The End of Us

by D, Hannah

  As the sun rose Zoe saw the blue sky turning from the dark night sky to pale blue. Another sunny day. Zoe had felt a little colder this morning however which meant that the cold weather was on it’s way.

  ‘The sooner we’re off these hills the more chance at surviving we’ll have’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe looked back out at the view to see if there had been any activity since last night. So far there had been no more fires or smoke and no mass amount of skin eaters coming towards them from a distance.

  Zoe looked out over the top of the hill she and her group were on and seen that a few skin eaters were shuffling along out there beneath them but not too many for them all to start worrying. Zoe had no idea how good the skin eaters actually were at climbing, even steep hills, she had never seen it happen before.

  ‘I’ll go down and take care of them later’ Zoe thought.

  Zoe started to think of where they might be heading off to next as she sat on watch. She knew these hills went along to West Lothian, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire as well as Edinburgh from where they’d started. Zoe knew that she wanted to get as far from Edinburgh as possible which ruled out going to the borders really as they’d have to go back the way and risk bumping into more human people. South Lanarkshire was also a bit risky as it also went backwards but not really through Edinburgh so it was a possibility. However, heading to West Lothian took them away from Edinburgh. It seemed like the top choice.

  Zoe had never really been to West Lothian before but it couldn’t be that hard to find she thought to herself. She had heard that West Lothian wasn’t really that big so it maybe gave them more of a fighting chance to find somewhere safe to stay for a while. At least for longer than anywhere else they’d been staying.

  It didn’t take long for the sun to reach the top of the sky and for people to start wriggling around as they fought waking up and trying to go back to sleep by shielding their eyes with their arms for darkness. Some people, like Jeff, Sarah and Mandy just slept on. The sun being high in the sky not bothering them in the slightest.

  Zoe looked back at their watchers and found all of them stirring awake with the sudden bright light. Zoe had no idea if they would swap with anyone or stay here or try and boss them around by going hunting for supplies for Rachael. It would remain a mystery for now.

  “Morning Zoe. Breakfast?” Alice came up to ask her.

  “Sounds great” Zoe smiled at her.

  Alice nodded her head and bounced off to one of the backpacks. Zoe didn’t even know what kind of food they’d brought with them but her stomach letting out a light growl told her it didn’t matter whatever it was.

  “You think it would be okay to build a small fire?” John was asking Michael.

  “Can imagine so. It’s daylight so no skin eaters or humans should really notice” Michael shrugged.

  “Why are you wanting to build a fire?” Zoe asked John.

  Zoe was confused since it was still a hot enough summers day, why would there be any need for a fire?

  “To cook some proper breakfast stuff. You know, sausages, bacon, haggis, black pudding, tattie scones..” John said as he licked the slavers gathering at the corner of his mouth.

  “You sure the meat is okay after being in a hot bag for at least two days since we left costco?” Zoe asked him.

  “Yeah it’ll be fine. Me and Alice put them in the freezer in the campervan and then at the costco we’d found a cool bag to keep the meat in for at least a day which was yesterday. So the meat will still be good and well enough to eat” John grinned.

  “That’s good. Love my meat. Can’t wait to get stuck in” Michael drooled.

  “It’ll only be the one roll you’ll get so you can’t be greedy. We made our own before leaving the costco and they’re about to go off so better using them now” Alice smiled.

  “You two really did think of everything when it came to packing the food” Zoe laughed.

  “We’re chefs. Food is always on our minds” John laughed.

  “Suppose you’re right there” Zoe smiled.

  Zoe heard John and Alice speaking about how they would start a fire because even though they’d thought everything out about the food they were bringing, they didn’t think about bringing any matches or a lighter to start a fire.

  “We can help with that” Sue smiled as she walked up to Alice and John with Mike.

  Zoe smiled and gave a slight shake of her head. She should’ve known that they would know how to start a fire from just grass and wood. They were experienced hikers after all and Zoe had heard a few of the stories Arthur was telling Alex last night about how he and his parents camped some nights in the middle of a big climb and ate around a campfire. They were old school people it seemed who didn’t want to use anything but what was on the ground around them when they were out hiking. It was adorable really.

  Zoe looked out over the hills towards the forth road bridges and since they were a little closer to them standing on this hill she was able to see the dots of all the cars that had been a bonded on there. Things didn’t seem to be any better across the bridges. There even seemed to be a train stopped in the middle of one of the bridges that the train went across. That wasn’t a good sign at all.

  It could be that someone had been infected with the skin eater infection whilst on the train, turned into a skin eater and attacked and ate nearly everyone on board. Zoe shuddered at the thought of being trapped and seeing death just look you in the eyes. It was a horrible thought.

  Zoe didn’t have too much time to dwell on that bad thought as her nostrils were soon filled with the smell of a cooked breakfast. Zoe turned around and started moving towards were Alice and John were cooking, drooling at the mouth. It seemed like everyone else in the group had the same idea and were moving towards the food. They looked like skin eaters themselves and Zoe thought that this is probably what they smell like to skin eaters.

  “You even brought a pan?” Zoe laughed as she same that that’s what Alice and John were using to cook.

  “Of course. We’re not animals! Well not animals yet..” Alice laughed.

  “You two will always be chefs at heart” Zoe smiled at them.

  “Of course we will be” John smiled back at her.

  Alice and John started dishing out their rolls and Zoe looked over towards Jeff who was still sleeping. Zoe thought she should bring him over something but that’s when she realised she didn’t even know what Jeff liked for breakfast. She knew how Jeff fought against skin eaters and how he managed to hit them squarely in the head with a knife, right in between the eyeballs but she didn’t even know what he liked for breakfast. The world had been turned right on it’s head.

  “Just give me two bacon rolls. One for me and one for Jeff” Zoe asked John.

  “No bother” John said as he made them up and gave them to her.

  Zoe loved bacon for breakfast. She always got it after cleaning the bank offices in the mornings. It set her up for going to job number two to look after her elderly clients. Zoe didn’t really want to think back to that though, it now brought up bad memories of her first brush with the skin eaters.

  Zoe went over and sat back down beside Jeff who slowly turned towards her, his nose sniffing the air for the food that Zoe had brought over for him.

  “Sniff the food out?” Zoe asked him.

  “I always sniff food out” Jeff grinned as he took on of the rolls from Zoe’s offered hand.

  “I got you bacon. I hope that’s okay?” Zoe asked him.

  “Oh no.. I don’t like bacon” Jeff looked down sadly.

  “Oh shit, sorry! I’ll go get you something else!” Zoe panicked as she jumped up onto her feet.

  “Only kidding” Jeff smiled up at her, laughing.

  “You’re a right dick do you know that!” Zoe said as she sat back down next to him, punching him lightly on the shoulder.

  “Just some early morning humour” Jeff laughed.

  Zoe gave him daggers as she took an angr
y bite our of her bacon roll. She wasn’t angry with him for too long thought after she started chewing, the taste of bacon hitting her tastebuds as she nearly rolled her eyes into the back of her head because it tasted so good.

  “I wonder if this will be the last time we get to eat proper food like this” Jeff said in between bites of his roll.

  “I hope not” Zoe answered.

  Zoe wasn’t completely delusional. She knew that they would run our of proper human food at some point but at least, hopefully, not anytime soon. The skin eater epidemic wasn’t even two months old yet so there would still be food floating around in the world. Factories and businesses always made enough bath food for thousands or maybe even millions of people. They would be fine for a while at least before having to go back to the caveman days to scavenge for food.

  “Do you think the animals will be contaminated and if we eat their meat we’ll turn into skin eaters?” Zoe asked Jeff.

  “I don’t think so. I think we have to die first to become one of them” Jeff told her.

  “Oh, right, that makes more sense” Zoe said.

  Zoe’s mind was overthinking again but she couldn’t really help it. Even though she and Simone had read about it being a massive gas leak, who knew if it was even true and what extent the damage was? Did you have to die first to turn into a skin eater or could you turn into one from eating contaminated meat? Who really knew anymore. Even Eve the scientist never told them the root cause of the spread of the skin eater epidemic and how it happened. Turns out she was a pretty useless scientist to have for it.

  Zoe finished off her roll and brushed her hands against her trousers and stretched her legs out. Zoe wouldn’t manage to sit around here all day. She was already too restless and she’d only been up for a few hours.

  “There are skin eaters down the bottom of the hill. I might go and take care of them” Zoe told Jeff.

  “You’d have to climb all the way back up though” Jeff said to her.

  “That’s fine. My legs don’t feel too bad today. I’ll manage” Zoe told him.

  “Do they really need to be taken care of right now?” Jeff asked.

  “Probably not but I can’t sit around here all day wondering whats going to happen next and if we’l be demanded to go hunt for supplies for Rachael” Zoe said as she pulled a disgusted face.

  “I suppose. I’ll come with you then” Jeff said.

  “You don’t have to. Theres only a few skin eaters down there and I can handle them fine” Zoe smiled at him.

  “Nah I want to come with you. Gives us some alone time” Jeff winked.

  “Don’t get any of those thoughts in your head. We’re going down there to work” Zoe laughed.

  “Yeah yeah. Lets see you try and stop me” Jeff grinned.

  Zoe shook her head at him and didn’t even bother trying to argue with him. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop him if he even kissed her, especially since they would be alone down there. There was a slight thrill that went up Zoe’s spine about being up, close and personal with Jeff when they were in a danger zone. Zoe did like a little danger and loved the thrill of it.

  Zoe and Jeff went and told the others that they were going to take care of some skin eaters down the bottom of the hill to get them out the way for now in case more appeared and they ended up with a herd down there.

  “You’re both mad going down to have to climb all the way back up! I still can’t feel my legs and can barely stand up or sit back down!” Sophia said to them shocked.

  “Ah you’re just a drama queen” Jeff said to her.

  “I am not!” Sophia grunted.

  “You know you are, just accept it” Jeff smiled at her.

  “Am not” Sophia said grumpily.

  Jeff laughed as he and Zoe went off to go back down the hill, weapons in hand. Zoe with her hockey stick and Jeff with his axe. They made quite the pair.

  Going down the hill was a bit more easier than climbing up it but they still had to be careful with how steep it was. One loose foot or if they went too fast and they would end up stumbling and rolling down to the bottom of the hill and end up in a heap and possibly get eaten by the skin eaters down there.

  It was a slow process getting down but they got there eventually, moving towards the skin eaters on the ground. Zoe didn’t feel as much anger as she did before and only smacked the skin eaters in the head two or three times only to make sure they were really dead.

  Zoe and Jeff had managed to take the skin eaters out in no time at all. Six skin eaters lay at their feet. Zoe looked at the skin eaters and saw that they were wearing normal summer clothes and not what experienced climber/hikers wore.

  “You think they came from the city centre?” Zoe asked.

  “Possibly, I wouldn’t rule it out” Jeff said.

  Zoe had thought that skin eaters barely moved too far away from big herds unless they were already in a rural place before they turned into one. Seems like some of them wanted to get away from their packs.

  Zoe walked along the grassy path a little bit to see if she could spot anymore skin eaters. There weren’t any. It turned out to be a little expansion of ground before the foot of another hill appeared that would take them up the next lot.

  When Zoe turned back around to say something to Jeff she didn’t even manage to get the words out before he had pounced on her, planting his lips on top of hers and circling his arms around her waist. Zoe leaned into him and put her hands into hairs hair, pulling him closer to her. Pretty soon Jeff had spun her around and was walking her to lean her against the hill behind them, placing his body on top of hers.

  ‘This is it. This has to be it now!’ Zoe thought excitedly as she felt Jeff’s hands move to beneath her top.

  Zoe shivered as she felt his fingertips brush her skin as the moved up past her stomach and moved up towards her bra. Zoe felt herself moan against Jeff’s mouth as she pressed herself against him which made Jeff growl in response at the back of his throat.

  Zoe moved her hands from Jeff’s hair and moved them down his arms as she moved herself and pushed them to roll over so that she was now on top of him. Zoe bent down and continued to kiss Jeff deeply as she moved her hands underneath his shirt and felt his muscles ripple and mover underneath her. Zoe managed to take his shirt off and started kissing her way down his chest, Jeff moaning in response to it. Zoe was just about to start unbuckling Jeff’s jeans when she heard a noise coming from behind her.

  Zoe jumped up and away from Jeff and spun around to look at a man approaching her. Zoe lifted her hickey stick from the ground with Jeff jumping up beside her, grabbing his axe and faced their approaching visitor.

  “Oh don’t stop on my account, I was really enjoying that” The man smiled.

  “Who the hell are you and what do you want?” Jeff growled at him.

  “The names Matt, one of Rachaels top guys. She sent me to give you and your group a message” Matt told them.

  “What’s the message?” Zoe asked angrily.

  “You sure you both don’t want to continue? I could stand by and keep watch” Matt winked.

  “Shut the fuck up you piece of shit and give us the fucking message” Jeff said to him angrily.

  “Man, talk about getting blue balls and getting pissy about it. Rachael wants to let you know that she’s expecting some supplies off of your lot by tomorrow night” Matt said to them.

  “Tomorrow night? We just got here and have barely had time to settle before going anywhere to get more supplies” Zoe said angrily.

  “What Rachael says happens or one of us will take one of you and kill you. Now who really wants that to happen?” Matt asked them.

  “You really are just a bunch of assholes” Jeff spat at him.

  “Sure mate but we’re just doing what it takes to survive” Matt said.

  “By stealing from other people” Zoe spat.

  “We don’t call it stealing. We call it taking whats ours as you stay in our patch of land. Now, meet Rachael t
omorrow night down at that little ski restaurant place at the beginning of the hills you all climbed. She expects a lot of supplies brought to her” Matt smiled.

  “A lot of supplies? We need to have supplies for ourselves as well!” Zoe said angrily.

  “Better make sure you get tons of supplies then. I’ll leave you both to go back to pleasing each other. I’ll try and not hide in the bushes to watch” Matt smiled at them.

  “Piss off you dirty bastard! Zoe shouted at him angrily.

  “See you all tomorrow night” Matt said as he walked away laughing.

  “Dirty low life bastard!” Jeff growled.

  “I don’t think I’m in the mood to continue anymore” Zoe said shuddering.

  “Let’s go back up the hill and join everyone. We’ll get our chance another day” Jeff said as he gave Zoe a light kiss on her lips.

  Zoe couldn’t help but feel deflated and disappointed that their chances at actually having sex were taken away from them again. Zoe was beginning to feel very frustrated which no girl every liked the feeling of.

  Zoe and Jeff’s climb back up the steep hill was just as tough and gruelling as before but they were managing a bit quicker. Jeff hadn’t bothered putting his top back on, just tying it around his jeans belt loop which didn’t help with Zoe’s frustration. Zoe wanted to shout at Jeff to put his top back on but at the same time she was enjoying the view of his muscles moving as he climbed.

  When they got back to the top of the hill everyone was lounging around in the sun or chatting with one another. Zoe and Jeff went over to them to tell them about Rachaels message.

  ‘You have got to be kidding me!” Sarah shouted.

  “Where the hell are we even meant to get so many supplies!?” Michael asked angrily.

  “We’ll have to go try and find a supermarket to loot from with barely any skin eaters hanging around” Mike said.

  “You know any near here?” Jeff asked him.

  Mike shook his head sadly. Zoe looked around at the rest of her group who were all thinking about where there could be the closest supermarket that was still out the way of masses of skin eaters.