Part 1: Birth of Genocide

“There are only two inevitable things in life. The first being that either you accept the darkness or it will take you in. The second; either you leave the light or the light abandons you. Misery and death. These two things are unavoidable by human nature.  And now, while I am incapable of either one, you shall experience both.”

            These were the words last spoken to me by the undead knife wielding marksman that stood between me and salvation. I killed him shortly after. Managed to dodge one of his throws and stab him in his decomposing eye socket. A jelly that I can only assume used to be a working eye was now all over my hand.  It was his mistake for threatening me. And it was an even bigger mistake to put the last people in my life in harm’s way.

            I can easily recall how this all started. Sure, it only happened yesterday but I’m sure that if I survive through all this I won’t soon forget any of it. I won’t forget how I walked out of that movie theater with my best friend, Callum, and the girl of my dreams, Kayla. How we ran into that “drunk” on the way home. The look on Kayla’s face when my best friend and I were being attacked by something with half his face missing. The tears in my brother’s eyes when we got home to hear that this was the end of the world. That our families were dead.

            We had heard that there was an evacuation about a 30 minute drive away.  So we did the only thing that remotely made sense at the time, we loaded ourselves up with weapons and set out for safety.  I had found a hatchet and a metal baseball bat, Callum had picked up a cricket paddle that he left at my house a while back, Kayla found a pistol and a couple boxes of bullets, and Justin had attached knives to opposite ends of a broomstick to create a makeshift scythe.

We thought that it would be easy to find a ride down to the stadium, unfortunately, every car we encountered was not drivable. So we walked. That was the beginning of our journey, the four of us: the walk down the now corpse-infested street to escape from home, looting the abandoned store, and killing our first Necron. Necrons are a type of mutated undead, distinguishable by their glowing red eyes and ability to speak, among other physical absurdities and abilities. Our first just so happened to be a behemoth as tall as the store we were staying in.

            This was our first real fight. The first of what I’m sure will be many. He wasn’t like the other zombies we had killed before. Although slow both physically and mentally, he could speak. The words were short and broken, but undeniable. Regardless, we fought him. Bullets did no damage. And since swinging a hatchet at his kneecap didn’t seem to be doing the trick, we decided to be creative. The four of us grabbed as much fishing line as possible from the store. And because people don’t feel like going fishing during the apocalypse, there was a lot of fishing line, with hooks to match. Me and Callum provided a distraction while Justin and Kayla set up our plan. The two of us managed to climb to the roof of the building thanks to an old fire escape next door. While the goliath was trying to knock us back to the ground, Justin and Kayla dug the fish hooks into his legs and started tangling him in the line.

            The bigger they are, the harder they fall. And boy, did that bastard fall. After he was flat on his face on the pavement, it was time to finish the job. Me and Callum climbed back down the escape, carrying an old pipe with us. It appeared sharp enough to penetrate him. With the help of Mr. Sledgehamer, that is. It may be too big to carry us around forever, but it served its purpose well. Lining up the pipe right between his eyes, and swinging with all my might, the giant was dead.  After our brush with the behemoth we continued our hike to the stadium.

Eventually, hours had passed, and we had begun adjusting to killing things that used to be human. And we still had no answers as to what the hell was happening.  When the stadium came into view, the first thing we noticed was the absence of people. Not a good sight for an evacuation zone. Regardless, we continued, and when we reached the inside of the front gates we were revolted at the sights we saw. On the far end of the diamond was an army helicopter, destroyed and in a fiery blaze, resting nicely in the hole it made in the bleachers. But the wreckage of our only escape wasn’t what scared us. It was the piles of dead bodies that laid strewn about the stadium.  Normally, when a person is bitten or occasionally even just scratched by an infected, they too become a mindless zombie. But these bodies were torn apart, limb from limb. But nothing from them was eaten, just spread out over the grounds. They were not killed for food, or to increase the plague’s numbers. Thousands of people were killed for pure enjoyment.

That was when he appeared.  Like the first Necron we encountered, he had piercing bright red eyes. But he was the size of a normal man. With camouflage pants and straps lined with knives across his chest, he stood at the pitcher’s mound, smiling, guts and patches of skin stuck in his rotting teeth.  We stood at the top of bleachers, preparing ourselves for whatever we were about to encounter.  Justin, Callum, and I ran down the steps beside the rows of bleachers, charging the creature who was still grinning at us, while Kayla stayed at the top and began to aim her pistol carefully at the gray skull of the Necron.

With one fluid flick of his wrist, he grabbed a knife from the straps across his lesion-covered chest and flung it across the field right towards Kayla.  She pulled the trigger to her gun, but right before the hammer could hit the barrel the blade of the knife blocked its path. He glanced up at her, and shook his head disapprovingly, still with that stupid grin on his face. That was when he spoke. His voice was rich and deep, and if he wasn’t trying to kill us all, it would have been calming. 

“Fools. You’re all fools. You think you can stand against this.” With the same fluid motion he flung four more knives, each landing right in front of each of our feet. “I am simply too strong for you. I’m sorry, but you must all die now.”

 I demanded that Callum and Justin run back up to protect Kayla. They reluctantly complied after a little bit of us shouting at each other. Better one of us get killed than all.  There’s no way I would let her get hurt by this thing, and they had to protect her if he threw more knives their direction. Next step was to try to get some information out of this thing. I walked slowly down the stairs, careful not to make him throw any more blades, and asked him who and what he was.

“I no longer have a name. Nor do I remember what it used to be, for I have abandoned it long ago. When I joined the forces of the Necron, I no longer had a need for identity.  We are many and we are one. We are above the brain dead corpses you have been disposing of earlier.”

At this point, I had reached the railing blocking the bleachers from the baseball diamond.  I stepped on the rail to jump over, and another knife flew towards me, this time straight at my heart.  I tried to slide my way across the railing to dodge the knife but ended up slipping and falling on my ass. But I still managed to not get stabbed in the heart, so I wasn’t that upset. This time around, I slid under the railing as another knife bounced off of the metal and landed beside me. I grabbed the knife, stood back up on my feet, and ran full speed at the killer.

“There are only two inevitable things in life…” And well, you know the rest.  I walk past piles of dead bodies on my way back to my friends. So many innocent people were dead, all because of one man. If one could even call that twisted son of a bitch a man.  He was a zombie, just like the rest of them, but he could think. Talk.  And the way he talked, it was like he wasn’t alone. Like there was something else in his head.  So many things just don’t make sense. Don’t add up. Everything’s gone to shit.

2: Part 2: Our First Night In Hell

I’m too deep in thought to realize I’ve already made it up to the rest of my group. They know that now is not the time for words. We stand there, motionless, a moment of silence for all those that died looking for sanctuary.  Eventually we would figure out what’s going on. What these ‘Necron’ are. But this is the first time since we left home that the gravity of the situation really took hold.

We were alone. Our families, our friends, everyone we knew before was most likely dead. Or worse. One of them. There was no one to help us, and no one for us to help. We are fighting a losing battle. We’re way out of our league, and out of our minds to still try and fight what is happening.  Without words, we all understand what each other is thinking.

We will all die at some point, just like this.

But maybe it’s because of that thought that we still fight; that we don’t simply just sit here forever and wait for a horde of zombies to turn us into their next meal. Despite how improbable, we are still alive.  And it would be a great disrespect to those that have died to give up now.

My face is wet. I’m crying. We all are. That’s good; I didn’t want to be the only one right now. That would just be awkward, right? We sit there for a few more minutes in silent tears before I decide its best we don’t wait here anymore.

“Since that bastard liked to shout, I’m guessing you heard everything he said back there.” I wipe the tears from my face and notice the subtle nods from everyone. I begin walking towards the same gates we entered from. “Sounds like there’s a lot more freaks out there. And they’re probably not all in Wisconsin, so we better get walking.”

“No. No no no no.”

“You can’t be serious, mate.”

“Where do we go, Dom? We have no car. Even if we did, we don’t even know where to begin!” Justin clapped his hand on my shoulder. I knew that this was his way of telling me to lead the way. Even if it wasn’t, I’m going to anyways. I can be a real pain the ass sometimes. 

Growing up, my brother and I were always close. People say we look alike. Same brown hair that gets unbelievably curly if we let it, same plain-as-shit brown eyes, we’re both six feet tall, and we both like to eat.  Even though he’s eight years older than me he can still act like a kid whenever we’re together.  But when life turns around and kicks you down, he’s always right there to help you back up. I look up to him, respect him.  He just so happened to be visiting home from college when this all happened. He’s an opera major. Pretty awesome, right? You don’t hear about that now and days. Everyone says “I’m going to be a doctor!” or “I’m going to go into economics!”  but my brother said “I’m going to make beautiful music and share it with the world!”.

He’s amazing at what he does. And that goes beyond opera. It seems like everything that he really applies himself towards he ends up excelling at.  He’s the best older brother that I could ask for. Now his eyes are telling me that he’s as lost and scared as the rest of us are.

“Best to head east, I say.” Callum fishes through his backpack for a compass. We all look at him questioningly, unsure of why he decided what he did. “I just like the direction is all. Besides, the west is boring. All cowboys and tumbleweeds. That’s all you Americans show in your old movies”.

Callum has been my best friend since he moved to Wisconsin from the U.K. in the fifth grade.  We’ve been through everything together, always at each other’s sides. He’s the kind of friend that’s always indirectly driven me to better myself. He’s stronger than me, faster than me, smarter than me, and damn well better looking than me. He always got all the girls, but he’d never shove it in people’s faces.  A real classy guy.

The thing I love about him the most though is that we think almost exactly the same. That’s what got us into some fights back in the day.  Whenever it looked like someone was getting picked on or was in trouble we would step in and help. With our fists. Sure, I’d always end up getting hit more than he did, but we never lost a fight. He never let his emotions take over, while I always got way too angry at people. That’s why I’m glad that he’s here with me during this time, he’s probably the only one of us that can keep a cool head.

So we agree to go east. Just as good as anywhere else. We just hope that we will eventually find some survivors along the way. As unlikely as it sounds, in times like this it’s nice to have hope. The world around us has vanished. Everything we thought we knew is now void.  In a matter of hours I’ve discovered that all but three people I know could be dead, I’ve killed what has to be around a hundred zombies, toppled a giant, seen piles of corpses of innocent people, and stabbed a sentient being in the eye.  Fuck. Don’t cry. I better not cry. I just finished with that shit I better not start again.

I have to walk away. I can’t let them see me like this, need to save face. I break away from the group and walk down the hallway of deserted seats and snack stands until a find a bench far enough down that the others can’t see me.  My hatchet drops to the ground as my hands go up to my face. The sound of the blade hitting the concrete is accompanied perfectly by the sounds of my sobbing.  After I sit here and cry for a few minutes, I feel a hand softly on my shoulder.  I look up and through the sea of tears in my eyes I see Justin sitting beside me looking down on the ground and his broomstick on the ground.

“I’ve always looked up to you, you know.”  The words come out of his mouth all choked up. It sounds like he’s trying not to cry as well.  “Even though you’re my little brother, you’ve taught me so much.  Every time you would get in trouble for a fight, I was always secretly cheering you on because I know you were fighting for the right thing. That thing back there, it wasn’t human.” I can see that he tries to look up towards the field but he immediately lowers his head again.  “He killed all those people out there. He did it, and you stopped him from killing more people.   Shit, you’re only 17 and you did something extraordinary. You should be freaking the hell out right now. I must be a horrible older brother for landing you in a situation like this….”

“Justin….” The tears are falling out of his eyes now, too. I try to find the words to say to convince him none of this was his fault. Me killing that thing wasn’t what I was crying for. That it wasn’t what I was afraid of. But all I can manage is his name.

“Don’t. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know how this all started or if there is an end to it. I don’t know what those Necron are, or who they used to be. I’m scared too. I’m terrified.” He’s gripping the edge of the bench so hard his knuckles are turning white. “We’ve all read zombie stories before. But this is obviously something more than just a disease.   Someone started this thing. I want to find who.  I want us to find out who did this.”

Finally I find the words and they start pouring out of my mouth without restraint. “I’m not scared of these monsters. I’m not scared of whatever creatures we have to kill later.   I’m scared of losing you. You’re all I’ve got left. If you go too…just like everyone else…”

Justin lets out a soft chuckle and stands up off the bench.  “All you’ve got? Kid, you’ve got a beautiful girl waiting for you over there. You’re best friends waiting there with her, too.” He reaches his hand out to me; I grab it and stand in front of him. “We’re going to get to the bottom of all this, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you, little brother. But you need to protect your friend and your girl. And just in case I don’t get to say it later, you’ve really grown up to be a good kid.  I love you” He hugs me and I feel like I want to cry again but I don’t think I have many tears left. I try to tell him I love him as well, but it’s cut short by the sound of gun fire and Callum shouting for us down the hall way. “It’s show time, hero.”

I pick my hatchet up off the ground, and Justin his scythe, and we run back towards Callum and Kayla. There’s a small group of zombies that somehow got inside the stadium, It appears to be around ten of them.  Callum swings his cricket paddle at the skull of a zombie. It lands with a huge thud and the zombie falls to the ground, limp.  Surprisingly, dull weapons work well to disrupt the brain enough to keep the dead, dead.  I pull my bat out from where the back pack had an opening I could easily slide the bat in and out of, and hand it to Kayla.

“Swing away, darling.” She knows I had a massive crush on her so I have no regrets calling her this. It’s the zombie apocalypse, she doesn’t have many other choices.  Kayla gives me one of her beautiful, shining smiles, and holsters her gun. She takes the bat out of my hands and smashes the tip of the barrel down on top of an infected right at my side. The head splatters on the ground beside me, brains getting on top of my shoe. I found a winner.

I swing my hatchet at the neck of a zombie nearby, and connect cleanly. The blade digs into the rotting skin of the corpse and slices through the neck. It stops when it hits bone, but it’s enough to stop the zombie. The zombie slumps down to the ground and I kick it away from me, blood splattering on my pants. 

It’s sad really, how we’ve gotten used to killing these things. How we’ve gotten good at it. The ways to fight them, how to kill them, how to stay alive, we’ve already started memorizing it all.   They’re slow, but stronger than your average person. Use your speed against theirs to maintain distance and avoid hand-to-hand confrontation. Durable melee weapons are best to use if you can stay at the proper range. Guns are good to use but we’re still not sure how easy ammo is to find, so Kayla is supposed to only use the gun in emergencies.  They are incapable of feeling pain and the only way to really eliminate them is by cutting of their head or dealing enough damage to the skull. Your stereotypical zombie rules.

The crowd is cleared now. We stand in a pile of blood, guts, and dismembered corpses. It still horrifies us what we have been forced to do. These things used to be human. We may have gotten used to how to kill them, but we could never get used to what they were before.  But we do what we have to to survive.  This is a new world we live in now. New rules.

We all agree that it would be dangerous for us to stay here at the stadium any longer, but at the same time we all realize that we are exhausted. And with good reason too.  As gruesome as it may seem, we agree to sleep at the stadium with the piles of corpses for the night and leave first thing in the morning. 

I have never experienced a longer night than this one.  We take shifts staying awake and watching for more zombies and even if you when I’m not on patrol, I can’t sleep much anyways.  I don’t think any of us can. I squint to read the clock on the wall. It’s 3 A.M. and I still have to stay awake for another hour. Nothing has showed up all night.   Justin and Callum are all struggling to sleep, squirming in the blankets that we procured from a gift shop full of fan merchandise.  Kayla’s the only one that can get some shut eye.

 I still remember how we met.  It was the time I got my ass kicked in the worst possible way.  It was three years ago, back in freshman year, before we’ve ever talked to each other or even seen each other. Some douchebag was screaming at her in the hallway. I learned later that it was her boyfriend. It makes me wish I would have actually won.  He was screaming, she was screaming, he slapped her, and I ran into him and knocked him to the ground. What I didn’t realize was that he was on the football team, and so were a number of other people in the hall.

They destroyed me, sent me home with a black eye, bloody lip, and bruises all over.  The school didn’t suspend me at all, and when I went back the next day Kayla found me and thanked me for helping her. There was a bruise on her cheek. That bastard. Apparently she had just moved here, and didn’t know many people.  She had been dating the guy long distance before she moved, and after she started school with him he became too controlling and jealous. So I invited her to hang out with me later that day, and for some reason, she said yes.  After that day, whenever I saw her, she always had a smile on her face.  It’s a beautiful smile. Over the years, we hung out more and more, she dated other guys, and I was always there to cheer her up when they broke up.  That’s how we became friends, started hanging out, I fell in love, she friendzoned me, and I never got into a fight without Callum again. I can be a real hothead sometimes.

It’s nice to think about the past. Remember the memories. It takes away the pain of our current situation.  If this was all destined to happen, I’m glad I have these people with me for it.  Callum’s awake now, so I guess it’s time for me to get some sleep. Tomorrow morning we start walking for who knows how far. I must be more tired than I previously thought. I thought that there is no way I’d be able to sleep knowing those things are out there, but the moment I close my eyes, I just can’t open them anymore.  I don’t dream at all, but I just don’t have the strength to open them.

Strength, what a unique word choice given the situation.  What is strength? Is it the limits of your physical capabilities?  Is it the bounds set by your emotions?  In a world where it seems that all but a few are dead, it’s hard to picture there is such a thing as strength, no matter it’s meaning.  We will tire. Our emotions will get the better of us. At one point, everyone must become weak.  If, before today, I was asked when that moment was, the answer would be simple. A person is weakest at their moment of death. When you cannot stop life from leaving no matter how strong you are.  But now, these creatures have bested death. Overcome weakness. It seems too much to bear. As far as I know, we four are the only people left. It would all be a hopeless mission. Even if there are others, what difference could we make? The undead are strong, and we are not.  Nearly everyone else is dead. Given in to weakness.  Even with this hopelessness in mind, I can’t help but be curious. What are these Necron? Who are they?  If nothing else, maybe we can die knowing exactly what happened; what killed us.  This is why you shouldn’t stay up too late, your mind starts to wander.  It thinks about things that scare you, things you don’t ever want to think about.  The night is when your brain will call forth what scares and saddens you the most.  But it’s finally morning. And escape from the night which now holds for fright than before. Now it holds the manifestation of our nightmares.

I’m the last one up. I had the longest shift watching out for stragglers last night, so the others let me sleep in a bit longer.  Our breakfast consists of bags of chips and other scraps of food from the stadium. We have to save what we brought from home as long as possible.  There isn’t much talking going on. We all kind of know that nothing really needs to be said, we’re all trying to cope. 

Apparently while I slept, the others tried to find identification on the body of that knife thrower. Not only was there no trace of who he was before, his body had already mostly rotted down to the skeleton.  Which only makes things even more confusing. Why did he dissipate so fast? There are so many questions. But questions only make me worry more.

3: Part 3: The Spiders Shroud

We finally leave the stadium. The highway outside is strewn with abandoned cars and carcasses.   There isn’t a single zombie in sight.  Good news for us.  We follow the road south, since to the east is only a giant lake.  Our plan remains simply to head to the east and hopefully find signs of survival.  With as little as we know about the Necron, there isn’t much else we can do but keep walking.  Justin says it’ll probably take us two days to get to Wisconsin’s border.  It makes realize just how big this whole plan of ours is. We want to walk across half the United States and it’s going to take us two days to get to one fucking state border.  But when the world is over, we need something to do I guess.

Hours have passed since we left the stadium, and we’re just approaching another small town. So far, there have always been zombies wandering about in these areas, but there could be humans wandering just the same. We have to do some searching just in case.  We break off in to pairs, Justin and I go off into one suburb while Callum and Kayla branch off into another.  All the houses have already been ransacked.   It’s disappointing to not find anyone, but at the same time, relieving that at one point there was someone here. Occasionally we’ll find a stray zombie. We have no choice but to kill them right away. We can’t risk them attacking when we’re not looking.  It’s horrible what we have had to resort to. Slaughter of the undead.  When we searched through the houses, we pick up some small items that we may find useful and stray food, and regroup with Callum and Kayla. They had the same kind of luck we did.  So we continue again. Walking through town, down the same barren road we were on before.

Before this all happened, my father would tell me that I was being an idiot by always getting in to fights at school. He would mock me, and call me a “hero” for always stepping in when things are none of my business.  I always hated how he would do that. But I guess he was just looking out for me. He didn’t want me to get in to more than I could handle. If only he could see me now.  I find that in the silence, I start hoping that this all a dream. Or that it’s all like in the comic books. Where there is a hero to save the day. Someone who can save everyone and make everything better. But I know that isn’t the case. I know we’re all hopeless. This isn’t a comic book. There are no heroes in this story. Even if we figured out what happened, how this all started, there’s no coming back. Everyone is already gone. Part of me wonders why we’re even trying to stay alive. But the other part of me just doesn’t want to say goodbye. 

These thoughts are interrupted by the feeling that we’re no longer alone. We’re being followed. We hear heavy footsteps behind us. Prepared to defend, we all turn around, at attention.  But I’m not prepared for what I actually saw. A human.  He was pale, and stumbling towards us hurriedly.  His face is drenched in sweat and there’s blood dropping from him eyes. But even worse, he was wearing an ugly ass Hawaiian shirt. Like really, why would you do that to yourself.   He’s the first human we’ve seen since we left home.  But something was wrong, horribly wrong.

“Help…me…they’re here…too many….monster…he’s a monster…they’re all monsters…”  He falls to the ground in front of us, flat on his face. The ugly Hawaiian shirt is missing its back. Or more accurately, the man’s back is missing. It’s completely red, blood dripping on the ground and pouring out of the crater. There isn’t a speck of flesh showing. 

“This can’t be good. We need to run. Now.” Callum grabs my arm and Kayla’s and starts turning away. He lets go immediately. It takes me a second to realize what is exactly is happening.  Everything before this was nothing.  I thought I was in Hell when I left home yesterday. But this. This is too much.

We’re completely surrounded. On all sides. There’s too many to count. Fuck. I know we swept this whole place for zombies, how could they have snuck up on us like this? None of it makes any sense.  Why? Why is this happening?! Why is this fucking happening?!   We’re dead. I know it. This is the end. There’s no hero. No one to save us. I can’t even grab a weapon. My limbs won’t work. I can’t move.  Why am I so scared now? Why am I so weak?

“You’ve become quite interesting you know.” Out of the crowd to our front, steps a creature that looks very similar to the one at the baseball stadium.  But he has no arms; there is nothing further out than his shoulder. “To think, you killed two of us already.  Very impressive.”  He stands boldly in front of us, sticking his chest out.  “We could kill you here, in an instant. But that’s no fun. It’s the end of the world; we need to savor what we have left.” We all have so many questions to ask him but we don’t dare speak. We’re all too afraid to die right now.  “I know you must all be very confused.  I’m just here to prove to you, you cannot win. Everything you are trying to accomplish is hopeless. We are strong and you are weak. Observe.”  He arches his back and laughs maniacally at the sky. A loud tearing sound soon accompanies it.  Out of nowhere, six long, gray tentacles shoot out of his back and wave in the air.  Two of them jab into the ground, creating a hole in the concrete with ease, and lift him up into the air.  “We are not like you humans. And don’t ever forget it. We are perfect.” 

Suddenly, the mob of zombies that has closed in around us fades away and becomes a cloud of smoke. I can barely make out several individual figures in the smoke. More monsters. The smoke starts clearing almost immediately, but there’s nothing there. All of the bodies surrounding us moments ago are gone. I guess this is really too much to handle. I can’t even stay awake anymore.

I wake up on a hardwood floor with a thin blanket draped over me. I think I recognize this as one of the houses we just finished looking through. The others must have moved me here after I passed out.   I try sitting up, but I instantly feel dizzy and lightheaded, so I lay back down again.  I see Kayla sitting on the ground  beside me, laughing and shaking her head.

“Take it easy kid, there’s no rush.” She puts a wet piece of cloth over my head and turns her head away from me. “You scared us. Right after…well…you know...you went down. I thought for a second that I had lost you.” I realize that she’s trying to hold back  “We talked while you were sleeping.  And we decided we want to keep going. We want to find out what’s really going on here. But I don’t want to go with you thinking that you need to protect me all the time. You’ll get killed like that.  I’m strong too. Callum’s strong. Your brother’s strong. You can’t keep acting like it’s all on you. Not anymore.” 

“I’m sorry.” For some reason, that’s the only thing I can think of to say.  I can be such an idiot.  “We’ll do this together from now on. Promise. Now help me get up.” She helps me stand up and keep my balance until the dizziness subsides.  I guess I really have been naïve. Thinking I could just keep everyone alive all by myself if ridiculous. I’m just a kid. I need them. 

            The two of us walk outside, ready to move on. For some reason, she insists that I walk out first, guiding me and pushing me along.  I don’t understand why, but then I see it. The sight is astounding. Callum and Justin are standing to the left and right of the door and all around all I can see are bodies lying on the ground. Zombies. Kayla tells me I’ve been asleep for two days; that the guys have been standing guard and protecting me for all that time.  All this time I had convinced myself that I had to do the protecting; but I see now, they’re the ones that need to protect me. My brother, my best friend, and the girl I’m hopelessly in love with. I can’t keep going without them.   Everything that’s going on is too strange, too out of this world, that none of us can simply do this by ourselves. We need each other.

            I’m trying to hold back tears, but I just can’t. The sight is too touching, too amazing, that I can’t help by cry.  They could have left me long ago.  They could have died protecting me.  But they did it anyways.  They all hug me, they moment seems perfect, wrapped up in their embrace. But lately it seems that the perfect moments are the ones that go horribly wrong.  But for now, in this moment, I enjoy the touch of the only people that I have left. 

 

4: Part 4: Memorial of Lost Innocence

           We decide it’s time to keep traveling.  As soon as we walk past the last building in the abandoned town, all signs of previous civilization are lost we start trekking along  a torn up country road, corn fields on each side of us.  A couple hours pass and the road seems to stretch on forever. Everything starts looking the same; in fact, it’s hard to tell if we made any distance between us and the town at all.  We’re forced to constantly keep an eye on the side of the road.  The corn makes it even harder to see any creature that may be eyeing us up for a meal.  One quick hack at their heads and they’re out of the way. 

It’s becoming second nature to us. Our weapons have become an extension of our bodies.  Or maybe I’m just being melodramatic. It’s hard to tell anymore, really.  I apologize if any of this seems ridiculous but when everyone you love is ripped out of your life in an instant you have to do what you can to get by. For me, I like to try and picture that all this will turn out alright. That we’ll find out what these Necron are, we’ll go home, and everyone will be waiting for us. We can be heroes. I know that isn’t true. Not at all. But until the moment I die in this hell, I will tell my story any damn way I want.

Holy shit, I’m talking to myself.  This really is driving me all crazy.  Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers. I’ll take insanity for all it’s worth. 

“‘Ay Dominic, you remember that one time we tried to stop that mugging?”

I don’t think that bringing back one of the most terrifying experiences of my life was really the best thing to do right now, but Callum had the right idea.  Better to keep conversation going and avoid going crazy with silence.

Last year, while Callum and I were walking around town one night, we heard some screaming in an alleyway a block away. Yeah, night time, alleyway, screaming, it sounds very stereotypical.  Anyways, we ignored all common sense and ran towards the noise.  We could have very easily called the cops and waited nearby, but we ran head-first into an alley to find two big thugs trying to take a purse away from some young woman. 

It was too late to turn back, the knuckleheads already saw us. They shouted the usual “Hey, what are you doing here?!” lines and tried to intimidate us. It was working.  They let go of the girls purse, and instead of running in the direction of freedom and safety, the idiot woman ran straight to the visible dead end. She probably got in this situation because they “lost their puppy”.

It was only then we noticed that the guys each had a switchblade on them.  I guess we could have run away then, but who knows what would have happened to that poor girl?  They stood in front of us as if just trying to prove that they were bigger than us.  The guy in front of Callum, bald and with a dragon tattoo on his forehead (like a true thug) thrust the knife forward, but Callum swung his body out of the way and found himself with his back flat against a dumpster. He used his hands to push off and tackled Dragon Tattoo to the ground.  The other one, who had a very interesting scar that looked like an upside down cross on his check, swung wildly at me with the knife and I barely managed to step back far enough to not get cut.  Scar’s momentum caught up with him and he became off-balance, which gave me the opportunity to throw a punch. Unfortunately he stumbled, so what was originally an uppercut meant for his head ended up hitting him in the shoulder.   Scar fell to the ground but bounced back up immediately. He was right in front of me, just a foot away. In an instant he could stab me. I try to put some distance between us but I’m frozen with fear.  I couldn’t move. I notice his arm starts to thrust forward, the blade about to cut me open. I’m ready to see the blood, to feel the pain, but suddenly I hear a sharp thud and once again Scar stumbles over. Callum stands there holding a trash can lid in his hand, and Dragon Tattoo and Scar both standing up slowly.  Callum yells at me to go get the girl and start running, says he’ll be right behind me.  I do as he says and run down to the brick wall that Blondie is cowering against. I grab her arm and drag her along with me. Apparently she doesn’t get that we’re the good guys because she fights me every step. As soon as we reach the end of the alley she starts sprinting, and I follow right behind.

I know it doesn’t help me look any friendlier to be chasing after her but I wanted to get out of there. When I gather the courage to look back, I see Callum right behind me.  Callum saved both our lives that day, and I still wonder what ever happened to Scar and Dragon Tattoo.

“Yeah, ‘course I remember. It was a hell of a time; why?” 

Callum chuckled. “We really did a good thing back there, didn’t we? Might have saved that girls life.”

“Yeah…I guess we did…”

“We were always like that, weren’t we? Always fighting.”

I could help but laugh at this. “Yeah, but only because you never lost. “ Callum placed a hand on my shoulder.  I could count the number of times that Callum got really serious with me on one hand.  He was a great guy, but he never really let his emotions show through. It was always just kind of a ‘see-if-you-can-guess-what-I’m-feeling’ thing. 

“I’m scared, man; terrified.  I don’t have any idea what to do.”

I’m speechless for a second; stunned, really. Just a second ago we were reminiscing and now he’s telling me how afraid he is.  I guess even for Callum, he didn’t show much reaction to all this. It must have just hit him; all of this at once.  His grip on my shoulder tightens. I brush it off and stop walking. “You keep fighting. Come on, you’re the strong one here. We’re all scared but you’re supposed to be the one who keeps it together. You’re Mr. Calm-Cool-Collected.  You can’t get weak on me now.”

Callum says nothing. I guess I may not be being the most sympathetic right now. After all, I can relate to what he’s feeling.  Kayla and Justin stop a little ahead of me and Callum, giving us our space. 

“You think it’s just that easy? I’m s’posed to just be brave and handle all this?  No. I can’t do that. There are monsters out there trying to kill us.” Callums voice remains stern and solid. The moment I try to squeeze out words I can feel them trembling. I don’t know if its fear or anger.

“Dammit…you…you can’t…you’re supposed to be the strong one….” I’m too embarrassed to meet his gaze. With my head lowered to the ground, he starts to turn away from me.

“It isn’t that easy anymore, Dom. The game’s changed.”

Before I realize how I’m acting I grab him by the shoulders, turn him towards me, and start shouting. “Then make it your game! That’s what you do! Change the rules!”

He starts shouting too. “I can’t do this alone, dumbass!” We just stare at each other for a while; motionless.

“You’re not alone. You know that. I’m here. We’re here.”

“You’re right. But think a bit here, Dom. It’s impossible for us to win here.”

“Don’t say that! If we give up hope then it will be all over! We’re still standing! No matter what…no matter what happens we can’t say it’s over.” I can’t help but tremble. The more this conversation goes on, the more scared I get.

Callum scoffed. “You can’t really believe that.”

“Well, maybe I do! You saw those things! Something made them like that, so maybe we, I don’t know, can undo it or something!”

Callum turns around and starts walking away. Under his breath, I can barely hear him speak. “Great…so that would make us murderers. There is no happy ending. Let’s keep going.”  His words sting; this is the first time we’ve fought like this. But I guess he’s right. Even if somehow everything turns back, we would only be responsible for killing countless people. Justin and Kayla still remain silent; they probably just feel awkward right now. Callum stops walking and lets out a big sigh. “I’m sorry, mate. It just got to me a bit. But you can’t rely on me anymore; you’ve got to be strong too.”

I have no more words to say. I can’t really think of anything. I just thank him and we keep on going.  The back town roads have slowly turned into a freeway.  The roads are littered with abandoned and crashed cars.  It looks like the world has been ruined years ago.   Even if we wanted a way to keep going without walking, it would be impossible to drive anything. The path is much too cluttered and torn apart to allow anything to pass through safely. Occasionally we’ll see a zombie roaming around, looking for scraps that it can eat. They’ll notice us at some point of our passing and do a sort of run-hobble over to us.  They’re pretty much harmless when it’s just one of them if you know what you’re doing. 

            In a way, we’ve come to accept what’s happened to the world. We realized that there is no point in arguing it. What’s done is done. We do what animals do; we adapt. As we travel along this barren wasteland of a road, I still can’t help but wonder why.   Why, in a single moment, did our lives become shrouded in darkness and fear?  We now stand alone in the face of everything that aims to kill us.   All of our fears have become embodied by these creatures.  These monsters that were once just supposed to be a part of a campfire story are now everywhere. 

Darkness is a strange thing really. I believe that it takes one of two forms; the Animal or the Blanket.  The Animal is the kind of darkness that will stalk you. It will find out everything that makes you afraid, all your weaknesses, and use them against you to completely tear you apart. In short, it will make you its bitch.  It hunts, it pounces, and it rips you to pieces.  The Blanket covers you in an instant.  It shelters you from the light and makes you believe you are home inside of it.  Its warmth gives you strength and you slowly become accustomed to its nature, happy that it’s around. You become bitter and cold; Emotionless to the world around you. 

These monsters, they are the animals that hunt us. They are the beings that know what we fear.  They alone have the power to kill us without us dying.  They have turned the world into a monstrous Blanket of darkness. They have eliminated all hope from us, and now we turn to it, slaughtering those which were once human without remorse.  The Necron, those Animals, have overcome every ounce of light in our world. 

The sights that I have seen; the blood and the gore, is much too much for me to comprehend. I cringe inside, but I have allowed that constant splattering of red to smear out my common sense of disgust.   I am now a killer. I am one who hunts the Animals.  If we really are the last four remaining survivors, then why do we try?  Is it that killing these things provides some source of redemption for our lost loved ones? How is it that we know we are not the ones killing them? In these times of desolation, we put ourselves on a holy pedestal, believing that we are in the right and we alone can decide life and death.  It’s ironic really, the forces that pushed these events into occurrence plunged the Earth into a state of half-death, and in the name of justice, we try to bring this to its cataclysm by murdering everything that used to be a human.  In a sense, we have only become the catalyst for their plans. If they aim to eradicate all humans on Earth, we are already taking care of half of the job for them. 

As if on cue, Kayla lingers back by my and grabs my hand.  Her fingers entwine themselves around mine, the feeling gives me warmth.  “We are doing the right thing, right Dominic?”  Her eyes hold no expression in them, surely a product of the sights we have seen along the way. “It’s so difficult to think that these things were like us, human.”  I squeeze her hand and lower my eyes down to the ground. I can’t bring myself to tell her what I was just thinking. “You remember when we first met? You stepped up and fought the entire football team.  You got your ass handed to you. But you smiled the whole time it happened. Thanks, hero.” 

I can’t help but laugh at myself. The story does make me sound kind of pathetic.   Even though I had no idea what I was doing, I didn’t run away. That wasn’t bravery, it was pure stupidity. Looking back at it, I suppose it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. Without it I wouldn’t have met the girl of my dreams. Kayla gives me a soft kiss on the cheek and lets go of my hand.  “But next time, try not to bleed as much.” She giggles, which I find simply adorable.  I may just be a hopeless romantic but I find the sound of her voice simply soothing.  I can’t help but wonder that if this whole catastrophe had never happened if things would have worked out between us.  It would have made me so happy.

I must be an idiot. The world’s ending and all I can think about is what it would be like if I was dating this girl. I should be worrying about how to stay alive.  But if we never experience loving someone and having that feeling returned, do we ever truly live at all? 

“Have you guys noticed it? There’s not a cloud in the sky but it all feels dark.”  I haven’t realized yet that Justin has been completely silent before this.  He’s normally the one that would be trying to make sure everyone’s happy. His voice has none of his usual joy and lightheartedness.  None of us knew what to say. We continued walking in silence for a few minutes and suddenly he stopped moving.  “We need to figure this out.”  

I know the answer already, as much as I hate to admit it. But before I can catch myself the words come out. “Figure what out?” How stupid of me to ask. We need to figure everything out. This whole goddamn thing.

“It’s obvious there’s more going on here. These things…Necron…there’s no way it’s natural.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kayla’s face filled with fear. “You can’t mean…”

“Yeah, I do. Someone’s got to be behind all this. There’s some megalomaniac in the world watching this all happen.  And this person has a plan.”

“Even if there’s someone, how do we know there’s any kind of plan here? If someone found a way to make this happen, they must just be crazy.”  Callum too, was showing just how afraid he was.

“That’s true, but think about it. Why would someone turn most of the entire world into mindless cannibals? The only conceivable idea would be that they simply want to kill everyone.”

“And isn’t that what they’re doing?” Callum asks.

“No. Before, I may have thought that.  The Necron aren’t mindless though. They’re sentient beings.  Why create creatures that can think if you only want to watch everyone die? There has to be a reason.  They don’t want to eliminate, but recreate.”

“This is a really broad assumption bro. But even if you’re right, what are we supposed to do?” What Justin is saying is just getting too much for me to handle. This idea that someone wants to replace us on top of already causing so much death and destruction is just astounding.

“I don’t know, I’m not the smart brother.” He gives me a smile. The kind I remember from before things got fucked up. 

“You can’t be serious. You better not be counting on me to find some way out of this for us!”

“I’m not letting you off easy, Dominic.  I’ll keep you safe, but you need to think of a plan. Out of all of us, you’re the one we can count on to come up with something.”

“Protect me? Who do you think I am?” I hold my hand out to Justin. “But you’ve got yourself a deal. But you need to stay alive too, ok? All of us. We’ll make it through together.” Justin shakes my hand.

“You’ve got yourself a deal.”  The moment seems to last forever. Up till this point I seem to have forgotten that I’m not alone. I’m not the only scared one. I’m not the one that needs to protect everyone. I have my best friend, my love, and my brother.  If this is the end, I wouldn’t want to die with anyone else but these people. 

“First things first, we keep walking. We still have no idea what’s going on, so we can’t really do anything but travel.  See if we can find any other normal people along the way.  That’s all I got for now.”  I don’t get why they’re looking to me to come up with some plan. I know what I’m doing just as much as they do.  “Then, if and when more of those monsters show up, we kill them. Every single one of them.”

“I could have come up with that, kid.” Justin smiles at me and starts walking ahead. We all follow suit. These exchanges show me just how much these people mean to me. And how much I mean to them.  I needed this.