The End of Days

Part 2

"Ow."

Liam blinked slowly, taking in the floors of what he knew to be Chang's shop. He didn't know what had happened or why but that he did know. She had these ugly mustard yellow tiles that were unmistakeable. The only thing out of ordinary was the dried blood, shattered glass and oh right, the bodies.

His hands pressed against the floor as he tried to shove up on his weight. Liam had felt something was off since the moment he'd woken from his blackout but as he took in the state of the room, the events only came back to haunt him.

Chang, Sam, the infected. His hand reached instinctively to his lower back and it jerked away at the texture he touched. Nausea hit him instantly and he went to cover his mouth before realizing which hand it was. What the fuck, what the fuck-

He looked up to spot the figure in the plastic box, along with the broken windows and wood boards which had all been broken in. The moonlight shun on her rotted figure. The guilt and sadness washed over him. How long had she been gone by the time they arrived.

"I'm sorry." The words left his mouth and he was stepping over, grabbing at whatever he could use to get the chain off. Dead or not, he couldn't just leave her there.

Chang draped lifelessly in his arms. He set her down gently to her little rocking chair in her corner until he could find her a better place. He looked around, trying to come up with a guess of what went down after he..what? Died? Did he die? Was he dreaming? Was this hell?

He looked around for Sam. If shit was coming back to haunt him, Liam didn't doubt he would be here as well. He looked to the aisle where it happened and the empty space in the center of the bodies where they had been. Sam was gone. Fear worked its way up his throat as his brain jumped to why that could be. He looked around and couldn't find a body. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

I saved him, he thought. He hated Sam. He'd meant everything he said when he left and there wasn't a single bit of trust Liam had left in the man. But at the end of the day, he would always take that bullet. The only thing he regretted was not sticking around to keep him safe just a little longer.

Sam was gone, Chang was dead and Cam..oh shit.

"CAM!" He shouted out, dashing for the post across the street which was one of the first buildings they'd cleared; a tiny bundle of rundown apartments. He dashed to the second floor, every floor, fighting to ignore the sounds his flesh made.

He huffed, halting at Cameron's perch off the balcony overlooking Chang's. Everything was here but the ginger. He spotted something glinting in the light a few cases down on the rickety fire escape. It took him a second to register what it was but once he did, he crawled out to grab it.

The Ruger dangled from its shoulder strap off one of the broken metal bars lining the railing just a few feet below. Whatever happened to Cam, he must've dropped it. That meant there was a struggle. Those masked bastards, of course they'd be here. 

He looked around, feeling the dull ache on his back. Maybe it was the adrenaline keeping him from fully realizing the extent of his injury. He looked over the building below and thinking about just yesterday when everything felt okay. When everyone he cared for were safe and warm, at least to his knowledge.

The apocalypse had only been easy because he wasn't alone. He never had anything to be scared of. But now..everything that mattered was gone and it was just him. He sat on the seal overlooking the rundown streets and the infected's that walked them. He didn't stop himself this time as he sobbed into his fists, grieving all he'd lost.

It's been 2 days since Liam had woken up at Changs. He'd looked everywhere he could think of for the boys, the mall and the house, the entire block of businesses and the whole street of homes they'd scavenged over the months.