Chapter Text
The TV was blaring from the living room, sending noise throughout the whole house. Cool summer air was being blown in through an open window, and the clock had just struck midnight.
The floorboards creaked below Liams feet as he walked through the dark, quiet house. He had woken up from a loud crashing sound coming from the front of his house, and decided to investigate.
As he carefully stepped down the stairs, he realised that his fiancé, Ray, wasn’t next to him when he woke up. Strange, he thought, but came to the conclusion that Ray was already down stairs checking out the sound.
When he reached the bottom step, he could hear earsplitting sirens coming from outside. He fastened his pace, panic spreading through him.
He raced through the kitchen and ripped the front door open, the smell of sulphur immediately hitting him. He raised his eyes to the sky, and saw it lit up orange, plumes of smoke clouding everything in his field of sight.
Sharp barks ripped through the air, the neighbours dog. Something was wrong. That was the sweetest dog Liam had ever met, and the only time he had ever heard it bark like that was when a kid tried to hit it with a rock.
He walked over to the houses front yard where the dog was chained to it’s usual tree.
”Whats wrong, girl? You okay?” He asked the dog in a soft voice, scratching the back of her ears.
He whipped his head around when he heard that familiar crash that had woken him not five minutes ago, and was now realising that it was in fact not a crash, but a gunshot.
He froze for a moment, fear not allowing him to move, but was snapped out of his trance when Ray ran up from behind him and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the house.
”Ray? What’s going on?!” He asked loudly, trying to be heard over the sirens.
“We have to get inside.” The taller man replied, urgency and panic present in his voice.
Liam asked no more questions. They finally reached the house, Ray slamming and locking the door behind them. The smaller man could get a good look at him now, and was horrified to see blood splattered all over his shirt and face.
”Ray, wha-“ Liam began to ask, but was swiftly cut off.
”Jimmy Cooper is dead. I had to shoot him.” Ray spat out, rummaging through cabinets, grabbing out the pack of bullets they kept there for emergencies.
”Dead? Ray, what the fuck are you talking about? Why did you shoot him?!” Liam yelled, tears blooming in his hooded eyes. He always was too sensitive.
”I went over there to check on him, i had heard some really fucking weird noises coming from his house, I just wanted to make sure he was alright. But he wasn’t. Oh god, he really wasn’t” Ray replied. He sounded as if he was about to throw up.
”There’s some sort of virus spreading. They thought it was just America, but now it’s being found everywhere. Cities have been wiped out within hours. the infected people, they… well, they change. Start getting real violent. Start decaying while still walking around…” He continued, sounding more and more horrified by the second.
He raised his face to look Liam in the eyes. The curly haired mans face softened when he saw the look of pure terror in his fiancés face.
”Hey, hey… It’s gonna be okay…” He said to the short haired man quietly, pulling him into a hug. “But we have to leave, right now. We’ll go to the mountains, it’ll be safe there, I promise.” Whatever crazy shit that was happening to the world, Ray would never let any harm come to Liam.
They began to quickly scour the house, throwing anything that could be useful into a bag. Ray ran up the stairs and into their bedroom, reaching under the bed for the small vault where they kept the guns. He had already grabbed one when he went to check on Jimmy, but they would need the second.
”Alright, lets go.” Ray said solemnly as he made his way down the stairs and back to the kitchen, where Liam was packing the last of their canned food into a backpack.
The dark haired man nodded. They headed out the door together, climbing into Rays pickup. Helicopters were loudly flying through the air, the sirens had not ceased, and the distant fires raged on. The two men buckled their seat belts and reversed out of the drive way.
As they drove past the neighbours house, Liam was saddened with the knowledge that the poor dog would probably starve to death tied to that goddamn tree. He tried to distract himself, fiddling with the hem of his shirt, picking at the scab on his arm, but couldn’t fight back the fear that was growing inside his chest. Everything had happened so quickly, he didn’t even have time to process what Ray had told him in the kitchen.
Was this really it? was this how the world ends? To some fucking virus? He was snapped back to reality when Ray slammed on the breaks, swearing loudly when he did.
A man was standing in front of the car, face obscured by the brightness of the headlights, arms raised.
”Please! Our car broke down, I have a wife and children, we have to get out of here!” The man yelled, gesturing to the side of the road where a woman was standing with two toddlers next to a small blue car, tears streaming down her face.
Ray hesitated for a moment, staring into the mans eyes.
”Ray, we have to help them.” Liam said to him, almost begging.
Before either of them could say another word, Ray swerved harshly and slammed his foot on the ignition, speeding down the road.
”Ray, they had children!” Liam yelled at him angrily.
”They could be infected!” Ray yelled back. He wasn’t going to risk it. Not when he had seen what the virus does to a person.
Liam slumped back in his seat, raking a hand through his jet black hair, something he always did when he was stressed.
After about twenty minutes of silence, more and more cars started passing, traffic was starting to build up.
”We don’t have time for this shit.” Ray whispered under his breath. He pulled off of the road and started driving through a field, reaching another road they didn’t recognise around five minutes later.
Ray turned right onto the dark asphalt, speeding down the highway, not stopping when another family tries to flag them down.
It was now that they realised the terrible mistake Ray had made. They were headed straight towards a city.
”How the hell did we end up here?” Liam asked while Ray began to turn the car around.
Before he could even start to drive back down the road, a car came out of nowhere and smashed right into them.
The impact was hard, and there was no way in hell they could still drive the truck, but they weren’t dead.
”Fuck- Jesus christ…” Ray breathlessly said.
They both climbed out of the car, but the second Liams foot hit the ground, his ankle erupted in pain.
He hissed in agony, which immediately caught Rays attention. “Shit, are you okay?”
”Yeah, I’m fine, just my ankle.” Liam choked out.
Ray nodded and linked his arm under his fiancés shoulder to help him walk.
They walked back to the car that hit them, ready to scream at whatever idiot was driving, but found a lifeless body slumped over the steering wheel. Shattered glass and blood in her hair. With her neck at an unnatural angle.
They lingered for a few moments before coming back to reality.
”We’ll have to go through the city. If we stick to the back ally’s and be fast, I think we can make it.” Ray said. Liam nodded in agreement.
The city was loud. Louder than it normally was. Sirens were blaring, people were screaming, cars were skidding, and helicopters were chopping. They kept to the city lines when possible, but ran into far too many infected homeless people for their liking, so they were forced into the heart of the city.
Army tanks were everywhere, and soldiers were screaming at people to stay calm and wait for orders. Of course, nobody was listening to them, and they were running like hell to escape without being bitten by infected, or shot by military, who were apparently not taking any chances of the virus getting out of the city.
After what seemed to be an hour of dodging speeding cars and gun shots, they finally made it out of the city.
Liam had been quiet the whole time, the pain in his ankle taking over him.
”We did it! Okay, i’m sure we can hitch a ride from someone- hey, are you-“ Ray was cut off by Liam falling into his arms.
”I’m sorry, I don’t think i can walk…” Liam quietly said, sadness lingering in his tired voice.
Ray wasted no time. He lifted him up into his arms, carrying him princess-style, and began speed walking down the road, hoping to god that someone would drive past, and that they would be kinder than he was to the people he turned away.
A faint green blur appeared through the smoke, Ray couldn’t quite make out what it was until he was barely a metre away from it. Dear god.
”No citizens are permitted to leave the city!” A harsh voice boomed from the top of the army truck, coming from a young man with a large gun.
”Please, we aren’t infected! My fiancé, he’s hurt, we just need to get to the mountains, we-“ He began to say while slowly approaching the truck, before he was cut off by more yelling.
“Stay away! I will shoot! You hear me! I will shoot!” The young man yelled.
Ray took a few cautious steps back.
The young soldier said something Ray couldn’t quite make out into his radio, and gave Ray a somewhat pitiful look when he got a reply.
”Shoot.” Was all he heard from the radio.
Panic rushed through him. He stumbled over his feet, and began to run. Dodging bullets, he headed down into a field of tall yellow grass.
He tripped over a large rock, and slammed into the ground hard, Liam tumbling out of his arms.
Ray quickly crawled over to Liam, and was horrified at what he saw.
Thick, dark blood was pooling on his stomach.
”Ray…” He choked out, barely a whisper.
”Its okay, Its okay, oh god- oh fuck-“ Ray reassured, trying, and failing, to hide the intense panic in his voice. Pressing his hands down on the pulsating wound, warm slick blood coating them.
Liams vision was starting to spin, and he was cold. So cold.
”Ray… I’m… freezing…” He mustered the words with all his strength, willing himself to stay conscious.
Before Ray could reply, Liam went limp beneath him. His eyes fell back, mouth agape, hot blood still pouring from him, despite Rays hands pressed firmly over the bullet hole.
Gone.
Liam was gone.
And he was leaking.
Leaking red, all over Ray.
He lifted his hands from his fiancés stomach, and covered his face with them. He ripped them away quickly when he felt the sticky sensation.
Is this how the world ends?