The End Of Everything

“Remember when people were alive?” Charlie said dully as morbid scenery passed by the windows of the van: bones of people who were burned in the fires, flesh of people who’d gotten the virus, blood of people fighting to escape first.

“Remember when you didn’t talk so much like a little prick?” Shelby snapped, crossing her arms and sitting on the floor of the van where Mackenzie, Tiana, and Zoe were sitting.

Charlie glared back at her in his vicious, brooding way and swore under his breath.

The two didn’t get along too well. In fact, half the time they positively hated each other. Shelby had been in love with Charlie, but he’d loved Zoe and chose her. Although neither of them would admit that they hated each other for such a juvenile reason, it was the truth. Shelby was jealous and Charlie was bitter, and poor Zoe was stuck in the middle trying to play the role of best friend and girlfriend.

“Can you two just stop?” Jessica barked, glancing in the rearview mirror at them. “We’re going to try to find some survivors. Put your fucking childish issues aside so we can all try and live here, okay? Get over whatever it is, because there’s already enough tension in this vehicle.”

Zoe mumbled something in agreement, which forced both sides to stop openly fighting and just glare at each other quietly, sending telepathic messages of hatred to each other.

“Is Sam still out?” Jessica asked, keeping her eyes on the road. He’d passed out from exhaustion almost two hours ago and he hadn’t shown any signs of anything. The only way the group could even tell he was alive was that his chest slowly rose up and down as he breathed.

“Like a light,” Mackenzie said, glancing at the almost-corpse by her feet. “It’s starting to make me a little nervous.”

“He’s just tired. You’d be tired too if…” Jessica trailed off, not bothering to finish the sentence. Everyone already knew what she meant anyway. “He’ll wake up eventually. Just let him sleep.”

Tiana had gone back to being silent. She was back in her curled up ball, her bright hair falling over her knees. Her head was down and her arms were wrapped around her legs, making her look pathetic and sad, personifying how everyone felt.

The sun was starting to go down. No one knew where they were. The abandoned highways shone in the orange glow, making the entire concrete world glow in a fiery light. Jessica picked up some more speed, making the world blur again so no one had to see it and be reminded that there was no one else to share it with them.

The group of teenagers were all sitting in the van with weary, tired eyes. They didn’t know where they were going, and they didn’t care. In the back of their minds, they knew that they were just as dead as everyone else. Though they still breathed and had their hearts beat, they were as dead as the people who’d been ripped up by the tornados.

No one could care for them. The only people they could sympathize with were each other, and to be honest, none of them were that fond of each other. They were all stuck in this together, true, and that made them closer than they had been – but it didn’t mean they shared each other’s hearts and love; only Charlie and Zoe seemed to be doing that.

Sam stirred from the floor, yawning and sitting up. His eyes were bloodshot and his face was dirty. His hair was messy and tangled and he felt weak and tired.

Everyone was staring at him.

“Sam? Are you alright? You’ve been out for a while,” Shelby said, kneeling beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. Concern filled her voice.

Realization registered in his eyes and everyone knew that he remembered what had happened hours before. They braced themselves, wondering if he was going to start screaming and panicking again. But he didn’t. He just sat there, looking empty. His face went blank.

Jessica looked in the mirror at the skinny boy, biting her lip. “Are you going to be okay, Sam? We know how hard that must’ve been. We’ve all had to leave someone behind.”

“Do you.” He didn’t phrase it as a question, just as a dull and ironic phrase that echoed through his cracked lips with bitterness.

“We do,” Mackenzie said pathetically, trying to make him feel better.

“How can you all be so calm?” he said angrily. “I – no, you – let my girlfriend die back there. We could have saved her.”

“We couldn’t have, Sam,” Shelby said softly.

“You need to shut up. You’re the one I blame the most,” Sam hissed, pulling himself out from under Shelby’s comforting touch. “We all could’ve saved her. You took the time to struggle me into the van. It would’ve taken the same time – or less – to save her too.”

“You don’t know that, Sam. And neither do we,” Zoe said. “We knew we could save you. We couldn’t just leave you there to die when we knew for a fact that we could help you.”

“Hypocrite,” Sam spat.

“She’s trying to say that we didn’t know if we could save her. But we did know we could save you. Be thankful we cared enough,” Charlie said dully, his fingers curling into a tight fist that made his knuckles turn white.

Tiana was pulling herself into a tighter ball at the angry exchange going on. It was making her more nervous, and she couldn’t handle it.

“You should’ve just left me there.” Sam turned away from everyone, looking out the window closest to him at the blurring colors of the scenery as it whisked by.

“Why? So that you could make some romantic gesture by dying by your girlfriend’s side? That’s just stupid, dude. You can’t make romantic gestures during the fucking apocalypse. You’re either dead or alive, and at that moment, you were alive and we knew we could keep it that way. Be thankful we saved your skinny ass.” Jessica gripped the wheel tighter as she spoke through gritted teeth.

Sam was silent for the next couple of hours, sulking and staring out the window.

No one would take his side, but then again, no one could blame him for the pain he was feeling.

After all, they’d all been in his situation.

“Well, since everyone’s dead, and it seems we're all broke, here’s a nice advantage: we can stay in that lovely Motel 8 at the next exit without any charge!” Jessica said in mock cheerfulness.

The group couldn’t help chuckling at her sickening comment. Not even Sam could hold back a dark and weary smile.