The Lasted

Chapter 2

Once they got outside, Austin rushed to the two girls. The leg of the girl he didn't know looked bloody and a little gross, but he couldn't exactly see what was wrong. Lelia and the girl sat down on the porch, Austin standing in front of them. "Thank you. For helping me." The girl said, examining both of the siblings. "Are you alright?" Lelia asked as she moved to see the girls leg. She slowly turned over a piece of totally ripped jeans. "Oh shit."
"That bad? I don't think I wanna look." The girl says, looking a little pale. "Uhh, Austin? You were good in biology, right?" Lelia asked him as she ripped off the part of the jeans that was holding onto a few strings. Austin crouches down, his eyes widening. "I don't- I think we have to disinfect it, but I'm pretty sure there isn't any clean water near." Then he groans, the pain must be back. "You know what, I'm just gonna go look for some water." He quickly walks away, pain written on his face.

"Is he sick already?" Lelia looks up to the stranger. "Uh yeah. It's not extreme yet, but he has like these flashes of pain. It just hurts to see. I mean we saw it happening to our parents, but I honestly expected my brother to stay healthy for longer. Sorry, uh what's your name?" Lelia looks down. Why did she just tell a stranger that? It's not like she cares. "I'm Katana, what about you?"
"Lelia. And umm that's Austin. My brother." She points to the boy that's running back to them. "We have to get out of here!" The older boy shouts. He soon reaches the two sitting on the porch. "We have to run. Some of the Lasted heard us and they're after us. I'm pretty sure they were discussing who they were gonna eat first. Come on." He puts out his hand to Katana, who takes it and allows him to put an arm around her waist for support. "I know a place where we'll be safe. But it's a long shot." Katana says, sighing. "We don't have a choice. Which way?"

Within half an hour, the three of them sit down. Mostly because Katana's leg can't take it, but they also can't run very long after sitting still for about two months. They try to hide as good as possible, but they all know they can't stay there very long. "So what happened to you?" Austin asks Katana, who looks a little surprised at the question. "Umm well yesterday, my sister lost it and she started attacking me. I locked myself up in the bathroom and she completely destroyed the house. When it was silent for a few hours I went out and she was nowhere to be seen, so I went downstairs to see what damage she had caused. Then the roof started coming down and through the hole I umm I saw my sister there. On the roof and then her foot slipped and she fell down. I was stuck and I saw her die. Umm, I could reach the radio with my hand and that's how I contacted you guys."
"Oh damn, I'm so sorry for your sister." Austin said, sympathy visible in his eyes. Katana shook her head. "She had been in pain for months. It might have been for the better." Austins eyes widened. "You mean it could take months for me to go insane? Months? With this pain?" Katana slowly nodded, looking down. That's what her sister went through. "I can't do that. No." A tear slipped out of his eye, but he wiped it away before any of them could see. "Hey, we'll figure something out. You're doing good right now, right? You'll be okay." Lelia tried, but it felt more like she was convincing herself. "What about you guys? What happened?"
"Oh umm, well our parents caught the bacteria pretty quickly. They didn't get sick very fast, though. It went really slow. Umm, they told us to stay away from them at all times. We basically lived upstairs and they always brought us food. About three months ago they both went insane. With a lot of struggle we were able to get them outside and we moved to the basement when Austin started to get symptoms."
"That must have been hard too. You know, I think- Do you hear that?" Katana quickly stood up, wincing at the pain in her leg. "There, listen!" She said a few seconds later. And they heard it. Someone was screaming for help. "We have to help. If only we can save enough people that are still sane, maybe, just maybe we can make it a little longer." Lelia said, waiting for the other two to agree. "Fine, but we have to be careful and stay behind me." Austin said as he started to walk towards the noises, Katana leaning on Lelia.

"Look." Austin whispers, looking behind him. The girls moved forward a bit and saw something they couldn't quite understand. There was a guy, probably around their age, laying on the floor. He kept looking up before laying his head back down. It was as if he was trying to gain strength to do something. Then, out of nowhere, a man came rushing at him. They heard the boy groan and mumble something along the lines of 'god when will this stop'. "What is that guy doing?" Lelia asked, Austin shaked his head. "I don't know, but I'm gonna help him."

He took a few steps, gesturing that Lelia and Katana should stay where they are. "HEY!" Austin shouted. The attacking man looked up, then tilted his head a bit as if he was a dog. "Stop that." He said, now calmer. The man gave him a creepy smile and started running towards him. He wasn't so fast, though, so Austin could easily dodge him. The man ran into the wall and fell down to the floor. That was easier than Austin would have thought. He walked up to the guy on the floor and pulled him up. "Thanks dude. The Lasted have been attacking me all day. I just came out of my house for some food. Uhh I'm Brandey." He put out his hand for Austin to shake, which he did. "Austin. You can come with us if you want?" Brandy smiled. "Please, that would be great."

"Are you sure this is the right way, Katana? I feel kind of lost." Austin admitted, looking around the abandoned place. "Yeah yeah I'm sure. There should be woods nearby and my dad told me there's a lake there that has clean water and there's a bunker or something with food." She had an arm around both the boys' necks, her leg hurting more with the minute. "Let's just hurry. I think I can see some trees." Lelia said. She was walking up front, to see if anyone or anything was coming. Nothing had, though. The neighborhood seemed completely empty, which wasn't weird since most of the human race had already been wiped out.

They walked for about half an hour more, when they actually saw the woods. They all sighed in relief. "Told you the woods existed. Now we just have to go north and we'll eventually see the lake."

And so they did. Four teenagers, walking north into woods they had never been in.

It was there. Katana's dad hadn't been lying to her. They saw a lake and just a few meters further, there was a small building with a door. Weird thing was, the door was open. Someone had been there already. "Let's umm check that out later. I think I have to clean up this wound before I get an infection." Katana said, wincing when she tried to walk there on her own. Just when Austin and Brandey were gonna help her go over there, they heard a coughing sound. They turned around and saw an older guy stumbling out of the small building. His body was covered with extreme burns and he was completely red from it. "It's all gone. I burned it all." His raspy voice said. Then he fell down and they watched as he blew out his last breath.