Meet Me At The End Of The World

Chapter Twenty-five

Guns fire and screams ring out yet I can't make sense of any of it. My head throbs and my body aches sending me sinking further into the calling unconsciousness.

Something hit my head while I was speaking. I was with Simon and then I wasn't. Everything burns and sounds disorientate me.

"Danny! Danny, can you hear me?" The voice sounds like Simon's yet I can't muster up enough energy to reply.

Instead, I allow the darkness to consume me.

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Everything is silent but the sound of crying. I want to awake and comfort the person who is leaking tears yet I feel too heavy.

"You did this." Its a growling voice and it belongs to Honey.

"That I did little girl." Frederick August replies. "That I did."

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My mum stands before me, her arms outstretched and her smile warm. I go to run to her and embrace her yet somethibg stops me.

My mum is dead. She was killed by the undead along with my dad and sisters. They were all bitten and corrupted. I couldn't save any of them. I let them die.

"I'm sorry mum." I say yet it comes out more as a sob.

"It's alright Danny. We all love you." She says, her eyes alight with love and pride.

"I love you all too. I love you all too."

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Faint voices call and snap things yet they make little sense to me. I want to wake up and fight alongside my friends yet an agony inside of my head is preventing me from doing so.

I feel as though there is a blockage inside of my brain preventing me from getting up and opening my eyes. Its like a constant blanket of unconsciousness is smothering me.

"Are we going to die?" Someone close by says yet I can't tell whoes voice it is.

"Probably." I know who that reply is from.

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Despite the throbbing in my head and the stabbing in my brain I'm finally able to pull through the fog and emerge back to reality. The first thing I realise is that my hands are tied behind my back and the room is dark.

"What's..."

"About bloody time." Honey snaps from somewhere within the room. Despite having heard her in my haze however long ago I'm still surprised to hear her voice.

"Simon said that you were struck in the head." Val adds proving that there is no longer anyone out there who is able to rescue us. We are all trapped in Frederick August's grasp and who knows what is going to happen next.

"I'm sorry that I betray you guys." I start but someone beside me elbows me in the side rather aggressively.

"Shut up, will you?" My heart jumps at the sound of Simon's voice and I can't help but feel a wash of relief in knowing that he's alive and conscious.

"How's your..."

"Don't you understand what shut up means?" He snaps before I suddenly feel something sharp graze my hand. "Work with my here, will you?" He snaps and despite being unsure in what he's doing, I shuffle closer to him and hold my hands at an angle so that they brush his which are also tied behind his back.

"Simon, what are you..."

"Glass." Simon states before Honey can finish. "I've got a shard of glass and I'm trying to use it to cut Danny free." He explains as I feel him rub something against the rope and curse in annoyance. "Proving harder then original anticipated." He adds and I can't help but breath out laughter.

"So, what did I miss?" I question as I wait for Simon to saw through the rope with his mystical shard of glass.

"It was Frederick August all along." Val states grimly, their voice laced with anger. "He discovered a fungus that acted oddly to bugs and thought that he'd mutate it and see how it works against humans. The twat caused all of this."

"He took some blood from Simon." Honey adds and judging by the strain of her voice, she is attempting to break free from the rope binding her.

"Wanted to see how different the virus is now to when it first started." Simon finishes with an odd lack of emotion to his voice. I understand that he is different from most but I at least expected him to be panicked or distraught over the knowledge of his untimely demise.

"What's our plan of action going to be?" I question as I feel the rope begin to loosen from around my wrists as Simon continues to saw at it.

"Get free and then kill Frederick August." Val replies, their tone harsh and hateful. "Its the least he deserves after all of the lives he's destroyed."

They're right. As much as the thought of killing a non-infected person hurts me I am willing to do it. This is his fault. The undead storm our city because of him. My family is dead because of him. Simon isn't getting better because of him. We are all doomed because of him!

"Good plan. How are we going to go..."

Before Honey has a chance to finish, the door swings open and bathes the room in a harsh light. Just as the door opens, the rope slips off of my wrists yet I remain still until I have the best chance of fighting.

"I see that you're awake Danny. It's about time." Frederick August states with a slight chime to his voice. It takes everything within me not to dive onto the man and squeeze his throat as hard as I can.

"Filled in on everything too." I inform him.

"Lovely." He says dismissively before clearing his throat and addressing all of us. "Turns out that the virus has mutated quite nicely since I released it. It still kills people and then turns them but the undead it's been creating are far stronger. Such a shame that Simon will be my only test subject. I could really do with a comparison."

Hearing his words sends a bolt of rage through me yet I swallow it and continue to act as though I'm bound. Not yet Danny I keep telling myself yet the urge is becoming harder to resist.

"At least I have a test subject though. After all, you lot have killed the majority of zombies in the city. Luckily, little Simon got himself infected." He claps his hands together and laughs like a deranged person. Him saying that stuff about Simon as if he isn't a person is the last straw. Without thinking, I launch forward and smash my body into Fredrik August's.