Another day bloomed over the distant horizon on this small outcrop, it wasn't much but at the end of the world its the best the people could do given what was hiding around every corner, everyday more and more people where joining the settlement with it starting to resemble something closer to that of a small village more than a band of survivors trying to live another day. Each day was filled with hardships new and old, everyone had a part to play in this community in order to guarantee the survival of the rest.
The children ran between half broken barricades from days prior as they played, it seemed so strange to see such innocent joy in a world so fraught with death and destruction…but that was perhaps what the people needed the most, to see a glimmer of hope in the eyes of the ones who will one day replace them. By then they would wish to see the world they once knew returned to its former state and this time forgotten as a distant yet strange time in history, a wishful thought but one many held close to their hearts.
It had been many many months since the first account of the infected had started and with each passing day the number of them roaming the streets only swelled, even a few of the residents were not free from the grasps of its terrible maw, no matter how hard they tried to keep it at bay. They had moved from place to place, leaving behind only the shattered remains of broken homes in their wakes, the original shelter long overrun so they had adapted a more nomadic lifestyle, it was a hard life these days but that was the way during the end times.
There were close to two hundred people living within the confounds of the current shelter, an old school building which had been home to a handful of survivors before was now a place of sanctuary for those fortunate enough to stumble upon it, they had wished to reach as many people as possible but with all forms of the network offline and older technologies being lost or unusable by masses it was hard to signal that there was safety within its walls.
The sounds of hushed conversations echoed through the halls, filling the air with a subtle lively atmosphere which made the place itself feel alive, each person had a role to play in the running of this place, the early risers were split between those who watched the exterior for any signs of roaming infected and those that maintained the general order within the complex. Of course these people swapped over after every day or two depending on the situation, there was only a limited amount of firearms they had access to after all, even they only seemed to slow the infected down.
Even a single infected was enough to cause wide scale destruction, it took a dozen people firing on one with handguns to finally take them down and even that wasn't always guaranteed to work, the infected were like living calamities set on the destruction of the world and its citizens, with a desire to feast upon their flesh. The others who lived in the settlement had other roles to play, on the surface these roles may not seem important but they are the backbone of their entire survival. Without people who supported each other and made sure those around them lived as best they could, they would have all gone mad some time ago.
Elizabeth and her daughter Marisol had arrived just a few days before the original settlement was overrun by one of the infected, its horrific almost gelatinous body burned into the minds of all of those unfortunate enough to see it for themselves, since then they had stayed with the group, moving from place to place hoping to one day find a place to once again call home. Elizabeth never wanted to leave her husband behind but he had started to show the early signs of the infection just before they left so in one final stupid act of heroics he sent them off alone in their private PTV hoping for them to get to safety. She knew he was long gone by now, transformed into some horrific monster by the new world order but she never stopped thinking about him, he was everything to her and after he had returned from the war injured and broken she vowed to never leave his side and if it wasn't for their daughter, she would have.
They daughter was a bitter sweet reminder of the man she loved so deeply, she had inherited his amber eyes over her own, which were the colour of oak, yet she had her mothers wheat coloured hair, every time she looked at her a painful reminder of what she had lost to the cruel hands of fate. She never blamed her daughter or let out any signs that she felt this way towards her but she was old enough to understand that the look in her mothers eye was darker than it had been before.
She was sitting behind one of the makeshift barricades near the entrance, it was her turn today to be on watch for the roaming infected. The street had been cleared of blood and bodies which were all unceremoniously thrown into the ocean not too far away. They knew the scent of blood drew them in but the scent of even one lone human would drive them mad, to the point they would stop at nothing to feast on their prey.
The day had been uneventful so far with the unbearable quiet streets, Elizabeth couldn't help but wonder about the people who once lived here, how they once lived their lives and where they were now? Had they managed to escape somewhere or had they too fallen to the end of the world as well? It was impossible to know of course, and the scattering of broken PTVs both civilian and military didn't paint a pretty picture in her mind. However her thoughts were interrupted by a figure at the end of the road, its tall lanky body leaned backwards with its clawed arms scraping against the floor, its body covered in a thick grey fur despite its human like shape, it was almost like one of the many creatures she had read about in her books back home, from before the wars about stories which have been lost in recent decades.
She quietly informed another nearby guard to spread the alarm around the settlement, an actual alarm would attract too much attention to the settle to any wandering creature, a lone creature on its own was a terrible threat for any one to encounter but was manageable with enough people, soon however a feeling of deep dread filled her stomach as more figures of the mangled monstrosities became visible in the distance.
The appearance of a horde was terrible news, they were going to lose at least a couple people this day and would have to relocate soon after, the death of these infected seem to attract more of them to the area. She held her pistol tightly, its grip bringing her little comfort in the face of these overwhelming monsters from hell. It was her job this day to make sure as many people on the inside stayed alive to see another day.
She raised her gun ready to fire when they crossed the invisible barrier she had placed in her mind as more and more armed guards came outside, all with their weapons raised ready to fire but before they ever got a chance they saw something, a flash of light humming through the air in a blur pass by them bringing with it the smell of a storm on the sea, causing the very earth to tremble as it passed them by. Elizabeth couldn't quite tell if her mind was finally lost at first, she watched the blur move with incredible speed towards the horde, the pack of wild infected seemed to come alive when the living storm approached, becoming almost frenzied as they attempted to lunge forward.
Their attempts were futile however as they were told apart by the strange force, with multiple of them bursting into indeterminate masses of flesh and bone as a figure seemingly materialised from the energy, it was hard to tell but it almost resembled a young man, dressed in a strange black outfit. He stood there for a moment seemingly unbothered by the creature approaching him from behind.as he leaned down to examine the bodies, she didn't know if she wanted to scream out to warn the man or leave him to his fate, he was likely a much more terrifying beast than any they had encountered before after all.
The creature looming above him, the leader of this horde looked down with its wolf-like face before attempting to bite his head clean off his shoulders, before it got the chance, however its head suddenly snapped backwards as it fell to the ground, dead without a sound. The guards of the complex were stunned by the scene but kept their weapons raised high, now aiming at the strange man, after a few moments he stood up seemingly holding something in his hands as he walked towards the school.
He got about halfway before shouting over,
"Good morning my good sirs and madams. Me and my companion mean you no harm, we are survivors just like you."
Every step he took felt like it took a lifetime, they didn't know whether to trust this figure or not, he seemed human on the outside but what he just did went beyond any reason, it was simply fantastical.
"We were wondering if you would be so kind as to let us in? We've been traveling for some time and quite frankly you are the first people we have seen in many many weeks."
An older stepped forward from the group, his gun still raised high before he spoke,
"How do we know you're not one of those…things?! We just saw what you did and it's simply not possible, explain yourself at once or we will open fire!"
The young looking man stopped just a couple of meters away from the barricades with a strange expression on his face before answering,
"Well okay but I doubt you'll believe me. So it all started when….
The man went on a long story about his life, about useless details of his youth all the way up to entering his strange Nightmare
….then when I thought I was gonna be eaten BANG the creature fell the the ground dead well there wasn't actually a bang but you get the idea, then from there we thought a monstrous horde, got into many fights with many terrible monsters and even some other survivors but they were nowhere near as friendly as you lot have been, and after nearly two months of travel the two of us finally made it here, it was hard to follow your trail but we managed it in the end."
The group stared in stunned silence, was this man simply insane or something? If it wasn't for what they had seen they would have never believed a word of what he was saying, the older man from before spoke once again,
"Thats a very nice story you've told us but there is something that doesn't add up, you mentioned there's two of you and you purposely followed our trail, where is your 'friend' and why did you try to find us in particular?"
Jasper sighed as he stood there looking around as if expecting something to happen, before speaking
"My 'friend' as you put it is a lot slower than I am so its taking him some time to get off the building he was perched on, and secondly we followed your trail because we are looking for someone, well two people but they come as a pair, my 'friend' was real worried about his wife and daughter, real protective that man. So if any of you know of or are somebody called Elizabeth please raise your hand."
Elizabeth's heart stopped in her chest, she felt the eyes of the guards all shift towards her as she shifted uncomfortably, her gun still raised to the man as tears began to fill her eyes, he had to be lying right…there was no way that…
Suddenly she felt a force press down on her gun lowering it to the ground as the strangest thing happened, the air shimmered in front of her as the figure of a man appeared, dressed in a badly damaged army uniform which appears to have been crudely stitched together in many places a tall imposing figure of a man now stood, pointing the end of the barrel towards the ground , his black hair now overgrown as his Amber eyes looked into hers, he grip loosed and the gun fell to the floor as tears fell from her eyes as a pair of strong arms embraced her at long last, she never thought she would be in her husband's embrace again.
They spent a long while holding each other, with every care fizzling away as if they never mattered at all, as suddenly the world seemed a little brighter for the both of them.