The House at the End of the Street

Epilogue

I opened my eyes and saw a bright light surrounded by a light blue sky. My eyes stung from the brightness. Then, it faded away and I was awoken by a person I recognized. It was a kid named Connor. Connor Boyle. He was in my class and I knew him pretty well.
"Hello, Zack. We've been expecting you," Connor said, helping me to my feet.
When I first got a good look at my surroundings, I was stunned. It was a beach with golden waves(not literal) and nice, warm sand. The sky was littered with puffy white clouds and the sky was a light blue.
"Where am I?" I asked Connor.
"This is heaven. It's not... heaven, per say, but it's the traveler's way to heaven," Connor replied.
"What?" I asked, unable to understand.
"There are a few things that you need to know before you come into heaven... well specifically you. Since you saved the world, you get the decision to stay here, or go back to earth," Connor said.
"Really?!" I asked, excitedly.
"Yep! But, I wanted you to see a few people before you made a decision," Connor said.
Connor snapped his fingers and an entrance opened up. Five people walked out of that entrance, all which I knew. It was Kaycie, Gracie, Philip, Ethan, and Dade. They had come back.
"Is... that really y'all??" I asked, losing my breath from excitement.
"Long time no see," Dade said.
I ran up to Dade and hugged him, after seeing his death and having to live with the thought that I was part in his death was awful and finally being able to see him again was amazing.
"Ethan!" I yelled, giving him a high-five.
Kaycie and Gracie shook my hand.
"Good to see you again," Kaycie said.
"You too," I replied to her.
"Hey, Zack. I got cut early because of Tristan. He told me there was an emergency outside and when we got there, he knocked me out. He killed me with that hit," Philip explained.
"I get that now," I replied.
"So, Zack. The options are to stay here with Dade, Ethan, Philip, Kaycie, and Gracie, or go back to earth with Mae, Conner, and Jhett. It's your choice," Connor reminded.
Connor waved his hand to show an image. It was Jhett, Conner, and Mae standing around a small grave with my machete I'd left on top of the roof stuck in front of it. It was sad, knowing they thought I'd died.
"Now that I think about it, I'm not sure," I said, wondering what I should do.
"You should go back down to them. It's obvious they need you," Dade said.
"Yeah, Dade's right. You're better with them than with us," Kaycie said too.
"I agree," Philip replied to me.
"Alright. It was fun for the few minutes I got to spend with y'all. I will never forget y'all," I said, turning to Connor.
"So?" Connor asked.
"I'd like to go back to earth," I told him.
"Alright. This might hurt, but good luck with them," Connor said, snapping his fingers.
I blacked out.

I opened my eyes and saw light. I looked up and saw a light blue sky above me. I was under the rubble of the house at the end of the street. I started pushing away the rubble and climbing upwards. CRACK! I stepped on the lamp I'd originally went inside the house for, but I left it, knowing it would haunt me.
I continued to climb upwards until I was just under the surface of rubble. I looked around and saw Jhett, Mae, and Conner still standing around the small grave. I pushed away the rubble and popped my head up. Jhett turned around and saw me climbing out of the rubble.
"No way," Jhett said, looking at me.
"What?" Mae asked, turning around.
"What's over there?" Conner asked, turning around as well.
I was now standing proudly on the rubble of the house.
"What'd I miss?" I joked.
Mae, Conner, and Jhett came flying towards me and started a group hug. We were in a lock for what seemed like forever.
"How?" Mae asked, crying from happiness.
"They gave me a choice. Stay with Dade, Gracie, Kaycie, Ethan, and Philip in heaven, or go back down to earth and stay with you guys," I replied.
"That's crazy," Jhett told me.
"What happened to Salvullaz? Is he gone?" I asked.
"Yep! After the explosion, he shrunk down to his normal size and fell over, turning into dust and disappearing forever," Mae replied, smiling.
After a few minutes of explaining how I survived the explosion and how cool it was that Salvullaz was dead, Mae ran inside the house and came outside with a traditional radio from sports and news and random stuff like that.
"I found this while coming down the stairs after you're almost death," Mae said, turning the nozzle.
"So, what can it do?" Jhett asked.
"I can turn it to December 25th," Mae said, adjusting the nozzle.
"Good Afternoon and a Merry Christmas to everyone! A little bit of news this morning, a virus has broken out in a small town in southern Mississippi called Ocean Springs. The people it infects become zombie-like creatures and start to have an appetite for human flesh," A report said.
"Change it to January 25th," I told Mae.
Mae adjusted the nozzle to January 25th.
"Good Afternoon! Today is January 25th and the virus in Ocean Springs has spread to the southern states of the USA. It had now infected the entirety of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and half of Georgia. We have more information on that at six," Another report said.
"And this is March 5th," Mae said, turning the nozzle.
"This is an urgent message. The virus that had originated in Ocean Springs had spread to 99% of the world and had infected more than 7.6 Billion people leaving less than a hundred million people unaffected. It had traveled from boats and planes. Stay indoors and protect yourself from any people or anything that might come inside your home. This is now the zombie apocalypse," The final report said.
We were all stunned from the three news reports. We didn't know what to think of it.
"What does this mean?" Jhett asked me.
"It means... I've screwed the world," I replied.
"Wait! There's one more report from March 6th," Mae exclaimed, letting the report play.
"As the apocalypse devastated the world, we had created four last safe places. One in Beijing, China, One in Berlin, Germany, Sydney, Australia, and Lima, Peru. If you are located near any of these places, please go and make your way to one of them.
Each place is 100 acres of land in the town square. There are many things inside the shelter. Good luck, stay safe, and I hope to see you in one," The report ended.
"So, how the hell do we get to Peru?" Conner asked.
"We walk. We'll walk down the Gulf of Mexico and through Mexico, through Latin America, and to Peru. If we can find a car, that would be nice," I replied.
With that, we were off. Salvullaz may have been dead, but nothing else was. Monsters and zombies littered the place. Nowhere was safe, but with us, we were determined to survive.
Survival was the only thing on our minds. We had to stick together to survive this. We needed to survive. That was the only option. Peru was the last safe place and we would get there, no matter the costs. The House at the End of the Street was gone, but our spirits were not.
We will never give up, even through the hardships. This was it, the last safe place was in Peru, and we were going to get there, no matter what happened. But no matter what happened, we would never forget each other. We will not give up and we will make it to Peru, no matter what gets in our way.