The End

by Herman Grobler

  On arrival each boat gets tied down, it came as a surprise as Emma is already preparing food for everyone, they arrived in the nick of time as she is almost done and she also prepared a bunch of sleeping bags. They have decided that it will be good enough and unloading will have to wait until tomorrow morning the longer the generator runs the more fuel they consume, even though there is enough to last for weeks. William still thinks it’s best to ration it down, until they find more and know they have enough for a long time to come a few weeks isn’t good enough for him.

  Everyone seems extremely happy, sharing stories with each other and laughing while enjoying a good warm meal, Emma sure knows how to cook.

  “Can I have everyone’s attention please,” William asked, waiting for them to listen.

  “Like I said before all of you came here, we do have rules and regulations and I would like to go by them fast,” William said, waiting a few seconds to make sure everyone is listening.

  “We don’t have much just the following,” William said.

  “For no reason will anyone here treat anyone here in any way that is wrong, this includes fighting, swearing at each other or mocking each other or another,” William said loudly.

  “The generator is not to be used, neither the fuel unless you have permission, we need it for emergencies,” William said loudly.

  “After around 9 pm we will put out all the burning torches, except campfires, extra warmth and, of course, less of a mess to deal with when its ash,” William said.

  “When we put the torches out, we require you to be absolutely silent, so that we can hear and be on full alert if something did have to happen,” William said.

  “Food will only be served twice a day and nothing more, however if you do find your own food, birds, reptiles then it’s yours to keep, food is locked up with all the other important supplies like medicine, though we still give everyone the needed medication each month including the following” William said loud.

  “Painkillers, flu and some weak antibiotics, we also provide food per day this is only two cans split between three people and one can of any veggies we have available at the moment,” William said.

  “In a case of an injury you can report to Emma as she is a trained nurse, she will take care of any wounds minor and serious injuries,” William said.

  “And most importantly, no one is allowed to leave the island unless its permanent and everyone will have a task or two to do daily which Emma will have prepared tomorrow,” William said seriously.

  “I believe that is all, Welcome to our group, have a nice stay,” William said with laughter.

  They enjoy their food, among them you can really see some of them is very tired and can’t wait to call it a night, a few minutes past before William orders Emma and Danny to make sure everything is locked and to put out any torches that are still burning, everyone should get their rest and if I might add some good rest tomorrow will be a long day for everyone.

  The night is silent and went by so fast, everyone must have gotten a good night’s rest, maybe a little cold as the sleeping bags isn’t of the best quality and some might be broken, but it must have felt much safer then at West, besides everyone is up and waiting that must be a sign they slept well.

  “Good morning, Emma have made the worksheet and will be out in a few minutes to tell who will be doing what,” William said, full of energy.

  “Morning, morning, I have my list ready and I will start with are security,” Emma said still wearing her nighties.

  “Bobby Pass and Taylor Duncan will make shifts keeping an eye out for any possible dangers, you will go to them when you see anything that can be a potential risk or danger to any of us,” Emma said.

  “Martin Pass and Markus Gray will be our scout team, once a month you can request items and they will try and find them as they look for supplies, no promises are made that they will find any requested goods,” Emma said kindly with laughter.

  “Samuel Mo will do the cooking as he was a chef, before all of this happened, all cooking will be done by him, this includes the food storage area will be under his full control, he will alert us when we run low on anything important, Samantha Green will be assisting she will also assist me,” Emma said.

  “Debra Hills and my mother Susan will do any dishes and everyone will do laundry together to save time,” Emma said

  “Finally, I will be taking care of disease and treat any injuries while helping out where ever I can, Danny will take any important request if you need something done, he is also in charge when it comes to any other requests, William is the one you will go speak to if you have any personal problems with any of the people here now,” Emma said

  “The scouts and the guards here are they going to get any weapons?” Bobby asked out of line and rudely.

  “Unfortunately only the scouts will get weapons once they leave to find supplies,” Emma said.

  “That sounds like rubbish to me, how will we defend these people, with sticks and stones?” Bobby asked angrily and confused.

  “If you didn’t know this by now, we are on a safe island and only the scouts will really need them not you, however if anything ever did had to happen that require guns then it will be given,” Emma said trying hard, very hard to keep her calm.

  Before Bobby could say anything else Martin shuts him up, it worked like a charm, all of them seems to be fine with their tasks and daily work, after that everyone was helping each other setting up their areas to start their tasks, Samuel cooking, some weapons were giving to the security, however, nothing major.

  The scouts were sent to William where he will give their first assignment, it’s very important that it’s done now on an early stage before even more people show up, Martin and Markus wait patiently for William to explain.

  “You see, I have this idea to bring some power to Key West, it won’t be much just enough to run the lights and small stoves, at least, though the only way to do this is by using solar panels,” William said as the two stared at him.

  “I think it might be better to get the panels and set up power here, it will be a big bonus, making everything much easier then what it is now, this includes cooking, improved security as there can be light to actually see during the night, only if needed, light in the living quarters until we get more of course, it might even be fun,” Martin Said.

  “Sounds wonderful, Emma can run some medical equipment when we have sufficient amount of power,” Markus said all excited.

  “What about the Fort in Key West?” William asked.

  “Well we can always take the generator there, set up a stove and a few lights, while the generator stay locked up behind bars with just enough space to start it, this way it won’t get stolen, it will require minimum effort to, all we need to do is keep it full,” Martin said, as Markus nod his head.

  “Well now that sounds like a plan, Martin here is your rifle we have enough ammunition for it so take what you need, Markus you can have both pistols though we don’t have enough ammunition for this, we couldn’t find any at the time,” William said.

  “You can go prepare a bag, here is a note you will need it as confirmation that I allowed it, we will need at least 10 cans of food, you can also bring some dry bread, also don’t forget to pack enough water,” William said.

  “Sure thing,” Martin said with a smile

  “Oh before you go, this is a list that Emma gave me, it’s not needed but it sure would be helpful in the future, the list she gave has a lot of rubbish on it, so I marked down only the most important, being tents, sleeping bags, water cans, plates, cups, new blankets, and pillows, if we had more men we could even include a few mattresses and a few other things” William said.

  “Oh please that won’t be a problem, if we each take a shopping trolley then we can get all those on the list, besides the tents and plates none of those things will be heavy unless it in bulk, we can easily take two trolleys each,” Martin said laughing.

  “Yea you are right, ok th
en that’s what we will do, be ready in 10, I will be waiting at the boat,” William said, hating the way Martin talked to him, since he did have a good idea William will leave it until the next time.

  Over the course of five days the three managed to get a lot of clothing small furniture’s, plates cups, extra food and clothing for everyone all the way to the boats, the boats were full and they had to take everything back first, before they could continue searching, they stayed the night and then returned to Key West where they were busy for another ten days, raiding every sun panel they can find, they ended up gathering even more food, medicine, books on all sorts of topics, lights, tents, and other essential items.

  On their return, William was so proud on his small team and very first big raid, he could finally take some time off and spend it with Danny he deserves it as much as William did.

  As the goods get unloaded, Emma is happy and excited everything is falling into place, it's going so well that they actually have books and all types of toys, the only thing they need now is a teacher, especially when more families come that has kids, the food is so much another area was needed to store everything, fuel, and even medical supplies, with an entire area just for single mattresses, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows and tents more than enough for now and even when more people come. It pleases her greatly as William said that over a month from now they should have power running at a stable rate for everyone and he will even include other sections once it’s been planned, people will just move in and have power ready.

  To Emma personally it really seems that William is stepping up his game plan here, we might not be many, but we sure as hell have enough to support at least 45 people when it comes to living quarters and food, medicine wise more than enough for months for just our group alone.

  William finds the installation of the sun panels to be tedious, they had to go back just to find more cable, something they didn’t really pay attention to, its already been a week and only a small area has been set up with power running at any time preferred or needed, even if it’s going bad he knows they will get it done and he can only be happy that there were no casualties getting all of this stuff.

  The best part of it all was the fact that the encounters was minimal so little that they were put down on the spot, they all just figured if they kill one it will be less the next time they come raiding for supplies. William is truly happy that everything is starting to work out the way he planned, the only thing needed is more people and more weapons then they can truly say they are ready for this new world they live in.

  Chapter 6: Monstrous Transformations

  “Well, what’s the news? Is he looking any better?” Bradley asked Luke.

  “I can’t say,” Luke answered.

  “What the hell do you mean by that, are you stupid? It's yes or no, it’s really that simple,” Bradley said angrily.

  “Well now that you put it that way, I can easily say both, yes and no,” Luke said trying to keep calm.

  “He is awake as we speak, however, he seems very different,” Luke said.

  “Different? in what ways,” Bradley asked.

  “He doesn’t talk much, he always seems hungry, no matter how much food I get him,” Luke said all confused.

  “Well, why won’t he be? The body needs more nutrients to recover from injuries, especially serious ones like his,” Bradley said.

  “Well that’s the thing, he is recovering very well, flesh is connecting, muscles, he pretty much just have very bad shivers and headaches, other than that he is weak,” Luke said.

  “Well it’s almost been an entire month, of course, he would heal in that time,” Bradley said sarcastically.

  “That’s the thing, truth be told, he wasn’t even supposed to survive severe injuries like this and if he did he would have been a freaking vegetable,” Luke said angrily.

  “Hey boy, you better watch your mouth, just be happy he is alive! Is that so hard to do?” Bradley asked.

  “I suppose so,” Luke said, with an angry grin on his face.

  “Just go, I don’t have time for your nonsense,” Bradley said.

  “I don’t have time either,” Luke said as he walked outside.

  Luke goes to his room, its small yet big enough for him, writing down notes of every possible thing they could have done, they're every move, trying hard to calculate which route they would have taken and where to, marking the safest areas with the safest buildings. After the list was finally completed, it didn’t take him long to figure everything out, its only logical that the safest place right now will be Fort Jefferson, its surrounded by ocean and nothing will be able to reach it, except for people that is. Fort Zachary Taylor is another Fort that will provide good coverage; I might as well check that one and find a boat from there to go to Jefferson.

  I might not be able to find the route they took but I sure as hell can at least try and predict where they might be going, I have a good feeling about this, still I could be wasting my time here. The girls can be dead already, Jason, on the other hand, I know he will be alive and that’s my only real target.

  Luke figures he will go tomorrow besides Roy looks better, Luke doesn’t care for making it a high priority, knowing he will either get them along the road or he will be waiting for them once they arrive.

  “Luke!” Bradley said, standing in the door, all stressed out.

  “What’s wrong,” Luke asked, staring at his worried dad.

  “It’s Roy you better check on him now, something is wrong,” Bradley said rushing towards Roy’s side, trying to hold him down as he waits for Luke to come.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong, I can’t help him more than I already did,” Luke explains as he enters the room, Roy shaking furiously, sweating like a mad thing.

  “Just come have a look,” Bradley said.

  “But I don’t know what’s wrong with him, I don’t know how to treat this,” Luke said.

  Bradley rushes towards Luke, grabbing him by his shirt and pushes him towards Roy, Luke bumps into Roy that is already standing for some reason, it’s like Luke bumped into a solid wet wall, it was disgusting, the smell of sweat on Roy is so strong, and its way more potent than it normally was. making Luke think he has some type of fever, though he was fine just an hour ago, if not less, before he could even turn around to try and explain what he think the problem could be, Roy pushes him back with so much force that Luke fell forward hitting his head against the wall, the blow hard enough to let Luke feel a little dizzy and confused.

  “Hey what the hell is your problem now? Why did you do that Roy?” Bradley asked.

  “Boy, you better answer me now,” Bradley said as Roy stares him dead in the eyes.

  “He is trying to help you and this is how you treat him?” Bradley asked as he walks over to Roy aiming to hit him, before he could even land the blow Bradley was already pushed over.

  “I like this,” Roy said softly.

  “Like what?” Bradley asked, reaching for his knife in his pocket.

  “This power, it so different, you better not try anything, I promise that little knife won’t do anything to me,” Roy said laughing followed with silence.

  “I won’t bet on it Roy,” Bradley said, his face express fear, something Roy has never seen.

  “Oh, I will bet my life on it,” Roy said giggling.

  “Roy look, let us help you, everything will be ok, you’ll see,” Luke said.

  “Don’t worry big bro; I feel better than ever, I just need food,” Roy said with an evil look.

  “That’s not a problem we have loads thanks to you if you didn’t get it then we won’t have anything,” Luke said, trying hard to convince Roy they care and he actually has a place here with them.

  “Stop it, you are a little scumbag, none of you have ever cared,” Roy said angrily.

  “Your wrong Roy, we do care, let us help you,” Bradley said softly.

  “If you really care then get me some food!” Roy said loudly.

  �
�Just tell us what you need,” Luke said.

  “I need meat,” Roy said.

  “Then I shall prepare you some food now, we have canned beef,” Luke said smiling.

  “I don’t want that, I need fresh meat, something still warm and fresh,” Bradley said.

  “You need fresh meat? What like an animal?” Luke asked confused and stressed out.

  “No, no, I don’t want that! I need meat still warm, I crave it! I need someone and I need that someone now! Or I will just have to skin both of you,” Roy said, shouting angrily at Luke while he stares at his father.

  “No problem, we can find that for you,” Bradley said as Luke looks at him, shocked and disappointed.

  “But dad,” Luke said.

  “No buts, if that will make your little brother feel any better than it’s worth it, get up let's go,” Bradley said.

  “We won’t take long, we just need enough time to find someone,” Bradley said while helping up Luke.

  “You better go fast, I am extremely hungry,” Roy said, giggling as he licks his top lip.

  They get some gear and set out searching the surrounding areas knowing they won’t find any one there, they have been away for a few hours already. Bradley took the time to explain why they are doing this the main reason being that he doesn’t want to lose a son and that they can find some poor soul, maybe this will let Roy be in a much better mood. On this little trip they also looked for strong drugs to knock Roy out, though they have been very unlucky so far.

  Luke finds it hard to understand, Roy have never benefited this family in any way, still he was family and thus he had to try and help him, however, now he seems to be much worse, he is highly unstable and the only logical reason is that he caught that virus and is slowly turning him into one of those monsters.