The World At End (Book 1) (Left Alive for the Dead Series)

by H'deel Batnij

  Marty? I thought he was in the car. I walked and stood beside Brian peering down from the edge carefully.

  “YEAH MAN. COME DOWN. IT’S SAFE FOR NOW.”

  “Alright. Ladies first,” he told me with a gesture of his hand.

  “Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea how much I’m afraid of heights?!”

  “Oh, kick-ass girl afraid of heights? Now that’s something unordinary.”

  BANG!

  “COME ON!” Martin shouted from underneath.

  Brian scoffed, picked me up as I screamed his name, and he placed me on the ladder - the building was taller than the building I was shooting heads from. I held on to the ladder for dear life. I looked at him fearfully. “Now remember, don’t look down and just look at me. Trust me. And hurry up. We don’t have five minutes!”

  BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

  I started going down the ladder faster than a cricket could hop. I was glad Brian was coming down fast right behind me. I was the slow poke. I heard a rustle from the bottom. I looked down. “MARTIN! WATCH OUT!”

  Just in time from behind him, he hit the zombie in the face with the butt of the shotgun. I climbed down faster. When I reached the bottom of the ladder and was about to jump, Martin came and placed me down, grabbing my waist from behind. Brian jumped four ladders down and said, “Let’s dash!”

  We ran at the same speed. The girls unlocked the door. I entered the drivers’ seat, Brian the passenger while dragging his bags with the help of Martin. Martin got in the back with the girls. Brian locked the doors from his side while I placed the key in the ignition. “Seat belts, people,” I told them.

  “Dude, it’s the end of the world, and you worry about seat belts?! Where’s your serious bone?!”

  “Be quiet, Martin, and just listen to what she says,” Rave told him.

  Thankfully she took care of that. I really was not in the mood. I twisted the key in the ignition. It stuttered, but it wouldn’t start. I tried again – same thing. I smacked the steering wheel. Damn, I knew this would happen after months of not using it. Who knows, maybe the diesel dried up? Needs a serious oil change? I prayed for what’s left of us to not stay stuck here. We won’t make it on foot for sure. Gritting my teeth, I muttered, “Come on.” Stomping on the gas pedal hard, and turning the steering wheel, I tried it one more time. Miraculously, it rumbled to life. And I have never felt so relieved.

  We were all startled once we heard a bang against the window from Brian’s side. I put the car in drive and drove out of there as quick as I could, and away from that area of filtering death.

  Trip

  Well…that was close,” Martin breathed.

  “Ya’ think?!” Anna told him.

  I handed Brian the walkie-talkie. “Try again.”

  He did without argument. There was static at first, but then Brass’s voice came on the walkie-talkie. “…Here…Rachel…Laura…lost…” Apparently, no one needed translation for that.

  “The rest of you are okay then? No one bitten? Injured?”

  “No, no one.” His voice became clear. “Is there an emergency?”

  “Emergency?! Uh, here you take this one.” Brian handed the walkie-talkie back to me. Who, other than me, wasn’t afraid from Brass from what’s left of us?!

  I parked in the middle of the road and sat there to explain. “Brass, don’t go back to the club.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s been attacked.”

  He stayed quiet for a bit. “How?”

  “Of course, Salvatore’s stomach and ignorance is what got the place crawling.”

  “Dammit. I should’ve stayed. Is everyone okay? No one’s been bitten?”

  “We’re fine. We haven't been bitten or scratched, but we did have a little trouble. Also, we lost some people.”

  “Who’s left?”

  “Me, Brian, Martin, Naomi, Anna, and Rave are what’s left. The rest are dead,” I told him in a flat and defeated tone. I felt like a failure because I couldn’t do anything to save them. The guilt ate me.

  “…Dude, back away…I’ll give it to you,” Brass told someone admonishingly.

  “I need to hear her voice!” It was Josh’s voice in the background.

  “Is Josh okay?” I quickly asked with worry and without thought.

  Brass snorted. “Healthy as a horse! Here, she wants to talk to you.”

  “Lily, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I’m so happy to hear your voice. Where are you guys?”

  “We’re at some warehouse way down south…”

  Suddenly, I heard a gunshot. “What was that?” I asked him questioningly.

  “Uh, the door won’t budge close. But don’t worry. No trouble at all.”

  “Josh, all of you, get out of there. Forget the food! There’s no point!”

  “Shoot it man. Don’t let it get in. ALEX!”

  And the walkie-talkie went dead. “Josh? Josh? JOSH?”

  “Alex,” Rave whimpered.

  “What part of south do you think they are in? Florida?” I asked Brian.

  “I don’t know Lillian. They could be anywhere down south. Maybe Louisiana. Who knows,” Brian told me.

  I sighed and put my forehead against the steering wheel. I closed my eyes for one second and then reopened them. I stared at the gas meter. The car was about to run empty. “If we’re planning on searching every warehouse there is down south, then we’re going to need a lot of diesel.” Definitely we won’t be able to make it in I-don’t-know-how-many-hours-it-might-take ride. Will we even be able to cover all grounds?

  “I know one close by,” Naomi exclaimed.

  Since we were far away from the gas station, the area looked clear. Brian and I surveyed the area through the binoculars. “Clear,” Brian told me.

  “Clear here too, but still keep a watch out for anything eerie or out of place.”

  I drove up to a gas pump. We all got out and stretched from the half-hour drive and hell we left behind. Then, I demonstrated on what we should do. “Anyone need a restroom break?” I asked. They all raised their hands. “Well, I can’t do the gas all by myself.”

  “I volunteer,” Brian said as he saluted.

  I smiled with a roll of my eyes. “Okay then. The rest can go to the restroom. Look out for anything though. Bring food and drinks with you guys, and whatever else you guys want and need.”

  “Who’s gonna watch over you two when you’re filling the tanks?” Naomi asked.

  “Well, whoever can wait to go later to the restroom can be my guest.”

  So, Anna and Rave went. I handed them both guns just in case. Martin and Naomi volunteered to keep a lookout as Brian and I poured diesel in two red tanks after Martin had somehow played with the register to make gas available without paying for it. If it was me alone, I would have found another dangerous way on how to get my free gas. “So, where exactly are we going?” Brian asked looking at me.

  I sighed. “I don’t know. I don’t even know where to start…”

  “Hey, it’s Josh,” Naomi said, appearing with the walkie-talkie in her hand.

  I extended my hand out quickly for it. She placed it in my palm. I placed it against my lips, squelched the button, and asked, “Josh? Can you hear me?”

  “We…not…make it…Go…New York,” he said. There was too much static over the walkie-talkie.

  “What?!”

  “New York. Go to New York. We’re not going to be able to make it.” His voice became clear. Free of static.

  Tears stung my eyes. “I’ll die with you,” I told him my voice cracking.

  “No! Just go to New York. Please.”

  “What happened though? Are you hurt?” I asked my tears falling.

  “Just go. If you love me, go to New York.”

  “But Josh…”

  Static.

  He was gone. I felt defeated. I didn’t have a choice, did I?! … “Lillian,” Naomi said in a worried, caring voice.

  “If he says N
ew York, then New York. I won’t argue.” After everything that’s happened between us, and this is the repayment I’m getting…?

  Brian finished filling both red tanks. Anna and Rave came back from their restroom break. Martin, Brian, Naomi, and I went to the bathroom next. I told Anna and Rave to lock the doors, keep watch, and to keep their weapons ready.

  Could he have really been bitten? Was he going to become one of the dead? Was he the only one left alive? He didn’t give me any information, and I definitely didn’t know what was going on his end.

  Anything was possible, and I really didn’t want to think of the worst.

  Live

  After the bathroom break, we took more food and drinks for the road. As the rest of us got in the car, I hesitated by my door. I turned around behind me and looked beyond into the darkness. If Josh was going to die, might as well die too, I thought. I closed the door. “I want you to go,” I told them with my back to them. I stared into the distance.

  “WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Naomi screeched.

  “I’m not going to live without him.” I had already started walking away.

  I heard Brian shuffle into the drivers’ seat. “He might still be alive.”

  “No. He said it himself that he’s not going to make it.”

  “Look, if you go to New York and don’t find him, then you can think about killing yourself. But now, when you’re not really sure, I think you should come back here right now!” Brian shouted.

  I was out of hearing range by then. I heard someone sprinting towards me with wheezing breaths. I stood casually waiting for the attack to happen. I saw the dead girl come into full view. She was just two feet away from me when, suddenly, she fell from a sniper head shot. “He said ‘go to New York’ if you love him. And based off what you’re doing right now, it shows that your love for him was all along a lie!” Brian shouted angrily.

  I turned around to look at them. “I do. I do love him!” I shouted back. I gave him me for crying out loud. I surrendered my innocence to him. I put my full trust in him.

  “Then get your ass back here. He’ll find a way to come back to you. We know he will. He’s not bitten. That’s what we know. He’s smarter than you think!” Naomi shouted.

  Brian shot another zombie in the head that was just about to pounce on me, and once he shot him I shivered in my bones.

  Okay, so I guess there might be a slight chance that he was still alive. What we had last night is a night I never want to forget, and want to have many more with him. A gunshot went off again but missed. A zombie ran at me, knocking me down – his nasty mouth open and ready to bite my arm. I punched him in the face and kicked his legs out from underneath him. My kick slowed him, giving me time to grab and snap his neck. I stood up on my feet, and heard an army coming. I ran as if all hell had broken loose. I’d rather die peacefully than this way anyway, I thought.

  I ran towards the passenger side since Brian was already behind the steering wheel. As I neared the door, an undead girl was banging and snarling against the window. I got her from the back, smashing her head against the pole right beside the gas pump with a twist of her neck. I entered the car, locked the doors, and buckled up. The engine was already running. I saw a whole group of flesh-eaters running our way. Brian drove out of there before they could touch the car. “Who’d like a bumpy shortcut?!” he asked us humorously.

  “Just don’t get the car to stop running by stalling the engine. It’s our only surviving transportation for miles,” Naomi answered him.

  I turned to Brian. “If I don’t find him in New York, I will kill myself.”

  “And I won’t stop you… I think.”

  “You think?”

  “You think any of us would let you go kill yourself?! Naomi was right. You are crazy.”

  I smiled proudly. I haven't been this crazy before I met Josh. And I’m head over heels for him. He makes me crazy.

  Since it was four days driving - with breaks in between - we all ate and drank on the way. We joked, laughed, and recalled memories of our past. Doing this, we passed time, time to get to know more about each other. I had to stash all my weapons on one side of the car since we were so many, and I wanted them all to sleep comfortably. It was a tad bit difficult since we had to squish against each other in the tight space. Brian and Martin would put back their seats from the driver and passenger side while the rest of us girls slept in the back. When we went to sleep at night we had to turn off the engine and open the windows a crack, just to let in some cool air. The fuel did run out (Hummers consume so much gas!), and we had to make a stop before we continued. I was glad it was at least during the day time. We didn’t have any trouble at all.

  Throughout the days that passed by, I did have some hope that he might still be alive. Rave didn’t take it so well. She cried most nights and was depressed for most of the time, but she had her best moments with us as we cheered her up. I kept my feelings bottled up until the devastation became too real to believe. So, for now, I was hanging on. I still believed in hope.

  This man that I’ve fallen deeply in love with who makes me do stupid things, crazy things, things I’ve never known about myself, all in the short six months since I’ve found the underground, and he’s just gone like that? How can such a thing happen? How can he let something happen to him? He promised me. He damn promised me he’d come back. Is he going to break it? Clutching my good hand against my chest with the ring he gave me, I hoped to dream tonight pleasant dreams for one last night before I gave up my life selfishly.

  Finally, we reached New York by the fourth night, and whoa. It was unbelievable.

  They had one huge sealed door. No one could get in or get out without what looked like clearance from the army (or maybe the government?). It was heavily guarded. We were stopped by an army recruit (who was chewing gum like a cow chewing its cud). He examined us each with a flashlight. Counting, I guess. We had to get down from the car as they checked everything that was in it. They even checked us with some type of device wanting us to give a puff of breath to it. They added a new plastic piece to every turn. So far, all of us were green, which I’m guessing meant good since no one was freaking out. “No one’s been bitten or scratched?”

  Brian’s turn came up, and he blew through once the officer/medic changed the piece Rave had used. “No, Sir,” Brian told him, raising his nerd glasses (with white duct tape in the middle) to his eyes. “We’re clean of any infections.” He smiled a wide five-inch smile at him. His turned green.

  One of his men called on him to check inside the back of the car. He came back to us and asked, “Who's responsible for possession of those guns in the back of the car?”

  Coming to my turn, she changed the piece Brian had used, and placed it against my mouth. I breathed a puff. “Ours, Sir,” Brian answered.

  “Do you have a permit for all of that, boy?”

  Ten agonizing seconds I waited till the green dot appeared. Thank God, I thought. I scoffed. “Who needs a permit when it’s the end of the world and you want to protect your family?!”

  He stayed quiet at that, but he definitely had an annoyed expression towards me that said, “Smart-ass.”

  They searched one of Brian’s bags, revealing what looked like a whole science experiment. I wanted to roll my eyes. None of the bags he had brought with him had a single piece of clothing. I was glad they were done checking us for any infections. “Are you shittin’ me?” he asked Brian looking through his bags.

  “No, Sir. Shit is as shit does.”

  The recruit chuckled. “Young man, do you want to be in the Army?”

  “No, Sir… On second thought, do I get to work in a lab?”

  “You know science?”

  “Of course. I’ve been born with a brain like Einstein, and what’s in my bags prove it.”

  He chuckled some more. “Well, young man, we actually do need more scientists. When you go in there, I want you to tell the office that I, Jonathon Mackenzie, sent you to take a
place in the labs. They’ll offer you a good position. I’m sure.”

  “Oh, that’s an honor Sir,” Brian said proudly, shaking Jonathon’s hand rather very quickly.

  “Glad to have you on board,” he said with a smile that covered his eyes.

  “Uh, Sir, also my partner would pretty sure love to join in also.”

  “Well, add him to the equation then when you go in there. We can use all the help we need.”

  “Thank you, Sir,” he saluted.

  He saluted in return. “All right, you all may go. Keep in mind, you have to get checked first. It’s protocol. Just inside past these gates, you’ll see the hospital.”

  We all got back in the car (I was surprised they didn’t take my guns. But I think they stole some food). He signaled for them to open the heavy sealed gates. As I pulled the car forward, I held my breath as I entered New York for the very first time ever. “Welcome to New York,” Jonathon told us as I slowly drove past him and his armed men.

  A hollow feeling settled in my heart. This was it. No more waiting. This is where I will find out if Josh is alive or not (and right now I wished I could wait more, had more time). Was this how painful emptiness felt like?!... I parked somewhere where it said, “Inspections and Health Department/Hospital.” I’m pretty sure they still had to check us for any illnesses and diseases. There was a long line too. Oh God, I thought. This is going to take forever…

  Something smacked against the window from the inside, making me jump in my seat. It was Rave who squealed Alex’s name. She quickly climbed out of the car. My eyes followed her. She called on him, and he turned towards her voice. He smiled big. She ran to him. As soon as she reached him, she jumped on him, planting full kisses over his face while her tears poured down her cheeks and his tears too.

  I started to scan the area in a frenzy…

  “Hey, there’s Old John and Brass, but I don’t see…Oh, I am so sorry, Lillian. I really am,” Naomi exclaimed with deep regret.

  The rest of us got out of the car. They were halfway through the line. That’s better than going at the end. They walked ahead of me.