{"id":190,"date":"2013-07-21T12:30:18","date_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/?page_id=190"},"modified":"2013-07-21T12:30:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-21T12:30:18","slug":"chapter-28","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/dreamers-sanctuary.com\/undead\/story\/chapter-28\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 28"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 28<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

What do you do when the world goes to Hell in a hand basket?\u00a0 The world was already there, sure.\u00a0 But this was the end of the world.\u00a0 It was the end of everything.\u00a0 Some of the others will tell you it was \u201cThe Beginning\u201d or some crock of shit like that.\u00a0 I know the truth, though.\u00a0 It was the end of all humanity as we knew it.<\/i><\/p>\n

I was proven right on this by Sunday, but again, no one wants to admit that.\u00a0 Even when you\u2019re the last people on earth, you still want to remain blind if the truth is too painful to see.\u00a0 Even if the truth might save you, you\u2019ll choose the lies that damn you, if it means you can hold on to false hope a little bit longer.<\/i><\/p>\n

Reaper\u2019s Sabbath \u2013 I named it that, because that\u2019s what it was.\u00a0 It was a final rest at the command of the Reaper.\u00a0 Death consumed everything.\u00a0 Death consumed all.\u00a0 Death forced everyone to rest in honor of the Reaper.<\/i><\/p>\n

So what does someone do when they\u2019re alive at the end of the world?<\/i><\/p>\n

Whatever the hell they want, cause nothing matters anymore.\u00a0 Why would it, when everyone is dead?\u00a0 Everyone you knew.\u00a0 Everyone you loved.\u00a0 Everyone you hated.\u00a0 Everyone who tried to help your fucked-up self.\u00a0 What does anything matter, if you\u2019re forever alone till the day you finally get to that eternal rest yourself?<\/i><\/p>\n

Nothing mattered to me that day.<\/i><\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saturday, April 14, 2012<\/b><\/b>
\n5:45 p.m.<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cO, that this too, too sullied flesh would melt.<\/em>
\n Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew<\/em>
\n Or that the Everlasting had not fixed<\/em>
\n His canon \u2018gainst (self-slaughter!) O God, God,<\/em>
\n How (weary,) stale, flat, and unprofitable<\/em>
\n Seem to me all the uses of this world!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

AJ was lying in bed, absorbed in his book as he read it aloud to himself.\u00a0 Ever since he\u2019d read his first play in middle school, he\u2019d been addicted to Shakespeare.\u00a0 Often, he could be found reading one of the many plays aloud to himself.\u00a0 At the moment, he was reading his worn-down copy of his favorite work of Shakespeare, Hamlet.<\/i>\u00a0 Perhaps once he was out of this place, he\u2019d try acting, once he got sick of being the literal version of the starving artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll make love to you\u2026 like you want me to\u2026\u201d<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0 He smiled at the song playing faintly in his ears.\u00a0 Despite what everyone thought, he really enjoyed Boys II Men.\u00a0 Although he\u2019d never tried that sort of music himself, found himself expressing his soul in the darker forms of music, he always considered the group one of his favorite bands.\u00a0 There was something soothing and soulful about their music that he really couldn\u2019t get enough of.\u00a0 He\u2019d had his iPod play their songs on repeat all day.\u00a0 So he adjusted the volume and continued his reading.<\/p>\n

For the past hour of so, he\u2019d been just reading, and waiting for the time when he would be asked to \u201cjoin the group\u201d and do some so-called \u201csocializing.\u201d\u00a0 The power was down everywhere else, had been since around eleven o\u2019clock that morning.\u00a0 When it had gone down at the rehabilitation center, the caretakers had said they would handle it.\u00a0 But that was as they\u2019d basically been hacking up a lung.<\/p>\n

Personal sessions had been cancelled that day, due to the therapist, unsurprisingly, being too sick to meet with anyone.\u00a0 So, AJ got to have the day to himself, alone in his room, the way he liked it.\u00a0 Private time was rare, so he decided to enjoy it while he could.\u00a0 He spent the day painting, writing, reading, even playing a bit of music on his old, beat-up guitar that he still owned out of sentimental value.\u00a0 Even with all the weirdness that seemed to be going on, he still expected the group time with anyone still well enough to watch TV in the recreation room, since you didn\u2019t get one in your personal room.<\/p>\n

And there was TV, because sure enough, the generators had kicked on, twenty minutes after the caretakers had reassured everyone.\u00a0 AJ had just decided to stay in his room.\u00a0 He was positive he would end up sick soon enough.\u00a0 When he was younger, he\u2019d been the type to catch any bug that passed by him.\u00a0 He\u2019d gotten sick easily, and although he\u2019d become more resilient as an adult, it still didn\u2019t take a lot for him to get sick with something, compared to most individuals.<\/p>\n

He marked his place, even though he almost knew the play by heart and, therefore, really didn\u2019t have to.\u00a0 He always read it as if it was his first time.\u00a0 Setting the book down, he sat up and stretched.\u00a0 Grabbing his sunglasses, he slipped them on and chanced a glance at the clock upon the nightstand next to his bed.\u00a0 He raised a brow at the time.\u00a0 Usually, they came by to bug him by no later than 4:30 in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

He turned off his radio, first time he\u2019d done so all day.\u00a0 He stood, and he listened.<\/p>\n

For the first time in his life, AJ heard silence.\u00a0 Complete, true, and unwavering silence.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t hear the other guys muttering as they walked down the hallway, or noise from the rec room television.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t hear the counselors popping into rooms and checking on other residents, while spouting off some cheerful quote AJ felt was a crock.<\/p>\n

Grabbing his paint kit, for no real reason other than just feeling like he needed it, AJ walked out of the room and was shocked to find the hallways empty.\u00a0 There was always someone.\u00a0 He made his way to the wall phone further down.\u00a0 Time to call his mother and tell her he was blowing this joint.\u00a0 Something didn\u2019t feel right, and AJ always felt he should trust his instincts.\u00a0 His hand picked up the phone, and he found it to be dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a time not to have my damn cell phone.\u201d\u00a0 Taken when he moved in, as so he couldn\u2019t attempt to get alcohol smuggled in.\u00a0 They had to use the land line, for that could be monitored.\u00a0 And, of course, that was dead.\u00a0 His gaze went to the recreation room just a few feet away, and he saw that everyone was dead right along with the phone.\u00a0 The counselors, the residents, the janitor, everyone.<\/p>\n

AJ dropped the phone in shock.\u00a0 All of them looked the same:\u00a0\u00a0 pale, spotted with purple sores, dried vomit covering their faces and the carpeted floor.\u00a0 Common sense told him they\u2019d all died of the same disease.\u00a0 They had died maybe hours before, AJ guessed, but that was long enough.\u00a0 Was this the same thing that had been playing all over the news?\u00a0 Stepping forward, he reached for the remote and took it from a dead man\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

The TV played nothing but static.<\/p>\n

AJ was a lot of things.\u00a0 He was an addict, he was suffering from depression, he was blunt, he was harsh\u2026 but he wasn\u2019t stupid.\u00a0 There was news of a disease spreading and everyone dying up north.\u00a0 Suddenly, the news was down, the power was down, and everyone around him was dead.\u00a0 Whatever had hit up there had crashed down in Florida and killed them all.\u00a0 For all AJ knew, he could be the last man left alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFuck this; I\u2019m getting the hell out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He ran.\u00a0 He ran out of the residency and onto the road.\u00a0 The place looked like the nuclear holocaust had happened or something.\u00a0 Cars crashed into each other all over the road, in the field, into trees.\u00a0 Everything was a silent chaos.\u00a0 As silent outside as it had been inside.\u00a0 He clutched his art set to his chest as a substitute security blanket.<\/p>\n

I need a drink,<\/i> he thought. \u00a0I really, really need a drink.\u00a0 And a hit.\u00a0 I need a hit.\u00a0 But first, a drink.<\/i><\/p>\n

AJ continued running down the road, as a breeze blew into his face, spreading the stench of death to him faster than it would have gotten to him otherwise.\u00a0 His feet carried him as he picked up his pace, trying to run from the horrors even his mentally disturbed mind couldn\u2019t have fathomed till now.\u00a0 Suddenly, the urge for cocaine that he\u2019d been fighting the past ten days came rushing back to him.\u00a0 The taste of alcohol burned in his mind as he begged for it then.\u00a0 He wanted it.<\/p>\n

He passed so many bodies along the road.\u00a0 Bodies on the ground, bodies in cars, on benches, on the counters in stores, leaning against open doors.\u00a0 Bodies that stared up at something that he couldn\u2019t see.\u00a0 Corpses were everywhere, littering the areas around him carelessly.\u00a0 AJ actually envied them.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to end it so many times, had come close once.\u00a0 He\u2019d always failed, yet everyone else in the world seemed to die without even trying.\u00a0 Something about that didn\u2019t seem fair.<\/p>\n

Finally, after running for so long, with thoughts only of satisfying the addiction he\u2019d been fighting pointlessly, he came upon an old-styled tavern, welcoming him with open arms.<\/p>\n

He knew he shouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 He knew his mother would be upset if she knew.\u00a0 But his mother was dead.\u00a0 Of that, AJ was certain.\u00a0 If she wasn\u2019t, she would have came for him once the chaos started.\u00a0 No matter how old he was or how much he\u2019d hurt her, she would have still come to save her only son.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t come, hadn\u2019t called the residency, and that said it all.\u00a0 The only thing that would have stopped her was death.\u00a0 Somewhere inside, he felt she was gone.<\/p>\n

He walked inside the tavern.\u00a0 So what did it matter anymore?\u00a0 Who cared if he was an addict?\u00a0 Everyone was dead, so the way he saw it, all bets were off.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

He groaned hours later.\u00a0 His head pounded as he lifted it up from the bar counter.\u00a0 AJ rubbed his eyes and put on the sunglasses he had set on the counter earlier.\u00a0 He had the migraine of a lifetime.\u00a0 Various open bottles of alcohol were sitting before him, many empty, others only half-empty.\u00a0 The barkeep was on the floor on the other side, dead like everyone else.\u00a0 He glanced at the time, before remembering the power was out everywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuess my tolerance went down since I went dry\u2026\u201d he murmured to himself, too unnerved with the neverending quiet.\u00a0 His head pounded in response, and he regretted vocalizing his thoughts.\u00a0 Maybe the quiet did have a benefit at the moment.\u00a0 Rubbing his eyes again, he finally looked around enough to actually reabsorb his surroundings.<\/p>\n

How long had he been passed out?\u00a0 The last thing AJ remembered was going in and mixing himself every drink imaginable, not giving a damn if the alcohol was warm or not.\u00a0 He\u2019d fix himself a drink, down it, mix himself another one, down it, and had kept repeating the process till he\u2019d fallen into oblivion.<\/p>\n

It was dark out.\u00a0 The tavern was almost pitch black, and the only light was the one the moon provided to him.\u00a0 AJ sighed.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what to do next.\u00a0 He wanted a hit, but where the hell was he going to track down cocaine?<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked a hell of a time to try dropping this shit,\u201d he muttered, as he stumbled his way out of the bar.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure what his plan was.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019d walk along the road till he found a car he felt like hotwiring.\u00a0 After his head stopped pounding, anyway.\u00a0 He kept walking down the road and processed his actions.\u00a0 He knew he shouldn\u2019t have done it; it wasted all that effort in getting sober, and, dead or not, his mother would be upset with him.\u00a0 She was the reason he had tried to stay dry in the first place.<\/p>\n

He vowed silently not to do it again.\u00a0 AJ knew, in the grand scheme, nothing mattered anymore, if it ever had.\u00a0 He\u2019d always thought nothing mattered and felt this chaos proved him right.\u00a0 Still, he\u2019d keep to his promise, in honor of his mom, the one woman who had believed in him and never stopped.<\/p>\n

His thoughts paused when he saw brights glaring at him further up the road.\u00a0 Brights.\u00a0 That meant a moving car, and that meant someone other than him was alive.\u00a0 He could care less who it was; he just needed someone who was actually still alive by some chance like himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cHEY!\u201d he screamed, trying to wave the car down and get into view.\u00a0 \u201cHEY!\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he got a good look beyond the blinding headlights, he saw it was a well-kept purple Lexus being driven, and there were two people inside, a well-dressed businessman and a young, punk-styled woman.\u00a0 The car slowed and pulled up beside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, man\u2026\u201d\u00a0 AJ lifted up his shades again.\u00a0 It pained his eyes and increased his headache, but he did it anyway.\u00a0 \u201cI thought no one was alive\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Kayleigh, and this is Howie-\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoward,\u201d the well-dressed man said.\u00a0 AJ found him to be a bit too stuffy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowie.\u00a0 And we\u2019re on our way to the Air Force base in Tampa.\u00a0 There are survivors there.\u201d\u00a0 She grinned happily, full of hope AJ knew would slowly kill her once she found it to be false.<\/p>\n

\u201cMind if I bum a ride with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

His eyes were filled with contempt for AJ, but Howie nodded.\u00a0 \u201cGet in.\u201d<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

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