A World Gone Under

An End

Slicing through bodies, I seem to dance in their blood. It's almost a graceful ballet, dodging and lunging and slicing and dicing. It's a dangerous game with teeth and nails and weapons of sorts. Their blood stains my clothes, everyone's clothes, often. It's a different type though, it's not the normal, beautiful deep red. Their blood itself seems rotten, a mix of green and blue and a hint of red. Like a kindergartners paint pallet before they learned anything artistic. But of course I'm not the only one, beside me I see Z's go down from a hole in their chest, or an arrow through their neck. Everyone's further back, but I like the thrill of hand-to-hand combat with high risks. I have no idea what Max is contributing to our fight, or if he even is at this point, but I'm too preoccupied to check or even care. A Z lunches at my neck and my sword begins to slice through his throat, but stops halfway as I swing the opposite way for another. His head falls sideways, still hanging on but spewing blood as his body crashes to the floor. I hear bullets whizz past but it sounds like music to my ears now-a-days. BEEP BEEP BEEP."MAX, WHY DONT YOU ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING AND STOP THAT FUCKING NOISE!" Zach shouts. He confirmed my visions that Max was sitting somewhere and just watching. I throw a quick glance and see him hop down from above and slide into the car, and he just sits. I grunt knowing I have to go back and do it instead. I stab another Z through the abdomen and turn swiftly while muttering "useless" and other insults. Stomping back to the car, I yank Max out of the drivers seat and slide in. I pull off the cover and glare at Max again. He knows that means to give him his pocket knife, so he hands it over without a word. I put the knife behind the cords and yank up and out, slicing through and immediately stopping the alarm. I stand back up and slap his knife back into his hand. I look out to the Z's again and notice only a few left. I pull my sword and start off again, aiming to blow my anger at him out on the Z's. From the lack of bullets, I can tell Zach knows I want these last few to myself and he's backed off. As demanding as he is, he isn't too bad, and I now understand why Ember stayed with this group. Not with Max, but it's a small sacrifice I guess. I still hear a gun so I assume Alex is taking out the last few from the back. Less and less new Z's are coming now that the noises stopped, but there's still the groans of their "friends" to guide a few. I do a comical jump-and-stab motion on a Z. Stepping on its chest, I twist my sword in its intestine and yank it back out. I run into the next one and cut him too. I go through a couple and make sure it's at least a little gory. I'm all for that sometimes. I decide to finish off the last one with a show, grabbing the handle of my sword with both hands, I spin in a circle twice. In the process, I've decapitated the last one and land holding the sword in front of me like a fancy cane. Looking out, I see Zach staring at me with a look of contentment and approval. While Alex is looking over his shoulder smirking. Ember and Max didn't see it I suppose but I bet they would have liked it too. We all stand collectively and gather together. "Nice show" Alex says. I chuckle and thank him. "We all did pretty good, probably from that meal, huh?" Everyone agrees, but we all know it's mainly because we're that good. We wouldn't have survived that long if not, so together we were a kick-ass team. I look around at my smiling team before I realize something. "Guys, where's Max?" I see their eyes widen. He's not important but he's part of our group obviously. AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! We all flinch and draw our weapons. Everyone screams, "Max!!!!" And "Where are you?!" But we never get a response besides screams. "He's over here!" shouts Ember, and we all follow her gaze to see Max being toppled by a good five Z's. He isn't too far so Ember begins running towards him before Zach scoops her up. "What are you doing?! We have to save him!" she screams while she struggles. Before he says a word, I completely understand. The screaming continues, both from Max and now Ember too. "Em, honey, he's gone. I know, it hurts us too, but we have to go before he turns, love, we only have a few minutes." Another ear-piercing scream rings out and Ember has burst into tears. Although he wasn't a good addition to the team, anyone who's survived this long has a bond together. Zach holds Ember wedding-style and carries her away. He glances over his shoulder at me and Alex, with a tiny sadness but a look of instruction. I nod at Alex, "Um, I can't slice all of them u-". He cuts me off, "yeah, I got in V." He pulls out a small pistol he has and aims at the Z's. Max is already dead so we don't have to worry about him for maybe 2 minutes. Five shots consecutively and each one meets its mark. Max will be up again within seconds practically. I look sorrowfully at Alex and I hear the bullet crashes through Maxes skull. "Hey, um, I'm going to go say goodbye and get his knife. I know it's weird but I obviously owe him something and..," I let my voice trail off, but Alex understands completely. He nods and kisses my cheek, I blush and walk towards our old accomplice. I stoop down and see the mess that is his forehead. I gingerly cover his wound with his shaggy hair and retreive the knife from his pocket. "Hey, I know we weren't friends and I'm sorry for that. I'm a real bitch a lot and I'm so sorry I wouldn't let you pray before this. Maybe we would have fixed things and gotten along, Ember seemed to enjoy you." I place his hands over his chest, like a cliché casket pose, but it fits him well enough. I feel like a bitch and a coward for treating him the way I did and now acting like I cared, but in a way I did, I only wanted him to get better so this wouldn't happen. I never heard Max talk but his screams would ring in my ears for months.