Apocalypse [1]

Day 1- 16.35pm

 The air was cooling and darkness cast itself over the fields. Ginge’s farm was unusually peaceful, considering the circumstances, but Gemma wanted to be alone. She walked the perimeter of the land, her arms wrapped tightly around her body to stop herself from shivering. She came to a halt, turning to realise that Ginge’s house was merely a speck in the distance.

 The expanse of land around her was strange in comparison to where she lived, an estate surrounded by other houses and very little green land. She was serene, the calm wind blowing strands of her hair into her face. She allowed her guard to break down as she sat on the soft muddy ground. Her head still ached from her accident earlier that day, and her eyes fluttered closed. She felt herself fall back, her spine pressed against the mud.

 Gemma allowed her mind to drift back to happier days, when her biggest problem was choosing what to wear for college. Whether to have a barbecue or sleepover for her birthday. Whether to be a lawyer, or be a groupie for One Direction. A hard decision, she thought to herself jokingly, smiling as Harry Styles’ face swam into her head. But now that she’d been thrown into a world where nothing was certain, and death hung in the air ominously, she wasn’t sure where her place was. She found herself longing for boring college lectures, for her bickering younger brothers and the early college mornings she used to detest. Anything is better than this, she thought. Anything.

 A low growl filled the air. Through the haziness of her headache, Gemma wondered whether it was her dog coming to join her in solitude of the field. She smiled to herself as she felt paws rest on her shoulders, heavy and insistent. But something was wrong. Gemma knew it. The smell of decay filled her nose, and she began to tremble. Her eyes snapped open, just as the grotesque monster sunk its teeth into her face.

***

 Rori scoured the farm land desperately with a pair of binoculars, Hayley and Laura stood grimly at his side.

 “I…I can’t see her. She was there a minute ago, I swear it. She promised to stay in sight, but she’s gone,” he said despairingly.

 “She can’t be far if you saw her a minute ago,” Hayley reasoned, but she was worried. They all were. And with good reason.

 Distant screams filled their ears. Laura and Rori exchanged a quick glance.

 “The quad. Now,” Luke said, appearing from indoors at the sound of Gemma’s helpless wails. Hayley produced her screwdriver and a newly adopted pair of large garden clippers as she dived for the quad bike several metres away, positioned for emergencies. Rori joined her side as Luke assumed the role of driver. He began to drive at full speed, not stopping to wait for Laura, and she was forced to sprint alongside the quad until Rori managed to pull her aboard.

 Luke’s face was set in a stony glare of determination as they grew ever closer to the trouble. A group of feasting zombies came into their eye line, a body drowning in the mass of them. Luke stopped the quad and dived off, rolling and raising his crowbar above his head, ready to strike. The others quickly followed, Laura’s shovel connecting with the largest creature’s abdomen and flawing him instantly. She stomped on its head at the same time as smashing the skull of another, determined to avenge Gemma’s death, which was evident from the mangled human carcass a metre or so away.

 Hayley’s face was streaked with tears as she plunged the garden scissors into a zombie’s stomach, pulling them away sharply and drawing out a string of innards. Another time, the goriness may have bothered her, but she was too distraught to care. Rori helped her out, beheading the creature with his axe. His eyes too, were rimmed with tears, though from exhaustion or remorse, even he didn’t know.

 They soon stood panting in a field of blood, the last of the zombies massacred as silence descended. Laura sobbed as she approached Gemma’s body. She was only recognizable by the leftovers of her clothes and her One Direction bracelet, the rest of her body devoured or left to rot. Laura drew back, unashamed as she cried. Hayley shuffled forward and they hugged desperately, their tears dripping on one another’s shoulders as they shook with sobs. Rori stood awkwardly, his head bowed like Luke’s in solemn respect. When the two girls finally regained some composure, they fell silent, staring at their friend in horror.

 “We’ll cremate her,” Luke told them, decisively but quietly. Then, he turned his back and returned to the quad to collect some wood.

***

  The sky was black. No stars were visible that night. Only the moon acted as a break from the black blanket of velvety sky above. The group stood around the newly built pyre, Gemma’s body resting upon it, covered by an old sheet. No one said a word as Luke lit a match and threw it on the makeshift pyre. The sheet covering her body caught fire, and soon the whole pyre was aflame. Poppy watched sadly as smoke began to dance upwards in the darkness.

 “Gemma made a mistake,” Luke said to them all as they watched.  “She let her guard down. She allowed herself to get in a state of vulnerability. Let this be a lesson to us all,” he finished coldly. Yet there was too much truth in what he was saying to ignore it. Everyone listened to him because they knew he was right. When he began to walk back to the house, no one stopped him. Poppy noted that even as he walked, he was alert and ready to fight.

 Slowly, people began to drift back to the house in small groups, but Hayley and Laura stayed long after everyone else had returned. Just as Hayley turned to leave, Laura asked her a question.

 “Do you think there’s heaven?” she asked.

 “No,” Hayley replied truthfully.  “But I hope there is. Or at least somewhere better than here. For Gemma.”

 “For Gemma,” Laura repeated quietly. Hayley slung an arm around her shoulder and they walked back to the house in solemn silence.