*FINAL CHAPTER HOPE YOU ENJOY*
Note: *"..."* means the people are speaking the text in Croatian.
The vehicles were driving alongside the highway roads, ignoring every traffic regulation and sign they could pass by. The mist and sandstorm-like deserts they were driving alongside made them question the state of the entire world. Would it even be worth it to get to the evacuation zone? What happens if they just line them up against a wall and shoot them? The group had their doubts and horrific fears, but they all stuck by each other. They couldn't give up now.
Luke was reaching for one of the pockets of his jacket. He stuck out his tongue as he pulled out an old set of playing cards. A Chivas Regal set from his teenage days. He used to do tricks with them like a yo-yo or a butterfly knife. He rummaged through the deck and pulled out the ace of spades, his favourite card. He took the card in-between his index and middle fingers and started to flip the card around like a pro, trying to remember his old tricks. The cards were still as smooth as ever.
After several dozens of seconds of card flipping, he smirked happily and murmured to himself. "Huh, I still got it."
Our survivor group was grouped in one of the three armoured vehicles they had. There was a single armoured car, which fit 5 hospital workers inside of it. The other two vehicles had only two patients in them, sadly, one of them being Luke's mother. The trucks were loaded with medical, basic and any kind of supplies the crew could physically fit into them. There were four other hospital workers, two in each vehicle containing a patient. The plan would be a steady road straight to Belarus, with a few stops for gas and/or additional supplies in the abandoned towns.
...
"Come here, Luka, we're playing Texas Hold'em." Daniel grinned towards Luke as he was sitting down with a toothpick in his mouth and a poker deck in his hand.
"I guess somebody has to end your winning streak." Luke joked through a chuckle as he sat down, still playing with his card in his hand.
He only set the card down whilst processing what to do during certain turns.
It was tense. Both of the men's brows were sweating as they intensely put their mental strength to the test. A poker face here and a smirk there, neither one backing down. Each man was parrying the others obvious baits and light jabs while constantly equalizing each other's chip scores.
A round win for Daniel. A round win for Luke. A very minimal increase in their respective earnings was taken away swiftly by the other man within the following round. A dead even game, as one would call it. Until Daniel seemed to gain the upper hand, winning two rounds in a row. Nothing to worry about, Luke thought. It's not like these were important rounds, Luke folded the first of the two rounds as soon as he saw his opening hand and had a very sick feeling in his stomach, he just knew this hand wouldn't get him anywhere. He folded the second round after the flop, also knowing the only possibility of him matching Daniel's solid stare was with a miracle on the turn and river. He chickened out, giving Daniel the upper hand. Even if these two rounds were not as important as a bigger round would be, this gave Daniel the momentum to keep pressuring without being pressured himself. Small bets were made here and there within the following rounds, but they amounted to nothing more than a few throw-away rounds.
Luke won the first round after Daniel's small winning streak, followed by a fast victory on the following round from Daniel. Luke seemed dazed as he stared at the board for several minutes on the following round. Daniel maintained pressure by glaring at Luke behind his cards, lightly tapping the desk they were playing on, as well as tapping his foot on the floor. However, Luke's eye widened by a tiny amount, showing a true bit of hope within it. He saw through a play, maintaining focus throughout his plan. He took full advantage of Daniel's severe attempts at pressuring him, and he calmly called, sustaining a very convincing grin. Daniel sat up after a few moments, changing his sitting stance. He didn't expect him to call.
Luke took a sip of his canned cup of coffee they had prepared from one of their shelves and patiently waited for the turn.
Aiko flipped the fourth card on the table in front of them.
"Turn." She exclaimed as she revealed the card. A queen of hearts. The flop was a jack of hearts, an eight of hearts and a king of spades.
Daniel took a few minutes to decide what to do. Luke just stared at him with a slight grin the entire time.
Dan directed his eyesight towards his best friend and smiled through his sentence.
"Fuck you."
Luke laughed slightly.
After a good bit of wait, Daniel checked. Luke checked too, proceeding with his plan. He didn't wanna lose on the big haul that he could potentially achieve.
"River." Aiko took a few moments to reveal the final card, and as she flipped it over and revealed a ten of hearts, Daniel put forward a solid amount of chips. A very convincing play, making him seem like a fearless player who was just reassuring himself the few previous minutes. Daniel scored himself a Three Of A Kind, his hand being a ten of spades and a ten of clubs. Daniel stared at Luke vividly, as though he was confirming his victory.
Luke inhaled a tiny breath worth of air and grabbed his chips, placing them in the middle of the table. The vivid stare now came from Luke, back at Daniel.
Daniel immediately considered Luke's call to be a bluff, but instantly hesitated with checking. He lifted his knuckle after almost touching the table beneath him. Could Luka have a massive advantage after they flipped their cards? There were lots of chips on the line here, a very strong amount. The literal only way that Luka could win was with something tiny, like a stronger card at his side, or with the only other possible option. The Straight Flush. A combination insanely rare in poker history, only beaten by rarity in play and power in the game by The Royal Flush. A flush of a ten, a jack, a queen, a king and an ace, all belonging to the same colour. But that was impossible here. There was no way Luka could achieve the only other most powerful option in the game. He refused to believe the good luck gods and proceeded to check firmly on the table. Due to classic Texas Hold'em rules, Luke would have to show his hand first.
He chuckled for a good few moments before touching his cards with his left hand, his right hand still playing with the ace of spades from the deck he had in his jacket.
It felt like everyone would faint in the room due to tension alone. Will was driving the truck whilst smoking a cigar, but even he turned his attention towards the game at times.
Finally, Luke flipped one of his cards over. It was an ace of spades. He wasted no time and flipped over his other card...which was a nine of hearts! Everyone gasped or held their breath even further, making various facial expressions, shocked at the outcome.
"Unless you have a king of hearts and an ace of hearts..." Luke leaned forward as Daniel's gaze was directed back towards his friend rather than the table. "...The Straight Flush. I win."
Daniel took a few moments to process the situation that just occurred, but ultimately, he revealed his Three Of A Kind to Luke as he gave the cards back to Aiko, smiling the entire time.
"Goddamn, that was lucky!" Daniel exclaimed as he laughed for a while.
"It ain't luck..." Luke grinned and took both the ace of spades from his right hand, as well as the ace of spades from his winning hand and flipped them both up. "...it's destiny."
...
After a good few games between friends, Will, who was behind the driver's seat, reached for the microphone to transmit a message through the outside speakers.
"Everyone, we're coming up to, what looks like, an abandoned town, I'm gonna pull ahead and search for a safe stopping spot. Just keep following my truck. If there are any issues, please let us know, you all have walkie-talkies."
William clicked the microphone and set it back into its original position.
Daniel pulled away from the small party the group threw and sat next to Will.
"You kids having fun?" Will asked lightheartedly as he looked at Daniel.
"It was okay, soldier."
Daniel readjusted his seat to fit him better.
"How about yourself? Find anything interesting on these roads?" Daniel grabbed a nearby cigarette pack, took one out and lit it.
"Nothing particular, you wouldn't see infected here anyway. It's just wastelands, but I did notice a sign indicating a town was up ahead, so I..." He got caught off by Daniel offering him a cigarette from the pack. "...oh, no thank you. So, I transmitted a message to the others that we are stopping soon."
"Good plan. I'll let the group know in a little bit." Daniel opened the window next to him to clear up some of the smoke.
"Knock yourself out, I don't think we will be there that quick."
A few seconds of silence followed as Daniel looked in the rearview mirror. He kept staring at something for a few moments before Will noticed this.
Daniel was looking at the ambulance truck that was driving Luke's mother, one of the patients that they brought with them.
"Hey, Will, you know about Luka's mother right?"
"The basics, yeah. Unfortunately, we never got to hear the bigger picture back there." Will said and paused for a little bit. "Why? Is something bothering you?"
"I don't know if even I know the full story. After he had a talk with his mother in the hospital, he seemed different. Like he was more relaxed and elevated mentally than before." Daniel quickly finished his cigar and threw it out the window. "Almost like he got something off his chest."
"It did seem like a pretty big deal. I'd hate to ask him now after he seems to have moved on past it." Will stated as he put on a friendlier facial expression.
"You're right. I just noticed the ambulance behind us, so it reminded me of everything..." Daniel looked like he was gonna say something else, but a loud engine noise from next to him cut him off. "What the fuck?"
"Hey! That's a motorbike!" Will exclaimed as he turned around towards the group.
It indeed was a motorbike. The armoured trucks couldn't keep up with it, so the biker just turned towards Daniel and Will, friendly gestured towards them and drove past them, speeding away from the armoured trucks within a few seconds.
"Would be fucking lovely if we could see their face, but unfortunately, they're a responsible driver," Daniel said after a few moments of disbelief from the group.
"Will, chase his ass." Luke walked up to the front of the truck and pointed in the direction the biker was heading.
"On it, bossman. If he stops somewhere, we'll know." Will turned up the gas and honked his horn three times in a row, indicating for the ambulances to speed up, too.
...
As they drove past the welcome sign that stood at the edge of town, our survivors prepared their supplies and readied themselves to stop.
William focused and saw a nearby gas station, close to the edge of town. It was pretty big considering the town wasn't anywhere near as big as a city. Will indicated he would stop with his turn signals and began stopping the vehicle. All the other vehicles followed into their respective gassing areas.
Our main survivor group seemed to be the only group who fully exited their respective vehicle. The other vehicles sent out a single doctor or nurse to fuel their ambulances.
"You think we have to pay for this?" Will jokingly said as he grabbed a nearby gas pump.
Daniel shook his head in denial as he crossed his arms.
"Nah."
Luke took a few steps towards the nearby road to take a look at the abandoned town better. A nice breeze blew by as everyone caught a breath.
"Any idea where we might be?" Jose questioned as he looked towards some nearby buildings and billboards. It seemed like the writing wasn't Latin.
"It's Cyrillic."
Luke said, still turned around. "We're getting closer and closer to our destination, it seems."
Everyone reacted positively to the good news as Luke looked towards Aiko and Jose and waved his head towards the other vehicles.
"Do me a favour and check on the rest of our crew, would you?"
They both nodded in confirmation and started walking closer to the vehicles until Luke shouted to stop them for a moment. "Oh, don't bother checking my mother's truck. I got that one."
Luke finished his command as he fully turned around and briskly walked towards the doctor in charge of that vehicle who was filling up the gas of the ambulance.
*"How are we looking, doc? I hope the trip isn't affecting her infection growth that much."*
The doctor turned around as he was still paying attention to the gas meter.
*"Unfortunately, we did have some issues during travel, but we did manage to get her into a stable condition with the supplies we had on the truck itself."*
Luke looked at the doctor, raised an eyebrow and pulled an angry expression.
*"And why do I not know about this? I thought we agreed that we would communicate with each other and help each other get evacuated."*
*"Well, we know about your relationships with your mother..."* The doctor said as he put the gas pump back into its canister. *"...we didn't want to raise any unnecessary emotions..."*
Luke held up a hand and glared at the doctor.
*"First of all, with all due respect, you have no clue what relationship I have with my mother. Don't comment on things you don't know anything about. Secondly, if you're willing to hide this information from me, it's gonna affect you way more than it would affect my group. They know how to defend themselves and they aren't riding along in the same vehicle as she is. It's all for your good. Thirdly, I would have no trouble leaving you to walk to Belarus. We can all drive, so taking the vehicle would be the least of our concerns."*
The doctor looked visibly uncomfortable.
*"So, make sure to not hide anything from me. That would get you on our bad side. Are we clear?"*
The doctor cleared his throat and nodded in confirmation.
Luke turned around and quickly walked back towards his group, as did Jose and Aiko.
"Everything's good, Luke. No complications at all." Aiko said positively with a smile on her face.
Luke deeply sighed and closed his eyes before opening them again after a few moments.
"Fucking Croatians."
Everyone put on a confused expression.
"I appreciate your efforts, guys," Luke turned towards Aiko and Jose as he said this. "But I have a slight feeling these fuckers are all lying to us. The doctor in charge of my mother's vehicle is keeping information from me. Whether it's willing or not is not a factor here. You guys are the only people I can trust here, so please, keep an eye on them as much as you can."
Everyone showed their support to their leader.
"We're the original group after all. We wouldn't dream of hiding something from you." Daniel stated with support from his allies as he patted Luke's shoulder.
"Very appreciated. It seems like everyone's done with fuelling their vehicles." Luke walked up to the front seat of their ambulance truck and grabbed the microphone.
*"Everyone, we'll depart back on our journey in around five minutes. Make sure to prepare in time. If anyone needs to go to the bathroom, one of us can accompany you for safety purposes. Thank you."*
Luke finished his message and put the microphone back as a female nurse walked up to them and pointed towards the toilet sign.
"Aiko, would you be so kind?"
Aiko nodded in confirmation and escorted the nurse politely.
Luke lit up a cigarette as Jose and Will engaged in a friendly conversation with occasional comments from Luke.
About a minute passed without any issues until Daniel noticed some kind of laser on one of the street lights not too far from the gas station. It looked like a laser pointer trail. He raised an eyebrow and turned towards the roof of the gas station.
"Lu." Daniel nodded towards the gas station roof as Luke looked at him and turned immediately.
"Son of a bitch..." Luke put on a serious expression as he took a better look at the rooftop. "Wait...it's a kid holding a gun."
"One deadly ass gun, that is," Will commented as both he and Jose turned towards the kid. "I don't think he even knows what he's doing."
"We have to take action, lads. It's now or never." Luke said as he pivoted to his heel and dashed as far as he could towards the gas station. Thankfully, he managed to get inside of it as the door closed behind him. He quickly looked back through the glass pane of the shop window towards the rest of the group.
William and Daniel both pointed a thumbs up, indicating the situation was under control for now. Luke quickly nodded and headed towards the women's toilet. He walked up to the door and peeked in, noticing Aiko washing her face next to the nurse that was with her. They both noticed Luke just as they finished with their business.
"Oh, Luke. Is something up?" Aiko questioned as she grabbed some paper towels.
"We have a problem. There's a kid on the rooftop of the gas station holding some kind of weapon with a laser sight. I don't think he has pointed it at anyone so far, but he's aiming to. I need you to be my backup." Luke firmly stated as he fully opened the door.
"Right. I'm right here with you." Aiko took out her pistol, reloaded it and sprinted out the door.
*"You better stay inside the gas station until we solve the situation."* Luke mentioned as he turned towards the nurse.
The nurse nervously nodded and Luke followed it up with a confirmation nod.
Luke and Aiko walked towards a staircase leading straight to the rooftop from inside the gas station. Luke drew both of his pistols out and touched the door handle of the rooftop. Aiko quickly nodded as he opened the door.
Aiko quickly dashed through the door and pointed her pistol at the kid. Luke casually walked out and did the same.
*"You better get your hands off of that gun, kid."* Luke attempted to converse with him in Croatian.
A few seconds of silence passed as Luke realised this wouldn't work.
Luke cleared his throat and tried again.
"You better get your hands off of that gun, kid."
The kid turned around this time, with his hands still on the gun's trigger. The kid's eyes widened as he turned his gun towards Luke and shouted something in a language neither of our survivors understood. Aiko had a clear shot the entire time, but she couldn't pull the trigger. Luke quickly darted his sight towards Aiko and darted right back to the kid as he shot him through the chest. Aiko gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
Luke lowered his gun and walked up to the kid. He was dead as soon as the bullet pierced his lungs.
"I'm glad one of us has no problem with children," Aiko exclaimed, still covering her mouth.
"If anyone pulls a gun on me, I'm not letting them pull the trigger."
Luke crouched down and covered his eyes as he paid his respects for a moment.
*"Rest in peace."* He got up, walked back towards Aiko and offered her a hand.
"Don't worry, Aiko. I won't let you get into another situation like this."
Aiko took the hand after a few moments and managed to stand.
"Thank you. I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about. Come on, let's head off."
Luke patted her shoulder and headed straight for the staircase.
...
After that experience, the survivors had time to clear their minds and focus on the objective at hand. They could only keep moving forward.
It seemed like everyone was in their lane of focus.
Will was driving the truck, Daniel and Jose engaged in a casual conversation about a book Jose was reading, Aiko was polishing her guns and thinking about the encounter they had with the kid, and Luke was lying down on one of the benches of the truck, staring at the ceiling and thinking.
It seemed like our group was making good progress.
Well, until something happened.
Will suddenly noticed a helicopter in the sky and a few police trucks in the rearview mirrors.
"Luke, we may have a problem." Will suddenly broke the calming silence of the group by shouting back.
Suddenly, police sirens could be heard.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Luke leapt off the bench he was laying on immediately and sprinted towards Will.
"PULL OVER IMMEDIATELY. FIRST AND LAST WARNING BEFORE WE HAVE TO USE FORCE!"
A policeman's voice could be heard from the speakers of the police car driving alongside them. There was a huge light shining on their entire truck coming from the helicopter in the sky.
After a few seconds of silence, Luke firmly stated.
"Pull over, Will. These guys are legit."
Everyone was shocked at this response, but it was sort of expected. Will proceeded to pull over to the right, alongside all the ambulance trucks that they were driving with. As they stopped, Luke walked towards the back of the truck and announced something.
"Guys, just remain calm and don't panic. Keep your weapons on you, but refrain from keeping your hands near them at all times. If we cooperate, we should be fine. Are we clear?"
Everyone confirmed with a firm nod.
"Let's step out then."
Luke opened the door and was the first one to walk outside. Daniel followed, along with Will, Aiko and finally, Jose. They all stood side by side, in a straight line.
Two police cars pulled over in front of them, alongside a police truck. A few armoured police officers stepped outside and pointed their guns at them.
"Hands in the air, everyone!" A policeman shouted from the closest vehicle to our group. "Dump all of your weapons on the ground in front of you, immediately!"
Luke shrugged his shoulders and carefully removed all his weapons. A few policemen were readjusting their guns, probably to prepare to fire back at Luke.
"Easy, easy." Luke slowed down further and proceeded to get rid of all his weapons. The rest of the group followed along and did the same.
While everyone was getting rid of their weapons, Luke peeked behind the police truck and noticed their other ambulance trucks were being stopped as well, in the same manner as our survivor group was.
Suddenly, a policeman shouted from behind the first car again.
"Which one of you is Luke Reynolds?"
Luke calmly took a step forward and announced himself.
"That would be me."
"You are under arrest for the murder of your father, Filip Reynolds."
Luke's eyes widened and his expression changed.
"Hold the fuck up."
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
"You do realise that my mother was the one who went to court years ago over my father's murder? I thought it was awfully clear that the case was closed." Luke said in a confused tone.
"Some new evidence suggests otherwise. Your mother has filed an official statement recently claiming you are the killer of your father, with proof."
"What kind of fucking proof do you have?"
"That information is not necessary to give out at the current moment. Put your hands behind your head. You have the right to remain silent."
A bigger police officer walked up to Luke and proceeded to handcuff him.
"If you guys are in such a fucking rush to arrest me at this moment, how about you look behind you and see what's happening over there?" Luke said in the most serious tone he possibly could.
The policemen turned around as they heard the loudest shriek of their lives, along with the biggest roar they've heard since they've last visited a local zoo.
The two patients that were on board the ambulances were both infected.
Luke's mother turned into a Witch, and the other patient, whose name was unknown at the time, turned into a Tank.
"And yet, I'm the threat here," Luke said in a more joking manner.
Luke's mother immediately noticed Luke and started sprinting towards him, at the same time as the Tank started causing a distraction by attacking the rest of the police officers.
"Oh, boy. I sure wish I wasn't cuffed right now. Aiko, Daniel, take her down."
Aiko and Dan looked at each other and immediately dashed to grab their weapons. Aiko managed to land a few clean shots with her sniper rifle, and Daniel started firing at her with his shotgun once she got close enough. To top it all off, Daniel slashed her twice in her chest area and proceeded to chop one of her legs off.
"Delivered on a silver platter to you." He turned around towards Luke and exclaimed.
Luke crouched, joined his hands together and jumped over them, putting his hands in front of his body, still handcuffed.
He picked up one of his Desert Eagles and walked up to his mother who was now laying there, struggling to move.
*"I hope hell finds you well, mother. I will be sure to meet you there soon enough."*
He shot her brains out with a single shot, ending her life. He dropped his pistol back into the pile and looked towards the policemen dealing with the Tank. They seemed to have everything under control. Aiko was about to help out from a safe distance, but Luke stopped her.
"Don't bother helping them. Just leave all your weapons and let's see how this plays out."
Aiko took a moment but listened to Luke's command anyway. She dropped her sniper on the ground, along with Daniel dropping his shotgun.
The Tank put up a fight, but it was no use. The Tank went down, but he did manage to destroy all the ambulance trucks apart from the one our group stayed in. Because of that, every doctor and nurse on board at the time was killed by the Tank.
Once the tension settled down, the police officer turned around towards our group once more.
"Right, I wasn't finished with my statement. You are all under arrest for various crimes, including murder, obstruction of justice and assault, to name a few."
Everyone gasped and made various shocked facial expressions.
"You can't be serious!" William shouted in hopes that this was all some kind of trick.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do may be used against you."
All five of our survivors were handcuffed and they put up minimal resistance. They were all shoved into the back of the police truck.
According to the driver of the truck, they were being taken to Belarus.
"If you have something to say to each other, say it now. You won't get a chance later." A heavy voice was heard from the police officer.
Everyone sat in disbelief for a few moments, not saying a word.
"Are we being executed?" Aiko broke the silence.
Unfortunately, nobody dared to answer that question for a few moments.
"I'm sorry, Aiko. It appears that way." Will managed to muster up a reply for Aiko. She was like a daughter to him, so it was very difficult to say that to her face.
A few minutes of silence took over, as the survivors put on several depressed, sad and defeated facial expressions.
"Is that the whole conversation? I thought the fearless leader would be more of a leader."
Luke's eyes immediately darted upwards and he glared at the police officer who was staring at him. Several murder plans were going through Luke's mind at that moment until he finally gave up.
"Go fuck yourself."
He turned his head back towards the wall across from him. So many things went through his mind, only a few of them being some kind of escape plan. He ultimately decided to give up, just like he gave up in that short exchange with the police officer. The police officer simply chuckled and turned back around.
Luke proceeded to talk to his group.
"I'm sorry, everyone. We're being judged based on pure bullshit, and I don't believe there's anything we can do about it. I've had thoughts we would all end up dying in this apocalypse somehow, but not like this. Please don't hold any grudges."
Luke put both of his fists on his beard, accepting his defeat.
"I don't think anything needs to be said other than one simple sentence. We stick together, no matter what. Nobody here is holding any grudges and we're all in this together, until the very end. Love you, bro." Daniel pulled a hand out towards Luke, and Luke gladly accepted it whilst firmly nodding and with tears in his eyes.
Will, Aiko and Jose shared the same opinion and they all proceeded to confirm it.
"We will always stick by each other and we will never forget you or this group. Thank you, leader."
Will paid his respects to Luke.
"You're probably the best guy I've met. That's saying a lot. I'm right here with you."
Aiko positively reassured Luke.
"I'm thankful I got to work alongside someone so passionate and skilful. Thank you and remember to keep your head up."
Jose spoke a few positive words.
...
After a brief pause, Luke answered.
"Thank you, everyone."
...
As our group got escorted out of the truck and into the Belarus evacuation zone, there were many questions to ask.
What would become of the world after this tragic event? Would the apocalypse continue? Why was our group targeted for these crimes?
Well, as they were walking towards what looked like the execution zone, they all noticed several people lined up inside of it who all looked like survivors of the apocalypse. They wanted to live on, but they got denied that right. The apocalypse has destroyed the world. And with the final moments of peace before the loud explosions and eventual afterlife, our group all shared a moment of care and acknowledgement. Everyone's final atonement seemed to be the same. They lived together until the very end, and they will be remembered.
Luke's leadership and skill.
Daniel's politeness and strength.
William's respectfulness and experience.
Aiko's positivity and reassurance.
Jose's intelligence and wittiness.
They will never be forgotten.
The last sounds that could be heard were the sounds of crows circling the evacuation zone, as well as five gunshots.
This was the end of the story.
*Thank you for reading. A short update chapter for future plans coming sooner or later.*