End of Humanity

PRESENT - 2 WEEKS AFTER THE ATTACK

F I V E

The girl doesn't stop running. She gets closer to the house. I quietly rush down the stairs. I wait in front of the door. If the door gets smashed down it's a Lunatic and I have a few seconds to run or stab it. If it can't be barged down then it's human.

But what do I do if it's human? Let them in? What if they are a part of a gang and are here to raid my home? It doesn't feel like my time is up yet. I hope.

I hear footsteps on the front porch and heavy breathing. The door knob jiggles, "Oh come on." The girl sounds young, maybe in her early years of high school. The door moves as the girl slams in to it.

I sneak to the wall next to the door knob. I press my back against the wall and grip the knife in my right hand tighter. I slowly and quietly unlock the locks on the door. I turn the door knob at the right time, she slams into the door and falls to the ground. I quickly shut the door and grab the front of the girl's shirt. I pull her close and place the knife against her neck.

Her wide, chocolate brown eyes look into mine. Dark circles rest under her eyes. Dirt and sweat overlays her bronze toned skin. "Who are you?" I demand, keeping the knife to her neck.

"I'm Kaylee. I didn't expect anybody to be here. I need food and medical supplies for my brother. He's hurt."

"What do you mean he's hurt?" I question.

"A few days ago my brother, Alfred, and I were seen by those cannibal things. They chased us and one got to my brother. It scratched his entire back leaving deep cuts. He's gotten really sick, I think the scratches have gotten infected?" I stare into her eyes, it doesn't seem like she's lying.

"How did you get away from the Lunatics?" I ask her.

"Lunatics? Oh those things. Uh, they aren't that smart so I hid my brother in a small shop and distracted them. They followed me and I somehow lost them. I dragged my brother back to our hideout-"

"Where's your hideout? Where's your brother?" I interrupt her. "I left him at our Uncles farm, in the barn."

"Where's the farm?"

"Its about an hour and a half walk away from here." It's around two in the afternoon. We will reach the farm at three-thirty. If we have to carry her brother then that would slow us down on the way back here and we won't get back home before night falls. I guess I can take supplies there and wait out there for the night.

I pull the knife away from her throat. "You better not be lying to me. I will grab the supplies. We need to get to the barn as soon as possible, hopefully your brother isn't dead already." I walk down the hall to the kitchen. I grab my old school backpack. I place three apples and some salad I prepared earlier in plastic containers. I take two bottles of water and put them with the food.

Kaylee stands in the section where the dining room and kitchen meet. She has a small figure. The clothes she is wearing are baggy on her. "Are you hungry?" I throw her banana. Kaylee fumbles for it and eventually catches it. "Thanks." She says as she peels the banana and starts to eat.

"How can I help?" She asks as soon as she swallows a bite of the banana. "The first aid kit is in the bathroom down the hall, second door on your left. The first aid kit is under the sink. If you want to go get it that would help."

Kaylee walks down the hall and into the bathroom. She comes back with the first aid kit in one hand and a photo frame in the other. "Is this your family?" She asks as she holds up the photo for me to see.

That's the photo from the side table in the hall near the front door. After the attack I placed the photo frame face down because I couldn't bare looking at it. The photo was taken when we took a day long road trip to Mt Buller in Victoria. It was for Mum's birthday, she always wanted to celebrate her birthday in the snow. We live in Queensland, were not a single snowflake falls.

Dad took that photo, all of us were in beanies, snow goggles and thick clothing suitable for the cold. We spent a week there in a ski lodge, we had so much fun. I remember Mandy getting frustrated because she couldn't use the snowboard without falling over. Mum always had a smile on her face, it didn't even go away when she was sleeping.

I stare at all of us with the biggest smiles anybody could ever make. Tears start to form in my eyes, I hang my head to the surface of the counter and blink them away. After a second I look back up at Kaylee. "Good, you found the first aid kit." I change the subject. I walk up to her and take the kit from her grasp.

I open the first aid kit to make sure every is there.

Bandages- check. Dressings- check. Disposable gloves- check. Notepad and pencil- check. Adhesive tape- check. Band-Aids- check. Four tubes of saline solution- check. Scissors- check. Tweezers- check, and lastly the first aid booklet.

I shove the first aid kit into the backpack and say "Lets head off."