The Lasted

Chapter 1

No one saw this coming. Well, they expected it to be bad, but this was about ten times worse.

A year ago, someone in a factory got sick. The week after, they figured out he accidentally touched a very dangerous fluid. More than that wasn't known back then, but it soon became clear that the sickness was incredibly contagious. Most people got over it and were able to live normally again. Or that's what they thought.
After being sick the bacteria never left your body. It stayed and was killing you from the inside without anyone noticing. Until a few months later. People started acting weird. They made sudden movements, their nails started to grow longer and sharper and their teeth and saliva turned green. Everyone thought the sickness had been defeated after isolating these people, but it was just waiting to get worse.

It then started spreading like wildfire, like it was a person traveling all over the world. People went into hiding, the people who first got symptoms went into quarantine, but nothing helped. It just kept spreading. It got even worse.

The sick got agressive, it seemed like they were turning insane. Not because of the bacteria, though. No, because of the pain. Because after the simple symptoms, it turned into absolute misery. Many said their heads were going to explode from headaches or that their organs would just jump out because it hurt so much. Walking on the streets wasn't safe anymore. The people that had gone insane already were living there. They called them 'the Lasted'. Most of them died cause they couldn't handle the pain, but some lasted, which is why that name was accurate. Governments all over the world tried to find a way to defeat the bacteria, but it was no use. Soon they all turned insane too.

Now, it was believed that there were only about 1 million people left on earth and about 70 million of the Lasted. Most that hadn't gone insane were kids. No one was immune, but some barely had any symptoms until the day they became one of the Lasted.

Lelia Dastoney was one of them. She hadn't gotten sick at all. She was sure she had the bacteria inside of her, since she saw her parents go insane. They even scratched her with their way too long nails, but she felt nothing yet. Her brother on the other hand, had just started to get the first symptoms. It now looked like a normal cold, but it was as if the newer bacteria had wiped out all other sicknesses and so they both knew he wasn't gonna be sane much longer. Maybe three weeks at most. Austin was five years older than Lelia. He felt responsible for her, he was like the older brother who always knew what to do. Except in this case, of course.

Lelia couldn't lose Austin. No after losing her parents and all her friends, but she knew there was no stopping it. Doctors didn't exist anymore, scientists were also all dead. This sickness would wipe out humanity and there was no way to stop it.

"Austin, just calm down. Remember the guy on tv last year that said being stressed makes the pain worse." Lelia said. She sounded a little desperate, but her brother had been in pain for two weeks now and ever since then they had been in the basement of their house. It came in flashes. Sometimes he would just start screaming and she'd ask what was wrong and he told her his whole body just started hurting out of nowhere. "You don't understand, Ley. This pain is killing me." His little sister didn't know what to say. She didn't understand indeed, but she didn't want him to die. Before she could say anything, they heard squeaky sounds. It seemed to be coming from upstairs. Austin quickly stood up and ran upstairs, Lelia following him. The sound came from the radio as if someone tried to reach them. Lelia grabbed it and tried to make the connection work. After a few minutes, they heard a creaky voice. "Hello, if somebody can hear me. Please he- help. I'm not sick yet, but I'm stuck. Stuck in my house. Please help. Please. Somebody."
"Can we talk back?" Austin asked, not knowing
how it worked. "I....I think so." Lelia pushed and turned a few buttons. "Um hello? Can you hear us?" She asked, hoping the girl on the other side had heard it. "Yes! Please. You still sound sane. Please help."
"Where are you?" Austin asked, a worried look on his face. They had to help this girl somehow. "Uh my house is at Marjory Street. Number 8." That was close to where Lelia and Austin lived. They could easily get there. But being on the streets for even three minutes was dangerous. "We'll come to you." Austin said, receiving a surprised look from Lelia. "What? It's just about a block away." Lelia sighed. "Fine, but we're going tonight. They used to say the Lasted only came out at day." Austin nodded and turned to walk away.

That evening the siblings packed as much as they could, just in case and went outside for the first time in at least two months. At first they didn't see any insane people, but when you looked around better, they were everywhere. Behind every corner there was lurking one of the Lasted. "I umm I think we should run." Lelia suggested as they both looked around at the people looking like zombies. Austin grabbed her by the arm and started running.

"How are we supposed to know which house number 8 is? The Lasted ruined the whole city. We can't see the numbers anymore." Lelia wondered aloud. How were they supposed to find this girl? It seemed impossible. "HEY! GIRL FROM THE RADIO? WHERE-" Lelia elbowed her brother to stop him from screaming. "You idiot! Now they all know where we are."
"How else are we supposed to find her?" He said, looking angry. Lelia looked around. There had to be some way. "There." She pointed at a house that looked less destroyed than all others. "It's number 6 so number 8 should be...over there." Their eyes landed on a house that was nearly collapsing. The roof had already fallen in. They ran up to it. "Hey? Are you in there?" Austin asked. They heard a groan and a voice whispering "Please help." The siblings walked up to the door and slowly opened it. It only opened a bit, though. "Where are you?" Lelia asked as she pushed her body through the small opening. "Here! I can- I can see you." Lelia tried to follow the voice, but it was really dark in there. "Go- go two steps left." The voice said and Lelia did. "Okay now- now three steps forward." She did again and felt something grip her leg. She let out a small scream, then realized it was the girl they'd been looking for. Lelia reached for the hand and gripped it. She crouched down and saw the girl laying under a few fallen down stones and concrete pieces. She started lifting them off of her and eventually was able to pull the girl up. She could barely walk and leaned on Lelia as they tried to make their way outside.