Pompocalypse

One

"There was a cult in Pompeii, before the volcano erupted, and they worshipped Terra; Mother Earth; one of the Gods of the Pantheon," the slowly withering lady wheezed as I cradled her in my arms. "This cult was not following the rest of the city in its worship of another God, and were soon punished for their betrayal by the community. Terra did not see this, nor did she come to their aid, because, as legend tells us, she believed that she should be the only one receiving worship at the time, for she was the Mother of the land they lived upon."

The woman shuddered and spluttered as her body was sent into yet another fit of coughs. All I could do was look away, struggling not to get emotional.

I felt Mark's warm hand touch my back, comforting me. I looked up to see he already had his machete unsheathed. He too knew that her time was coming to an end.

"Terra stopped receiving sacrifices from this cult, and that angered her, because she believed that the citizens of Pompeii no longer appreciated the land she had worked hard to provide for them. And, as punishment, she unleashed the infection upon the people..."

The infection.
The fungal infection, killing its host then making them walk again.
Making them zombies.

Blood began to seep from the elder's lips, and it was then that I began to release my hold on her, placing her on the ground. Mark pulled me close for a brief hug, giving me some form of support, before he raised his machete into the air and brought it down through the frail woman's skull.

Rest in peace.

For a moment, all that could be heard between us was the wind as it wildly whipped past us upon the hillside, carrying away the woman's soul. Hopefully it finds its way to the Heavens...

"Your mask is filling with condensation," Mark stated as he wiped his blade with a rag. "We'll head back to the boat so you can fix yourself up, okay?"

The tone he used was so soft and caring for someone who had just slashed open a person's head... But, then again, that is our life now. That is what we need to do to survive, and what we just did for that woman was save her the pain of losing her life and becoming one of the walking dead.

I gave him a slight nod, sniffing a little, refusing to make eye contact. I hadn't noticed that I had begun crying.
He lightly kicked at the ground. "Alright, well, let's go then."

He led the way, I simply followed.

My mind wandered through my memories, finding itself buried deep into the memory of the day the infection unleashed its deadly claws upon the human race and attacked us ferociously. Never before had humanity seen a plague spread so quickly within a short amount of time. Within 24 hours of the infections discovery, the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa were already contaminated and under lockdown. Next came North and South America, then Australia, all within a 48 hour time span. The world had no time to prepare themselves for such a pandemic, therefore they had no idea how to protect themselves, so the entire human race found itself being switched into panic mode.

I remember the day I learnt of the pandemic-

"Luna," a deep, yet gentle voice broke through my thoughts.

My head snapped upwards as I came face to face with Mark. I froze.

He sighed. "I can always sense when you're thinking about the past...how we got into this mess. Also, I know you feel guilty for what just happened-"

"We had to," I interrupted. Mark seemed taken back. "We had to do it, Mark; I know that. Yeah, sure, I feel guilty for taking someone's life, but its better this way. I mean, who wants to suffer the alternate fate? The process of turning into one of those-"