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Today is October 27st, 2192. Halloween. Three days until the 74th-anniversary of The Fall. Seventy-Four years ago, on a Halloween night, the world went to crap. It was a peaceful Halloween day, kids went to school all talking about trick or treating that night. Parents began setting up their porches for children. Everything was normal, like any other Halloween day, ordinary. That was until the clocks hit 9, and all the children dressed up as monsters started to turn into what they dressed up as. Little Timmy that lived on the corner was a little boy one second and then a zombie the next.
Horrendous faces engulfed the child's heads while the parents screamed for help. Some say it only took minutes for the children to transform and turn on their parents, eating away at their bodies. Others say it took hours for them to turn. All the people who lived through that night are most likely dead now or old and dying. The monsters ripped apart the towns and cities surrounding them, leaving claw marks in the walls.
Now you can barely find cities. They are all just rubble or taken back by nature, vines, and moss on them. Almost all animals are extinct. The surviving animals are owned by rich people. Not many have the luxury of fresh meat. The poor have to feed on plants that grow around where they live, some even take to cannibalism.
You're lucky if you see other humans around too. There aren't many around anymore and if there are they would be in small groups. But then you have the special cases of bad people, ones who think it is their job to ‘take care' of the remaining survivors. We call them Agathons. They mostly go after bigger and more popular groups, opting to take out the hardest targets first. Even if it sounds wrong, I was happy that they went after bigger groups.
I have a small group of my own, made up of a butch of kids, five to be exact. We've never created a group name for ourselves, thinking it was unnecessary to have one. We don’t have a proclaimed leader but the job was unspokenly given to Estelle or, as we call her Stella. She’s the shortest one in our group but with the most experience with fighting. She usually wears a big trench coat making her look smaller.
In terms of age next up is me. I am the self-proclaimed bodyguard of the group. Even if Stella has more experience with fighting, I like to think of myself as the best fighter. When I was in an old group, they taught us how to use a variety of weapons ranging from pocket knives to things that aren’t pocket knives. I usually carry multiple daggers, strapped to my thighs.
The third oldest is a girl named Rowan. She’s the co-leader. She deals with the two boys in our group, I have no idea how she does, they are a handful. Then there’s Elliot. He’s the food gatherer of the group. He leaves early in the morning with an empty backpack and comes back later in the night with a still kinda empty backpack. I don’t blame him, there’s barely any food around and we already scavenged the nearby broken buildings. Finally, the youngest is Cyrus. He doesn’t have a set job in the group, he just helps whoever needs it. But he mostly goes on food runs with Elliot.
As of now, we were walking on a cracked and eroded road, there were no lines on the road to separate the sides. We were all following behind Stella, she had found a map that led to a ‘safe haven’ awhile back that was left near our base.
“Are we done walking yet?” Elliot asked, sagging his shoulders. “It’s been forever! I’ve been carrying this backpack ever since we left! You said we would take turns!” He pointed an accusing finger at Rowan who was holding a backpack of her own.
“No,” She sighed. “I said that we could switch backpacks if you got tired. You’re gonna have to hold one either way.”
“I think I remember you saying you would hold my backpack.” Cyrus cut in, leaning against Elliot’s shoulder.
“No, I did not.” She said,
“Yes, you did.” He repeated.
“No, I didn’t.” She adjusted the strap on her backpack.
“Yea, you did!” Elliot joined in, putting an arm around Cyrus’s shoulder.
“I don’t think she did,” Stella said, stopping what was going to be a day-long argument.
“But I think she did.” Cyrus tried.
“Well, you thought wrong.” I pulled out one of my daggers and started twirling it in my hand.
“C’mon Ester! I thought you were on our side!” Cyrus threw his hands up and pouted.
“This is bullying!” Elliot added.
“You don’t even know what that means.” I said, thought about it for a second, and then added, “Didn’t you learn that from an old lady?
“She was nice!”
“You can’t believe the old people. They don’t know better.” I stated.
He huffed but then decided to stay silent, crossing his arms in front of him. We were all quiet for a good five minutes before Cyrus decided to switch his bag with Elliot’s to make him feel better. Elliot immediately went on a rant about how nobody liked him and that Cyrus was the only one who loved him, and that how they should just run away together. I tuned them out and walked next to Stella who was holding a hand-drawn map.
“As much as I hate to admit it,” I started “Elliot’s right, we have been walking a lot more than you said we would. It has been at least 10 miles, not 6.”
“I might have taken a turn that we weren’t supposed to take 3 miles back.” She admitted. “But, when I realized, we were already too far and it’s too dangerous to turn back.”
“Maybe we could rest for tonight?” I offered. “Set up a little camp and leave early in the morning?”
“Can’t, it’s too late for that,” She said, pointing at the setting sun “We wouldn’t be able to see anything.”
“How about we go into the rubble? Cover ourselves up with blankets? Someone could keep watch.” I put forward.
“Tha- y’know what, good idea,” She agreed, then stopped walking and turned around, ”Hey guys! We’re gonna rest for the night, ok? We can’t travel during the night. Can you guys find a place for us to stay?”
“Finally!” Both Elliot and Cyrus exclaimed, already running toward a pile of rubble to the right. We watched them run around chasing each other instead of setting up camp.
“Why are we really stopping? I know you hate giving up.” Rowan asked, her arms crossed.
“Stella took a wrong turn awhile back” I answered. “It’s too late to backtrack.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” She huffed and walked over to the two boys and began telling them to help set up. She then disappeared, with them, into a crack in the rubble. Stella and I walked over to the entrance but before she could go in I reassured her, “You know it’s not your fault? Right?”
She only gave me a small smile before entering the crack, carefully stepping between the rocks. I sighed and grabbed a semi-big rock on the road and rolled it in front of the crack after getting in. The light quickly faded, leaving us in the dark.
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The night was not spent comfortably. The rocks practically stabbed into my back causing me to have sore muscles. It didn’t help that Stella woke us all up at the first sign of light to continue walking. Nobody talked, our brains haven’t woken up yet. We trudged along after Stella who seemed way too energetic for the time it was.
As we walked the road seemed to get less cracked and jagged, turning into a more smooth terrain. Yellow lines started showing up painted in the middle of the road. They were fading but still there. The first sign that we were reaching somewhere is when we found a car. It was broken down and practically just a big clump of rust, but it seemed to be the most interesting thing ever to Cyrus.
“Oh my god!” He had exclaimed, running around the car in circles, and stopping to poke at it. “It’s so cool, I’ve never seen a car before! It’s so much cooler than the pictures. Maybe we can repair it, it just needs some polish-” He tapped the door and it fell to the ground. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. Elliot wrapped his hands around Cyrus’s waist and slowly pulled him away from the car, backing away
The second sign was when we found a tree. A real-life tree. It had green leaves, not the leafless trees we were used to seeing. It was alive. Rowan practically screamed when she saw it, also running at it as if it would go somewhere. We had to drag her off the trunk of the tree to continue walking.
It kept happening. Someone would see something they’ve only seen in books or pictures and get so excited. Then they would end up in tears when we had to move on. Everyone had one of these moments, except me. Stella’s was when she saw a collapsed street light on the ground and when she saw a garbage bin. Rowan’s things were the tree and this weirdly shaped object called a ‘slide’. Elliot’s was just a single blade of grass. That’s it.
I found myself walking in front of the others as we walked a big road. It somehow upgraded from the two yellow lines to many dashed single white lines. The road then started inclining and two gray half walls were added to the sides. They were crumpled and broken in some spots and others had moss and vines growing over them. As we walked, more cars appeared on the road, some had missing doors, others were intact.
I looked at the twirling dagger in my hand, spinning it with years of practice. But I stopped walking when I no longer could hear footsteps behind me. I turned around to ask them what was wrong when I saw the looks of pure awe on their faces. They were all gaping at something behind me. Thinking the worst I quickly spun around with a dagger in hand. But then I dropped that dagger in shock.
I was staring at a city.
Buildings towered over us. Holes in some and shrubs growing on the sides of others. Many of them were decaying at the top, the lucky ones only had chips in their roofs. We all stood in silence for a moment, just looking. Not knowing how to proceed, just staring.
“Um, Guys?” Rowan coughed. “Not to like ruin the mood, but we don’t have time to stare. There are monsters behind us. Like a lot of them.”
I turned around and found that she was telling the truth. There was at least a group of twenty vampires behind us, all looking very hungry. Both of our groups stared at each other for a second.
We started to run across the rest of the road, which I just realized was a bridge, jumping over cars and holes in the ground. We reached the outskirts of the city, our feet pounding on the broken sidewalk.
“I thought vampires didn’t like the sun!” Elliot screamed as he jumped over a suspicious-looking body on the ground.
“Are you really relying on fairytales for your monster facts?" I yelled back, taking out a spare dagger and throwing it at a vampire that got too close to Cyrus.
“Twilight is a great book!”
“Stop talking about fairytales! We’re being chased by literal vampires!” Rowan shouted, taking a sharp right turn into a narrow alley.
I ran after her, dodging all the trash on the floor, and looked back to make sure everybody was following. Elliot was after me with Cyrus behind him and then Stella in the back. Everyone was there, even those stupid vampires.
“Guys!” Rowan called out “There’s this open door that leads into a building up ahead. I think we can hide from them there!”
“Alright!” Stella agreed. “Let’s go inside!”
Rowan nodded, ran over, and stood by the doors motioning for us to go in first.
I ran through the doors and skidded to a stop inside, waiting for everyone to come in. Elliot and Cyrus ran in next, hands on their knees catching their breaths. It took a moment for Stella to run in, her hands covered in what I hoped was vampire blood. Cyrus and Stella both grabbed a wooden beam from the floor and prepared to put it in front of the door. We all waited for Rowan to run in but she didn’t.
I was about to run out of the door when I heard a scream from the outside, followed by the sound of ripping. More screaming. I stood there in shock not being able to move my body. My mind screamed at me to help her, but I could not move a single muscle. I was frozen. Stella and Cyrus threw the board across the open door and nailed it in with the back of their knives. Then Cyrus slowly sunk to the ground, resting his head in between his legs, and sobbed.
-------------------
It took at least an hour for everyone to realize what happened. We all slowly walked through the halls of the broken-down mall. Nobody dared to speak. Just walking. It seemed like my senses were on a high. I could feel the slight movements of the backpack on my back. I could hear water dripping from a broken pipe in the distance. I could taste the protein bar I had for breakfast. The protein bar I shared with Rowan just hours before
But it seems like this rotten world was not going to give us a break. Sadness overtook the senses and I could not notice the slight scuffing of boots on the ground, the whispered commands. The next thing we knew, we were surrounded by hundreds of people wearing tattered clothes, but all holding guns. I drew my dagger from its sheath and placed myself in front of our group. I didn’t want to lose another.
The sea of people parted for a man wearing all black gear, a hood covering his face. He had a gun holder strapped to his thigh and an ax strapped to his back. He probably had more hidden weapons in the coat he wore.
“Put your arms down.” He spoke, and they listened. “They are children. A waste of time, and a waste of bullets.”
“You’re a wa-” I slapped a hand over Elliot’s mouth before he could say more, glaring at him.
“See children.” The man continued.
I wanted to punch him.
“I’m sorry, but who are you?” Cyrus asked. I was too late to cover his mouth with my other hand.
The man blinked and sounds of confusion came from the people.
“Who are we?” He repeated his question like he couldn’t believe he asked such a question.
“Who are you,” Cyrus said with a smile, tilting his head.
He took off his hood, showing his tattooed head, “We are The Agathons. The most feared group of people in this time. We hunt down people who waste much-needed space. Who are you?” He answered with a smug smile, spreading his arms and waving them toward the people surrounding us. They also looked smug, flexing their muscles and showing off their weapons.
“Huh? What is an Agathon? Is it rich people’s food?” Cyrus but in, pretending he didn’t know who they were.
“Nah, I think it’s some kinda spice. Y’know the ones the old talked about.” Elliot played along.
They were going to get themselves killed.
“Guys, are you serious?” I demanded. “You don’t know who they are?”
“Finally!” The leader exclaimed. “I thought you children didn’t know.”
“They’re from that one old people T.V show,” I added “Y’know the one with the mermaid children?”
“Ooh..” They both said in unison, very dramatically.
The people didn’t seem amused by our little bit. They seemed angry, some even pulling their guns out again. We may have gone too far.
“We don’t kill kids,” The leader began “But I think you’ll be the exception.”
“Well I think it’s our time to go,” Stella said and grabbed my hand and then Elliot’s. He held onto Cyrus’s. “Bye.”
She jumped into a hole in the ground dragging us with her.
-----------------
“Why did you think jumping into a random hole would fix things?” I scolded her then set her down on the ground.
“I thought it was a good idea at the time!” She retorted. “You should have watched what you said! You know better!”
“It was funny!”
When we had jumped down, the hole was way deeper than we all anticipated. We fell a long way but there were bags of wheat at the bottom that broke our fall. It still caused us to get bruises all around and in Stella’s case a broken ankle. I had to carry her on my back until we stopped, which was a good two miles from the mall. Elliot and Cyrus went out to find food while I helped her.
Stella’s back was pressed against a wall and I propped up her foot using one of our backpacks. I cut up one of our blankets into smaller, thinner pieces. I grabbed a steel rod that was conveniently laying on the ground and positioned it behind her leg. I gently wrapped the blanket around her ankle, mindful of the places she hissed when touched.
Neither of us talked as I worked. Under her breath, she started humming a lullaby I didn’t recognize. She tapped her fingers in a rhythmic pattern on her thigh. Unknowingly, I bopped my head along to her humming. I finished up tying the bandages with a tight knot, cutting off the excess fabric. I moved my position so I could comfortably sit next to her. She laid her head onto my shoulder, still humming the unfamiliar tune.
We stayed like that until she stopped humming and fell asleep. I realized that it was rather late out, the bottom of the sun just reaching the horizon. I heard sounds of shuffling feet to my left and two voices I knew.
“I’m telling you, there has to be something around here!” Cyrus whispered. “Did you not see those claw marks in the walls?”
“I did see it!” Elliot answered in the same tone. “I’m not dumb! I just don’t want to worry about them. They seem tired already.”
“Fine, but if we die it’s your fault.”
They both walked around the corner and froze when they saw me.
“Did you find anything?” I asked, pretending like I hadn't heard them.
Elliot cleared his throat, “We got like 4 protein bars and some water.”
“You guys can share.” I said, “I’m not hungry and Stella’s asleep.”
They nodded and sat down next to each other, leaning on the wall. We all watched the sun disappear below the horizon. The world was, once again, dark.
---------------------
We continued walking the next morning. It was hard now. Since I had to carry Stella on my back, one of the boys carried my bag. But nobody complained anymore, we knew that it could be worse. I held the map in my hands, glancing at it and then the road.
We walked and walked on. Only taking breaks when absolutely needed. There wasn’t much talk either. Except for the usual banter, that echoed throughout the city. You could hear the shuffling of our feet, and shared whispers between Elliot and Cyrus. I glanced down at the map again but when I looked up, I saw a figure running behind one of the buildings.
I stopped walking, causing everyone else to get put on alert. Stella handed me the knife she kept in her boot. I slowly looked around at our surroundings. It was the same old buildings and run-down shops, but I could have sworn I saw someone on the roof of a building.
“We are not here to hurt you.” A voice called out “We just want to help.”
I shared a look with Cyrus.
“How many of you are there?” Elliot shouted back.
A beat of silence then, “Twenty.”
“Show yourselves.”
A sigh. “Do as he says.”
People started popping out of places I least expected them to be in, one even in a trash can a few feet away. They peeked out from behind buildings and out of windows, all walking toward us.
“They weren’t lying” Stella whispered “There are twenty of them.”
We waited for them to get closer to see what kind of weapons they held. It was the usual, knives, bows, and guns. They were dressed in army-like gear.
“We don’t want to be enemies” A girl stepped out of the crowd. The same voice from before. “My name is Sophia, We just want to help.”
“How do we know you're not lying?” Cyrus asked.
“You don't,” She sighed. “But I promise we want to help. Your friend there with the foot” She pointed at Stella. “We have medicine, so she can heal.”
We all looked at each other, conversing with our eyes.
“Fine, we trust you.” I answered “But, no names. You have to earn that.”
Sophia seemed content with that answer.
“Alright then, follow us.”
-------------------
We walked in the middle of the group, still carrying Stella. They offered to carry her on a stretcher but I wasn’t going to give them that much power. The walk was long and I started doubting whether or not they were telling the truth. Sophia described to us what the place was like, a small town but instead of houses, it was tents. She said that people have had families here. Just like in the fairy tales. It was too good to be true.
The people around us talked to each other, but no one dared speak to us. Some even looked at us in pity. They were all old, at least in their twenties, nobody was close to our ages. It appeared that it was weird to see a bunch of children fighting for their lives.
As we walked, the scenery changed drastically. It went from buildings to shops to trees. All were green and tall. They were healthy. Berry bushes that I’ve only seen in books were spread all around. Flowers, lots and lots of flowers. So many colors. It was all beautiful. Rowan would have loved to see it all.
But the most breathtaking thing was the actual camp. It was closed off with huge walls and a gate that only opened when the people saw us. Sophia wasn’t lying. There were lots of tents, lots of them. But they were custom to each individual person, ranging from solid colors to cool designs. Children ran around without a care for the world. I felt strangely jealous of their carefree attitude.
People stopped to stare at our group, trying to get a glimpse of what they were surrounding. Parents held their kids close, most likely scared of new faces. We stopped in front of another gate. It was an area closed off from the people. When the guards got a glimpse of Sophia, they immediately opened the doors without hesitation. We walked through and the group around us started filing away, going back to their quarters.
It had taken forever for us to reach the camp, so the sun was close to setting. We walked inside of a semi-big tent that had many high-tech-looking machines inside. There were special beds with white sheets, lined up against the outsides of the tent. Some were occupied by sleeping people.
“Set her down here,” Sophia said, pointing at an empty bed “I’ll bring a doctor in.” The tent door flapped close behind her as she left the room.
I carefully set Stella down on a bed farthest from the door, throwing the backpacks on the floor next to the bed. Cyrus dragged himself up to sit on the end of the bed, resting his legs from all the walking.
“What are all these machines for?” Elliot asked, poking a bag that had liquid in it, “They look like they’d hurt more than help.”
“Think about it,” I started, “If you have like glass stuck in your arm, they’d need a tool to take it out. Either way, it will hurt.”
“I’ve heard that they use special pills to reduce the pain,” Stella added, getting comfortable on the bed.
“Special pills you say?” Elliot raised his eyebrows “Where can I get some?’ He started searching the tent, opening random drawers, and cabinets.
“Sit down,” Cyrus rolled his eyes, “They wouldn’t just leave something so valuable laying around.”
“But-”
He was cut off when the tent flap opened again, Sophia appeared but another lady was next to her. She was the opposite of what doctors looked like in the pictures. She was dressed in a black coat that reached the back of her knees, wearing combat boots. She had weapons strapped to the inside of her thighs.
“This is Doctor Hailey” Sophia introduced the woman, “She specializes in broken bones and mental health.”
The woman waved her hand, indicating that Sophia was talking about her. The Doctor walked over to the bed we were sitting in.
“Sorry guys,” She started “You can’t be here for the surgery.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I am not going to leave my best friend with a random person we’ve just met, for a ‘surgery’!”
“She means well,” Sophia put in, “You can’t be here for it because she needs to concentrate. Your friend will be safe.”
I glared at her.
“Do you pinky promise?” I held out my finger.
“I pinky promise.”
--------------
We all were led to our own tents that Sophia said were specially set up for us. There were three of them, but Cyrus and Elliot both insisted that they’d share one, which took some convincing -“I will blow up this entire place! And then myself”- for the guards to agree to. They were plain tents, both just a solid white color. The boys quickly ran into their shared tent, throwing open the curtain. I could hear them whispering to each other through the thin sheets.
I sat in front of mine and looked at the sun. The orange and yellow sky slowly turned darker and darker until there was no more light left. I sighed and entered my tent, laying down to finally fall asleep.
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I woke up to the sound of yelling. Not yelps of pain but shouts of orders and questions.
“How could they have found us?”
“Guard the gates!”
“Grab your weapons!”
“How did they bring so many without us noticing?”
“It doesn’t matter, get everyone a weapon, and armor. If we have to fight we will.”
The sound of hundreds of feet shuffling.
I sat up, threw off my blanket, and exited my tent. People ran around the camp, shouting incoherent things. Huge groups of guards walked around. It seemed like the shouts also woke up the boys because they both were outside already, also confused. I waved to get their attention and once they saw me, they ran over.
“Ester!” Elliot shouted over the noise. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know.” I answered, “But we have to get Stella.”
We all started running toward the medical tent, Elliot leading the way. Panicked soldiers passed us we ran.
Elliot tossed the tent sheet out of the way and we were met with the sight of Stella, sitting up in her bed. She gripped a bow and arrow tightly in her hands, aiming it at the door.
“Hey! Hey!” Cyrus put his hands up. “Don’t shoot! It’s just us.”
She lowered the bow with a sigh “Thank god you all are alright. I was getting worried.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused. “Why would you be worried? We’re safe here.”
She looked at us in shock. “You didn’t hear?”
We shook our heads.
“The Agathons, they’ve found us.”
Before I could even ask what she meant, Sophia rushed into the tent breathing hard but she exclaimed, “Oh my god! Thank the heavens you guys are here! None of you were in your tents.”
We stared at her while she caught her breath.
“I’m sorry but what?” Elliot spoke up.
“Agathons… here...outside...walls,” She said between breaths.
“Their what!?”
--------------
The next two hours were spent gathering things we needed to fight the Agathons. Weapons, bandages, food, and other things. Everyone was cautious, nobody knew what to expect. We even left Stella inside the infirmary because she couldn’t fight even if she insisted she could.
“You’ll just get hurt more!”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You’re literally bleeding from your leg.”
The doctor had to give her a new cast.
I climbed up one of the watchtowers and peeked over. They had a lot of people. We had a lot of people ourselves but it could not compare to the literal army they brought. It didn’t help that they all held guns, strapped onto their backs. Where could they have gotten all that gun powder?
I was put on a sniper post. My orders were to shoot anyone that stepped through the gates. They even gave me a small earpiece so the commander could talk to me, just in case anything went wrong. They also put Elliot and Cyrus on sniper posts but they were positioned on a different wall.
I watched as other guards got into position behind Sophia, who was going to try and talk to their leader before we fought. She walked up to the closed gates and gave a single nod, signaling that she was ready. As the gates slowly opened, the ground slightly shook. It groaned with effort. When they fully opened it revealed the troops with the leader standing in front. The same guy from the city.
Sophia walked forward with a single guard by her side. The Leader did the same. I was too far to hear what they were saying, all I could see where the leader’s hand motions and Sophia nodding about what he said. After a good five minutes of them talking, Sophia turned toward the guard with a panicked look on her face, waving her hand to his ear. She was signaling for him to give her the earpiece.
The guard handed it to her. She raised it to her ear and said, “Code Red, I repeat Code Red. This is not a drill.”
Guards around me immediately took out hidden weapons. Ax’s, Bows, Daggers, Swords. They held them close like they were afraid they’d disappear. They all looked on the edge and were more scared than ever. Some even shivered where they stood. I was just confused, nobody ever explained what the codes meant to me. I decided to ask the person next to me.
“Uh, excuse me?” She turned her head. “What does a code red mean? Nobody told me.”
She was silent for a second before she answered, “It means that the monsters are coming. Multiple of them, all different ones.”
“Are you serious?” I asked.
She only nodded but that was enough for me to quickly climb down the ladder, jumping off a few feet above the ground. I ran through the camp towards the main gate.
“Sophia!” I called out once I was sure she could hear me.
She turned her head and a look of disbelief came upon her face.
“Kid?” The leader looked at me in shock when I stopped right next to them.
I chose to ignore him, “Sophia, is it true that the monsters are coming? Please tell me this is a really bad joke.”
“It-” She cut herself off before sighing. “It’s not. They are coming. That’s the reason why the Agathons are here. They came to warn us.”
I looked at the guy and then back to her, my eyes questioning. “You mean to tell me that the same guy that was going to kill me for insulting his ego, came to warn us about monsters?”
“He did what?!” She snapped her head toward the guy.
“Well to be fair, we just wanted to scare them off.” He said, “They decided to jump from a four-story building.”
“You did what?!” She turned on me. “Is this how your friend got hurt?”
I stared at the ground.
She groaned, rubbing her hands on her temples. “Nevermind that. We’re teaming up with them to get rid of the monsters. They’ll probably be here by the time the sunsets.”
“My name’s Saul, by the way,” He held out his hand.
I hesitated a moment, glancing at Sophia.
“My name’s Ester.”
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I grabbed a gun from the racks of the Armory, slinging it over my shoulder. I thought about grabbing a knife just in case, but rethinking it and I grabbed a couple of bullets. I still had Stella's spare dagger. I walked out and looked at the sky. It was almost sunset. The sky a light orange
I started to walk toward the infirmary. I haven’t seen Stella since the morning. On the way there, I thought about how so much has changed in so little time. Just three days ago, I was walking down a road with my best friends in the whole world. I looked down at my tattered shoes, stained with dirt and blood. I was going to get new ones once all this was over.
One last time, I walked into the infirmary. I was greeted by other patients that laid down in the beds. I politely addressed them back. I strolled toward Stella, who was reading a book. She looked up and set the book down when she noticed me.
“How’s everyone?” She asked. “Is anyone hurt?”
“Nobody’s hurt.” I said, “But I haven’t seen Cyrus or Elliot around.”
“Maybe they finally ran away together, “ She laughed. “Like they always talked about.”
I chuckled.
We talked for what felt like hours. I told her what was going on outside and she described what the book was about. We were interrupted when Sophia walked in and laid a hand on my shoulder. She whispered a simple “It’s time” in my ear and left.
Stella understood.
We both looked at each other for a moment, until she grabbed my hand.
“Promise me you won’t die.” She rubbed the pad of her thumb against my hand.
“I promise.”
--------------
I stood near the front of the main gates, Saul and Sophia by my side. Both armies behind us. That was when I realized what day it was. October 31st, 2192, the 74th anniversary of the fall. It was ironic. We all waited for the inevitable. Seconds went by. Then minutes.
I distinctly heard the sound of roaring and the thumping of something big coming toward us. Everyone prepared themselves, putting their weapons into position. The Snipers turned on their beams pointing them toward the clearing. The first monster that we saw was a lone zombie. It was stumbling toward us, wearing a shabby cheerleading outfit. It groaned something inaudible before it was shot right through the head, falling on the floor in a heap.
More zombies came. At least fifteen but they were all shot down. More and more kept coming until the bullets couldn’t keep up with the amount of them. The zombies climbed over their dead companions with no remorse. Some were trampled by others if they fell.
“Alright, guys!” Sophia yelled out. “Are you ready?!”
The army responded in shouts.
“Let’s go!”
We rushed toward the monsters.
The sounds of fighting ringed in my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw soldiers fall and zombies die. But most importantly there were more zombies on the ground than soldiers. I switched between my gun and Stella’s knife. I shot anything that was in too close proximity to anyone on my side. I slashed anything too close to me with Stella’s knife.
I could see Sofia shooting down monsters from a distance, she looked like she was alright. Saul looked like he was having the time of his life. He laughed loudly as he cut down his enemies left and right.
We were winning.
Were.
It went badly when the vampires showed up with the mummies. The vampires were still shot down by our snipers but they always got someone on our side before they died. Grabbing them quickly and throwing them at great speeds. The mummies were harder to kill. They could unwrap themselves from their shrouds making it a harder target to hit. I tried to pull someone up from the ground when they fell, but their foot was suddenly wrapped up in beige cloth and they were dragged away, screaming.
It only got worse from there. Howls could be heard in the distance and dog-like creatures appeared. They pounced on a group of people and none of the humans came out alive. I started getting sluggish in my movement from switching between a gun and a blade. I threw away the gun and decided to just slash at the monster's legs. The tactic was working for a while. None of them expected a child to aim for their bottom halves inside of the tops.
Lots of different kinds of monsters joined in. From where I was standing I could see Werewolves, Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, Frankenstein, Clowns, and some serial killers in the mix. I could have sworn I saw a dragon out of the corner of my eye.
And that was proven when I heard a roar overhead. I looked up and there it was. The dragon was spewing fire everywhere, the trees caught fire. The fire spread through the forest quickly burning everything in its path. Many stopped fighting to watch the fire eat away the trees, some ended up falling to their knees giving up.
All of this was taken in a quick glance. I was still fighting a vampire head-on. We dodged around each other, neither of us got any hits in. Both too stubborn to give up. I heard a scream similar to Sofia's and couldn't help but look toward the direction I heard it at. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I watched as a mummy wrapped its cloth around her head, strangling her.
I was frozen. Just like last time, I couldn't move a muscle. Then I felt something stabbing into my neck like it was sucking the life out of me. It let go after a few seconds and my body dropped to the ground. I watched, slowly dying, as the forest burned and the people screamed. But as the last bit of light drained from the world, all I could think about was the promise I had broken.