When August Ends

Hunting

"Well these days I'm fine,
And these days I tend to lie.
I'll take the west train,
Just by the side of Amsterdam,
Just by my left brain,
Just by the side of the tin man."

-Amsterdam, Imagine Dragons

Jack's P.O.V.

The sun is blaring in the sky and from my position on the ground, it appears the vultures are circling around it like a halo. I'm sure they are well fed in these times. Disgusting birds. I slash the brush around me as I half look for Grace, and half look for Rachel. Grace has been frantic all this time trying to find Rachel these past days, but in all seriousness, I don't want her to find Rachel because when we think realistically? Rachel is somewhere as either a half eaten corpse or a walking one. These unpleasant experiences are scarring and I don't want Grace to be scarred any more than she has to be. Losing Maya was a major shock to her, to all of us in fact, and I don't know how much more she can take until she cracks.

A dragonfly buzzes around my head and I pause to watch it. It lands on a branch that is covered in crisp green leaves. A ray of sun hits the creatures wings causing them to shimmer like pearl, and for a moment I miss my camera. Everything is beautiful, but it doesn't last. In a moment the dragonfly will speed away and this image before me will fade from my mind. Cameras can make things immortal, but I can't imagine how much of this world is left that deserves to be immortalized. Everything is fading and soon, all that will be left is the darkest of humanity. The dragonfly lifts off of the branch and flits away. I'm realizing that the bright can't survive for long without being corrupted in this world.

My thought's are interrupted however by the sound of a snapping twig. I tense and look around. My chains are slung around me like a sash but it would be to loud to both sheath my machete and then get the chains unclipped and ready for a fight. So I just instinctively crouch down. Luckily I'm wearing a black t-shirt (one that I dismembered the sleeves of since I'm against them) and brown khaki shorts. I blend in better than I would in a white shirt. My hands grip the machete hilt tightly as I hear something stumble towards me. It can't be a person who would walk this flagrantly through the forest. No one with a brain walks this noisily when in an apocalypse. I hear low growls and moans which confirm that it is in fact an Infected. One isn't any trouble so I rise and silently rush towards it only to find that I very poorly judged how many I would be facing. Not one gnarled head whips in my direction, but about twenty. My heart skips a beat and I turn to run but I realize they will just follow me back to camp and that won't do a bit of good. Me being dead won't either however. In the split second I've taken to consider my options, more of these things have materialized in my wake. I am completely surrounded. One lunges at me and I drive my blade into it's head, right between the eyes. Another limps at me and I severe half it's head.

I consider using my pistol but I can't picture attracting more of these beasts as a good thing. As they get closer and closer and my options run thinner and thinner. I decide to just fight through one side and make a run for it. The machete is not my choice weapon, I haven't any idea why I brought one with me, but I make it useful. A good seven Infecteds are dead at my feet but they continue to swarm me. Right, left, up, down, I hack away but to no avail. More of them have flooded in from seemingly nowhere. One grabs my arm (the one I'm holding my machete with) and I punch it in the nose, unable to suppress a smirk. That was kind of fun. Fear hasn't really kicked in yet, just the flooding surge to fight my way out of this, so as my blade swims in and out of these corpses it isn't for what people would think. I have this feeling, a very certain feeling, that when this epidemic ends, or nears the end, I'll be one of the last standing. Not because I want to be, because I know how to be.

They are beginning to over power me, pushing me down with force. My chains will do little to nothing for me, and my machete is stuck in the very bony cranium of my last victim. I draw my knife and continue the fight as fowl blood that shouldn't still be red paints my features. A pair of clamoring teeth are centimeters from my collar bone and before I can react a silver point protrudes from it's forehead and then withdraws quickly. With a flash of silver three Infecteds behind me fall, heads split. A hand reaches out to me and I take it.

She's tall, her brown hair in dreads with a colorful bandanna around them, pale skin, knit brows, very thin, and clutching a literal scythe. I nod in thanks, a bit taken back by her aggressive appearance, and then we go about finishing these monsters off, back to back. She is way wore skilled than I'd like to even admit and she takes out ten within a minute, but the more we strike down the more appear. I don't know where they are coming from, but there are too many for just two people no matter how good of a fighter she is. "We should go!" I shout stabbing one and she slashes her blade down, beheading one.

"Then go," she says fiercely cutting down two more.

"You can't take them all alone!" I snap as I down another,

"Then don't make me," she states flatly.

Part of me want's to stay and help her, I do owe her, but there are so many her rescue could just prove useless if we both die. One approaches behind her and grabs her neck. She can't reach it quick enough and it's about to sink it's teeth into her. I throw my knife and it drops dead. She nods gratefully. Now we're even though. "Thank you for your help," I say and dash away, not waiting for her response. I am past the clearing and then I notice a dozen or so more heading towards her direction little ways away from me. I pause. That's a lot of Infecteds for one person, even if they have a damn scythe. I take another step away from her direction and halt. I stomp the ground indignantly. Maybe I don't have the makings to be the last man standing. I turn and run back towards her.

More than a dozen extra have come in the short time I ran. She is literally surrounded even though she continuously decapitates them. It's like a hydra situation. Cut off one head and two more appear. I take my chains and unclip them, then I go join this woman in battle. Chains spinning, scythe killing, and within twenty minutes there are the only ones left standing. She and I stand breathing hard amid a circle of broken corpses, drenched in the blood of the twice dead. She leans down, hands on her knees and looks at the ground. I feel dizzy. "You're quite the fighter," I gasp after a moment.

"Same to you," she breathes deeply and straightens. Her brow is still furrowed, giving her a very calculating look but I suspect she's not truly like that.

"Thank you for helping me." I sigh and flick my chains in attempt to get the gore off of them.

"Thanks for comin' back." she adds looking at me with something between distrust and admiration.

"Sorry I left." I reply and clip my chains together again while she flicks her weapon violently, splattering the blood off the blade and onto the emerald grass. Another unique shot if I had my camera. "You're welcome to come back to my camp if you like," I say and she freezes. She immediately tenses and she holds her sword as if ready to fight again. "You don't have too, but you're welcome there." I add uncertainly.

"I'm not interested," she says in a dangerous tone.

"Just an offer," I say calmly and put my chains around myself again.

"What's the name of your camp then?" she says coldly.

"Name of our group? This is an apocalypse. We're not team avatar we're team survive." I chuckle. She eyes me angrily. "It was a joke. We don't have a group name we're just a rag tag team of people trying to survive. If you need a place to crash, you're welcome. If not, great meeting you...?" I say and then trail off realizing I don't know her name. She remains silent and does not say anything else. I offer her my hand. "I'm Jack." I continue. She looks at my hand skeptically. "If I wanted to hurt you, would I have come back?" I sigh. She squints at me a moment then takes my hand and shakes it.

"Anika," she says.

"Nice to meet you." I reply.