The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  “Sorry about that, we’ve been watching the TV about all that’s going on out there. She’s a bit nervous, didn’t want me to open the door but I don’t like leaving people alone, especially out there right now. What’s your name?” Mike asked Zoe.

  “I’m Zoe. Sorry but what is actually happening out there?” Zoe asked Mike.

  “Is she actually being serious? Don’t you own a TV, phone or even a bloody radio?” the man, who had been hiding in the shadows until now had asked her.

  “Arthur! Mind your manners! This all just started to properly kick off today. Sorry about him, this is my son Arthur, eighteen years old and with an attitude that stinks! Typical teenager” Mike told Zoe with a roll of his eyes.

  “No it’s fine, I actually don’t own a TV, never had the extra funds for one and my phone is pay as you go. Try to use it as less as possible so I don’t have to keep putting money into it and as for the radio, well I had to pawn mine for the extra cash to pay my rent.. So I am a little blind to what’s happening in the world at the moment” Zoe told them both, she couldn’t help but sound snarky, that Arthur deserved it after he thought he just knew her after meeting her five minutes ago.

  Everything went silent then, a very awkward silence. Seemed like Mike and Arthur didn’t know what to say to Zoe after they found out she wasn’t exactly rich.

  “So can you tell me what is happening?” Zoe asked, eventually breaking the awkward silence.

  “Come into the living room where the TV is. Probably best we show you rather than tell you. After you know what’s going on out there, you can have a shower because no offence but you smell of blood and it’s making me a little queasy.” Mike said to Zoe.

  Well Mike seems to be a straight to the point kind of person Zoe thought to herself. Plus, Zoe thought, it’s not my fault I stink of blood! Zoe was pulled onto Catherine’s bloody body by Catherine herself and it was either kill Catherine and that man and be covered in blood or be killed herself.

  Sue was already sitting in the living room and when Zoe walked in and Sue looked at her Sue’s eyes went so wide that Zoe thought they would jump out of her skull. Zoe thought it would be best that she go stand in the back of the room. Zoe didn’t want to sit on any of the chairs or the floor considering she was covered in blood.

  “Arthur turn the TV on and let’s find a channel with the news on it to show Zoe here how crap the world is getting out there” Mike told Arthur.

  Arthur went to the TV with a huff and a puff and turned it on. Turns out, Arthur didn’t need to find a channel with the news on it, it was already on.

  The news was showing images from what was happening, not only in Scotland and the UK but in the whole world. Theses were not pleasant images. Zoe saw more of the shuffling people with blood on their faces and clothes and parts of their body torn away. Some had no arms or legs, some were even walking with their insides on the outside, intestines dragging on the ground. It was horrible to watch but hard to look away. Zoe even seen footage of people running away from these things that were 100% no longer human. Zoe even seen these things eating people who were trying to get away. The footage showed those who had been half eaten come back as one of those things.

  These things didn’t walk very fast, they dragged themselves as well if they had no legs. Even some who were crushed between cars or were stuck under things that had fallen were still alive and moving when they shouldn’t be.

  There was a news reporter’s voice in the background of all the images and it was on a constant loop. The voice was saying;

  “Stay indoors. Keep yourself safe by boarding up all windows and doors. Do not open your doors to strangers. The army are trying to contain this epidemic. Do not come outside until you hear that it is safe from officials. Thank you”.

  “Epidemic? People are eating people! Or are those things even people anymore? How can they come back when they’re dead or have been half eaten!?” Zoe bombarded Mike, Sue and Arthur.

  “We don’t know.. All we know is that if you have been bitten you come back as one of those things, that’s why we asked if you had been bitten”. Mike told Zoe.

  “I’m going to go for that shower now” Zoe told them. Zoe needed a moment to herself to try and process everything she had just learned. How was it possible that the world had went to shit when it was normal just an hour and a half ago and she was on her way to start her shift at Catherine’s?

  “Not a problem, just down the corridor, take a left and then it’s the first door on your right. Towels are in the cupboard above the bath. I’ll grab some clothes of Sue’s for you to change into since you know.. yours are covered in blood..” Mike told Zoe.

  Zoe looked over at Sue who seemed to be shrinking even further into the chair she was sitting in and looked absolutely horrified. ‘Must have been Mike offering me some of her clothes that’s made her horrified’ Zoe thought to herself.

  “That’s very kind of you, I really appreciate that” Zoe said to Mike and gave Sue a small smile hoping to make Sue feel more at ease around Zoe. That didn’t seem to work, Sue still looked horrified and was still sinking into the couch.

  Zoe turned and walked out the living room and made her way to the bathroom. ‘They seem nice enough, well apart from that Arthur’ Zoe thought to herself. Zoe was thankful that they let her into their home though since she was a complete stranger to them. Zoe could have been a well chewed meal by now and parts of her sitting in those things stomachs. Zoe shuddered at that thought.

  Zoe went into the bathroom, closed and locked the door and went to turn the shower on. She noticed a mirror over the sink and went over to it. As she looked at herself in the mirror she realised how bad she actually looked. Her hair was matted and bits of blood were through it, her whole upper half of her body was covered in blood also. Zoe actually looked horrifying; no wonder Sue was so scared of her. Zoe undressed and jumped into the shower. The water turned red for the first 5 minutes as the water washed off the blood but then the water soon turned clear. Zoe felt herself begin to think about what was happening to the world. ‘How did this all start? Was it an experiment gone wrong? Was there a patient zero? Or did it just happen? How long had it even been going on?’ Zoe kept going round and round with the same questions in her head. Zoe had no idea how long she had been standing in the shower for until there was a knock at the door.

  “Yes?” Zoe said loudly over the shower water.

  “I have those clothes for you of my mums. My dad sent me to give them to you since him and my mum are now arguing over you being here. I’ll leave them outside the door” Arthur told Zoe.

  “Um.. Thanks” Zoe replied.

  ‘How rude and in your face’ Zoe thought of Arthur. Zoe knew she had sort of crash landed into their home but she had never asked for Mike to invite her in. So far Mike was the only one she liked. He was the only one being nice to her. Zoe quickly washed her hair and her body and then turned off the shower and got out. Zoe reached into the cupboard above the bath, grabbed a towel (which was ten times softer than any of hers), wrapped the towel around herself, opened the door and grabbed the clothes. Zoe closed the door and laid the clothes out on the little shelf beside the sink.

  ‘Hmm.. Not too bad I suppose. I’ll be able to fit into these’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe quickly got dried and dressed, combed her hair with her fingers and realised she had better give her trainers a wash and then put them on. Zoe put the towel she used in the wash basket (well she assumed it was the wash basket) and made her way back to the living room. As she neared the living room door she began to hear Mike and Sue talking in a pretty loud whisper.

  “She was on her own being chased by them, what was I meant to do, leave her to die?” Mike said.

  “She’s not our problem, we have to look after ourselves, our family!” Sue replied.

  “She could help us, she could help us when we have to go outside to look for food when we run out” Mike suggested.

  “We are not leaving this house.
I will not let any of us die. Please, can’t you just send her away now? What if she has been bitten but decided to lie to us?”

  Zoe decided she wasn’t going to listen to anymore of this. It was then that Zoe decided she would leave. Zoe would rather risk her own life at the moment than stay in this house with two people who had a very clear, strong dislike for her, Sue and Arthur. Zoe let out a cough and walked through the door into the living room.

  “Thank you for your kindness and for letting me into your home but I think it would be best if I left now. I have family to find” Zoe told Mike and Sue. Zoe knew she had lied straight to their faces, she had no family to find but she thought it was an easy lie to get her out of the house.

  “You can’t go out there, just stay until it quietens down at least, it will be safer that way” Mike pleaded with Zoe.

  “Seriously, it’s fine, if I can just take a knife as a weapon then I’ll be on my way” Zoe asked.

  “Yes take a knife, that’s fine by me” Sue said to Zoe.

  This was the first time that Sue had spoken or even looked a little kindly to Zoe. ‘Wow, no need to show just how relieved you are’ Zoe thought. Just as Sue was going to walk into the kitchen to grab a knife and Mike was about to open his mouth to protest to Zoe leaving there was a noise. A blood curdling scream. Everyone just stopped. Arthur materialized from thin air it seemed as one minute it was just Mike, Sue and Zoe in the living room and now here was Arthur. They all looked at each other. No one made a move. Mike and Sue still hadn’t boarded up their windows but their curtains were closed. Zoe started to think if they were all debating whether to look or not. Mike made to move to the curtains to look.

  “Don’t!” Sue whisper yelled at Mike, her eyes wide.

  “We have to see if we can save someone if we can, we can’t just listen to someone die” Mike whispered back to Sue.

  Sue didn’t protest back. She just gave a pout. Mike made his way over to the window. He pulled the curtains back ever so slightly so that just one eye could see out. At first Mike said nothing, he didn’t even move.

  “I can’t see anything, maybe the person got away or you know.. didn’t make it” Mike told them.

  Mike was about to turn around when the scream came back. This time it lasted longer and was coming closer. Mike went back to the window, this time he pulled the curtains back a little more so that both his eyes could see out.

  “I see someone running! My God..” Mike paused.

  “What is it dad? What can you see?” Arthur asked Mike.

  “There’s loads of them, those things, chasing after this person, this woman. I can’t believe how many there are! Must be at least 20. The woman is injured, she seems to be limping. I have to go let her in, save her!” Mike said as he went to move from the window to go to the front door.

  “Don’t! If you open that door and let her in, those things will see and then they’ll all be at our door and will probably break in and kill us all!” Sue said to not just only Mike, but to Zoe and Arthur as well.

  Mike turned to look at Zoe. She knew exactly what he wanted from her. Mike wanted Zoe to agree with him and to let this woman inside the house, to safety and help. Zoe didn’t say anything, she wasn’t part of this decision, she had been ready leave a few moments before. As they were all busy thinking about what to do they seemed to have blocked out the noise coming from the woman. Not one of them realised that the noise was scarily close. That if you really listened you could hear the moans coming from those things.

  “I’m going to have another look out the window, see if I can see if she’s gotten far enough from those things so that I can let her in here” Mike said as he pulled back the curtain again to look. Mike jumped back just as soon as he looked out.

  “What is it? Is she dead?” Arthur asked.

  “They’re so close to her, to here, I can see them all. I can see those things faces. I.. I don’t think I can save her” Mike said as he went to go sit down on the closest chair to him, looking defeated.

  Zoe started to walk to the window. For some bizarre reason, she wanted to see what was happening herself. As Zoe looked out the window she instantly wished that she hadn’t. The limping woman was right outside and those things were right on her tail. The woman was screaming, begging for someone, anyone to help her. Zoe knew that no one would. This was it for the woman, this was her death. The woman turned and faced Zoe.

  “Help Me! Please! I don’t want to die!” the woman pleaded with Zoe.

  Zoe opened her mouth, closed it again. Zoe didn’t know what to say or what to do. Zoe turned to face Mike.

  “I don’t know what to do, she’s going to die if we don’t try and help her!” Zoe said to them all, not just Mike this time.

  “No. Sometimes we have to put ourselves first. We open that door, we risk those things seeing us and dying ourselves” Sue told them.

  “We can’t just leave her, it’s inhumane!” Zoe yelled to Sue.

  As Sue went to protest some more, there was a banging at the door. The woman’s pleas for help coming through.

  “Help Me! Please!” The woman yelled.

  “Well now she’s at the door we might as well let her in, those things will be at the door in seconds now right behind her” Mike replied as he stood up to go and open the door.

  It was too late Zoe realised as she had went back to looking out the window. Those things had already gotten to the woman at the door. They were tearing into her throat, ripping it out. The woman’s scream had stopped. Her body had went lax, not moving. Her eyes were wide open. Zoe let out a muffled sob. This wasn’t fair! If only they had opened the door that bit sooner, helped her into the house then she may well have been still alive.

  “It’s too late, she’s dead” Zoe told them.

  “Shit, I can hear them at the door, we need to move, grab some food and get upstairs!” Mike yelled at them.

  Everyone went into survival mode. Sue ran to the kitchen, Arthur ran down the corridor to get god knows what. Zoe was helping Mike move furniture in front of the door to cause a delay for those things getting into the house. Zoe had never moved so fast in her life! Zoe wasn’t even thinking, she was just grabbing the closest things to her whether it was a chair, side table or helping Mike move the armchair in the living room to place in front of the door.

  Just as Zoe and Mike were placing the armchair in front of the door, they both heard the door beginning to creak. Zoe and Mike looked at each other. It was time to turn and run up those stairs.

  “Sue, Arthur we need to go up now, they’re about to break down the door!” Mike yelled to his family.

  Sue came running out from the kitchen, two black bin bags in her hands that must have been full of food. Arthur came barrelling down the corridor, backpack on his back and a baseball bat and tennis racket in his hands.

  “Weapons.. We need weapons!” Zoe said to them as soon as she saw what Arthur was carrying.

  ‘Hmm smart kid, maybe he’s not so bad after all’ Zoe thought.

  “Oh um, there’s knives in the kitchen drawer” Sue said to her just as the first crack appeared on the front door.

  “You all go up, I’ll grab the knives” Zoe said to them.

  Zoe turned and ran into the kitchen. Zoe wasted no time in pulling out every drawer to find the knives. ‘Knives, Knives, what drawer would they be in? Come on, now is not the time to not actually be in any drawer in here’ Zoe thought to herself. Zoe could hear the door creaks getting worse and worse and could hear those things moans getting even more louder every second she was in that kitchen. Finally, the last drawer in that kitchen Zoe pulled open, there were the knives.

  “Yes!” Zoe shouted.

  Zoe wasted no time in grabbing all the knives and running from the kitchen. As she got into the corridor she could see those things faces. One of them was pushing it’s face right through the crack so much that it’s skin was peeling off, revealing muscle. Zoe turned and ran up the stairs, trying hard not to be sick as she r
an up. That things face was going to be ingrained into her memory.

  “Mike, Sue, Arthur?” Zoe shouted when she got to the top of the stairs.

  “In here!” Mike yelled back as he opened the door to the room they were hiding in.

  Zoe ran and launched herself into the room which turned out to be a pretty big bedroom. She had no idea what progress those things were making on getting into the house. Zoe dumped the knives onto the bed and turned and spotted Mike and Arthur trying to push the massive wardrobe in front of the door. Sue was sitting in the corner, crying and asking herself “why did that stupid woman have to lead them to our door!”.

  Zoe turned from Sue and went to help Mike and Arthur push the wardrobe. With all their effort they finally managed to get it in front of the door.

  “You think that will keep those things out?” Zoe asked Mike.

  “God I hope so” Mike answered Zoe.

  “We’ll have to keep quiet in here so they don’t hear us” Zoe said.

  “Yeah she’s right. Last thing I want is to be a dead mans chew toy” Arthur said.

  Zoe was surprised that Arthur had actually agreed with her! This was progress it seemed. Zoe was happy with that. Now she just had Sue to win over, that would be a difficult one.

  “Right so we keep quiet, barely even move if possible and someone must always be awake to keep watch. Last thing any of us want is for them to possibly break through that door and eat us whilst we are sleeping” Mike said to them all.

  “Agreed” said Arthur.

  “Agreed” said Zoe.

  “Yes, okay” Sue replied in a small voice.

  So here they all were, Mike, Sue, Arthur and Zoe all barricaded in an upstairs bedroom together, trying to remain hidden from those things that were dead but not really dead and wanted to eat them. Zoe came to realise that she was with these people now who only a few hours ago were complete strangers to her. She was now in a group and they all had one thing in common, they all wanted to survive.

  “I’ll take first watch, why don’t you all try and get some rest” Zoe said to them with a smile.