(It's not that good, but I wanted to share X3 This is Part 1, I may make a second part)
Night fell like a blanket across the world. Everywhere, people left their homes, staring at the sky in a question of what the hell was happening. And they all saw the same thing; the sun vanished.
Nobody quite knows what happened truly. But suddenly, the world went dark, and the sun was gone. Scientists were baffled, political leaders were panicking, searching for an answer for their country.
And those attending to the dead were screaming in horror as they climbed from their graves.
It only took a couple months. Without the star to enlighten and warm our planet, the Earth slowly died. Plants withered, and with it populations. Everything we needed for survival, stolen from beneath us.
Then the undead came. Within about four months the global population dropped, succumbing to the invasion. Few who were left lived, and slowly the survivors dwindled. The scavenged for anything edible and sources of heat. They were freezing, starving, dehydrated, and dying.
Finally everyone died. Except for us. We are the last survivors of Earth, shattered remnants of humanity, a former glory. There is no happily ever after for us. Eventually we will die, and humanity’s legacy will be gone forever.
That was what we believed, for almost a year. Our final community’s head count fell, drooping to the point where we did truly think we would die. I had hoped we would make it, that maybe we would somehow make it.
Then, on December 31, 2018, a small glow peeked on the horizon. We banded together, staring at the shimmer. Wondering if this was our end, wondering if we were imagining it.
The sun rose for the first time in over two years.
Within a month, most of the frozen water thawed. We had water to drink. But we had to be careful, for the undead weren’t unintelligent. They knew where to look, where to hunt. We lost several people just in the hype of not having to scavenge for water bottles any longer, eaten alive by the undead.
But it was all for naught if we starved or froze.
Most of the plants had vanished, all but the hardiest. They were even fighting for survival. The same went for the animals, almost nothing was left. And we were running low on supplies. It was almost cruel. I realized the rising sun was a sign of a new hope.
But the sun has to set eventually.
One day I awoke, clutching my chest. I could hardly breathe. I could feel my lack of energy taking its toll. I staggered to my feet, then fell and crawled outside, practically dragging myself. I fell down in the gravel and rolled over, my chest heaving. I looked at the sky and my eyes swam. I lay there for several moments, catching my breath. I didn’t have much time left. I rolled back over, and then I saw it.
A single blade of grass sprouting from between the cracks into the sidewalk. I coughed a heavy cough that involved some blood. The sun was rising once more. The last survivors would be waking soon, if they did at all. I drug myself to the blade of grass, stroking it. I could feel its fragile body between my fingers. And then I passed out.
I thought it was the end as my eyes closed. I fought to keep them open, but it was useless. My head lolled, and my heart slowed…. Then stopped.
And right as it happened, the door opened. One of the other survivors, who must have noticed I was gone when they awoke, came to find me. He dragged me back inside, not noticing the grass. He laid me down, searching frantically for something, and calling for help. I could feel the cold coming on, in my fingers and spreading on to my wrists, then up my arms.
I felt a tiny pinprick in my numbed wrist, and fire exploded up the length of my arm, and from there throughout my body. My heart began beating with a fury. I could feel the cold being driven away, hissing as it vanished. Then my heart slowed down massively, almost stopping again. It didn’t have the energy to keep going. But it saved me, and I woke with a start. The man who saved me had a needle in his hand, with a now empty vial of adrenaline in the other. It was a tiny dose, but it started my heart again.
“What happened?...” I coughed again, with more blood than before.
“I couldn’t find the adrenaline, but I knew we had it. This is our last bottle though. You are lucky it worked, it doesn’t always.” He said. The man was our medical person. He wasn’t a real doctor so to speak, but he had the most experience.
I wait for several minutes, regaining any energy I can. Then I get to my feet, and with his support, manage to walk outside. I point to the blade of grass. And look up and down the sidewalk. Several were sprouting.
That was when I heard it.
A window on the other side of the street shattered, and an undead monster came flying through it, roaring with fury and hunger. We both staggered back inside, bracing the door as he flew into it. It shuddered from the weight, but it held. He walked to our closet, now out of breath himself, and walked back with a shotgun.
“The next time is runs into the door, open it just after. “ He commanded. I waited by the door, then threw it open just after it shuddered again. The monster jumped past the threshold, teeth bared for the doctor’s neck. The man pulled the trigger and the monster was torn apart, falling down, still alive. He pulled the trigger repeatedly, and there was nothing left but shreds on the ground. Still.
I walked to our supply store. We were almost out of food leftover, but I needed something. I pulled out a piece of bread. It was moldy, but I just wiped it off. Most of our food was moldy. I ate it, then sat for a little bit. Over the next ten minutes, everyone left flooded downstairs, wondering what happened. Then an argument happened.
“They’ll come for us! They must’ve heard it!” One boy cried.
“He’s right.” A man said gruffly.
“No, we can’t leave, they’ll kill us anyway. We are safe here.” A lady said with eyes red, probably from crying.
“We aren’t safe here! If the entire horde comes we are done for. You know how many there are.” He replied curtly.
“If we leave the horde will take us anyway. Please, let us stay!” She pleaded.
I stood slowly. “We need to move.” The lady began crying again. “Not because of the zombies. I want everyone to walk outside for a moment and look around. For a few moments.” Hesitantly, a couple people peeked out, and noticed the grass sprouting, and nearly shouted for joy. They only contained themselves because it would attract the undead.
I continued, “If we move we can find more like this. Maybe actual food. Maybe some animals are still alive.” I paused. “We are to take everything left. Weapons, food, anything. Anyone who has any strength left will carry the food and whatever else is needed. The rest of us with the weapons and protecting the others. No one is left behind.”
Everyone just looked at me, and nodded. I was not an official leader, but they all listened to me anyway. I was the oldest there too. I carried a small pistol; I wasn’t a fighter, but I needed something.
Not everyone had something, we didn’t even have enough to split between everyone. We were on the outskirts of a small town, we had that fortune. The infection couldn’t spread to other animals oddly, and our town was underpopulated. We were mostly zombie free in this area, but the undead knew we were here. What held them at bay was beyond me.
We moved into a small forest near our town. And then we found it; a small golden retriever, a puppy. It was weak and nearly dead. I walked to it, and lifted it. Cradling it, we forged onwards.
We came to the middle of the forest after several hours of walking. Almost all of the trees were dead, if not all. In the middle of the forest was a small lake, freshwater. I let the dog down by the edge of the water, and dripped some on him to try and wake him up. Everyone watching, wondering what I was doing. I couldn’t blame them, we were starving and he was technically meat. But I wasn’t going to stoop and eat a dog, even in hunger. Not one that was just as bad off as we are. I had mine as well go eat one of our own.
After a couple moments the dog woke up. He blinked weakly and tried to get up. He noticed the water and lapped at it pathetically. After lying for a few moments he got up and moved around. He only wanted to follow me, and was scared of the others.
Night was falling. We needed a place to stay, or some form of shelter. I remembered coming here as a child, years and years ago. And I remembered on the other side of the lake, a small cave. We all traversed around the edge of the water, searching for it. Then we did. It wasn’t very steep, but it was very dark. I used some of my energy and tore a branch from a dead tree, and whatever leaves I could find. I tried unsuccessfully to start a fire. I tried for at least five to ten minutes with no success. Then a friend walked forward and offered to try. After a few tries, it began to burn. I lit the branch I had taken and placed it in the cave. I told everyone to grab something flammable. Everyone able bodied each found a branch, and we moved into the cave, fueling the fire. I stomped out the embers outside from the leaves.
The stone floor was hardly comfortable, but beggars can’t be choosers. We all lay behind the fire, hoping for protection from the undead.
It wasn’t.
I woke to a scream. A zombie hovered over somebody, trying to bite them. I reached for my pistol, and shot it in the head, taking it off. It then turned to me, trying to kill me. I shot again and again till it was upon me, ready to claw me to death. Then it got hit by a shotgun shot and flew into a wall, now dismembered. I breathed hard. I was already out of energy, and this didn’t help.
I looked to the person attacked. The same lady who pleaded us to stay. She wasn’t injured, but she was clearly shaken. “This dog… saved my life… it woke me up to the zombies with its barking..” She said uneasily, rubbing the dog’s head. Everyone looked at it, then began talking all at once.
“This was a bad idea.”
“Why did we come out here?”
“We need to go back.”
“No, we need to keep going forward. Maybe we can escape them.”
“Maybe we should all split up.”
At this I stood. “We stick together. Today we are going to form a patrol and search for any food we can.” I pointed at three separate people. “Take a weapon each and come with me. And we walked out.
We walked for about an hour, and then we found a single flower on a tiny sprout. I dug out the entire thing and we walked back. They were disappointed that we had found no food, but excited at what I had found. We all gathered as I planted it behind the cave, protected so nobody would accidentally tread on it. It was checked on hour to hour.
The lady from before and the boy who originally proposed we leave came to me, and they asked to come with me searching for food. We walked through the wasteland and came to a small cliff. It overlooked a much larger expanse of forest, then a beach and a body of water. So we decided since we’d have to head back briefly, to sit here for a few moments.
The sun was setting.
I said, “The sun has to rise. I had thought that it was a symbol of life, when it rose for the first time a day ago. But the sun has to set; nothing good lasts. Emily, Eric, if this is the end of mankind, I want you to know I enjoyed our time together.”
She looked at me and said, “I regretted coming out here. But I’ve since changed my mind. It was our only option. Nick, don’t be so dark. We will survive.”
