Week Four after the Outbreak.
Over the next week, i lost everyone. Mrs Hakers was the first to get sick. She had hid it for a little while until she coughed so much that we all knew. She was crying when we told her she must go home. We all felt sad for her but there was nothing we could do. She tried to plead with us, that it was just a normal illness but we knew better.
Then Mr Jackson started to come down with it too. We hadnt seen or heard from Mrs Hakers so we assumed her dead. Nobody was going to check. Mr Jackson was breathing heavily and we noticed it right away. All that was left was me and Jake. We sent Mr Jackson home too. He didnt fight it or argue it. I was going to miss him. He gave us one sad last look and then he too left for home. We all knew that that was as good as a death sentece as they were every going to get. It was terrible the fact that you had to die alone in your own home. But we could not risk the disease infecting the rest of us.
Over the next two weeks, me and Jake huddled in the town hall. Since we were the last ones left we decided to stay together. We had not seen the beasts since they tore up Timmy. We had seen hide nor hair of them. They seem to have left the area. They did leave behind evidence that they had been there though. Torn garbage cans, pools of blood, from what i couldnt tell. We felt secure to be out in the day. So we tried to get our errands done as early as possible. We were taking no chances.
Jake and i becamse close over the next few days, we thought that we were the only two left in all of the world. He was like a big brother to me. I laughed inside because in High School this guy would never be seen talking to me. He was from the popular group where i was the artsy type. But here we were, struggling to survive.
When Jake started to cough i felt like this was the end. If he was sick, then i would be sick as well. I stayed away from him but i didnt make him leave. I didnt want to be the only one left. I didnt want to die absolutely alone. I slept as far away from him that night. We didnt speak, we didnt need to.
The next day i went out by myself to find food. Jake was too sick to move and i didnt want him contaminating any of the supplies. I left the Town Hall with a heavy heart. He wouldnt last much longer. And then it would finally be my turn...
I returned a few hours before sundown. I had found some canned food and some medicine in one of the houses i raided. I felt a little better that i'd at least be able to feed him. Things couldnt get much worse, but at least i could give him what i could. I returned to the Hall, opened our secret door and instantly could smell his death. He was laying beside his belongings near the center camp. He was bloated and contorted that even i, who had spent alot of time with him, did not recognize him. I dropped my bag by the door and cried.
I cried for all the things that i had lost, i cried for all the things that i would never have. I cried for my little band of survivors who hadnt made it, and i cried for my parents. I had lost everything. I cried until something inside me broke. I was done crying. This was the world that i now lived in and i either accepted that or died right along with it. And i wasnt going to die, i didnt want to die.
I stared at his body for a few minutes longer. I could not leave him here. He would begin to decay and who knows what his smell could attract to me. I needed to get him out of here. I walked closer, stifling a cough from the terrible smell. He was in the fetal position. He looked a sorry sight, even to my eyes. I grabbed his blanket and wrapped it around him. The smell of death filling my nose.
When i had him wrapped i begun to drag him to the door. He was heavy! I was not a big girl, i was small framed and willowy. It took me ten minutes just to get him to the exit. I heaved him out and dragged him around the side. Where could i leave him? I didnt have time to bury him. The sun was going down. I had maybe an hour or less to figure it out.
I left him on the front steps and looked around. There was really no place to leave him. Most shops along this street were all locked. I couldnt drag him in time to the unlocked places. Those things might be out and about and i didnt want to suffer a similar fate as Tim did. I would have to leave him out here on the sidewalk. But no, not near the Town Hall. That might attract unwanted attention. I needed to leave him somewhere just enough away that it wouldnt be suspicious by anything or anyone.
I left him outside on the sidewalk in front of a conveniece store. It had taken me longer then i thought to drag him that far. I whiped sweat of my face and said my good byes. I felt sad that i could not bury him properly, but i really couldnt risk it. I shouldnt be in too much contact with the body anyway. Seeing as how i practically was nose first to it the whole time i dragged it, didnt help.
I ran back to the Town Hall as the sun begin to go down. I had made it just in time. I opened the door, closed it, and sat in my make shift camp. My camp that was all mine now. I felt cold deep inside. Was this it? Was this the end? Would i die here too? Like the rest? I felt a cold resolve settle in my mind. I had no choice, if i was to die i was to die. I could not change the world no matter how hard i tried.
Sometime later i heard them, the beasts. I heard them running around on the street. I went closer to the window panel that allowed sight onto the street. I saw them running around, snarling, sniffing, looking. They had found Jake's body. I couldnt see exactly what they were doing just faint outlines. They were near it, but they werent attacking or ripping it apart? What did that mean?
Then they started to drag it away. Why? He was dead. What could a dead body be needed for from them? I watched them fade into the darkness, taking Jake with them. I had seen enough. Whatever those things were they were not friendly. It was best to avoid at all costs. I did not want to confront one at all. Those things scared me.
The next morning i woke up tired. I had a long day ahead of me.
Everyone else had died, i had tried to stop in at the flower shop to maybe see if Mrs Hakers was ok. Even though i knew she was not. I knocked several times with no response. She either was dead, or too sick to answer the door. Mr Jackson's though had left his door unlocked, maybe he had expected someone to come.
When i pushed the door open and stepped into the dark and gloomy house, i did so with a heavy heart. I could smell death, and decay. I didnt want to see his contorted body but i had too. I had to make sure that in death, his body would still be safe. I didnt want those freaks coming back and taking away the only people after the infection, that had been my friends. I slowly walked through the house. When i reached the living room i was puzzled. It smelled heavily of death in here. I could smell decay. But where was the body? There were pictures lined up on the coffee table. Pictures showing Mr Jacksons wife and kids. He had apparently wanted to see them one last time.
I shuddered back the bile rising in my throat. Whatever that has happened here is done now. The beasts must have gotten in and took his body before i got here. That or Mr Jackson crawled out of his house to die somewhere else, and the beasts still got him. Either way he was dead. This smell of death would not come from a living person. Either way his body was gone.
I gathered my resolve and went to find more supplies. What would i do now? Stay here, toiling away until i died? I didnt want to be alone. If i was still alive, then chances are there were other people right? There had to be. I couldnt be the only one left on Earth. There had to be other people, just not any in my town.
I would have to find them.
It would be hard, and i didnt know what i'd find. But anything was better then sitting here waiting for the beasts to break into the Town Hall and get me. I had to be brave and i had to get moving. Once i collected supplies, i would gather what i needed, visit my house, and then spend one last night in Town Hall before leaving early in the morning. I would not be coming back here. I would not be the last one, left to rot.