Chapter Text
YEAR 2033.
Dust built up through the passage of time had caked in the crevices of the wall's base moldings. Lavender-colored wallpaper torn, tattered, and riddled with bullets. Turning your gaze forward, four mangled infected corpses, toppled over each other, lay at the end of the hallway, filling the stale air of the abandoned apartment building with its offensive foul odor. Nature slithered and had made its way through the massive crater in the ceiling above the bodies, swallowing up most of the walls. The floorboard creaked and whined underneath their body weight, shoes leaving water trails in their stead. Overlapped sounds of wet, urgent footsteps, deep guttural groans, and the fast beating of your heart drumming against your eardrums only contributed to increasing your adrenaline.
“Hold him–hold him for me.” An exhausted voice shifts your focus to your older sister, who's aiding in holding up the muscular man. Sticky sweat trickles down your throat and forehead, and thickened dirt is underneath your nails.
You nod your head, his weight pressing a bit harder down onto your smaller body, when she slowly removes herself from him. You pointed out your strength in keeping him upright when she moved away. Her head tilts slightly to be at your level briefly, and her eyebags are more prominent. “I have to see if this room is safe for us.” She muttered. Turning her back to face you, she unsheathes her pistol from the leather holster strapped to her thigh, holding it firmly in her dominant hand. She steps up to the door and opens it enough for it to be ajar. Her aim, guided by the wooden door, eyes examining every inch revealed to her the more she opened the door past the threshold.
She quickly glances back at you and your uncle, giving herself only a second before she finally pushes the door wide, her shoes falling and shifting with purpose around the apartment's brown wooden floor. The small kitchen on the right had a few cabinets and drawers open, seemingly void of any valuables. The living room beside it had a dark grey knit blanket settled below the wooden coffee table, peeking out from underneath, and the wooden bookcase on the left side of the door had books of different genres and interesting topics. You watched as she faded further into the apartment, your eyebrows knit together, vaguely tilting your head on the left occasionally to take in the environment being thoroughly investigated by your sister.
A choked curse rumbling close to your right ear and the firm hold on your left shoulder tightening made you blink to look up at your uncle, his body in a state worse than yours. A puddle of blood that’d spread was soaked up by the gauze wrapped around his lower left abdomen, and shared sweat invaded your nostrils. “Uncle..” You whisper to him, anxiety etched into every fiber of your being. Witnessing your only father figure suffering tore your heart apart. “‘S alright, sweetheart.” His voice and demeanor, which you’ve known to be assertive and fearless, dimmed dramatically to being strained and fatigued. The hold you had on his waist grew tighter after he said that, left hand rising to tenderly plant itself on top of his rough hand that grasped your shoulder.
Shoes stepping on wooden flooring rose in volume, and the pleasing sight of your sister reappearing at the front door. “Everything’s good. Come on, I got you.” Softly-spoken, but the underlying stress upon her profoundly resonated between the three of you like an echo chamber as you all stumbled and groaned, leading him to the end of the hallway in the apartment, past the small kitchen and living room, into the disorganized bedroom. Its wide window displayed the afternoon view of the ransacked, vacant city riddled with rustic vehicles and grass overtaking the streets that were once a quarantine zone orchestrated by the military. It was sealed shut, and droplets of rain collided against the glass.
You both carefully lay your uncle down onto the messy mattress, your sister tilting her upper body a little, slim hands roughened from the difficult trials of the life they live now move to softly wipe the sweat trickling down his cheek, alongside the stray strand of hair out of its regular place. “I’m sorry, Uncle– I..” She lowers her head, staring at her shoes before sealing her eyes shut, and the bottom of her lip quivers. There was desperation in staggering her emotions at this detrimental time, fighting to stay strong for both of you.
Your stare faltered as you watched your sister struggle, vision blurring as the hot sensation of tears ran down your cheeks. “This was never your fault..” She didn’t say anything, only nodding her head in response before reluctantly stepping away, her gaze skipping from him to stare off at the window. “I need to get going.” She walks out of the bedroom with haste, leaving the door wide open. Fear sharp as the tip of a needle courses through you. “Going where?” You blurted out, your body moving without question to follow her out of the bedroom door to stop her in the living room. “That Pharmacy we came across,” She sniffles harshly, shaking her head. “I need to see if there could be anything there that can help Uncle.”
Your mouth opened and closed, unfiltered doubt had overtaken your expression.
She falters. “I don’t know if I have the strength to do what I think I need to do.” She hiccups, moving in to wrap you into a firm hug, a strong wave of sweat invades their senses. “Leaving him here feels wrong– leaving you alone too– I don’t know anymore, I..” Words come tumbling out of her mouth, you return the hug tenfold, desperate to give her reassurance that she can rely on you too, she doesn’t need to hold all of the extreme weight of responsibility on her shoulders on her lonesome. After a moment, you pull away a little.
“...I can do it. I’ll wait for you.” Staring up to meet her eyes.
A beat.
“...Okay. I’ll be back as soon as I can, maybe I'll find some food as well, alright?” She pulls you back into that tight hug, chin resting on the top of your head. After seconds of silence, she steps away to walk out the front door, and the click and slam of the door shutting echoes in your skull. You went to reassure your uncle about where your older sister went, even when he vaguely nodded, you could tell he also disagreed and was just as worried. After all that, you searched the kitchen, finding only a box of crackers in the bottom cabinet. That had pretty much nothing inside except for seven crackers wrapped in white plastic, hunger coursed through you as soon as your eyes even landed on it, snatching it before walking over to the bookcase next to the front door. Thick dust covered the shelves and books. Genres: Horror, Comedy, Romance, Animals… Animals? Hell yeah!
The corners of your lips quirked as you picked out the book from the bookshelf, particles bursting in front of your face when the books next to it slid down a little, quickly stepping away with a grimace on your face, you moved to plop down onto the couch. With your left hand, you open the book. On the first page, imagery of horses of different breeds intrigued you, and black text described their origins. Moving past that, the next page was of owls. Chowing down on the stale crackers you put on top of your thighs, leaving five crackers left on purpose. Minutes passing you by. Sleep came slamming down on you, like taking a dose of Xylazine, strong, undefeatable to even a horse. You didn’t mean to fall asleep, but your body needed and begged for rest.
Shuffling and loud, abrupt cluttering snapped your slumber.
Your slouched position quickly shot up, neck cranking to look behind you, staring at the hallway with wide eyes. The sounds in the bedroom paused, its door still wide open. Your hands moved silently to remove the book and crackers off of your thighs and onto the wooden coffee table, standing up to your full height, your mouth was left ajar, eyeing the shadow moving on the floor at the end of the hallway, tension in your bones rising when your fingertips inch to your pistol in your back pocket. Praying.
You whisper, hoping that you can prove yourself wrong, so that it'll dispel the dread that's gradually emerging. “Uncle?” Irregular thudding arose once again, a boot unsteadily stepping onto the shadow, moaning in pain, gasping noises were the first sounds you heard from him. “ No, no, no, no. ” Shaking your head, you can feel your body reacting– that overwhelming emotion of sorrow that your sister briefly described, that’d make your bottom lip quiver and vision blur, opposed to your wishes.
Blinking them away, upholding the pistol the way he taught you, the sight of what was once your Uncle was replaced with a man who lost his humanity—a shell of his former self. His body movement was lethargic and so erratic that it made you shudder.
And when his glazed-over irises landed on you, he lurched into a feral run, startling you into action. “No, please!” Boots stomping on wooden flooring was blaringly loud to your eardrums, your poor heart racing miles per hour.
BANG.
Stomach.
He’s still coming.
BANG.
Chest.
He’s trying to crawl over the couch.
BANG!
Head.
His body toppled over when the bullet penetrated his skull, body falling forward– you couldn’t move fast enough, his corpse landing on you, gravity and his heavyweight were too much, your back slammed down onto the wooden coffee table with immense force, breaking it in half, crushing the crackers, and the thick book you were reading dug into your upper back, but none of it compared to your mental distress. His blood leaked from the bullet hole in his forehead, dripping down onto your face. Your hands frantically pushing his shoulders upwards, but pitifully failing in getting him off of you. Breathing came in quick bursts, coughing, and sobs were all that accompanied you in the apartment’s silence; you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything, acid welling up in your throat. You feel disgusting.
Dragging yourself from underneath his body as an alternative, wood chips pressed into the palms of your hands, moving to sit up while doing so, sliding back until your back hit the TV stand. You brought your knees up to your chest. “I’m sorry, Uncle! I’m sorry!” Squeals and sobs shredded your vocal cords, the back of your hands carelessly rubbed at your eyes over and over again, the waterfalls of tears were endless, chest hiccuping, ears ringing, ribcage closing in on your heart like a vignette effect, and the deep ache spread across your upper back.
The more you cried to yourself, the more you began to feel isolated. Not knowing if your sister is still alive, or if she went and abandoned you instead. Just the thought of being deserted by her made you bawl your eyes out harder, sclera’s red, snot bubbling and trickling onto your lips only to be wiped away.
Click.
Crawling forward with haste, teeth gritting, fingertips grazing the pistol’s grip–
A light gasp stopped you.
A second after you looked up, catching a glimpse of her, she was already on you, kneeling to your level, left hand wrapping around your upper back, right hand cradling your head.
“Oh, Y/n..” Whispered, tearful apologies spilled from her lips, gently swaying both of you left to right. You hold her tight, you can’t envision yourself being detached from her hip now. After you both somewhat regained your composure, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at him, facing what you had done.
What you were forced to do.