Tonight, The World Dies

The first rays of the sun peeked through the windows of the Savemart, and Joshua opened his eyes quickly. He shook Todd’s arm gently, pressing him to wake up. They had to get moving soon.

“Wake up, kid,” said Joshua.

Todd groaned, “No. No, let me sleep.”

“Todd, I’m not asking you,” said Joshua. “I’m telling you.”

Reluctantly, Todd opened his eyes. Joshua handed him a box of cereal and a bottle of milk.

“Here’s your breakfast,” Joshua said. “We’ll leave in ten minutes. I know this is hard, but you’ve got to understand that the sooner we get to the city, the sooner we’ll be safe. We can relax then.”

Todd nodded and broke open the seal on the cereal. Joshua moved swiftly around the store, gathering non-perishable food and bottles of water. He grabbed a bag from a shelf and shoved his findings into it. He stopped, seeing Todd backing slowly away from the large windows at the front of the store.

“Todd?” he said.

Todd did not reply. His eyes were fixed on the outside.

“Todd!” Joshua said, a little more harshly.

He moved toward the boy, a little angry he hadn’t responded to him. He grabbed him by the arm, but Todd was still unresponsive. His stare seemed to pass through Joshua and onto the street. Joshua turned, and he, too, stopped. A woman was dragging herself through the street, but this woman was not going any particular place. Joshua wasn’t even certain she was still a woman. Her skin was a dark gray, and blood was seeping from her ear.

Joshua stepped toward the door, squinting to see the woman better. He opened the door of the Savemart, and the bell above the door rang. The woman turned slowly, snarling. Todd dropped the bottle of milk, and it shattered on the floor. The woman began stumbling toward them.

“Ma’am?” said Joshua.

Her snarling became more of a gurgling whine, and her movement became more persistent.

“Shit,” Joshua breathed. “Todd, hide behind one of the shelves.”

Todd didn’t move, frozen in fear. Joshua moved him away from the door. He turned back to the woman, whose mouth was now open and screeching. Blood trickled from her teeth, and Joshua could see now her right eye was completely missing.

Joshua stepped out of the Savemart, axe in hand. The woman was nearly upon him, and though his heart was pounding so loud he couldn’t hear anything but its rhythm, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and swung the axe.

He felt the cold spattering of blood against his face and neck. He opened his eyes to discover he’d buried the axe in the woman’s neck. She gurgled and hissed a bit, but she still reached for him. He swung again, cutting her bottom jaw away from her face. Still, she attempted to grab for him, and again he swung the axe. This time, the blade cut directly into her temple, and she stopped. He pulled the axe from her head, and she fell to the ground.

Joshua looked up the street. People just like the woman he had killed were walking slowly and aimlessly. It was the same on both sides, and he backed into the Savemart. Todd was peeking around the shelf, but Joshua walked past him to the bathroom at the back of the store.

“Doctor King?” Todd said meekly.

Joshua dropped the axe, letting it fall without trying to muffle the noise. He pushed open the door of the restroom, ducked into one of the stalls, and threw up. He heaved for a few moments before standing up slowly, making his way over to the sink. He stuck his hands underneath the faucet, and he washed his face clean of the blood that had ended up there. He looked into his own eyes in the mirror and shook his head.

“Doctor King?”

Startled, Joshua turned quickly. Todd was standing in the doorway, confused and scared. Joshua nodded and put a hand on Todd’s shoulder.

“Alright, I’m as scared as you,” Joshua admitted, “but we’re going to get through this. Those things are all over the place out there, so I need you to listen to me.”

Todd nodded.

“We need to move quickly and quietly,” Joshua explained. “We need to find a car or some sort of vehicle. This situation is much worse than I imagined. The sooner we get to the city, the better. There’s some clothes around this place, and I want you to change into those - something you can travel easier in. I’ll finish gathering supplies-”

“Doctor King?” Todd said, interrupting Joshua. “I played baseball last year. I saw a bat last night in the sporting section. I...I didn’t know if it would help if maybe I...maybe if I...”

Joshua nodded, understanding the frightened boy. He knelt down in front of him and said, “This isn’t something a boy of your age should be put up to. However, if you feel that in this moment you want to help, I won’t say no. You’re a strong boy, and I will appreciate any help you can offer. Please, Todd. If you don’t feel up to it, I don’t want you to go through it.”

Todd wiped a tear from his eye and said, “Okay.”

---

The door of the Savemart rang as Joshua and Todd stepped outside, each carrying a backpack full of supplies. Joshua held the fire axe in one hand, while Todd held a heavy wooden baseball bat. They looked up and down the street, hearts racing and minds clouded with thoughts of “What if we don’t make it?” and “What if we can’t find a vehicle?”

They took another step toward the street, and Joshua spotted a white sedan facing the wrong way on the street. Its front windshield was cracked and the passenger door was barely hanging on, but he pointed his axe toward it and nudged Todd.

“We run,” he said. “Don’t stop until you’re in the car. Swing at anything that gets in the way, but don’t look back.”

Todd swallowed hard and nodded.

“Ready?” Joshua said.

There was a snarl from the other direction; a body had spotted them.

“One.”

More of them hissed now, but all sounds were muffled by the increasing sound of Joshua’s heartbeat in his ears.

“Two.”

Todd winced as one screeched loudly, but he kept a firm grip on the bat. Joshua became aware that his heartbeat was now slow and steady, however loud it was.

“Three!”

The pair took off running.

The car was further than Joshua had first thought it was, but luckily those things couldn’t move very fast. Todd swung at one, clobbering its shoulder and knocking it down. Joshua nearly tripped over one that had only leg, but simultaneously, his axe met the chest of another in front of him. Todd ducked under the arm of a man whose flesh seemed to be melting off, and he jumped over the body of a young girl.

With only a few of them getting in their way, Joshua and Todd reached the car in less than a minute. Todd sat, exhausted, in the passenger seat. He coughed a few times before falling into a horrible coughing fit. Joshua locked the doors in the car as the bodies nearby began to beat on the windows. He reached into his backpack, extracting the morphine and a needle. He put the needle into the morphine bottle and began measuring out the correct amount. He ripped part of his sleeve off and tied a tourniquet around Todd’s forearm.

“Shhhh...” Joshua said. “You’re going to be alright.”

He inserted the needle into the crook of Todd’s arm, and he slowly injected the morphine in. Todd’s coughing slowed, and he took a few short breaths before relaxing into the seat. Joshua removed the needle from his arm and tossed it into the backseat. He leaned forward on the steering wheel and sighed deeply. He sat there for a second, listening to the beating and thumping on the windows. He took a deep breath, reached up toward the ignition, and found the key hanging there, much to his relief. He turned the key, and though the car whined a bit at first, it started.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Just get to Louisville. Okay.”

He threw the car into drive, and he slowly began to push through the crowd of fallen citizens. He glanced over at the decimated hospital, shaking his head in disbelief. This had all come so quickly and without any warning. His mind had so many different questions and no one to ask. He barely knew the boy in the seat next to him, aside from the medical history he’d learned in the last week, and the boy was relying on him to get them to the city safely.

What if he couldn’t? What if they broke down on the way there and got taken over by those things? What would happen then?

He shook his mind clear of those thoughts, telling himself to focus only on the road in front of him and getting out of this Hell.