Meet Me At The End Of The World

Chapter Eleven

I sprint from the restaurant and launch myself over a hedge in order to attempt to catch up with the human. During this apocalypse, I can't understand why someone would be running away from help unless they were guilty of something.

"Danny!" Honey cries loud enough to attract a descent sized army of undead. I don't stop though, unable to now that I've allowed curiosity to get the better of me.

I follow the figure down the road. While they're fast, I'm faster. I reach forward to seize their wrist yet before I get a chance, I hear a gun shot. Turning around, I find Honey surrounded my a starved swarm of undead, clawing at the air in attempt to rip her skin from her body.

Blood splatters as she shoots, releasing the pungent stench of rot and decay. She fights effortlessly having trained for this moment her entire life.

Seeing that Honey has the situation under control, I turn to find the mysterious figure gone. I curse under my breath before hurrying back to Honey and slicing an undead man's throat.

"Who was that?" Honey questions once the last undead has had a bullet firmly planted within their rotting brain.

"I don't know."

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"I can confirm that the dead have remained dead. The virus has only turned the people it has killed." I hear Val say as Honey and I approach the science lab doors.

"That's a relief." I hear Simon breath. Both Honey and I freeze, glancing at one another with surpsie at the knowledge of Simon interacting with Val.

"Jason Friday killed your father didn't he?" Val asks for confirmation.

"Yup." Simon hums sounding hurt yet emotionless at the same time. While I already knew that information, it still surprises me how Simon can bear the sight of Honey knowing what her father did.

"I don't know how my parents are. After coming out as non-binary, they sent me to live with my grandmother, unable to respect it." Val explains and I can feel from the drop in the atmosphere that Simon is horrified by Val's story.

"I'm sorry. That sounds awful." Simon says softly.

"What happened, happened. My grandmother has been extreamly accepting and has always loved me. Not that any of that matters now." Val breaths, their tone proving how close to tears they are.

"Just because she's gone, doesn't mean that your love for her isn't important." Simon says softly.

"I guess." Val says sounding slightly more positive in the matter. While Honey would like to continue listening, my guilt of listening in overtakes me and I push the door open resulting in them both jumping in surprise.

"Something really strange happened while we were out." I announce, ignoring the glare that Honey gives me.

"Did a zombie speak?" Simon asks earning himself many strange looks. "What? That would be strange." He protests holding a point. In all honesty, I believe that he's been reading too many fictional apocalypse books giving him false ideas on what could happen. We all allow him to daydream though since it appears to be one of the only things keeping him going during this
discord.

"We saw a person." Honey announces earning a gasp from Val while Simon becomes silent once more.

"Do you know who they are?" Val questions curiously. Val's curious mind has always been so desperate to take on new information. Even now with all of the calamity, their face has lit up and their eyes sparkle with wonder.

"Sadly, they got away." I admit leading to Val exhaling in disappointment while Simon perks up slightly. It's obvious that while we're constantly being attacked by the undead, Simons greatest fear remains to be human kind.

"The main point is, we're not alone out here so we can't just give up. Maybe if there's enough of us, we could defeat the zombies forever." Honey explains. While she may be right, the element of the unknown still stands. We have little idea of what lies beyond the city. If all of the undead are killed that doesn't solve our problem of food shortages or the lack of clean running water. Without knowledge on what lies beyond, we can't be certain that we'll find salvation somewhere else.

"Do you really think we can survive this?" Val asks appearing uncertain.

"Yes." Honey says sternly.

"Maybe." I correct not wanting to be too negative yet at the same time, fearing that I'll get our hopes up.

"No." Simon states blutly. The positive nature of the room dwindles and dies resulting in Honey glaring at her best friend.

"Would it hurt you to be a tad more positive?" She demands to know.

"It may just kill me." Is his only response.

_________________________________________

That night, I find myself clambering up the rungs of the iron ladder to reach the top of the building. As expected, I find Simon sitting on the very edge, his legs dangle down the side seemingly unafraid of the deadly drop before him.

"You're going to be unwell if you sit up here in winter." I point out as I perch beside him, choosing to also dangle my legs. Simon doesn't turn to me, instead, he rests his head on my shoulder and exhales deeply.

"I had been positive that my dad would come home that night." He tells me and I feel a pang of sorrow, knowing that he suffered so greatly before all of this began.

"Is that why you chose to be pessimistic now?" I question and he nods, confirming my theory.

"That way, I feel less let down." He explains. "It hurts less." I snake an arm around him and squeeze tightly, knowing that demons fill his mind and torment his thoughts.

"I'm sorry Simon." I breath.

"You've had it worse then me. You witnessed every member of your family die." He comments, allowing each memory to bombard me and aching with such a pain, I struggle to breath.

"We're going to need some serious mental help after this." I mutter and he nods in agreement.

"That's if we even get out of this." He states.

"Simon..."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. Just try and think a tad more on the positive side. You never know, we could be rescued any day now." I assure him as I lean my head against his.

"I'll try." He whispers. "For you."