Zombie survivor

Chapter 1.

It was suggested that I write the last book in the world. Sounds interesting, doesn't it? Not just because of the book-making part, but because it would be so meaningful. I remember his gaze fixed on me, and with that mischievous voice he gave me those simple and specific instructions: "Hey, man; you should write the last book in the world".

And you know something even more interesting? This could also be the world's first book, or what's left of it. Well, not specifically the first, I want to clarify. But I mean it could be the first of this new era that is just emerging, you know "After the Pandemic". You would think I have a huge responsibility on my hands, the most important book in our history. The last of one era, and the first of another. Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the closing. Whatever I write on these pages will be recorded for generations to come, "if there are generations to come, that is. Whatever I wrote here, every word you are reading at this very moment would represent was the end of our era and the beginning of another.”

I am barely one hundred and ninety-six words in, and I truly feel exhausted. Of all the people still left on Earth, why one miserable teenager? Why of all the miserable teenagers, did it have to be me? What was I supposed to write? Why not pick a brilliant philosopher? A teacher? A professor? Or at least a fat guy with a bushy beard who does look like a writer? But no, it had to be me. Was there really no one else out there?

I mean, I do like to write. It's one of my favorite hobbies "besides sneaking in with the Chess club". I usually just write short stories, reflections, or even poetry; just to relax for a while, or to get ideas out of my head and put them to rest on paper. I don't like anyone to read what I write, maybe only Alex and Vanessa "you'll meet them" being my closest friends. And even when I give them my notebook and they browse line by line through so many words, I always remain expectant, nervous, scared, and excited about what they will say when they finish reading it, they keep mentioning that I am good, although I still don't believe it. I don't consider myself good enough for this important role.

On the other hand, after all, I don't have to do this. For there is no authority I have to answer to, I do this more because if I don't do it no one else will.

I spent weeks thinking about it, I have concluded that the only really interesting thing "or that might seem interesting" about my pathetic life, is my sad and pathetic life. But to be even more specific, I'm referring to the last year of the After Christ, before not only the calendar changed, but the entire civilization. And to be even more specific, the day we humans finally got our comeuppance: extinction. Yes, that would be a good time. Well, I guess if there is anyone left in the world who can read this, they deserve to know how it all fell apart, even from the insignificant point of view of a teenager.

So, let's start from the exact day, you know? The day the disease went from being considered to multiple unrelated rare rabies cases to a huge global outbreak. Anyway, I'll stop procrastinating about when the story actually starts, I'll stop beating around the bush, and let's just get started, shall we?

Chaos reigned through the city. The multitude of miserable souls ran screaming for help in the same direction, while huge columns of smoke rose in the distance. From between the buildings, hundreds of metal army birds were advancing rapidly in the opposite direction of the exodus, firing frantically at the very personification of death and terror.

I looked around me, observing each one of those faces, all with different expressions; but with the same goal. To survive. And to be frank, I had no idea what exactly I was running from, I was simply following the huge crowd. It was quite difficult to run away without knowing what from and a large number of abandoned cars in the street that were blocking our way didn't help much.

Next thing I was falling to the ground as I tripped over a bicycle that someone had abandoned on the ground. Why abandon it instead of running away on it? It looked like it had been carefully placed for me to trip over. I scraped my hands and knees, as I had used them to stop the blow, not with much luck as I managed to hit my head. The people next to me, instead of approaching me and helping me up, continued on their way as if I did not exist, driven by their desperate instinct for survival. There were even those who stepped over me, placing their heavy bodies on top of mine, probably having decided that it was easier to step over me than to go around me.

I quickly stepped aside and ducked under a car waiting for the crowd to thin out, but it seemed like it would never happen. Then I heard someone shouting my name, I carefully poked my head out right next to the tire looking for whoever was calling my name. I found Alex with a worried look on his face.

"What the f**k are you doing there?" he asked above the chaos, I could barely hear him.

"I fell" I replied as I crawled towards him.

"And what are you falling for?”

"It's quite comfortable, you should try it" I explained sarcastically, as I took his hand and stood up.

"Damn, you're bleeding" he blurted out pointing to my forehead, I brought my hand right to where he had hit me and felt the wet fingers at the same time as a stinging burning took over my head.

"You'll be fine, we'll go to some doctor.”

"Or Jeff, he can help" I reminded him.

"No, better a doctor.”

"Don't you trust him?

"Of course I trust him, but I trust someone with a degree even more" the boy reaffirmed before pulling my hand and leading me down the street.

"Where's the rest of them?" I asked in alarm as we jumped over a pile of suitcases that had come off a car.

"I don't know, I saw the girls running the other way with Austin. I was going with them when I saw you were missing and decided to go back.”

"And where is he...?”

"He ran straight into an abandoned police car, I didn't see him again. He's probably with the others... Where are we going?”

"To the hotel" I said: "That's where they'd all go, to the hotel.”

"And do you have any idea what we're running for?" he questioned.

"No, and I'd rather not find out right now.”

A Helicopter began to spin in the air losing control and then crashed into a building in a huge explosion. A shower of glass and steel debris fell on us. People screamed in terror, Alex stopped to stare, but we couldn't afford to stop any longer. I pulled him hard, ahead of us. A couple of hundred yards away I could see the big cream-colored building rise from the others, with the big sign in front of it that read its name: "Paradise Hotel".

"s**t, Louis" he blurted out: "I love Canada. We should come here more often, don't you think?”

I ignored his comment, and we continued running down the avenue amidst the shouts of the people. I could see the glass doors just a few feet away from us, dozens of people desperately pushing through them as two security guards and a guest held them in readiness to close them as soon as it was time. The number of people coming through dwindled, and eventually I could see the rest of my friends trudging through.

The doors were beginning to close.

"Stop!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"s**t, Louis! " shouted Alex in terror, at the same time that he accelerated the pace willing to go through those doors, without stopping to look back with that expression... as if he had seen the devil in the eyes.

I turned around and then I saw them. I understood why people were fleeing, I understood why the chaos, and I joined it. The monsters were advancing at great speed, desperate to catch up with us, something that was almost recorded. I watched as Alex entered through those doors and held them open for me to pass through, then I felt a tug on my back. The creature had grabbed me by my clothes and was pulling me, I turned quickly and threw a tremendous blow in his face that stunned him enough so that he could escape from its claws, and its foul stench of death and disease.

I stumbled through those glass doors, before they were closed behind me, cut the security grille, and chained it securely. The running creatures did not stop but accelerated until they slammed into the glass. The doors filled with blood and fluids as the monsters fell limp to the ground, but not dead.

I watched their faces, and I could see Death directly in the eyes.