𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦

✮7. It's Not Over Yet✮

In three days. We were finally going to be rescued in three days. I did not know how to process this unexpected news. The man who spoke these words, felt like God to me. 

Yara was clapping her hands, crying tears of joy while I just stood there, trying to process it all in. A smile slowly formed on my face, and tears of relief escaped my eyes. I got up an hugged Yara, and we spun around as if we had just won the lottery. Not going to lie, this felt even luckier. 

Yara and I immediately got down to packing. We found a bunch of rug sacks into which we filled a few bottles of water and the food we found next door. The rescue was going to happen in 3 days time, and it was going to take 8 hours to reach our destination. We decided to leave a day early, to be prepared for the operation. We were relying on the car that brought us here. It was still crashed into the fire hydrant but at least this time there wasn't an undead on it! Except of a few dents in the front and back, the car seemed fine to me when I examined it from the window. 

We ate our last cans of baked beans. This meal felt delicious and satisfying  for some reason and trust me, I have never found beans tasty. Maybe it was because it was the last meal we had here, knowing we would be rescued tomorrow, away from this chaos. 

Our last night in Dirk's apartment, we decided to properly clean everything up. Although a jerk, he did provide us with food, comfort(literal) and safety. We cleaned the kitchen counter, rearranged his family pictures and made his house spick and span. Through out all this, I still kept the letter with me. I did feel guilty about it but seeing Yara finally happy and bright, I kept it to myself. After we were done, we bid each other good night and went to sleep immediately, dreaming about the bright tomorrow.

"So, I guess it's goodbye huh?", I said while standing on the doorway of the apartment. When  Yara was done zipping her backpack and putting it on, she went to the lobby window sill, and plucked fresh flowers. She took out a glass with fresh water, putting the dazzling white lilies inside. "Jerk or not, we owe him", she said, to which I agreed. 

Gripping our hockey sticks, we slowly went down the stair case. It was noon and I couldn't see any undead in my view. Praying the car had gas, we opened the doors and sat down taking extra precautions not to make any unnecessarily loud noises. 

The suspense in the car built up as I turned the key around (in the faint whispering of Yara, "Please, please, please." The car started, successfully. It had enough gas for the journey halfway. Ignoring the thought of if gas stations were still open, I reversed the car. The body of the man on top of our car a few days back, came into view. It was now decomposing, with rotting blood and left side of his eye and jaw were completely missing. Scrunching our noses, we rolled the windows up. "Ready?", I sighed asking  Yara. "Have to be", she responded. Giving a nod of approval to the honest answer, I started the journey by pressing the accelerator .

As I drove, the perils of the city became more and more visible. It was way worse than I had thought it was going to be. Burnt and some even collapsed buildings came into view, along with abandoned vehicles on the road. Dead bodies were littered on the side walk and the road. But worst of all, there roamed the undead. They were moving about aimlessly, though their motive was to find their next pray. These lifeless corpses' grey, red rimmed eyes projected a soulless body with no consciousness or humanity left in them. I felt sorry for those who turned and sorry for the loved ones who watched them turn. 

"Our city's...gone", Yara said, gazing around with sympathetic eyes. I felt tears well up in my eyes. I was brought up here, mostly by my grandmother after my mom left. This was my home town, Sunny Bay Area. Funny name, I agree but this place was all I had ever known. Far from Sunny, the sky was overcast with grey clouds with an air of grimness, as if the weather aligned up with the circumstances. 

Some undead had spotted us, and had started running towards us with good speed. Fortunately, they couldn't outrun a car but the sight of them still made me a bit anxious. I pressed on the accelerator more to pick up enough speed, to get them out of our sights.

"Guess we won't be graduating any time soon huh?", I joked. "Nope, guess not", she smiled. After a few seconds I said, "Be strong, okay? I'm sure we'll be fine. Now, let me see if the radio's working", I pressed a button. 

"...in these times of lost hope and grief, this next one will definitely  lift your spirits up. Don't give up yet...", the woman said in a calm voice. A song started playing, with an upbeat tune.

"...And they are inside your head, You got a voice that says, You won't get past this one, You won't win your freedom. It's like a constant war, And you wanna settle that score, But you're bruised and beaten, And you feel defeated. This goes out to the heaviest hearts, Oh, To everyone who's hit their limit, It's not over yet, It's not over yet..."

-It's Not Over Yet by for the KING & COUNTRY