Fever Dream Red

10

We reached the end and then started turning around.

"We're not going with you." Skye remarked.
"Why? They could help us!" Doug argued.
"They could help us? They could also kill us and loot our bodies!" Lily intervened. "We were lucky enough to survive the apocalypse in the first place. Are you really going to risk it all for some stranger?"

And with that, they all sped off to Albermis.

We drove back towards Gloomy Cay. As I said, we were never really away from it for long. I expect that it welcomed us back with rolled eyes. Even it couldn't understand why we had come back. I can't when I look back.

It's funny how sometimes, the smallest pebble makes the largest ripple when it smacks the ocean.

As we got closer to this man we had seen, we realised he was not alone. There were five of them.

His image cleared and resoluted until we could see him in all of his strange glory.

It first caught my eye that he was wearing a suit. A suit, of all things. Nobody wore a suit in an apocalypse. It was like he was attending a party. A party of death.

Every inch of his suit was clean too. Spotless, except the slightest memory of dusty sand on the bottom of his black patent shoes.

His hair was slicked back effortlessy. I considered asking him he used.

My hair was naturally straight, but whenever I went to put it into a high ponytail, strokes of nightly hair would stick up, like disobedient waves.

His skin was tanned, and healthy, if a little aged. I would place him at around the forty mark. Ge could have been older.

I remember the stupid glasses he wore. I could tell he thought he looked super cool, but he looked more like a skinny bouncer at a high-end bar or nightclub.

I hated those stupid sunglasses. They allowed him to ignore the sun as he seemed to willfully ignore the current circumstances.

We all got out of the pickup truck. The other four men stood behind the main man, who was standing front and centre. That's how I knew he was the main man. The other men were wearing the same, including the sunglasses. They were just different people.

"Why the rush?" He asked us, as if he were the police and we were criminals who had made a much too quick getaway. As if we were speeding off out of a party, not a disease.

An awkward silence ensued.

Doug laughed."We were going to Albermis. We figured the bombing was done so..." Doug paused at the minute, snapping his fingers and fixating on the ground. He had lost his words. He couldn't remember what to say.

"We could get supplied and then get the hell out of there." Alfie finished.
Doug laughed and smiled at Alfie. Half the time I thought they were in love with each other.

They were in love with each other.

"Oh. I see."
"Why are you not rushing?" Alfie asked the man.
"I have everything I need here." He fixed a pageant smile to his face and turned it up to Alfie.

An awkwardness also ensued after that ominous statement.

The man shook his head much like a wet dog and extended his hand.

"I'm Nicholas. But you guys can call me Nick." He smile reassuringly at Alfie. Alfie took his hand with an almost intelligible flicker of hesitance. I thought I saw it. I could've been wrong.

"I'm Alfie. And this is Doug, Sunny, Danny, Inez, Sunny,"
"And Zack." Zack finished. He was all by himself.

"Would you like me to give you a tour?" Nick asked.
"Oh no sir. You don't understand. We grew up here. We just came back until everything blew over." Danny explained.
"Not the island. My base. My home. You can even get supplies there, if you'd like. Then you can be on your way." Nick offered.

We all looked at each other with slight worry.

"I'm not sure-"
"Please. We love new company at The Base."

My awkward smile transformed into a grimace.

"That city is getting picked out hollow right now." Nick said, pointing at the city,"You go in there and you will find nothing So what do you say?"

"Sure." Doug answered, before any of us could politely decline. If looks could kill, Doug would've been dead. Dead as a doorknob.

The men opened up the doors to the three cars. I went in with Danny and Inez. We were all squashed in like little kids on a roadtrip.

The posh cars reminded me of the ones I had seen in the old films. I didn't know who Nick thought he was. He wasn't some kind of celebrity. He was a randomer none of us had been aware of until ten minutes before.

And now we had been whisked away to wherever. I heard that after a kidnapper takes you to a second location, you might as well say your prayers. The worst ting you can let a kidnapper do is take you to a second location.

We were going to get murdered because of our politeness and Doug's stupidity. What a life.

I took my last moments to gaze outside at the sea. I'd like to think that the waves crashing against the cliffs were silent screams for us. I don't think they were. The sea is always screaming.

Danny and Inez didn't seem to care anymore. If anything, they seemed bored with the whole procedure. If they died now, they'd probably be grateful for it.

But this was my chance to be somebody. Surely being one of the last remaining living humans was something? Something unusual. Something interesting.

I wouldn't leave any kind of legacy, no, but I'd have a life. I think that sometimes people get too dumped down about legacies and things like that. In ten years everyone forgot your name anyway.

The Base began coming into view. I only knew this because the driver kept telling us. The driver was saying all sorts. I couldn't tell you half of it. I blocked it out.

It was all so... boring.

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Thanks to dojacant for doing so. It is appreciated :)