The Last Ones Left

Chapter Four

It's a long walk to town, I realize. What Caleb showed me was just a suburb, a place for a few houses. Sarah says, compared to the town that place is nothing.

"How long have things been like this?" I ask tentatively, already breathing hard from the long walk.

"A while. I don't know exactly how long. I've lost track of days, weeks, months..." Then, she whispers, "years."

I say nothing, just keep walking. My legs burn, and my feet are frozen. My toes are raw from being shoved against the toes of my shoes. My socks make my feet even colder; they're drenched in sweat.

"Are you sure," Sarah says slowly, "that you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?"

I take a deep breath. "I'm sure. Well, I think. It's like, there's something in the farthest corner of my mind, from a long time ago, but I can't tell what it is."

She almost looks relieved by this. "Oh." For a few moments, there is silence. Then, she says, "You know, this may seem... Weird, but it's almost like I can remember especially well. It's disorientating. I mean, I remember every second of when I was younger. Of when the world wasn't..."

"Every second?" I say hopefully. Maybe she can help me rediscover the past.

Of course she can. She remembers every second.

'That's not always a good thing," she says. "At least for you, it's like a new start. You've never seen anything bad. Not like me. All you know is-- well-- nothing. Me, I've gone through awful things." She looks me in the eye. "Things I'd rather forget."

"But it's better for you. You still have hope. You still remember the good things. You remember where you came from. You've experienced amazing things, and you remember all of it."

"Maybe so," she says, "but one bad thing can ruin a million amazing ones. And, trust me, I've seen more than one bad thing."

"You're better off than I am. Like you said-- I've experienced nothing," I say, somewhat hurt. She's almost trying to one-up everything I say. Oh, something special happened to you. Well, I'm more special than you. Oh, you've seen some scary shit within the past two days. Well, I've seen a lot worse.

She stops walking and looks me in the eye. Her bright yellow eyes gleam, shining though no light is hitting them. She clenches her fists. "Christina, would you rather be scarred or thoughtless? Would you rather know everything, or nothing? Would you rather be dead and happy, or alive and ruined?"

I stare back into her eyes. "Sarah, I'd rather be the person I am right now."

She breaks away from my glance and turns her back to me. "I just-- I wish things were different," she confesses after a few moments of silence. "I wish the world wasn't like this. I've been living for two thousand years." She wipes a tear from her eyes. Looking into her pupils, it's almost like they're flickering, like a fire. "The worst part is, I want to die. I know I can. I just..." She gestures towards her eyes. "Up until now, I knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't just leave Caleb here, like some sort of beast. He'd never make it alone."

She starts walking again. "Yesterday, when you woke up again, I had the worst thought. You know what it was? I could do it now. I wouldn't leave Caleb here alone. And now, someone here could fix this. Nobody'd care if I died."

"I would care," I mutter, shocked. How could she think of leaving us here like this?

"The world wouldn't care." She snorts. "You know how many people I couldn't save? I tried, Chris, I tried, but it was impossible."

"What-- what happened? If you can't die, then how could you let this happen?"

"That's what Caleb said," she says dryly. "Frankly, I tried, but when people started dieing without any warning, you just start not to give a shit."

"But you have to care," I persist. "You can't just let them die."

"I didn't. I just didn't go out of my way to save people who were already dying."

She stops walking. "We're here. Welcome to New York."

I cover my mouth with my hands. "Oh my God," I mumble.

I can hardly even look at the awful sight before me. "Terrible, ain't it?" Sarah says, putting a heavy hand on my back.

All around me are signs of a fallen city. Half-crushed factories, hoses ripped in two, and, worst of all...

Corpses. Skeletons.

"How long has it been?" I say between gags, eyes watering. My God. These-- people....

"I told you, I don't know."

"They- you-"

"Yeah. We thought, back then, if you were here then we could prevent this. Well, this is what's happened since."

We stand in silence for a while, and then I mutter, "Let's go. No use just staring..."

Sarah nods and starts walking towards a somewhat-intact building. "Looks like a store. We can find something here, probably."

And so, holding my breath, I walk to the store-

And through a pile of bodies.