Decimate

I’d learnt to master survival mode, but I’d forgotten what it was really like to live. Three weeks ago, the world which I once knew came to an end. The thing I remembered the most about that day, was the constant ringing of phones, the screams and sobs, the frantic praying to every God I’d ever heard off echoing off the walls. I thought that was the end, part of me wished that it was. I had spent the last three weeks trapped in a hotel lobby with my classmates, my best friend and my twin sister on the other side of the country. 

Everyday since we locked the doors and closed the shutters, we had been rationing the food and water we had scavenged the hotel for. Some of us coped better than others, and some, well some just became greedy. 

“We’re running low on supplies, someone’s gonna have to go out there,” Kaden announced, pacing the room. 

I stepped forward, “I’ll do it.” Every part of me questioned that decision, but I knew that if the fate of our group was at stake, it should be me who risked my life. 

“No way, Mila, we need you here”, Delilah exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. I hugged her and my best friend Dev tightly before heading to the door, backpack on my shoulders, knife in my hand. 

“Be safe,” Kaden said in a hushed tone. 

I rolled my eyes, “thanks.” 

If I’d of known there was going to be an apocalypse, I would’ve made sure my ex boyfriend and his new girlfriend weren’t trapped in the same place as me. 

“Here goes nothing,” I whispered as he closed the door behind me, leaving me alone. 

Nothing felt quite so surreal as walking down the barren and silent streets of an abandoned New York City. Old buildings which were once full of life were desolate, and roads which were once crammed with traffic, were completely still. It was hard to believe that the world had fallen so quickly since the first incident. Id watched the events happen on television, what seemed to be the newest strain of flu soon mutated and turned everyone who was infected into crazy blood craving monsters. Once the television channels became static, I watched from my hotel room window as the streets became overrun. I’d hoped beyond hope that it would blow over, that governments would band together to form a new society, that the military would protect us. But no, everything I once knew was gone, and it was never coming back. 

Taking out my tourist map, I prayed that it would give me some idea of which direction to head in. I checked the car next to me for supplies, I know it was doomed as bad luck to steal from the dead, but we were desperate. 

“Bingo”, I exclaimed, my voice just above a whisper, as I took out two bottles of water, some medication and blankets. It wasn’t food, but it was better than nothing, at least. I’d just packed up the supplies in my bag when the sound of groaning picked up from behind me. 

“Shit,” I ran, away from the car and into one of the empty buildings. I wasn’t prepared to die yet. 

I headed towards the back of the building, which I figured used to be a restaurant from the tables laid out in front of me. Maybe it was wrong of me for taking supplies from this place, but I knew that if we didn’t, we’d die. 

As I scurried through the back door of the building, away from the Main Street where roamers had lined up outside, I felt an instant sense of regret. Regret for taking the stuff, regret for not saying goodbye to my parents, for leaving home mad with them. I tried to shrug off the feeling, and I ran, back onto the corner of the street. My legs were tired, and every inch of my body ached but I knew I couldn’t stop. Not unless I wanted to be devoured and come back to life as a flesh eating psychopath. The hotel was in sight, Dev was in sight. I only had a little further to run before I was back in the safety of the lobby. But then I heard the gun shot, and I felt my life flash before my eyes. 

“Drop your bag, and put your hands on your head”, a husky male voice yelled from behind me. 

One thing I knew was that the gunshots would draw more roamers to the area, and being eaten alive was the last thing on my agenda. 

“Turn around, and get on your knees.” 

I dropped to my knees, the three males surrounding me were actually rather intimidating, but I tried to not let it show. One of them walked over to me, tied my hands with some rope before grabbing the backpack off the floor. The groans got louder and louder, but the men kept shooting at the roamers. I wondered how much ammunition they had left, and if they’d leave me on the floor when they ran out. 

“Tell me, what’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here on her own?” The older looking of the three men asked, kneeling down in front of me. If his aim was to scare me, he was doing a pretty damn good job of it. I gritted my teeth, I knew I had to protect my group. 

“I don’t think she’s on her own, sir,” one of the men said. 

“Are you on your own? Or do you have some more pretty friends waiting for you somewhere round here?” 

I spat at him, causing him to jerk his body back into a standing position, his body cowering over me. Before I could even think about my next move, their bodies fell to the ground as three gunshots pierced my ears. 

I felt a pair of hands untie the rope around my wrist. “Are you okay?” My eyes widened at the sight of my ex- boyfriend in front of me. 

“Kaden, what are you doing?” 

“Saving your life, now run.” He grabbed the backpack off the ground and followed behind me. 

We made it back to the lobby, we watched on as the roamers devoured the lifeless bodies of the three men. Dev and Lilah ran and hugged me as Kaden closed the shutters. Olivia appeared next to Kaden, hugging him tightly, but glaring at me as she did so. 

“I’m so sorry, you shouldn’t have gone out there alone,” Dev said, stroking my hair out of my face. 

“Where the fuck did you get that gun?” I asked Kaden, my arms crossed across my chest. 

“I found it when scavenging the hotel,” he replied, throwing his arms in the air in surrender. 

“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Ronan, one of the guys in our class replied. At least someone was on my side. 

A scoff sounded from Kaden’s chest, scratchy and dismissive, “that gun just saved Mila’s damn life, you’re welcome by the way.” Ugh, jerk, I thought to myself, wanting to tell him what I was thinking, but I just walked away from him instead. Dev and Lilah didn’t leave my side as we shared out the rations I had retrieved from the restaurant. We figured that we could make them last for a week, and then some unwilling asshole would have to go on another run. I was adamant it wasn’t going to be me this time. As the night went on, the groans grew quieter and shreds of relief sounded throughout the whole group. I adjusted my body into an upright position, leaning against one of the couches Dev and Lilah were lay on. 

My eyes wandered to the rest of the group, all sat huddled in a group around us. Olivia was the first to speak after what felt like days of silence, her words slurred from the alcohol we were consuming. 

“Never have I ever been in love.” 

I shrugged, before taking a sip of whiskey, grimacing at the taste. I noticed Kaden and Olivia snuggled up against each other as they drank from their cups, which left an ache in my heart that I hadn’t felt since the first day I saw them together in the school corridor. 

“Never have I ever... had my heart broken,” I announced, my eyes locking onto Kaden’s like a magnet. Our eyes met, but he broke it off quickly.

Grabbing the whiskey bottle from off the floor, I poured more of the the liquid into my cup, hoping for some kind of release from this world, just like the rest of us. From then on, we all continue to drink in silence, hoping that we find solace at the bottom of our glasses. And so the night dragged on, with few words exchanged between us all. The few that were spoken were slurred and senseless, eventually cut off when we all closed our eyes and fell asleep. There was nothing I wanted more than to wake up from this horrific nightmare, back in Minnesota, back in my bed and back with my Mom and Dad.  Despite the lack of sleep, and the copious amounts of alcohol I consumed, I woke up feeling slightly more at ease with my surroundings. My head was pounding, and my stomach felt like I could throw up any second, but I was fine. The rest of the lobby was silent, nobody else had woken except me. I stared at all of the bodies asleep beside me, Dev’s arm wrapped around Lilah’s body on the couch, some of my classmates snoring away, sounding like they didn’t have a care in the world. The sky was still pitch black and the stars were still out, it was as if nothing changed at all. That was until I caught sight of the dead bodies, strewn out on the floor outside of our safe haven. Ever since I was a little girl, my favourite thing was sitting under the night sky watching the stars glisten above me. I couldn’t help but smile as I remembered sitting on the beach every birthday, back home with my family, having a late night picnic under the stars. 

“It really is beautiful isn’t it?” Dev said, his tone weary but cheerful as he appeared next to me at the window. 

Our eyes met in a shared understanding, “the sky will always be beautiful, it’s a shame the world beneath it is anything but.” 

I could feel him observing me, he’s always been great at reading me, that’s what sixteen years of friendship does. But it felt like he didn’t know what was going through my mind at all anymore. I didn’t even know myself, every part of me ached to get home to my family, to get rid of the constant heartache that consumed me. Dev wrapped his hand in mine, and we stood for what felt like hours staring out of the hotel window at the sky, wishing on every star above our heads that the world would go back to the way it was before.