The End

by Herman Grobler

  Jason slips in by the front door and trips slightly over a piece of string alerting both Luke and his dad with tiny bells, both of them hide in two different spots, Luke’s dad ready to fire and Luke ready to attack from behind the door where his brother is resting. Jason finds its strange that there isn’t even a peep, only some coughing, he can tell that must be the one that is injured the other two might be outside in the back, Jason approach the room and enter, gun ready and aiming, he walks up all the way to the man resting there in his own bloody sheets.

  Jason takes the pillow from beneath his head and applies it gently over the man’s head applying pressure; Luke finds his opportunity and rushes in to hit Jason over the head with a piece of pipe Luke carries around. Jason turns around quickly and feels solid pains rushing to his brain and before he could respond another blow to the skull, turning everything black.

  “What happened?” the older man asked.

  “He showed up, this must be Jason,” Luke said, feeling guilty that two blows that hard might kill him, though Jason seems fine.

  “That’s good that means we are back in business to get those supplies,” The old man said happily.

  “Just make sure you get Roy back up and completing his task as soon as possible,” With a big smile on the old man’s face clearly happy.

  “No worries, the bleeding nearly stopped entirely he just need to recover now,” Luke said, also showing some happiness not because Jason showed up but his brother has some extra time now.

  Luke drags Jason to the basement before he opens the door he ties Jason’s hands and feet with a piece of rope, unlocking the basement door, dragging him down the stairs, busy unlocking a gate, he drags Jason’s move less body into the cage. Luke locks everything the cage and the basement door, he moves an old clock in front of the door just in case and set more strings to alert them if they ever had to try and escape, he also sets a string to the door, as soon as it opens the bells will go of, Luke goes to the front to reset the string Jason tripped, best to have everything ready, before they get ambushed.

  “Time to get up,” As Maggie yawns loud and deep.

  “We are waiting for you,” As Jacky replies softly.

  Maggie jumps up with excitement wanting to know how she feels, if she is feeling any better, can she walk, is there anything that she could do for her, Maggie waits for her to answer but instead it was told not to worry everything will be fine.

  “I feel better, really I do and yes I can walk I walked earlier to the bathroom all by myself and I met your new friend, I was skeptical at first but she seems like a nice person,” Jacky said calmly with a smile.

  “Oh it’s good to hear you are feeling better, where is Ashley now anyways?” Maggie asked with a big smile on her face full of energy.

  “She went down stairs to check how it is outside, she told me that we were surrounded but the entire horde moved down the road or well most of them,” Jacky said with her eyes slightly closed, it’s clear, she hasn’t regained all her strength yet, not in the way she wanted Maggie to believe.

  “I better go check on her to, I will be right back,” As Maggie gets up walking to the door, worried about Jacky she doesn’t look very well, go figure who would feel well after an injury like that, especially after all the commotion, it must have been really stressful on her.

  Maggie walks down the stairs, and opens the front door looking past the wall slightly, right and left, she can see a few crawling around, the stench in the air of human flesh burning due to explosion and fire makes Maggie nauseous, sad to see that some of them is still alive, even worse to think that they might still feel pain.

  Maggie doesn’t see Ashley anywhere and isn’t in the mood to go look for her, Maggie sighs and as she turns around gets a big freight from Ashley, that was actually in the lower apartments trying to scavenge some food.

  “Morning, sorry I didn’t mean to scare you like that, it’s impossible to find food, I looked across the street by a few houses also checked here in the apartments and got absolutely nothing,” While Ashley sighs multiple times as she is really hungry, you could actually hear her stomach growling like some type of beast that lives in there.

  “Morning, you know, you won’t find anything as my dad got pretty much everything and he took everything we could use, medical, food, fuel and anything that can be used as a weapon, sorry but we will have to go and look somewhere else, we can go look at my house if it’s safe, maybe, there is still food left,” Maggie said just staring at Ashley.

  “Sure ok, let’s do that maybe there is some that he didn’t take, I realized when he told us to go outside that the car he had was loaded with stuff,” Ashley said silently, staring back at Maggie.

  “We better get going then, it’s the only way we will find out, don’t worry its really close by,” Maggie said, looking slightly concerned, her dad will be really angry when he gets back especially if they got robbed, the last person that robbed him, well, he nearly beaten that guy and his friends to death.

  Sneaking and passing these things, finally arriving at the house, it took a lot longer than expected, simple reasons, there was just a lot more of those things than expected, a few close calls and a few times we had to wait for them to pass by, but here we are Maggie bragged with pride, it might not look like much now but it used to be one of the best looking homes in the block, sadly it got somewhat destroyed due to all the attacks.

  Ashley stares at her and before she could continue bragging how good the house was and how good the house looked, how expensive it was, Ashley responded that no one really cares, it’s in the past and at this rate it will be destroyed before anything gets better. Maggie realized that she might have taken things to far, Ashley sounds really grumpy about it maybe she didn’t have this type of luxury, better to keep mouth shut, Maggie thought to herself, hopefully there is still some food left, if not then we can only hope he didn’t find my personal stash, it’s not much but is a backup in case someone ever had to raid them.

  Maggie checks in the kitchen cupboards, in the crates, in the storage room and most things have been taken, all the food, the medical supplies, including some objects that will make good weapons, Maggie invites everyone to follow her to her room, where she has can food stashed under her bed, lucky for them it’s still there only 4 cans of corned beef, 2 cans of sweet corn, 2 cans of green peas and 2 cans of spaghetti and meatballs.

  Maggie can see the excitement in Ashley’s eyes, no idea how long she had to go without food, Jacky to, she is not used to skipping a meal, she must be starving as well, figuring it will be best to simply just open almost all of it and let everyone have a good meal before they set out, everyone knows they wont be able to stay here, they will get in eventually and if that doesn’t happen then that Roy guy will most likely return to see what happened.

  Maggie gets some wood also stored in the storage room; it was just as a backup plan if the fuel had to run out or the stoves gas, best place to make a fire will be in the back yard, it’s just to warm up the corned beef and the spaghetti meatballs. Maggie doesn’t know about Ashley but she hates cold food, it should at least be before boiling temperature otherwise it just doesn’t taste as good or in some cases just doesn’t taste good at all, Jacky in the other hand she won’t mind how its cooked as long as she gets fed, she is a happy girl.

  The food smells good everyone is extra hungry at this point and can’t wait to dig in if Maggie could only serve the food faster, while eating they plan their route, which roads to take and what precautions to take including a method to indicate their direction to their dad, though that’s not so important right now as they all voted they will stay one more night before taking the road, besides dad should be back to day, late afternoon at least, if not then we can assume that anything could have happened to him it’s a sad thing to say, but Maggie knows it’s true other than that a good night’s sleep will do everyone good this will also give Jacky some extra time to recover its not much but better than no rest at all.<
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  It’s still early the generator is down and there is no power even though Maggie found one can of fuel its best to save it for the night, if something had to happen and they need the light, while Jacky’s resting, Maggie and Ashley pack what they would possibly need also trying to keep their back packs as light as possible, there is only one can of corned beef before this runs out more food needs to be found.

  There is no way to prepare a good weapon, not without the stolen tools and goods, the best Maggie has is sharpened sticks with a few steak knives, of course, there is shovels, spades a pitch fork but all this is way too heavy to carry along until they find a good place to stay or, at least, the safest place to stay.

  Maggie limits their backpacks to some clothing, water, medicine and food if they had to find any, whatever they can carry by hand, this include the stupid stick as a weapon, the only reason why Maggie limits this is because no one know what they will find out there, so the space will be crucial when they do find anything out there that will be useful, Ashley will also take one blanket the thinnest one in the house, just if any of them need it during the night, it’s not thick but at least it will break the cold.

  Food and shelter will be the highest priority even if that means killing a few of them it has to be done or this road trip will be short, they won’t make it any other way Maggie explained and Ashley agreed that this two is a must and thirdly, should be medicine.

  Maggie and Ashley have yet to decide where to go, all their needed goods were packed, this will be the last night in a soft warm bed for maybe days to come, after tonight it will be pure survival, Maggie makes sure Jacky understands and she is convinced that she does, Ashley however agrees and knows what comes next, she is defiantly ready.

  It’s almost dark, they start barricading the front and back door securely, Maggie goes through each room making sure each window is secure, the night hasn’t even really started and its sounds scary as hell outside with so many of them, Maggie knows after tonight only the worse can be expected, the only thing all of them can do is be prepared for anything and everything, they all tuck into Jason’s bed, it’s the biggest bed in the house an entire king size for the three of them, more than enough space for all of them.

  A few minutes past and Ashley can hear them sleeping, both Maggie and Jacky are technically snoring, Ashley knows the snoring won’t keep her up as she is feeling pretty tired herself, even though they didn’t do much for the day, there is no banging on the house walls not many screams, everything seem quite enough, the perfect night for some peaceful sleep.

  Early morning, before the sun has risen, everyone is up preparing their stuff, both Maggie and Jacky is sad that their dad didn’t return, it is what it is, Maggie said, no one has decide which direction to go and which direction would be the safest. Maggie however had a plan if no one else had an idea on where to go, Maggie figures it will be best to go to the Fort, distant from any big cities, it might be dangerous but it surely be less dangerous then heading anywhere else, we can go to the Fort and check it out it’s the least we could do before jumping to conclusions.

  Its distant but we should be able to get much needed supplies on our way there, where we might be able to have a good opportunity to rest unless there is a bunch of hungry flesh eating tourists, then we have absolutely no luck Maggie smiled and giggled even though Jacky and Ashley don’t find it funny at all, they seem really grumpy about the idea.

  Come one guys, it’s the best place I know that might be safe, safer than any other place and if it’s not then we might as well go to the next Fort, there must be survivors and if there is none, then I can almost insure that there will be no other danger.

  Your right, I highly doubt these things can swim and I still have Roy’s gun that we can use in a case of emergency or if we meet more psychopaths like Roy, we can do this Ashley said, we might be girls, that doesn’t mean we are weak, let’s get out there and start walking, it’s not getting any closer by standing around, even if her speech was suppose the be encouraging, Ashley knew she could have done better yet speech isn’t one of her strong points.

  “It’s so cold,” Jacky Said.

  “Can I please have that blanket,” Jacky asked politely.

  “If you want it then you will have to carry the bag to,” Ashley said smiling.

  “I am sore but I will try,” Jacky said with a grin on her face, shocking to her sister Maggie as she knows Jacky being a very lazy person.

  “At least, we got past that area, past all those monsters, it seems much safer now,” Ashley said with confidence.

  “Well, we are a few blocks away, we defiantly traveled a few miles,” Maggie said.

  “We should probably find a place to stay for the night, it’s hard to tell the time, to many clouds,” Maggie said with a slight smile, followed with a deep breath.

  “Yes I am tired,” Jacky said fast and excited.

  “Can’t be that late, felt like we only started walking an hour ago, but I suppose your right, we should find a place to stay we need to be safe, we need time to secure the building and barricade the doors,” Ashley said.

  “Exactly, if we play it smart then we can get past this in no time,” Maggie said with a smile.

  “Besides, it might be cloudy here but in the distance, it looks like an epic storm approaching hopefully leaving” Ashley said.

  They enter a shop with no confrontation, it seems like the perfect place to rest up for the night, they block the door with the empty shelves this is heavier than any of them could imagine, they still managed, while moving the shelves they found a missing bullet of a riffle it’s pretty large, however, this put everyone on full alert, trying to find the gun, if it were still to be here, after a few minutes they give up, each gets a Jacket from the back pack, it’s the only thing that will keep them warm beside the blanket, only two can fit under it, if positioned nicely.

  There is a faint drizzle outside but nothing to worry about, Maggie doesn't worry about it, it’s not so loud and she can still see and hear what’s going on outside, she still have some fuel with her, enough to start a small fire in a metal trash can, by using parts of the shelves that’s not being used to block the front entrance, the fire should last a while, enough to warm them up for the night at least.

  Maggie stayed up for a few hours, just to stay on guard and make sure the rest get there sleep, until its around 10 Pm, Ashley will be up until about 2 Am, then Jacky will take the last round until 6 Am, that’s 4 hours each, Maggie explains that some rest can be taken in between the 4 hours as long as they sit by the window. Least the windows has bars on them so nothing should be able to come in, the most that will happen is the window can break, the last thing while being on guard, don’t make a sound we don’t want to draw unwanted attention to us. This shop is small and even if the back is blocked off by fence we don’t want to get pinned down here, sitting around the small fire, they all agree and head to bed, Maggie got comfortable just in front of the window.

  As the hours go by Maggie slips away every now and then not because she is tired but the fact that it’s so boring doing this, it’s nothing like the movies she used to watch, every now and then something passes by but they don’t stop, they don’t realize anything, as long as they move along Maggie is happy.

  Ashley pokes Maggie, hey it’s time for my shift I am sure of it, beside even if it’s not I’m not really tired so why don’t you turn in and let me take it from here, Maggie agrees and goes straight to bed, with her being so cold, the blanket that they brought with, really helps a lot, besides its nice and warm since Ashley got out.

  “Good to see you are awake,” Luke said to Roy.

  “Look, you need to tell me what happened, dad is furious with you, he wants you to go back and finish what you started,” Luke said with concern.

  “Oh big bro, they all so worried, it won’t be possible,” Roy said giggling.

  “Why is that?” Luke asked annoyed with Roy’s attitude.

  “Because
, I killed them or well those things did,” Roy answered.

  “And before you complain like a little girl, I got most of the supplies, it’s only a few blocks away,” Roy said sighing.

  “Then why didn’t you freaking bring it with you?” Luke asked.

  “Because, the car I had, broke down and it was too much to load all that stuff to another one, beside there was a lot on my tail, it’s like sound is attracting them,” Roy said.

  “I got food, fuel, medical supplies and anything that would make decent weapons, mostly large knives, not like we need it, you never know when our little group will expand,” Roy said laughing.

  “Well then go fetch it,” Luke said sarcastically.

  “No can do amigo, I am tired, sore, I pretty much did the entire plan for all of you, not to mention, much faster,” Roy said.

  “You are such a childish person, this attitude of yours is what almost got you killed,” Luke said angrily.

  “Can you at least guard the prisoners, dad and I will go pick up the supplies and go check if you actually did the job, because you know what, Jason that guy dad knows actually did show up and we did capture him, so the plan would have worked and you wouldn’t have gotten your self-injured,” Luke said before Roy could back chat him with another cheesy line.

  “Don’t preach me, I did what I had to do, just go, I will look after them and make sure they don’t escape,” Roy said yawning afterward.

  Luke gets up and informs his father while packing their bags, while Luke packs the bags and fuels up a car, his dad goes down to the basement to pay a little visit to his prisoners, his prized one being Jason.

  “It’s been such a long time Jason,” Said the man.

  “You have to be kidding me,” Jason said with slight laughter.

  “Now isn’t the time to laugh!” Said the man, shouting his words out of anger.

  “Can’t help it, you really are the funniest person I know,” Jason said laughing.

  “Will it be funny, if I said that Roy killed your two little whores which you call daughters?” The man said out loud, laughing at Jason.