The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  Zoe had been let of with pretty much a slap on her wrist and a £1000 fine to pay. Zoe had thought the police had been feeling sorry for her and that’s why she didn’t serve any prison time. From then on Zoe had lived a squeaky clean life apart from doing speed to keep her awake to do three jobs but no one needed to know that.

  “Hey can you watch Chris for me for a minute, I need to grab a cloth from the campervan to put on Chris forehead” Sarah came out asking Zoe.

  Zoe had been lost in her thoughts over her past that she didn’t hear Sarah coming out.

  “Yeah sure no problem” Zoe told her.

  “I’ll watch out here until you come back out” Jeff said. He must’ve followed Sarah out.

  “Cool, thanks” Zoe said to Jeff.

  Zoe made her way into the office space where Chris was still lying on the couch. His breathing had gotten worse, coming out guttural like he had something stuck in his throat.

  “Don’t worry about that, it happens when people are dying” Simone told Zoe.

  “Oh right, okay. How much time does he have left?” Zoe asked her.

  “I don’t know exactly how much time he has but I don’t think he’ll last through to tomorrow, maybe not even tonight” Simone told Zoe.

  Zoe nodded her head to this. Arthur will need to be here tonight so that he could do what he promised Chris and kill him before he turned into a skin eater. This was such a shitty situation they were all in. Why did Chris have to be bitten after saving Alex? Was life really this unfair?

  Sarah wasn’t long at all and was soon back in the office.

  “Just wet that cloth in the sink over there and then place it over his head” Simone said to Sarah.

  Sarah nodded her head and went over to the sink.

  “I’ll go back outside and finish my..” Zoe started to say.

  It all happened in slow motion. As Zoe started to turn to walk back out the door she saw Chris opening his eyes. Chris started to move his head around, like he was smelling where he was.

  “Guys, I think Chris is um turned” Zoe said to Sarah and Simone.

  Simone looked up from the desk and watched with Zoe as Chris started to stand up, swaying his arms and clanking his teeth the same way all the skin eaters done that.

  “Sarah, Sarah get over here!” Simone whisper shouted to Sarah.

  Sarah turned around and dropped the cloth that was now wet in her hands. Her mouth was open and tears started to swell up in her eyes.

  “No Chris, please no!” Sarah wailed.

  Sarahs cries had gotten Chris attention and he started making his way to her.

  Sarah was immobile and crying, she wasn’t going to be able to kill Chris. Simone went to move forward but got her top stuck on a loose nail.

  “Fuck, Zoe get to Chris and kill him!” Simone yelled to Zoe.

  Zoe had been stuck to the floor but soon clicked herself back o and got moving. Zoe grabbed her knife from her pocket and went up to Chris sticking the knife into his head. Chris fell to the floor.

  Zoe had gotten to Chris just in time as he was about to sink his teeth into Sarah throat.

  Sarah slid down next to Chris, tears flowing from her eyes.

  “I’m so sorry Chris, I’m so so sorry. I love you” Sarah kept saying.

  Zoe went and helped Simone get unstuck from the nail and then she went and sat down on the couch that Chris had been in minutes before.

  ‘I can’t believe I have had to do that’ Zoe thought to herself.

  Zoe hadn’t been close to Chris but even though he had been dying he was still human minutes ago. Zoe couldn’t shake the feeling that she had killed a human and not a skin eater.

  “What’s going on in he..” Mike started asking before coming to a skidding halt.

  Everyone else followed and they all stopped in their tracks when they saw what had happened. When they saw Sarah crying over Chris now limp and dead body.

  “It was supposed to me to do this and be there for him” Arthur said with a sob.

  “Sshh sweetie, you couldn’t have known it would be today he would die” Sophia said to him.

  Sophia’s voice made Sarah whip her head up. Sarah’s lip curled and her eyes narrowed in on Sophia as she jumped up from cradling Chris body and lunged for Sophia.

  John stepped in and grabbed Sarah and was trying to hold her back.

  “You little bitch! He’s dead because of you! Dead! You are going to pay for taking him away from me! You should be dead right now and not him! Sarah screamed at Sophia, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Sarah please! I know it’s my fault okay! I know! Just please don’t shout at me” Sophia said to her.

  “You will pay for this! I promise you that!” Sarah screamed at her.

  John was beginning to struggle holding Sarah back. Zoe went over trying to calm Sarah down.

  “Sshh Sarah, calm down please. Chris wouldn’t you to hurt anyone” Zoe said to her.

  Sarah stopped struggling against John and looked at Zoe.

  “You’re right, I have to do what Chris would’ve wanted. But she can’t get away with this!”

  “She won’t but we have to give Chris a proper send off and a proper goodbye” Zoe said to Sarah.

  “Okay but she isn’t welcome” Sarah spat at Sophia.

  “She wont be there” Zoe said to Sarah.

  Sarah stood up and John let go of her. John looked at Sarah wearily, preparing himself to grab her again in case she decided to lunge back for Sophia but Sarah just turned and went back over to Chris body. Sitting down beside him again and holding his hand.

  “You’d best leave the room” John said to Sophia.

  “You don’t get to tell me what to do! You’re not part of this!” Sophia spat at John.

  Zoe was getting herself prepared for a fight to break out as she saw Sarah about to stand up again and Alice coming forward to stand up for her friend being spat at.

  “Sophia, just leave the room. Save everyone more grief than we already have. We need to give Chris his send off” Jeff said to his sister.

  “I am so tired of everyone hating me! I’ve said I was sorry a million times, what more can I possibly do!?” Sophia whined to Jeff.

  “For now? You can leave the room and stay away from Chris funeral” Jeff told her.

  “Come on Jeff, Chris was my friend too and I could use Sophia support in saying goodbye to him” Arthur said to Jeff.

  “She’s not welcome. Sarah was Chris girlfriend and if she doesn’t want Sophia there then we respect Sarah wishes” Jeff told him.

  “Come on sweetie, we can say goodbye in our own way” Sophia said to Arthur as she turned to walk out the room.

  Arthur didn’t move. He was looking over at where Chris lay on the ground, his eyes filling up with tears.

  “I’m sorry Sophia but I need to go to the funeral so that I can say goodbye to him, it’s the only way that I’ll feel a little bit of closure” Arthur told her.

  Sophia spun around when Arthur said this to her. Her eyes were filling up with rage so much that Zoe thought she was going to explode.

  “Fine. You do that then. I’ll just be left on my own like I have been these past few days since Chris got bit. I’m beginning to see that you would all rather I have died than him. Maybe I’ll just go out there and be eaten. I’m sure that would make everyone happy!” Sarah yelled as she spun off and ran out the room.

  “Sophia, no, please wait!” Arthur yelled as he went after her.

  “Why’s Sophia crying and running away?” Alex asked as he came into the room.

  Everyone turned when they heard Alex speak and looked at him. Alex had spotted Sarah crying over Chris body.

  “Why is Sara crying? Why is Chris lying on the floor?” Alex asked Jeff.

  “Come here bud, we have to tell you something” Jeff said to him.

  Alex walked over to Jeff and Jeff led him over to the couch and sat him down beside him.

  “Do you know how Chris was sick and you
weren’t allowed to come see him?” Jeff said to him.

  Alex nodded his head.

  “Well, when Chris saved you and was running away and you both fell because a skin eater had grabbed Chris ankle, well he got bit by that skin eater and that made him unwell” Jeff told Alex.

  “Chris got bit?”

  “Yeah bud. When a skin eater bites you it makes you sick and then, after a few days you can become one too.”

  “So you can become one of them? Did Chris become one of them and then he had to be stabbed in the head with a knife like all the other ones?” Alex asked Jeff.

  “Yeah bud he did.”

  “Is this my fault he had to die because he saved me?” Alex asked Jeff as a sob escaped his throat.

  “No bud! Don’t you even think that this was your fault!” Jeff told him.

  “Was it Sophia’s fault? I keep hearing everyone blaming Sophia because she ran away and left me.”

  “Sophia made a mistake yes, but really it’s that skin eaters fault as it was the skin eater that bit Chris and made him die” Jeff told Alex.

  “I don’t want Chris to be dead!” Alex said as he buried his head into Jeff’s shoulder and began to cry.

  “I know bud, we all don’t want Chris to be dead but we’re going to give him a proper funeral and say goodbye to him okay?”

  Alex nodded his head, too upset to speak.

  They were all too upset to make any conversation. Seeing Alex coming to terms with what had happened to Chris and crying made them all upset. Tears were flowing down everyone’s cheeks, even Simone, Alice and John were crying.

  “We need to find a good spot for him. Somewhere were the light always touches him. He would like that” Sarah said to them all.

  “Of course. We’ll do it tonight as the suns setting, good time for it I think” Zoe said.

  Everyone nodded in agreement.

  “There’s some rolled up carpets sitting in the store room, we can wrap him up in that” Alice said to them.

  “That would be perfect, I’ll help you” Mike said to her.

  “I just need a few more minutes with him” Sarah said to them.

  “We’ll give you some alone time” Simone said to her.

  They all walked out the room, heading in different directions to grieve on their own.

  “I’m going to go out and see if I can find a good spot for Chris” Zoe said.

  “I’ll come join you” Jeff said to her.

  “Bud you go sit with Sue for a little bit okay? I’ll be back soon” Jeff said to Alex.

  Alex nodded and went off towards sue who picked him up and told him about a secret stash of cookies that were just for him. Zoe smiled at her. She really was the mother figure of this group. It was good that she was and Zoe was glad she was here.

  Zoe and Jeff walked off out the door together. Zoe was glad that Jeff had offered to come along, he knew Chris much more than what Zoe did and Jeff would know the prime spot where the light would always touch Chris. Zoe had offered to go find somewhere for him because she wanted to do something for Chris and she didn’t want Sarah to do anything. Sarah was grieving enough as it was.

  “Thanks for talking to Sarah in there, getting her to calm down” Jeff said to Zoe as they walked outside.

  “Don’t thank me. She was upset, she just needed someone to talk to her” Zoe told him.

  “Well thanks anyway. I couldn’t have done it better than what you did. I’m still Sophia’s brother and as much as I know that she needs to make up for this, I can’t stand with Sarah wholly on this about Sophia needing to pay. I still need to protect Sophia” Jeff told Zoe.

  “I know. It’s a tough position that you’re in. I’m sure we all know that even Sarah” Zoe said.

  “I can’t let anything happen to my sister Zoe, she’s still my family. The only family I have left is her and Alex” Jeff said to her.

  “I understand Jeff. You love them and will always protect them no matter what.”

  “If the group wants Sophia to leave then me and Alex will be going with her.”

  “If that’s what you have to do then I suppose there’s no point in me arguing with you on that.”

  “That’s what I’ll have to do. I won’t want to but family comes first right?”

  “Yeah, family comes first” Zoe answered him.

  Zoe didn’t even want to think of Jeff having to leave. She thought she could go with him but then again, he hadn’t asked her and Zoe had become accustomed to having the others around, she would actually miss them all. What a mess this was turning out to be. Zoe prayed that the group wouldn’t make Sophia leave just so that Jeff and Alex wouldn’t have to leave. If Zoe was being honest, she didn’t care what would happen to Sophia. It was clear to Zoe that Sophia only cared about herself, no matter how many fake apologies she would throw out to them and Zoe guessed that that will probably be a lot more if she stayed. Sophia was a liability.

  “I’d miss seeing your face if I had to go” Jeff said to her.

  “I’d miss you trying to get me to tell you my life story” Zoe said back to him.

  “Am I any closer to you telling me?”

  “Not even a baby step closer” Zoe told him with a smile.

  “Damn, hopefully I don’t need to leave so that you’ll tell me one day.”

  “One day way in the future and even that’s a maybe.”

  “There’s no point in me asking if you’d come with us?” Jeff asked her.

  “I don’t think I could leave everyone behind, I’m too used to having them around Jeff” Zoe told him honestly.

  “I get it, believe me I do, it just sucks to even be thinking about this.” Jeff said to her sadly.

  “Then don’t think about it, there’s been no decision made to even make Sophia leave, it might never come to that” Zoe told him.

  “Yeah well, I’m not getting my hopes up” Jeff replied to her.

  Zoe and Jeff continued to walk around the bus depot lot in silence, lost in their own thoughts, like they usually were when they were together.

  There wasn’t a lot of options in the bus depot lot for them to bury Chris. They didn’t even think about looking out with the lot as it was all pavement and roads. They could hardly dig up concrete. Plus the nearest wooded are was miles from here and they didn’t want to risk any skin eaters following the campervan back to here.

  “Hey, what about over there?” Zoe asked Jeff as she pointed over to a grassy patch that was in front of an old, torn apart bus.

  “Yeah, that seems as good a spot as any and at least the sun hits it for most of the day” Jeff replied to her.

  “There’s just a couple of skin eaters at the fence, we can get rid of those before the funeral” Zoe told him.

  “Good idea, I’ll go back and tell the rest of them we found a spot.”

  “I’ll go take care of the skin eaters” Zoe told Jeff.

  “Need any help before I run off?” Jeff asked her.

  “Nah, I can take them easy enough through the fence, you go tell the group about the spot so they can get Chris ready” Zoe said to him.

  Jeff nodded and went back off toward the depot building to tell everyone and Zoe walked over towards the skin eaters.

  At least Chris would have a good resting place and hopefully wouldn’t get bothered by skin eaters if this place ever got broken into by them. Zoe prayed that it wouldn’t. At least let there be some good left in the world where Chris would be left to rest in peace.

  Zoe got to the fence and took her knife out to kill the three skin eaters standing there. Zoe could smell their rotting flesh, the sun really wasn’t helping these things smell good. It seemed the suns heat was making their bodies decompose quicker. They were standing looking at Zoe, pressing their faces even more against the fence, trying to get to her. One of the skin eaters had a chunk missing from its cheek and mouth that Zoe could see it’s teeth and jaw bone. Zoe gagged.

  “You didn’t want this anymore than we did I bet”
Zoe said to it.

  The skin eater clanked it’s teeth in response to her.

  “I wonder what you were like when you were human. Were you married or single? Kids or no kids? Did you teach primary 2, be a lawyer defending some idiot or scrub toilets?” Zoe asked it.

  The skin eater was pushing against the fence with all it’s might. Zoe didn’t know why she was talking to it, she wasn’t expecting an answer from it.

  “I had a pretty shitty life. I was that person who scrubbed toilets” Zoe spoke to it.

  Zoe sighed and pointed her knife to it’s head. The skin eater didn’t even glance at it. It didn’t care that Zoe was going to put a knife through it’s head. It was already dead.

  “I’m sorry that this happened to you. I’m going to put you out of your misery” and with that she killed the first skin eater.

  Zoe didn’t speak to the other two or even properly look at them. She just put the knife into their heads and turned around and walked around the fence to see if there were anymore. There was only one more that was behind the building. A young woman, maybe around the same age as Zoe.

  “I’m sorry” she said to it as she stabbed it in the head.

  Zoe didn’t know why she was starting to apologise to the skin eaters. Maybe it was because of Chris and how he had became a skin eater and Zoe had had to kill him. Weren’t the skin eaters all human not even a week ago?

  Zoe made her way back into the building. Alice and John had been standing at the door keeping watch.

  “Everything okay in there?” Zoe asked them.

  “Yeah, all good so far” John answered her.

  “We decided to come keep watch, Sophia’s whining was driving us nuts. She is some girl I’ll tell you that” Alice said.

  “Don’t I know it, she’ll calm down soon enough” Zoe said to them.

  “Hah! I doubt that!” Alice said. John just shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘I hope she calms down so I don’t have to lose Jeff’ Zoe thought.

  As soon as Zoe went into the building she could hear Sophia whining to Arthur behind one of the doors.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t even stand up for me!” Sophia whined.