The Last Embrace

Chapter 3

Daniel grabbed Sylvia’s hand.

“Car.”

They stepped carefully over the bodies on the floor.

Sylvia looked away as they passed Mr. Harris.

Outside, the quiet neighborhood had transformed into chaos.

Car alarms blared.

Someone shouted for help.

A house down the street burned.

Daniel opened the car door quickly.

They both climbed inside.

As Daniel started the engine, Sylvia looked back toward the house.

Mr. Harris’s body lay visible through the broken door.

“He used to bring us tomatoes,” she whispered.

Daniel didn’t reply.

He pressed the gas pedal.

The car rolled down the street.

Sylvia buried her face in her hands.

“Daniel…”

“Yes?”

Her voice trembled.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have waited so long.”

Daniel frowned.

“What do you mean?”

But Sylvia stayed silent.

Daniel kept driving.

For a moment neither of them spoke.

The car moved slowly down the street, tires crunching over broken glass scattered across the road. Daniel’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. His knuckles had turned pale.

Behind them, their house disappeared around the corner.

Their home.

The kitchen where they had laughed only minutes earlier.

The hallway where Mr. Harris now lay motionless on the floor.

Daniel swallowed hard.

His mind kept replaying the moment when the frying pan struck the old man’s head.

CRACK.

The sound echoed again in his memory.

He blinked rapidly, trying to focus on the road.

“This… this can’t be real,” he muttered.

Sylvia slowly lifted her head from her hands.

Outside the car window, the neighborhood looked like something from a nightmare.

A bicycle lay abandoned in the middle of the street.

A front door hung open across the road.

Someone had left a grocery bag on the sidewalk. Apples had rolled everywhere, crushed beneath hurried footsteps.

Farther ahead, a man ran out of a house screaming.

Two figures chased him.

Their movements were clumsy but relentless.

Daniel recognized the man immediately.

“Is that Mr. Lopez?” Sylvia asked softly.

Daniel nodded slowly.

Mr. Lopez owned the small convenience store on the corner. He always greeted customers with a wide smile and insisted on helping carry bags to their cars.

Now he ran desperately down the street.

The two figures behind him caught up quickly.

They grabbed him.

The man screamed.

Daniel pressed the gas pedal harder.

The car sped past the scene.

Sylvia turned away from the window.

“I can’t look,” she whispered.

Daniel’s chest tightened.

Just this morning the world had been normal.

Now it felt like everything familiar was collapsing around them.

A loud explosion echoed somewhere in the distance.

Both of them flinched.

Smoke rose above the rooftops farther into town.

Sirens wailed faintly.

Police cars.

Ambulances.

Maybe the military.

Daniel tried to convince himself that someone somewhere still had control of the situation.

This can’t be happening everywhere.

“It’s probably just a few people,” he said aloud, though he wasn’t sure if he believed it.

Sylvia didn’t respond.

She stared down at her hands instead.

Her fingers trembled slightly.

Daniel noticed.

“You okay?”

She nodded quickly.

“Yes.”

But the answer came too fast.

Too automatic.

Daniel glanced at her again before returning his eyes to the road.

“What did you mean earlier?”

Sylvia looked up.

“When?”

“When you said maybe we shouldn’t have waited so long.”

Her stomach tightened instantly.

For a moment she considered telling him the truth right there.

The pills.

The years of hiding them.

The lies every time Daniel talked about children.

Her throat felt dry.

Not now.

Not when everything is falling apart.

“I just meant…” she began carefully, “life moves faster than we think.”

Daniel frowned slightly.

“That’s not what it sounded like.”

Sylvia forced a weak smile.

“I’m just scared, Daniel.”

He studied her face for a moment.

Then he nodded slowly.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Me too.”

They drove in silence again.

The main road ahead looked even worse than their neighborhood.

Cars were abandoned everywhere.

Some had crashed into each other.

One car had flipped onto its side.

People ran in all directions.

Some screamed for help.

Others ran from figures that moved strangely behind them.

Daniel slowed the car.

“This is insane,” he whispered.

Sylvia stared at the chaos outside.

A mother dragged a crying child across the street.

A man banged desperately on the door of a pharmacy.

Two figures suddenly appeared behind him.

They grabbed him before he could escape.

Sylvia turned away again.

“Daniel… we have to go somewhere else.”

“I’m trying.”

But he had no idea where to go.

The entire city seemed to be unraveling.

His phone buzzed suddenly.

Daniel grabbed it quickly.

“Signal’s back.”

Sylvia leaned closer.

“Call someone.”

Daniel dialed his brother’s number.

The phone rang once.

Then the call dropped.

He tried again.

Nothing.

“Network’s crashing,” he muttered.

Sirens grew louder somewhere behind them.

Daniel checked the rearview mirror.

A police car sped past the intersection ahead.

But it didn’t slow down.

It kept driving straight out of town.

Sylvia noticed too.

“Why are they leaving?”

Daniel didn’t answer.

Because he was asking himself the same question.

The police were supposed to be helping people.

Not fleeing.

A sudden bang hit the side of their car.

Sylvia jumped.

“What was that?!”

Daniel looked toward the sound.

A man had slammed against the passenger door.

His face was pale.

His eyes wide with fear.

“Help me!” the man shouted.

Daniel slowed the car again instinctively.

But Sylvia noticed something first.

“Daniel… his arm.”

The man’s sleeve was torn open.

A deep bite mark covered his forearm.

Blood dripped down his hand.

The man saw them staring.

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “Please just let me in.”

Daniel hesitated.

Every instinct told him to help.

But the memory of the man they had just seen on the road rising from the dead stopped him.

The man’s breathing grew heavier.

His body began shaking.

Sylvia’s voice rose.

“Daniel, something’s wrong.”

The man suddenly slammed his hands against the window.

His teeth clenched.

A strange choking sound escaped his throat.

“Hey,” Daniel said firmly. “Step back.”

The man’s eyes rolled upward.

Then his mouth opened wide.

A horrible growl came from deep inside his chest.

Sylvia screamed.

The man smashed his head against the window.

THUD.

Daniel hit the accelerator instantly.

The car shot forward.

The man fell onto the road behind them.

In the rearview mirror Daniel saw his body twitch violently.

Then slowly—

The man began to push himself up again.

Daniel’s stomach dropped.

“It’s happening everywhere,” he whispered.

Sylvia stared straight ahead.

Tears slid quietly down her face.

Inside her mind one thought kept repeating.

I lied to him for years.

And now the world might end before she ever had the courage to tell the truth.

Daniel tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“We’re getting out of the city,” he said firmly.

Sylvia nodded slowly.

But neither of them noticed the large group of figures slowly emerging onto the road ahead.

Waiting.

Blocking their path.