The End

by Herman Grobler

  I ended up not telling Samantha anything, it posed to much of a risk her blabbing my plan out to everyone or going to Martin and telling him, once I visited my brother, then Bradley can have Ashley and use her to get Conway running, running fast to be her hero.

  What happens then is entirely up to them, at least I would be out of that simple place, best thing I had ever done was to wait, seems like James said his good byes, after he heard a message over the radio, apparently he will return to this base and bring back help.

  “Are you ready?” Bobby asked.

  “Couldn’t be more ready then now, can’t wait to get out of here, this place is boring, using me like a slave,” Taylor said.

  “Good then you go now, all you need to do is keep an eye on Jason, if he notices anything then kill him, don’t mess around because he won’t,” Bobby said.

  “Don’t worry, I got this,” Taylor said with confidence.

  Bobby waited a few minutes before he went after his target, he found a pistol and a combat knife just before James left, its perfect, he have a full clip and well the knife is just there as a backup.

  The best way he could enter Conway’s quarters was to distract him, this is where Taylor came into the plan, and this was his important mission while keeping an eye on Jason.

  Taylor did well, he too waited a few minutes before he randomly got up and attacked Jason beating him multiple times, though Taylor was put down fairly quickly, it worked like a charm as Samantha came running calling Conway.

  It was also due to luck that he came out alone, it was kind of predictable as he won’t put her in harm’s way, this gave Bobby just enough time to get Ashley, he knocked her out and over the head multiple times, before putting her over his shoulders.

  He made a run for it, the fight with Jason continued for several seconds, before they were calmed down, Conway returned to his quarters thinking Ashley just went to go fetch food or went to use the bathroom, calm and happy.

  Jason however, caught a glimpse of Bobby carrying her away over his shoulder, Jason didn’t hesitate to engage them, he ran as fast as he could, but with one loud gun shot, he feels this deep intense burning sensation in his leg, looking down upon the open wound, applying pressure to the wound.

  Looking up he gets tackled by Taylor where the fight continues, Jason didn’t have time to waste and grabs a hand full of sand throwing it into Taylors eyes, he gets his small pocket knife out of his sock and stabs Taylor multiple times in the neck, the blood gushes out of each wound, Taylor still managed to shoot Jason one more time.

  Jason fears that this wound is fatal, there is no way he will make it, his heart is sore he can feel deep pounding pains and without a doctor he won’t survive for long.

  Conway came as fast as he could, only to find Jason in a pool of blood, still alive, Conway was told everything, it was way too late, Bobby was long gone with Ashley.

  Conway called Markus to grab weapons and to hurry back, they need to go get her before she gets injured or killed, Conway can’t stress this enough and while he waits for Markus, he helped Jason back to his tent where Samantha will treat him, since she was the only one that helped Emma the most with injuries, the only one that learned something from Emma.

  Bobby rigged all of the boats none of them would even start, Conway is furious to be such an idiot to set that maniac free, they quickly started repairs not knowing how long it might take.

  From a distance Bobby can see that Key West is in chaos, raging fires, people screaming, loud gun fire, he doesn’t know how Bradley pulled this of but he sure as hell just wanted to get this over with. He grabs Ashley by the hair and pulls on it, leading her through the entire fight only shooting a few, Bobby didn’t only shoot the infected in his way but any other person to.

  He overheard the conversation Samantha and Conway had when Conway placed Martin in charge of Key West, Bobby knew exactly where he should go to find his so called office, and on entrance Bobby see Martin busy getting more Ammo.

  “What the hell are you doing,” Martin asked shocked.

  “What does it look like I am doing?” Bobby asked.

  “Don’t do this, we have the opportunity to change,” Martin said.

  “If you want to change, then change, I don’t want to, you never asked me if I wanted to change for the better good?” Bobby asked.

  “You know why they released you?” Martin asked.

  “Because of good behavior,” Bobby said pulling the trigger shooting Martin in the shoulder.

  “That’s enough, I see you brought the girl,” Bradley said laughing.

  “Yes I did, Conway won’t hesitate to come find her, and you will have no problems,” Bobby said.

  “What, seriously this guy, you are still mixed up with them?” Martin asked.

  Before Bobby could answer Martin, Bradley drew his gun and shot Martin on sight before pointing the gun to Bobby.

  “Wait, what the hell, we had a deal,” Bobby said calmly.

  “Well, he did kill my son and for you, I never like you, but since we had the deal, I will only cripple you,” Bradley said, shooting Bobby twice in each leg, before he took his leave with Ashley.

  He prepared a nice big note for Conway, sticking it next to Martins little bookshelf, the letter is covered in blood, Conway won’t miss it.

  Martin can feel that his dying, as he stares at Bobby struggling to get up, Martin knows that there is only one last thing left to do.

  To save his brother from getting eaten alive, or getting tortured by Conway, in order to save his life he need to take his life, before it’s too late. Martin crawls over to his brother, drawing his knife stabbing him once, managing to stab him again, just before his last breath.

  Bobby didn’t know what happened, it was too much, he was meant to be free, the plan was perfect, he was so close to finishing something he started, his brother tried to kill him that must be a sign of how much he was hated. Bobby closes his eyes, the pain is too much and his body too weak to get up, he waits patiently to die.

  Chapter 18: The Awakening

  With all the screaming, the yelling and the guns firing, close by a beast awakens, even more dangerous than before, covered in slime with razor sharp teeth and claws, the first thing he does, is head to all the people screaming, it growls loudly, its heavy and fast, busting in to join the fight, the survivors had no chance in fighting this thing, it attacks everyone around it, including the monstrosities.

  The ones that tried to flee, were quickly chased down and killed, Bradley witnessed all of it, seeing the scar over the titans face, knowing that this must be his son Roy it has to be why else would it have so many familiar scars, over its body where the tire burned, the stab wound on his cheek, it didn’t take Bradley long to realize that this thing won’t take one second to savagely kill him.

  He hides with the girl in a cell block nearby, it was a matter of minutes before everything was silent the beast must have left, Bradley fears that it might just be standing there, waiting to see the slightest movement, he built up his courage and gets up, just to have a peek, getting a big fright when Conway grabbed him by the shirt, dragging him out into the open before he starts pounding Bradley brutally.

  Markus and Samantha are with Martin, Bobby is still here and alive, Martin sadly passed, it’s a bloody mess, the letter explained only that Bradley shares many thanks and without Bobby this would have never worked.

  “Stop it, listen to me, she is fine,” Bradley said.

  “She is bleeding and can hardly walk,” Conway said, aiming to punch again.

  “Stop, that was all Bobby, if that thing hears anything then we will all be dead,” Bradley said.

  “What thing? Tell me now?” Conway said loudly.

  “Softly please, it’s a formidable beast, it’s a monstrous titan and I am pretty sure it still wants you dead,” Bradley said.

  “That wants me dead? You don’t scare me Bradley,” Conway said, just before he gets stabbed.

  Bradley pu
shes Conway away from him, I might not scare you, but I sure as hell distracted you enough to injure you, you are such an idiot, did you know that, you are still a kid compared to me, I will always be wiser then you.

  This thing that’s roaming Key West is no lie, it’s true, do you know, how I know, I have seen it with my own eyes, he still has the scars you and that filthy Jason gave him, you might have gotten the upper hand once but you sure as hell won’t be able to do that again, though I don’t want to be here once it does come back.

  Conway got up, just enough to grab the knife, and bring Bradley down to the ground where multiple punches were delivered to one another, soon a few kicks as none could manage, it continued long enough until they were stopped by Ashley.

  They should both stop, before that thing gets back, she explained to Conway how brutal that thing is, she witnessed some of it during her confusion and dizziness, both of them are bloody. Bradley is about to give up, he is getting to old for fist fights, before Conway could tie him down.

  They hear a loud gunshot followed with a second of silence, before they heard a loud roar, Conway believed Bradley now, it sure as hell sounds huge, as this thing got closer, they could hear each step it took, it bumps car out of its way easily.

  Everyone started to hide, trying to be as quite as possible, they can hear this thing walk around the Fort square, its intimidating all of them knowing that this thing will easily kill them, Samantha being unaware of the trouble she just made for everyone exits the room, seeing this beast made her pause to look again.

  It’s like nothing she had ever seen before, its large, bulky, razor sharp teeth, with long claws, she could also tell by the scars that this thing have been in a few battles, the hair that grows alongside the shoulders, all the way down its body, it’s the most hideous thing she has ever seen, without a second to late Markus opens fire, Samantha joined and shortly after Conway.

  This was the perfect opportunity for Bradley, he runs out of the room heading straight to one of the boats, before reaching the boat he simply fell down, the blood rushes from his skull, Jason can barely walk from all the pain, yet Jason still felt good for being the one to put a bullet in his head.

  The beast quickly over powered the gun fire and goes straight for Ashley, slamming her into the wall with a strong blow, this encourages everyone to continue firing, Conway stopped and paused as he stares at her, she is bleeding heavily, knowing that there is a high chance she won’t make it back, before he continues firing the last bit of ammo he had left.

  The beast grabbed Samantha and with one bite to her head, Markus could hear the skull crush between the beasts large jaws, he decides to run but the titan is too quick for him, with one leap forward it jams its filthy black claws straight through his chest, blood drips freely from the claws, Markus still struggles and squirms but with a single bite it was all over.

  Conway froze as he sees his friends getting killed one by one; the beast ran over knocking Conway against a wall, the beast walked over slowly. Roy hasn’t forgotten the pain he has caused and this will be his target until he dies.

  It stands over Conway, staring with his hideous eyes, saliva dripping from its mouth and teeth, until Conway felt the worse pain he has ever felt, the bones in his leg crushing under the foot of Roy, clearly he wants Conway to suffer, it was over within a few seconds as the beast gets distracted by Jason opening a hailstorm of bullets on the beast, using the 50.Cal.

  It worked marvelous, it slowed Roy down, yet he is slowly approaching, the creature bleeds thick black, reddish blood, it moans and growl out of pain, yet he still continues forward, getting close enough he grabs Jason by the arms pulling one arm clean off, tossing him to the side like he was rag doll.

  This made Conway sad, knowing it must be over for all of them, as he stares at his beloved wife laying in a pool of her own blood, she isn’t moving at all, Conway cries and at the same time realizes that this thing is badly injured since its kneeling down, moaning.

  Conway sees the RPG Martin found, hidden away between some crates, Conway crawls over with his crushed leg, he crawls faster and faster, hearing the titan getting closer and closer, he grabs the RPG and turns around, waiting patiently, knowing he have only one shot with this weapon, he aims to the chest, the biggest part of the titan, the beast starts to run, Conway pulled the trigger and it was over with a loud explosion with dark smoke filling the air.

  Conway just lay there, his head is spinning, and through his blurry eyes he could see Roy is still alive even though there is an entire hole in his chest, with most of his shoulder missing, Conway figured that the fight is over, there is nothing left he could do but wait and die. Looking at the beast one more time just before Conway faint, he could hear a helicopter opening fire, the last thing Conway could see was blood splattering out of Roy with each shot that successfully hit him, he could hear the creature moan desperately in pain, all of a sudden everything went black, like he was falling asleep.

  Chapter 19: The End

  “Where am I?” Conway asked as he awoke.

  “Is any one there?” Conway asked his eye sight still blurry.

  “Calm down, you need your rest,” the nurse said, smiling.

  “You’re safe now,” The nurse said.

  “No, where am I?” Conway asked.

  “You are being treated, now sir, please calm down,” The nurse said.

  “I need to talk to whoever is in charge, immediately it’s important,” Conway said, being very serious.

  “It’s ok, you will just need to give us a moment, nurse please, fetch a wheel chair,” The doctor said.

  “You should take it slowly, we had no choice but to amputate your leg, it was crushed,” The doctor said.

  “I remember everything that happened, you don’t have to tell me,” Conway said with sarcasm.

  “Well take it slow, you have been in a coma for almost 2 months, you know you are extremely lucky, next week we would have pulled the plug on you,” The doctor said.

  “For two months?” Conway asked surprised.

  “That’s right, that’s why you need to take it easy, we are almost there,” The doctor said.

  “Where are you taking me exactly?” Conway asked.

  “To the general that runs this entire operation,” The doctor said.

  “I see,” Conway said.

  “Here we are,” The doctor said as he turned around and left.

  “So you must be Conway, I am General Lewis, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Lewis said.

  “Why am I, I have to get back to my people,” Conway said.

  “I’m sorry for your loss, none survived the attack, only the ones that stayed here at Fort Jefferson,” Lewis said.

  “We are still at Fort Jefferson?” Conway asked.

  “Yes, we are, Private James told us all about you, so we came as soon as possible,” Lewis said.

  “So he actually managed to find help, how ironic,” Conway said.

  “Why is that?” Lewis asked.

  “Because you guys actually, came right after I needed your help the most,” Conway said.

  “We came as soon as we could, we have made many changes, and we also brought the survivors we had with us,” Lewis said.

  “What’s going on here exactly?” Conway asked.

  “When we arrived you were nearly dead, we found you just in time, you have lost a lot of blood,” Lewis said.

  “That much I already know,” Conway said.

  “It’s been two months since then, we have done a great deal to protect the Forts and help anyone residing within them,” Lewis said.

  “We have secured the Fort from the ocean, with steel fence all the way down to the bottom, it’s not much and certainly not a big area but it’s big enough for clothing to be washed,” Lewis said.

  “We used the tents you found for temporarily living quarters, homes are being constructed by the day either with wood or cement, beside from that we have enough sun panels to supply every house hold wit
h electricity, here and at Key West, soon we will have wind turbines to,” Lewis said.

  Lewis explained to Conway in full detail with the improvements they have made, they have put up 6 towers here alone, guarded by trained soldiers and a total of 12 in Key West. Many survivors made it through this struggle yet many died, though everyone is surprised of the mass amounts that pushed through in this terrible time.

  We lost a lot of men defending areas and taking the fight back to them, this virus came so fast none of us were prepared, the entire world was unprepared, we managed to find food, water we even have our own small water purification plant.

  We have weapons to defend the survivors and any that are willing to join us, as long as they can follow the rules and regulations, if failed to do so we have holding cells, if they have done something terrible they will be exiled.

  Besides from power, we have a lot of animal barns, though they are clean they are not ready to be butchered yet, a stable breeding plan must be accomplished first.

  This base works efficiently as to earn different food and amounts you will have to work for it, take it like a new currency for time be, do a good job, do something important and we will reward you with good food, power, free housing including clean water.

  It happens to be that I have the perfect job for you, I want you to be a teacher, I want you to teach all the rookies, the young and old anyone still willing to put up a good fight, though we don’t see much action here after we blew the bridge, I don’t want you to just teach I want you to observe these things everything that’s infected.

  “If you agree to this you can then return to your tent,” Lewis said.

  “Or what you will exile me?” Conway asked.

  “No you won’t get payment, you will starve, or you will live like a hobo, live of other peoples garbage,” Lewis said.

  “Beside you have people waiting for you at your tent,” Lewis said smiling.

  “I will do it, not much else I can do with just one leg,” Conway said.

  The general drew out a small map for Conway to get around the base, marking down all the important places, the doctors, food and water storages and living quarters.