I tricked you guys! ^.^ there's actually one more chapter. Its a little bit cheesy. So enjoy. I'd love to see some of your final reviews. I love you all my wonderful readers! Until next time!
/1_/1
(")-(")
EPILOGUE
There was a knock on my apartment door.
"Be right there!" I call. I finish washing some dishes and skip to the door. I open it and a familiar face appears. He's holding flowers and his hair isn't as messy as it usually is.
"Are you ready?" He asks.
"Always, those are for me, right?" I grin. He nods and hands me the flowers. I set them in a vase and put them by the window sill.
"You look cute today." He says.
"Uhm... Don't I always?" I raise an eyebrow. I quickly glance at my lacy blue shirt and black slacks.
"Sure." He says. I smack his arm and he laughs.
"Let's go." I say. "Can we take my baby?" I ask.
"Won't that mess up your hair?" He asks. I look longingly outside at my blue and black motorcycle.
"You're right, lets take the truck." I say.
We walk outside and I sit down in the truck's passenger seat.
"I can't believe Rosalie is coming all the way from Russia for this." I say.
"Well... This is kind of a big deal." He reminds me. True.
"I can't believe it's been five years already." I shake my head. It seems like the world was at its end only a week ago.
"Time sure does fly." He says.
"What about Gilbert? Has his plane landed yet?" I ask.
"Gilbert should be there on time." He nods.
"And Lauren and Nelson?" I continue.
"Already here." He confirms.
"How about Jacob? Bradley? Charlotte? Nicho-"
"Jessica. They have their own lives now. You don't need to worry about them anymore." Luffy says.
"Right..." I say. Habit I suppose.
Luffy parks the truck and gets out. He opens my door for me and we go inside together.
"The guests will show up at seven. The Dj will arrive at six and catering should be here at six thirty. The guest of honors will arrive anytime after seven. Everyone thing has to go perfectly." I tell the man in charge of arranging our party as we walk down a hallway. I'm going over my notes on my clip board over and over again. "The speeches will be at eight. Are all the decorations up? Are the chairs in the right places?" I ask. The guy, Tony, nods. "Great." I breathe as I head outside. The place was beautiful. There were waterfalls streaming down the side of the building. Glass tables were set everywhere. Little cards were set on the table for the special guests. And one long table where the guests of honor were sitting. A place for the Dj was reserved in front of a curved glass wall. Tony catches me eyeing it and says "There will be fire shooting up between the glass. It's thicker than it looks." I nod, amazed. There was a place for people to dance. A table set for catering. It was... Beautiful.
"Looks good." Luffy grunts.
"It looks better than good!" I hiss.
"... Looks great?"
"Go die in a hole." He rolls his eyes at me.
"So are the toilets wrapped with ribbon, too? Or does the elegance end there?"
Tony chuckles but stops when he receives a deadly glare from me.
"She's just a peach, ain't she?" Luffy smiles.
"And now, ladies and gentleman, it's time." Says the mayor of Minneapolis. "Let's give a big thanks to our guests of honor, the one who saved this world and all of our lives!" The house goes crazy. So many people were here from all parts of the world. I have a feeling we didn't rent a large enough space. This was the biggest event I've ever seen. It was even being broadcasted on live tv. "Please welcome, the one who made this whole thing possible, Jessica Probst!"
My heart beat rises wildly. I stand up and make my way to the podium. I remind myself to smile.
"Hi." I laugh nervously. "I'm so happy I could make this happen." The crowd cheers. Oh boy. "But I didn't do much, in fact, I couldn't have done any of this if it weren't for my team, and dear friends." I look over to the group of people sitting at the table. "Y'know... All I did was get some crazy strangers together and swing an axe." They laugh. Oh thank god. "But we... We did lose a few along the way. Three? Four? Maybe more than that. Looking back now, I can't even remember. We tried, though. And I'm surprised we made it as far as we did. We made the impossible possible. Sure, we saved the world. But we weren't thinking about that at the time. We were only thinking about ourselves. To admit it, we were a little bit selfish... Or at least I was, I don't know about the rest of you." They laugh again. "And somehow... It did work. And we succeeded. With Rosalie and Nelson's brains. Nick and Bradley's strength. Gilbert's and Luffy's bravery and Ophelia's wits. Charlotte was a ten year old who killed at least twelve zombies a day for god's sake! And let's not forget Jacob's bad jokes." More laughs. "So thank you, for coming here tonight to celebrate these wonderful individuals. And thank you," I turn to the ten survivors, "for being there with me to save the world." I finish. Applause. Sit down. Okay. Good.
Russia then proceeded to go up and explain how she created the formula for the cure. Then Nelson added his side of the story and explains how he was just a janitor who only cared about his mop. Then Lauren told the crowd how she had thought the whole time that the hotel she was working for with her parents was just losing money. And that her parents were on vacation. Jay told a few bad jokes. Charlotte and Bradley told them about life in Canada until they met up with us. Nick spoke of his quiet life and tragic story of how he had to kill his own family to survive. Luffy and Gil told about their abusive uncle Scruffy. Ophelia explained how she made the long journey between countries trying to find help.
Then the mayor spoke again and started talking about those on our team who died.
"We gives these awards in memory of Ellie Sinclair," Texas
"Sarah Michaels," Fairbanks
"Kory Love," Kory
"and Emmett Childs." Emmett
"I'd like to give our first hero's award to Jacob Broadbent." Jay
"Next, Lauren Cunningham." Lauren
"Rosalie Sokolovskii." Russia
"Bradley James." Reaver
"Nicholas Carter." Nick
"Luffy Starr." Luffy
"Gilbert Ellington." Gil
"Nelson Oyai." Nel
"Charlotte James." Charlotte
"Ophelia Tenebaum." Bavaria
"Jessica Probst." Me... Minneapolis
I could hardly respond to that name anymore. Even though it had been five years. It was still so difficult. I suppose it helped when I learned Luffy lived only an hour away from my hometown. I found Jay without any problems. And even though it took some real searching for the others... Here they are. We were all one big family.
Jacob Broadbent 1996-still living
Lauren Cunningham 1999-still living
Rosalie Sokolovskii 1997-still living
Bradley James ?-still living
Nicholas Carter 1996-still living
Luffy Starr 1996-still living
Gilbert Ellington 1994-still living
Nelson Oyai 1993-still living
Charlotte James 1997-still living
Ophelia Tenebaum 1996-still living
Jessica Probst 1998-still living
Ellie Sinclair 1987-2013
Sarah Michaels 1998-2013
Kory Love 1997-2013
Emmett Childs 1998-2013