"

I screamed loudly and let the few bullets escape their cells into the things' skulls that were trying to claw their way through the EXIT door. They screamed and spit blood at me as I pounded up against the broken down door, hearing the cracks of their bones snap as the metal was pushed. Nate was by me in a second pushing and shoving, joining me in one of my suicidal ideas. I broke the glass next to me that was holding the guns and ammo and refilled the bag as Nate took over, denting the food cans with bullets. I put another pistol and loaded an AK-47 into the holster on my side. Nate cried out as he shoved once more, I grabbed him wordlessly and we sprinted through the store. We shot wildly behind us as they came running; hungry for something to eat. I slammed the butt of the pistol into one's mouth as Nate stabbed at its eyes. We worked quickly through three more of them before making it out of the store, diving into the car and praying that the windows, for this one moment, were unbreakable. It was silent between us, the adrenalin pumping through our veins; rushing through our blood like poison. Enveloping our minds in haste, telling us to run, run, RUN!

Nate stepped on the pedal quickly, crushing the bodies that were beneath us, I smiled cruelly, hearing the way that they tried to hang onto the bottom of the car. So desperate to have us. If it wasn't life or death I'd be flattered.

"Why are you smiling? It's creepy." Nate growled as he swerved left, crushing a few more bodies, "It's creeping me out."

"Sorry." No, I wasn't.

"SHIT! GET DOWN!" Nate screamed; I looked ahead of us as he flew into a pole that said STOP.

I could feel it, the way my head crushed into the glass, piercing my skin as my body jolted into it. I could feel my hands were they my hands? Come up to protect my face, I could feel the way my ankle twisted as another jolt forward brought me up into the air. I'm spinning around I thought blankly as I sensed the sudden loss of gravity. Why am I wet? I could feel my heart go dead as the sound of metal on metal washed over my ears. The pain, oh god the blinding pain! I could hear myself scream as the hood crushed on the ground, my ankle giving another painful twist along with my left side. Broken. The car spun on the ground, my lifeless body on the hood as it spun around and around. Like a merry go round. Round and round and round-

Ry?

Round and round and round-

Are you hurt? Please. Get up.

And round, it was making me dizzy-

"Ry? Ry?" I heard his voice, his? Who is he? "Ry come on it's just me, damn it stop fighting me! Ryden for Pete Wentz' freaking sake just calm down!"

I was barely aware of my limbs flying through the air, connecting with this boy that was talking to me. This angel? No, not an angel. Not now, I belonged in hell, hell is surely better than here right? No? Who are you boy? Who-

"It's me Ry! NATE!" the boy cried; I could feel something hard press up against my cheeks; I could see the ocean from here. No not the ocean; his eyes. Nate.

I turned over on my other side, seeing the blood pooling quickly around me as I heaved up everything that was in my stomach. Acid and blood only came out. I could hear Nate firing bullets above me as I continued to die, lying on the ground nearly motionless,

No, not like this. I am not going to hell or heaven like this, not me. If I go to heaven or hell I'm going there strong and not being a wimp. Stand up Ryden freaking Haskell, who gives a crap about your sore side and leg?

Nobody.

Exactly. Now get up and fight. Tend to yourself later.

But-

Get up, do it. Do it now!

I could feel the way my bones groaned and screamed at me as I pushed myself off the cold, dead ground. There was definitely, no way in hell; I was going down like this. Nate was firing away as I sat up, leaning against a garbage can. I pulled out my gun and put a hand to my chest feeling the blood from my face, shoulders, side, and neck run freely down and through my fingers.

BUMPBUMPBUMPBUMPPPPPBUMPBUMP

The beats of my heart were raced together, overlapping each other before the other could begin. I started to slap my hand gently between my collar bone and my breast.

.THUMPTHU-BUMP. BUMPBUMP.

My heart started to slow down, return to something that didn't resemble an African drum beating in the dead of night. I opened my eyes and looked to my left, The Excalibur stood against the sunset. I closed my eyes again. The only thing blocking us from escaping was the barbed wire fence and the zombies. I cracked a laugh then a painful hiss, zombies? More like fucking parasites. I lifted my head and watched as Nate cracked the things' heads that were close enough with the butt of the AK-47 that I had strapped to my waist. He knelt down and then I could see his damage. He, like me, was bleeding heavily from the head and shoulders. I could see the way he leaned more on his left leg than his right when he twisted to me. Sheer pain and panic were etched on his face. I knew without a doubt I had the same expression.

"Fence." I croaked, feeling more blood come up through my throat as I opened my mouth. Nate nodded and looked to where I had moved my head towards. I raised my gun and shot poorly at the zombie that had decided to pop right in front of us. It crumbled to the ground swiftly and glared daggers at me, I shot at it again and faced Nate as it dropped its heavy head, "Are we-are we-"

"Run." Nate nodded, his voice was scratched and poor like mine. I gave a rough sigh and used my bloody scarred hands to push myself in a standing position. Forcing my legs to not give out, Nate hooked an arm gently around me as I fired away. He took out a mysterious looking green thing from the backpack he was holding.

"How did you-"

"FIRE!" he cried hoarsely, ripping the metal in his mouth and weakly throwing the hand grenade to our private hungry ground. We spun around and limped fast towards the street, I noticed that my ankle was definitely broken and that Nate's leg was definitely screwed up. I heard the bomb explode loudly, a high ringing in my ears reminded me of nails on a blackboard. The tremor that tried to catch us around the corner reminded me of a dodge ball nearly connecting with my head. The air whistling quickly past my ears.

We continued to limp slowly to the worn down entrance of the Excalibur, Nate still chucking endless bombs left and right even if it was just one or two parasites coming towards us. I hissed as we fought our way up the stairs and knocking the windows out of the glass doors so that we could get in. I let Nate go first, shooting off the hungry crowd with the 47 quickly before jumping through the window and screaming in pain as I landed on the wrong ankle. My back arched up as the pain traveled throughout my spine. Nate's bloody hand covered my mouth for a second time until I felt the tears run down my cheeks. I couldn't believe it. First of all: how the bloody hell was I alive? And second of all; why wasn't Nate in pain like me? Oh right, because he's a guy and guys are supposed to be tough. Well you know what? Tough shit, if you cry in pain that'll make me feel like I actually wasn't a loser.

I focused on my breath as I stared up at the moving ceiling, moving? Oh, Nate was dragging me past the pool area, towards where the elevators were. No help there, from the elevators I mean. He stopped dragging me as we were flush up against the wall, he assorted a potted plant in front of us and collapsed beside me, screwing his eyes shut as he touched his leg gingerly. I gripped the small trunk of the plant and pushed my back onto the wall behind me. Trying to inspect my own damage. Crap, why did everything hurt?

"You?" Nate questioned hoarsely. I hissed once before trying to tear away at my boot to free my ankle.

"Broken every-everything. My ribs," I gingerly touched my side and sorted out the sore ones from the broken ones, "Four or five broken ribs. Definitely my ankle, maybe even that small bone in my leg. I think I even broke two bones in my knuckles. Can't- can't seem to move my pinky or ring fingers. What about you?"

"M-my Leg. I can feel it. Oh shit, I can even feel my damned bone! A couple ribs are broken, a dislocated shoulder for sure. You're bleeding a lot from your head Ry, you may have some glass still stuck. My knees screwed in the left, it feels…weird. We can stay here for a bit longer though. Please."

"But we can't stay here." I stated, looking through the plants' leaves. Trying to ignore the throbbing overcoming pain in my brain that was making my vision go fuzzy was hard...I needed to pass out right here, right now. But I couldn't, we couldn't risk even closing our eyes.

"No. we-we can't." he sighed, focusing on trying to move his leg but the only thing that moved was his foot. He grimaced in pain and I could see his teeth bite sharply into the inside of his cheek. He glanced at me and spit out blood, "three more minutes okay?"

"All right Super man. All right."