I Am

The twenty-five year old Tom Kaulitz’s footsteps echoed through the deserted alleyways of Munich city. His only companion was his reflection in the puddles of the previous night’s rain. It was the only form of human contact he’d had for more than three years, it was strange. Most people would never have survived, but he did it somehow.

Every now and then, he would hear the sound of a crash in the far background, as he knew it was another forsaken animal. None of these creatures could understand what had happened, but for Tom, he had long since stopped feeling pity for them, there was no one who could feel the same way about him. He was the man who spent his life patrolling the ruined streets of a once beautiful city, searching for a sign, a clue that he wasn’t alone in the world. It wasn’t natural; it wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Everything remained untouched, the way they had left it in their desperate attempt to escape their fate, it was a stupid mistake they all made. It only his family hadn’t been such damn cowards, they should have stayed to fight like Tom chose to do. If they did, they would have been alive now.

Tom had always taken modern technology for granted; he never gave a second thought to what would happen in the laboratories where scientists spent their lives as they tried to make the world better. Some might have tried to be the first to clone a human being; others might want to cure cancer. None of them bothered to give a second thought of what they might unleash if the smallest flaw is detected.

The world always focused on moving forward, as if they were afraid of staying in the past. More inventions came with each day, each one tested, and few would work.

It was the year 2010 when it was first brought up, the new substance that could kill any virus and heal any type of sickness. The Kaulitz twins had always been known for being immune to most illnesses, and therefore, no cure seemed to work on them. They never saw themselves as any different until that year, it was when everything had changed, and for Tom, change was never a good thing. It was only natural for most when they fell ill, they would get medication to make them healthy. It was almost expected that the cure would be popular; all humans wanted an easy way out.

In late September of 2011, victims of the cure had been nicknamed ‘The Infected’, as it seemed like they had lost all sense of humanity. The cure had been said to have been to powerful for humans to handle, and the feeling was explained just as any other drug. The Infected had lost all sense of their body; they had no control over it. No one could control their dangerous thoughts, and like any other, the thought of vengeance was overwhelming.

Women and children were forced onto planes, some where flown to safety; others never made it to their destination. No scientist could define the curse they had set upon their kind now.

Tom had almost no memory of the night he had last seen his family, and the words he whispered started to fade from his mind. He could only remember the crowds of people around him, it was something he still missed, and he remembered the darkness.

He hugged his niece goodbye, and held his sobbing brother close to him. He wiped his mother’s tears away and shook hands with his best friend. He could still remember kissing his fiancée one last goodbye, telling her to be careful. He could still remember the, now empty, promise he made of their wedding day. She didn’t want him to stay, while she left, but he promised that once she returned, it would be safe again. Tom and his father were going to stay and fight and nothing could change their minds.

There were only a select few people who had chosen to stay, and Tom couldn’t help but notice, they were the ones who had nothing to run away from, they had nothing to lose except their lives. Tom had never seen such brave men before in his lifetime, and he could never understand why he had lived, and they hadn’t. They had fought so much harder than Tom did, they wanted to win.

The feeling of guilt was one of many he learned to live with, along with the strong sense of regret. There were many things in Tom’s life that he wanted to forget, and there were many important things that he had forgotten, but he could never forget the pained look on Gordon’s face once he knew he had been beaten.

His body, along with most of the men, hadn’t been found since. Over the course of two years, the army had slowly died down, and the men had either been slaughtered, committed suicide, or left in the dead of night, for they believed that there were other survivors. Tom’s hope had faded when he lost all contact, he believed his companions to have been killed by The Infected, and they knew there was no way to escape them. They were much faster, stronger and more aggressive than any human, without their weapons, there couldn’t be any survivors.

Tom had lost any sense of feeling a long time ago, there was no more fear. He slept alone at night, in the place he once called home, during the day, he would walk alone. One weakness he knew The Infected had, they had no chance of survival in the sunlight, and he knew where they hid. Before their army had fallen apart, Tom had planned an attack. They had agreed that it was better to take them all at once.

He glanced up at the sky, where the sun was exactly in the middle of the sky; above his head. He stuffed his hands in his torn pant’s pockets and sighed.

He never knew when he was safe anymore, and he knew that there was a chance that he might never wake up from this nightmare. His life went by as an endless blur, the last thing he remembered, was switching on his television set one last time, hearing the broadcast play over the blank screen. Two of the planes collided, and fall to the ground in flames, the numbers printed upon them, flight 368 and 864. It was the last he’d seen of all his family, the last waves they gave him from the windows of airplane number 864.

Many crashes followed soon after that, and if the passengers survived the flight, there was no way they could have survived the virus of the Infected, the one they had unknowingly passed on. He couldn’t imagine what it felt like for the people, the ones who now thought they were safe, but in a matter of days; they were dead.

There was nothing about this life that was fair, and no matter how many times Tom tried to point it out, nothing could be done about it. He had to accept it, there was no one out there waiting to save him, because everyone he ever knew, everyone he ever cared for and everyone he wanted to fight for so that they could live, were dead.

He walked passed the turned over cars and trucks, passed the buildings he had once admired. Passing the hospital where his niece had been born five years ago, he waited for the tears to come, but for once, they didn’t.

He pulled his black hoodie over his head, despite the bright sun shining in the cloudless sky above him, he felt no heat. He’s been too cold for too long now. Tom’s footsteps got heavier as he ran up to the tallest building in the street he was in. The gray building looked almost like all the others, where parts of the walls went missing, and the cracks started to show. It was true what they had said, no amount of beauty lasts forever, and sometimes it was best to leave it as it is, ruined.

The doors stood wide open, the lobby filled with dust, as there was no one left to clean. The elevators were broken, but Tom had no problem taking the stairs. He had all the time in the world. His hands slid over the, once smooth, wooden staircase, until he came to the top of the building.

The breeze was warm and comforting, and like each day, Tom stepped out onto the ledge.

“Is anybody out there?” He screamed loudly, listening to his voice echo in the farthest corners of the city. He cleared his throat once.

“If you’re out there, please listen to me! You are not alone, and I am not one of them. Please, just let me save you.”