The Last Plague

Chapter Forty: Listen, Listen, Listen

"They need to listen. They need to listen." The man was sitting on a bench staring at the floor. "They need to listen." He continued repeating the same phrase to himself. "They need to listen." He sounded like he was crying. He lifted up his head and looked at us when we walked in. His face was tear-stricken. "Are you here to listen?" he asked with a broken voice.

"Yes, we will listen. What do you have to say?" Trina said calmly. She took a seat in front of the cell.

I and Grayson sat on the bench and looked at him.

"I saw them. There were thousands, more than I could count. They went on forever. They are coming. We don't have much time. We have to run. If we don't get out of here we will die," he rambled on, saying everything quickly with a fearful tone.

"What's coming, what do you mean they? Are you talking about zombies, are they coming here?" Trina asked, sounding calm and sweet to him.

"Yes, yes, zombies, they're coming. Thousands, more than I could count. We have to run. They're going to kill us all." He started rambling on again.

"So, they're coming here?" Trina asked him again, still sounding sweet.

"Yes, here, they are all coming here. It's like a wave of them. Too many to count. They are going to kill us all. We don't have much longer. We have to run." He started repeating what he had said before again.

"When are they going to get here? How much time do we have?" Trina asked, starting to talk quicker, but still sounding calm and sweet.

"Tomorrow," he said. "They are coming tomorrow. We don't have much time. We have to run." He started rambling on again. He sat back down and started crying again.

Trina didn't seem like she could talk anymore. She sat there looking at him sympathetically. She seemed to be starting to cry.

"Do we need to know anything else?" Grayson asked him, looking at the door.

"They're coming tomorrow. Thousands of them, they're coming tomorrow. Nothing else, just thousands of them, coming tomorrow." He started rambling on again.

A guard pounded on the door, then came in like he hadn't knocked at all. "Your time is over. Now get out of here," he said, still sounding annoyed.

We all walked out of there, leaving the man behind. I didn't know whether or not we should run or not. The man was obviously crazy. But what he was saying, was it true? I didn't know what to think. The man seemed so certain, but that may not say anything. He could know something we didn't.

"Do you think what he was saying is true?" Trina asked, breaking the silence.

"As I said, I don't think we'll know until something does or doesn't happen," Grayson answered Trina. "What do you two think? Should we go and try to find somewhere else?"

I stood there listening to the conversation. "I think we should pack up," I said, then silenced myself.

"Were you going to say something there?" Grayson asked, looking at me in the eye.

"Okay, I know it's crazy just doing something based on what a crazy stranger said, but I think we should do it," I told them, hoping I'd sound convincing. "He obviously knows something. I say, we pack up and write suicide notes—"

"You're kidding me, right?" Trina said, "Nobody knows who we are, or even that we are alive. What good would a suicide note be? Grayson, do you have any family or friends here?"

"No, I stay mostly to myself," Grayson responded to Trina.

I was worried for a moment, but I began to grow calm. I thought Trina was speaking out against the plan. She just didn't want to write any notes. I felt calm and ready again.