Chapter 74: Getting ready to head out

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: Getting ready to head out

"You could join us...if you want to," Ethan said to Jason.

Jason looked surprised by the invitation.

"Would that be okay?" he asked quietly.

"Of course," Ethan’s father answered immediately.

He didn’t see a warrior standing before him. He saw a young boy who was waiting for his parents to come home. A very frightened boy at that.

Jason lowered his head and softly said, "Thank you."

Ethan’s father then turned toward the newlywed man.

"You can come too. We can look after each other."

The man looked down at the knife in his hand before looking back up.

He thought about his wife, who was waiting for him upstairs. He thought about the two boys standing in front of him and the father who had just invited him to join their group.

After a few moments, he nodded.

"Then let’s have each other’s backs from now on."

No one laughed at his words.

The end of the world had come far too suddenly. There was nothing strange about placing your trust in strangers anymore.

Soon, a small team was formed.

It consisted of two teenage boys and two men who had never spoken to one another before tonight.

"If you head south from here, you’ll find a supermarket," Killian said. "You should be able to gather supplies there. Stay away from hospitals."

The four looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" Ethan asked.

"Because hospitals, schools, shopping malls, and government buildings are all places that served hundreds, if not thousands, of people every day," Killian explained calmly. "By now, those places should be overrun with zombies."

The four immediately became solemn.

Those places had once represented safety.

Now they represented death.

"Thank you," the team said in unison.

Erik suddenly frowned.

"I just realized we never introduced ourselves."

Kai blinked.

"You’re right. We didn’t."

Erik gestured toward himself.

"My name is Erik. This is Kai and Ben."

He then looked toward Penelope and Killian.

"This is Penelope, and he is Killian."

The man scratched the back of his head.

"I’m Edward," he said before placing a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. "This is my son, Ethan."

Then he looked toward Jason and smiled awkwardly.

"And this young man appears to be named Jason."

Jason couldn’t help but laugh.

"Yeah. That’s me."

Edward then looked at the newlywed man.

"I don’t believe I know your name."

The man shook his head.

"William."

No one asked for a last name.

At a time like this, names were enough.

Killian looked toward the stairwell leading to the lobby.

"We’re heading north."

Edward nodded.

"We’ll head south."

"Make it back before the red sun rises." Penelope gave one final reminder.

For a brief moment, the two groups remained standing there, silently looking at one another.

They were still strangers.

But they were also neighbors.

And from this day forward, they would all be survivors.

The two groups nodded to one another before walking in opposite directions.

Toward the same city.

Toward different futures.

The two groups parted ways at entrance of the lobby.

Edward, Ethan, Jason, and William headed towards the exit that pointed south. The four of them walked close together, occasionally glancing over their shoulders as though they expected someone to call them back.

Killian watched them disappear into the darkness beyond the apartment complex gates.

For a brief moment, he found himself wondering how many of them would return.

He did not voice the thought.

Instead, he turned toward the reinforced glass doors leading outside.

The lobby remained quiet.

The bodies they had encountered earlier were gone.

Not because someone had cleaned them up.

The blood stains smeared across the marble floor made it obvious what had happened. The infected had dragged the bodies away.

Ben swallowed hard.

"We’re really doing this," he said quietly.

Kai laughed softly. It wasn’t because he found anything funny. He simply needed to hear a sound that wasn’t fear.

"It’s a little late to back out now," he replied.

No one disagreed.

Killian reached for the door handle.

"Stay close."

Then he pushed the door open.

The city greeted them with noise.

The sound was overwhelming.

Car horns blared endlessly in the distance. Sirens echoed from multiple directions. People shouted. People cried. Some screamed names into the darkness while others prayed aloud. The sounds merged together until they became one enormous, horrifying chorus.

Penelope stopped walking.

The city wasn’t dead.

It was alive.

Thousands of lights illuminated the surrounding apartment buildings. Vehicles clogged the streets. People ran in every direction carrying backpacks, shopping bags, suitcases, and anything else they thought might help them survive.

Some pushed shopping carts.

Some carried children.

Some carried their pets.

Everyone was moving.

Everyone was searching for answers.

Ben stared at the crowd.

"There are so many people."

No one answered him.

Because he was right.

A woman ran past them clutching a cellphone in both hands.

"Please answer," she begged. "Please. Please answer."

She listened.

Nothing.

There wasn’t even static.

Just silence.

Across the street, a man loaded the trunk of his SUV.

Not with food.

With toys.

A bicycle.

A stuffed bear.

Several family photo albums.

He wasn’t preparing for the end of the world.

He was preparing for an evacuation.

Further down the street, an elderly couple sat on a bus stop bench. They held hands and watched the chaos unfold around them. Neither of them spoke.

Penelope felt something tighten in her chest.

The novel had described zombies.

It had described death.

It had described the collapse of civilization.

But it had never described this.

It had never described people trying so desperately to pretend that civilization still existed.

A car horn continued blaring somewhere in the distance.

Someone screamed.

Another person shouted for help.

Ben looked up at the sky.

"There should be helicopters."

No one responded.

Because he was right.

There should have been helicopters.

There should have been emergency broadcasts.

There should have been police officers directing traffic and military vehicles arriving to restore order.

There should have been something.

Instead, there was only confusion.

Then suddenly, cheering erupted.

Everyone turned.

A police cruiser sped down the street.

People ran toward it.

Some cried.

Some laughed.

One woman collapsed onto her knees.

"Thank God!" she shouted.

"I knew they would come!"

For a brief moment, hope spread through the crowd.

Even Penelope wanted to believe.

The police car slowed.

The officer behind the wheel looked exhausted.

Blood stained his uniform.

His hands trembled as he rolled down the window.

"GO HOME!" he screamed.

The cheering stopped.

"BARRICADE YOUR DOORS!"

Someone stepped forward.

"What about the hospitals?"

The officer didn’t answer.

Another person shouted.

"What are we supposed to do?"

The officer closed his eyes for the briefest of moments.

When he opened them again, they were filled with something Penelope had never expected to see in a police officer.

Fear.

"DON’T HELP ANYONE WHO HAS BEEN SCRATCHED OR BITTEN!" he shouted.

Then he drove away.

The silence that followed felt heavier than the screaming.

People stood frozen in place.

Because if the police did not know what to do...

Then who did?

Penelope looked around at the people surrounding her.

At the mothers holding their children.

At the fathers carrying supplies.

At the neighbors trying to comfort one another.

At the strangers still believing that someone would save them.

And for the first time that night, she realized that the world had not accepted that it had ended.

It was still trying to convince itself that everything would be okay.

Then, somewhere nearby, a child began to cry.

And somewhere farther away, hidden within the darkness of the city, something growled.