The Final Female

Chapter Ten

No one was in the medical bay. It was just Vince, Quinn and I playing cards once again. It was eerie, quiet and away from everyone else. But that was partly what made it nice and comfortable... Still, it just reminded me of too many things that happened in the past. 

I had only been here three days. How could anyone expect me to feel comfortable right away. I was able to talk to and play cards with Vince and Quinn, but I couldn't help but still be looking over my shoulder. I had no idea what could really be happening in this camp, no matter how promising it has seemed so far.

Isaac had soothed me in some ways. Our talk revealed to me that he wasn't all hot headed and an utter twat like he had initially presented himself as. It was just a cover, a survival technique. I couldn't blame him, we all had survival techniques these days. We all wore invisible hoods that cascaded over us and changed us into different people.

A good old apocalypse brought that upon people. Men that I had the fortune of passing by over the past few years could have been the nicest people in the world a few years ago, now they sprung at the chance to stab a fellow man in the chest just to get a can of preserved food... Or to win a passing by girl. Like I was a prize in their inhumane fight.

The card game was growing boring. Even Vince seemed to be nodding off.

"Theres only so many games of damn cards I can play." Quinn groaned as he fell forward to rest his head on the table. 

"Can't we go and see if anyone needs help with anything else?"

"Can't. Isaac's orders. if something did happen we would need to be here." Vince muttered as he stood up only to then lay on the floor.

"Nap time?!" Quinn piped. Vince just huffed a yes in response. Quinn looked like an ecstatic puppy at that and flung himself onto the hospital bed. I almost scoffed at how simple it all seemed. The last few years I had been on constant alert. Constant survival mode. Running away from every single human I came across. And now, lying in front of me, were two grown men who were willing to fall asleep right in front of me, and didn't give a shit about keeping an eye on me or making sure I didn't go anywhere.

They weren't power hungry and craved. They were normal, descent guys who were bored of their damn job and taking a nap while the boss was out doing other work. A small smile graced my lips. I had only been here three days, but every day gave me new reasons to believe that The Vivo, was somewhere I could genuinely live and sleep without one eye open for the rest of my life.

Shaking my head, the sliver of a smile left. I needed to stop thinking like this. It had been three damn days, anything could happen. Leaning back in my chair I suddenly had this feeling I couldn't relax. But not because I felt uncomfortable.

It was that sort of feeling you get when you can feel a storm coming. But that couldn't happen... It hadn't rained in years. Not fully anyway. Every so often a light downpour will come, enough for the Earth to semi survive, and for people to collect it. But never had it rained.

The rain you can feel, that pounds down on your head as if you were in a shower. The rain that refreshes you while also soaking you so annoyingly that you groan while you're disturbed on your way to wherever you are going. The rain we get nowadays is light, barely there, and hot. So why did I have this feeling?

Shaking it off as weird kidnapping nerves I pushed my chair back with a scrape and walked out into the shopping centre.

"Ay! Where are you going?" Vince yelled halfheartedly.

"I'll be back in a minute." The mumble left my mouth in a daze. I didn't really comprehend that I had just spoken. In a trance I sauntered out into the open basketball court set up and tilted my head up. The glass above that covered the ceiling shone in the sunlight. But the sun was different. Usually it was blaring and never ending. You could literally see the individual rays as they shot out in all directions. Right now it was dull, different, but not back to how it was when it was classified as 'normal.'

I must have looked idiotic, standing stock still, my head tilted to take in the sky through the barrier above me. 

Minutes went by and I just couldn't take my eyes away, the sun was getting duller and what looked to be smoke was moving above. It couldn't be? 

"Clouds." The whisper left my lips before I knew what I was saying. My eyes widened, what was happening?

"Clouds!" I shouted louder. A stumble was heard to my left as Vince and Quinn came to see what was going on.

"What are you on about Alex." Quinn groaned as he came to stand next to me. I didn't answer. Slowly I raised my finger upwards and pointed at the sky. Their eyes followed my hand as if we were in an old tv show.

"What the hell?" Vince gasped.

"That can't be right. Is it smoke? has someone set a fire?" Quinn pondered as he paced. 

They were right. It didn't make sense. Why would the world just start working again after being broken for years?

We stood in silence looking like puppies waiting for food at the bottom of a table. Our mouths partly open, our eyes wide, stock still, waiting. 

That was when time seemed to slow. It was like how they show it in a movie, slow at first. We watch as the single thick droplet falls and our eyes seem to zoom in on just that as it gracefully drops in slow motion. Then, before we even realise what we just saw, it all begins to move fast. Too fast.

Small bangs and patters hit the roof, hundreds of them. Not light drizzle patters. Hard, rain splats. Hundreds of them.

"It's raining." I whisper.

"What the fuck." Vince changes his vocabulary as the surprises keep coming.

"It's raining!" Quinn shouts with glee, a smile painted across his face. It's the most joy I think I've ever seen. It seems like a peek at survival.

The smiles gone when screams pierce the air and all of our giddy moods are dropped. Our eyes are ripped from the ceiling above as we see bundles of men running through the door. It was chaos. Men were pulling in others. While some were crying as they pulled themselves through the door and struggled up the stilled escalator. 

"What's going on?" I cry as I sprint after Vince and Quinn who have made it their mission to go help others in. Running forward I see Patrick crying on the ground swiping his hands across his skin in an attempt to get the rain off. Making a beeline for him I grab his arms in an attempt to get his attention so I can help. The second my hand touches his wet arms a cry rips from my lips. My hand rips away on reflex as tears well up in my eyes.

"Motherfucker. What the he..." Wiping my hand on my clothes the pain stops as the water fades away. 

My eyes must seem frantic as they stare at Patrick. His cries have dulled to a low whimper and his skin seems raw and red. It dawns on me that i have no idea how to help him.

Looking down I see my hands are red too but no where near as bad as the wailing men around me. There were more men crying around me now than the amount in the streets mourning their wives and daughters at the beginning of the apocalypse.

A hand falls on my shoulder and I almost stumble at the intensity of it. Turning quickly my eyes widen at the state of Jay barely standing in front of me. Blisters cover his neck and face.

"What's goi..."

"Acid. Acid rain." And then, before I can even comprehend what he just croaked out, his eyes close and he collapses before I can catch him.