The End of Us

by D, Hannah

“I did try! But I need to say goodbye to Chris, he was one of my best friends Sophia!” Arthur said back to her.

  “No that’s fie, you go ahead and leave me all alone. I’ll remember this.” Sophia told him.

  Zoo walked away into the office room. She couldn’t listen to anymore of Sophia’s wines.

  ‘Poor Arthur has to deal with her. My heart goes out to him’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe stepped into the office to find Sarah and Simone in there. Chris had been wrapped up in the carpet, a thread wrapped around him with a ring on it. Simone was helping Sarah get into a dress.

  “Would you mind if I got myself cleaned up in her for the funeral?” Zoe asked them.

  “Not at all, come in” Simone told her.

  Sarah was still crying, holding a tissue up to her eyes to clear the tears from them.

  “Sarah, you look beautiful” Zoe told her.

  Zoe wasn’t only just saying that to make Sarah feel good, Sarah did look beautiful. Sarah had on a light green short sleeved dress, that was lace at the top and satin at the bottom and came to her knees.

  “Thanks. This was Chris favourite dress of mine. I thought I would wear it for him, you know, one last time” Sarah said through her tears.

  ‘And he would love that you are. Come on, lets put some make up on that face of yours. Mum always keeps make up in the drawer” Simone said to Sarah.

  Sarah smiled weakly at her and followed her over to the desk where Simone started to put some make up on her. No eye make up, since Sarah would cry it straight off but some concealer and powder to cover up some of the tear stains on her cheeks.

  Zoe walked over to the sink to wash her hands and face. There was some red that came off of her hands due to the skin eaters blood that she had just killed. Zoe then walked over to her backpack to see what clothes she could wear. There wasn’t exactly much choice.

  “Emm Simone, any chance your mum kept spare clothes here too?” Zoe asked Simone.

  “Of course she did, they’re all in that closet there behind me. Take whatever you want. Mum was about the same size as you so they should fit you just fine” Simone said to her.

  “Thanks” Zoe said.

  Zoe walked over to the cupboard and opened it to find loads of clothes sitting there.

  ‘Her mum sure loved to be prepared for any event it seems” Zoe thought.

  Zoe noticed a mid sleeved navy blue dress and thought that this would do. Zoe had never really worn dresses. They wren’t really her thing. Her foster parents used to make her wear dresses whenever social work came around to make it seem like Zoe was the perfect little girl they always wanted. This was probably why Zoe never really wore them now.

  Zoe put on the dress, her pair of converse (fashionistas would hate her right now), pinched her cheeks and ran a brush through her hair.

  ‘There, all sorted’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe heard Sarah start laughing and turned around to find Sarah looking at her.

  “What’s so funny? The converse that bad with the dress huh?” Zoe asked her.

  “No it’s not that. Chris would hate the colour blue. He hated rangers and anything to do with blue, but boy did he love slagging his friends about them and how terrible rangers were” Sarah told her laughing.

  “Oh.. I’ll go change into something else” Zoe said to her.

  “No don’t, I’m sure he would be laughing at the coincidence of all this and would be slagging his friends about rangers. Keep it on please” Sarah said to her.

  “Okay I’ll keep it on” Zoe told her.

  “I’ll always have those good memories with me of him laughing” Sarah said to Zoe and Simone.

  “Yes you will, and keep on remembering them. Chris would want that and would want you to keep on living” Zoe told Sarah.

  “I know, it is going to be tough but I know” Sarah said.

  Zoe squeezed her hand and then Simone pulled her in for a hug.

  “Sarah? Are you ready? The suns beginning to set” Mikes voice rang through.

  “I’ll never be ready but yes, lets give Chris a good send off” Sarah replied.

  Mike, Arthur, Jeff and John came through and they all lifted Chris body up. It was exactly like you would hold a coffin up when bringing it into the church, equal amounts of people on each side carrying him.

  Sarah followed them out with Simone and Zoe on either side of her. Everyone else was waiting outside the door to follow them over to Chris grave. Everyone minus Sophia who had kept surprisingly quiet as they walked past the room she was in.

  Thankfully there were no skin eaters lingering around at the fence. The last thing any of them wanted to see when they were burying Chris was the thing that Chris had became for those few minutes. They all wanted to remember Chris as human, especially Sarah and his friends.

  When they got to the grave Zoe had noticed that it had already been dug up.

  ‘Jeff must’ve done this, he’d want to do something for his friend’ Zoe thought.

  Mike, Arthur, Jeff and John placed Chris into the grave as softly as they could.

  Everyone stood around the grave. Zoe was stood at the top. They all remained silent. Zoe didn’t know if anyone would speak or not. After five minutes Sarah spoke up.

  “Chris didn’t deserve to die like this. He always spoke about dying in a memorable way, like jumping over the grand canyon on a motorbike, something way over the top. I guess dying from a skin eater bite is memorable in a way. Nobody knows this yet but Chris and me got married the day before this shit started. We were going to tell everyone at the weekend but the shitty world got in the way. Chris, I’ll always love you and I will never forget you. I will keep on living for you” Sarah said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Arthur spoke next.

  “Chris mate, you were a top friend to me and always there with some extra weed and a listening ear when I needed it. I’ll love you forever man. Tonight I’ll have a joint for you.”

  Jeff went last.

  “Chris you will always be remembered. We will keep on fighting through this shit storm and I’m sure you’ll be here, helping us out along the way.”

  “Sleep tight Chris” Sue said.

  Everyone went quiet after this. Alice and John bent down and picked up some dirt and threw it over Chris body. One by one they all followed suit until Sarah was the last to throw some dirt in.

  “I’m going to stay and bury him, you all get inside” Jeff said to them.

  They all nodded and walked back into the depot building.

  “I’ll help you” Zoe said to him.

  Jeff looked over at her and smiled at her. A quiet acceptance that he was glad she stayed with him. Zoe wasn’t going to leave Jeff on his own to bury his friend, even if he didn’t say it verbally Zoe knew he needed someone here with him.

  There was only one shovel which Jeff was using but they both took turns using it when the other got tired. Zoe done most of it but she wasn’t bothered in the slightest. Jeff didn’t have to do all of this.

  Once Chris body was covered up and there was no more dirt to use, Zoe put the shovel against the bus and turned to Jeff. Jeff had pulled out bit of card paper that had been made into a makeshift gravestone. It had on it;

  Chris

  B – 14/04/95

  D – 13/04/18

  Loved by all.

  It had been decorated with pictures with all the things Chris must’ve loved in life.

  “That’s beautiful” Zoe said as Jeff placed it at the top of the grave, placing a heavy stone on top of it.

  “Alex made it. He wanted to do something for Chris” Jeff told her.

  “He’s very thoughtful. You raised him right” Zoe said to Jeff.

  “Thanks Zoe. For everything. You’ve helped us all out so much since we met” Jeff said to her.

  “It’s been my pleasure. Really” Zoe told him.

  “You’ve been such a great friend to me Zoe” Jeff said to her.

  “You’ve been a good friend to me
too Jeff.”

  Zoe and Jeff stood and stared at each other. Zoe didn’t know if Jeff was going to kiss her not. It seemed like an awkwardly good moment. However it turned out that Jeff just wanted to give her a hug. Jeff then put his arm over Zoe’s shoulders and they walked back to the depot building to join the rest of the group.

  “You look great in that dress Zoe” Jeff said to her as he held the door open to let her walk in.

  “Thanks, I don’t like wearing dresses” Zoe told him.

  “I kind of guessed you were more of a jeans an t shirt kind of girl” Jeff joked to her.

  “You guessed right” Zoe told him.

  As they walked into the office they seen everyone sitting around telling stories about Chris, only Sophia was still missing. Zoe was glad thar she stayed away still, giving Sarah more time to grieve for Chris and not be angry at Sophia.

  “Honestly, you ever would’ve believed that Chris would’ve done that. Butt naked and right into the water, even the sheep looked shocked” Arthur said, tears streaming from his eyes with laughter.

  Even Sarah was crying with laughter. Zoe was glad to see that.

  Jeff and Zoe sat down together to join in with the laughter and talk. No one was on watch tonight which was fine. They could give it a miss for one night.

  Zoe put her head on Jeff’s shoulder whilst Alex came up and sat on Jeff’s lap.

  For now, they could relax. For now they could be happy remembering Chris and laughing. They deserved this night of peace from the world and it’s every growing problems with the skin eaters.

  Chapter 7

  Sarah had spent the majority of her time keeping busy with the watches. She had became like Jeff and Zoe with hardly sleeping. Zoe knew that Sarah was trying to keep herself from thinking about Chris and she wasn’t sleeping because if she slept, she would more than likely dream of him and then pine for him now that he was gone.

  Zoe tried to keep Sarah happy by attempting to make her laugh but Zoe wasn’t the funniest person alive and it only worked occasionally. Sometimes Zoe thought Sarah was only laughing just to keep from hurting Zoe’s feelings.

  Jeff was keeping himself busy by cleaning up the place and boy that man could clean. There was no clutter on the floor and the place was actually sparkling. Jeff had even now moved onto the outside. Anything to keep himself busy.

  Arthur was seen more around the place. Sophia had chucked him out of the room they were sharing. She still wasn’t talking to him. No one had seen her since she was told that she wasn’t to go to the funeral. Sophia was hiding out in that room, not even appearing for food. Arthur left her food outside the door and shouted to her that it was there. The food would always be gone in the next hour. The empty plate or bowl sitting back outside the door.

  Mike and Sue helped look after Alex. They didn’t mind. They enjoyed looking after him and playing with him. Mike had found a football under one of the old buses and kicked about with Alex since it was quiet here and there were next to no skin eaters. It was nice to see Alex acting like a young boy again, with no concerns and laughter in his eyes.

  Simone and Zoe jumped between everyone, making sure they were all okay and carrying out watch duties to give Sarah at least a little bit of a break. Zoe had become to like Simone, she was very kind and sweet and so helpful to everyone. It seemed to Zoe that Simone just didn’t have a mean bone in her body.

  Alice and John were on food making duties and making sure everyone was fed. You had to give it to them, they sure knew how to cook. It turned out that they were actually both chefs, they were on shift together when the skin eater epidemic started and they were very close friends. It would never come to anything more than that though since John was gay. Alice always said she wished he wasn’t as he would be the perfect guy. John replied to her saying ‘everyone wishes the gay guys were straight since we’re ever so sweet.’ And he batted his eyelashes. Zoe found him hilarious. He was beginning to come out of his shell more with the group now as he was so quiet when they first met him.

  Zoe was helping Simone do some of the clothes washing when Alice appeared at the door.

  “We’re running dangerously low on food” Alice said to them.

  “How long until we have no food left at all?” Zoe asked her.

  “Enough to last us until tomorrow afternoon, maybe until tomorrow night if we have smaller portions” Alice said to them.

  “I think we should go out and scout for some shops nearby. We’re better doing it now rather than risking waiting until tomorrow when there’s no food left at all” Zoe said to them.

  “I’ll come with you. I know all the local shops near here without us risking going to a supermarket” Simone said to her.

  “I’ll come too, getting sick of staring at the same four walls in here, need some new sights” John said from behind Alice.

  “Perfect, thank you John. Simone you can take the lead on this one since you know this are better than us” Zoe said to Simone.

  “Sure, no problem. I’ll just go get changed” Simone said to Zoe and John.

  Zoe turned around and grabbed her knife and a metal hockey stick that she had found on top of a cupboard. Simone said it was her brothers but she could use it.

  “It’s not like he’s going to use it anytime soon with all this madness going on” Simone ha told Zoe.

  This was the one and only time they all wished they’d lived in America, where they could’ve looted a Walmart of all the guns. Guns would be handy in this epidemic right now. Zoe was anti gun before this, why keep making things that killed so many people? However, now she wouldn’t mind one, it would actually make her feel safer against the skin eaters.

  “Were you off to?” Arthur asked Zoe as she stepped out of the office.

  “Scouting for more food” Zoe told him.

  “Can I come?” Arthur asked Zoe.

  “Arthur, three is enough I think, too many people might cause skin eaters to notice us more. We want to get in and out quickly.”

  “What’s one more person? Please, I can’t take tiptoeing around Sophia anymore. She’s making me feel so on edge!”

  “Why don’t you go help Jeff outside, clearing the depot and securing the fence more? He could use more help than us” Zoe suggested to Arthur.

  “It’s weird between us since Chris died. I don’t know why but we want to keep avoiding each other” Arthur told Zoe.

  “Well, maybe now you can break that between you both. Really Arthur Jeff needs more help, three is enough to go scouting” Zoe said to Arthur.

  “Yeah, okay” Arthur said as he sulked off outside.

  Zoe did feel bad for him, poor Arthur was trying to be one of the only people there for Sophia and she just refused to speak with him. Zoe wondered if Sophia would ever come out of that room, not that Zoe particularly missed having her around.

  “Are we taking the campervan?” John asked as he came up beside Zoe.

  “Good idea, I think? Do you not think the noise would attract the skin eaters?” Zoe asked him.

  “Maybe, maybe not. But it would mean we could carry more food back here without having to make another trip out anytime soon” John said.

  “I suppose we need to take a chance and find out what happens” Zoe said.

  “We’ll be fine, I promise. Who has the keys?” John asked.

  “Oh, I think it’s Jeff, he drive us here” Zoe told him.

  “I’ll go grab the keys off of him” John told Zoe as he walked off outside to find Jeff.

  “Sorry, couldn’t find a pair of jeans, never even thought of storing them here during the summer that we’ve been having. Had to steal a pair of my brothers, luck they fight, only a little loose” Simone told Zoe.

  “You wouldn’t even think they were your brothers” Zoe said to her.

  “Thanks!” Simone replied.

  They walked off outside to find Jeff handing the keys over to John. Jeff looked over at Zoe and gave her a small smile. Zoe gave him a wave. As Simone and Zoe
walked over Zoe knew that Jeff would want to speak to her.

  Simone jumped into the campervan in the passengers seat and Zoe saw her shuffling into the middle seat, there was enough room for the three of them to sit in the front.

  Jeff came up to Zoe and pulled her a little bit away from the campervan.

  “Give me a second John” Zoe told him.

  “Sure, no problem” John said back to her.

  Jeff looked at Zoe, there was genuine concern there in his eyes.

  “Promise me you’ll be safe out there?” Jeff said to her.

  “Of course I’ll be safe, we’ll be in and out and be back for dinner in a few hours” Zoe told him.

  “I can’t lose you too” Jeff told her.

  ‘Holy crap, he likes me! Is it more than friends or just as friends though..? Wait, why am I thinking about this right now! Get your head together Zoe! Zoe thought to herself, shaking her head.

  Zoe looked up at Jeff who was already staring at her.

  “You won’t lose me, I promise. Don’t worry. I’ll see you soon” Zoe told Jeff.

  Zoe squeezed Jeff’s hand and got into the campervan beside Simone and John. John started the campervan and they drove off. Alice was at the gates which were already open, she would close them behind them. Alice had told them to flash their full beam lights twice when they got back.

  “We’ll still be able to see them in the sun” Alice had told them.

  Simone was giving John the odd, turn right here, go straight and not long left to go.

  “There’s loads of small shops that were family owned around here, I’m not sure what the situation is, if there’s living in there or not but I guess we’ll find out” Simone told them.

  “Is it bad that I hope there’s living still inside?” John asked them.

  “No I guess not, I don’t want to see even more skin eaters” Simone told them.

  “We have to be prepared for anything. If there is living inside =, that doesn’t mean that they’ll want to help us” Zoe told them.

  They both nodded their head at that.

  “You make a good point miss Zoe. Hey what’s going on between you and Jeff?” John asked her.

  “What do you mean? Zoe asked.