The World's a Mess

I awake to the sound of buzzing and bright lights in my face. The power is back on and no one knows how. But we embrace it for the time being. I take a warm shower with Ben beside me. Our bodies embracing the touch, the feelings. His lips are pressed against mine as our hands meet and our fingers intertwine. I use my free hand to pull him closer and deepen our kiss. Our souls are caged animals, begging to be set free. I don't want this moment to end, but it has to. Our shower time is up.
Ben and I sit on the couch in the room in towels while our clothes wash. Jas and Sophia are enjoying their time alone, I can hear their giggles. They've been together as long as me and Ben. Four years. Since I started college. And for the next couple days, we enjoy the electricity, showering and washing our clothes whenever we can. For the first time in a long time, I actually feel clean. But the time to move is now, we make a plan for the air drop. We have to move quick and hope we get there and back by sundown.

The next morning, we gather up our gear and head down to the lobby. None of us have any real weapons, just chair legs and some kitchen knives, so we have to make a pit stop at the gun shop across the street. Once we get down to the lobby, we start prying the wood from the front door. Ben goes out first and looks around, making sure it's safe. I walk out next and a gulp of fresh air, it's not musty, it's not old, it's new and clean. The street is littered with papers, warning of the spread of infection, telling people that evacuations are being held. It seems like there's no one left in the city. Cars have been abandoned by their owners and everything seems lost, seems hopeless. Jas kicks in the door to the small gun shop. We pile in behind her, looking at all the guns, all the machetes and swords. This place wasn't looted. We all fill our bags with guns and ammo. I grab a few blades, holsters and sheaths. I'm not great with a gun, but I'll have to be a quick learner.

"Alright" I say. "We need to get that bus out of the garage. It's on the second floor"

Once we get there, we instantly find out we're not alone. The sick are in here with us. Now we run for our lives, trying to get to the bus. Ben pries open the back door and hops in, going to the front to start it. Jas, Sophia and I stand outside the front doors and pray he gets it started. One of the sick jumps out of nowhere and lands in front of Jas. It screams almost unhuman. She stands there, her knuckles white as she grips her blade. And then she swings, it's head severed from it's body. She's frozen in horror, she can't believe what she just done. The engine roars to life and we pile inside, taking in agonizing breaths. A group of sick stand in our path and without remorse, Ben plows into them, spreading blood across the window. Ben's eyes dart from side to side as we pull out of the parking garage. Everyone is on the edge of their seat as we fly down the road. Our close calls are nowhere near done.

We pull up to the pier just as the helicopter drops off a box. There's not just one, there's about ten of them. It looks like people stopped getting them, or died trying to. The lights of roller coaster still blink. It's weird seeing this place empty, it's normally packed with tons of people. And then I see where the people went. On one side of the pier, there's stacks of bodies, hundreds of them. They're aligned in rows, they weren't sick, they were executed. Most likely from false hope, someone leading them to "Evacuation"
I check out the boxes, one's filled with food and water, another filled with medicine and some with clothes. We take all boxes that are unopened and then we drive off, hoping for a safe return. But all hope is quickly lost when we pull up to the front doors and see a group of sick.

"Hold on!" Ben says, frantically.

"What're you gonna do?!" Sophia asks, buckling her seatbelt.

And before we could fully get prepared, we crash through the front door. My vision is hazy, but I can see Ben, Jas and Sophia piling the boxes into the elevator. Ben comes back and pulls me out of the bus. He lifts me up, putting my arm around his shoulder.

"Fuck!" Jas yells, she presses the 8th floor button over and over but the doors aren't shutting.

The sick have made their way through the front door and they're coming at us, they're coming for blood. The elevator doors slide shut just before they can get us. Everyone takes a sigh of relief and when we get to the 8th floor, we drag all the boxes into our room and lock the door, stacking anything we can find in front of it. We change into the clothes we found, eat some the food and drink a couple bottles of water. Our mission was a success.

"Good thinking, Ky" Ben says, laying down beside me.

"I'm just glad we made it back. I'm also glad the power is back on. It makes everything a lot easier"

Jas turns off the lights and looks out the window. "The whole city has power, it's like none of this happened" She squints. "Come look at this"

We all jump up and walk over to the window. There's a light flickering on a building nearby, the lights spell out "Survivors here"

"Think we should go?" Sophia asks.

"It could be too risky" Jas says.

"Or it could be a saving grace, we can meet up with them and put all our supplies together" Ben turns towards me. "What do you think?"

"I think we should wait till tomorrow night. If the light is still on, we go the next day, we get them, their supplies and come back here"

"Sounds like a plan" Ben smiles.