Last On Earth

~3~

"I found that everyone wants power." J finished the last sentence of the book he has been reading to me for the past few days. 

His eyes slightly lingered on the sentence and then he ripped the page out and added it to our own small fire- our tradition. It was the best fuel we found to keep us warm, the pages of my book that I had been reading in the airport. 

Right now, were were just outside of Denver, on the border of it's dangerous streets. J and I knew that the only way to reach where we needed to be was to walk through Denver rather than walk around Denver. But that meant literally setting ourselves up for anything, a war between either humans or monsters. 

"Ready for tomorrow?" J asked me then, pulling me out of my own thoughts. 

"No, but we have to continue, right?" I shrugged and not being sure of anything was officially my lifestyle. 

"It'll be easy." J said, looking at the large and intimidating shadows of the skyscrapers. They looked like deathly creatures, full of monsters, I bet. 

"Can you promise that?" My eyebrow perked up in doubt. Even I wouldn't promise an easy trek because they were rare, almost non existent. The flames flicked, showing J's face in a dim light. 

"I would for you." He said then, his voice soft. I don't know how long it's been since I lost my family, since this all has started, but J told me his own story not too long after we met in that car. He was at the airport traveling to California to see his grandma and other family from his mom's side. But midway through going into security, everything went wrong. 

He said he was glad to be stuck in Colorado, because at least he had the chance, the possibility, to be with his family again. He said he had two parents and a younger sister at home and even if their survival was a low percentage, he would return home. Apparently, our homes were close together. 

We made a deal that we would go to his house first, just because it was the first one from the direction we were coming from the airport. 

And if we didn't find his family, then J would come with me to my house.

And we did find his family, he would still come with me.

He said he wouldn't allow me to be alone, even if the walk would take just a day. 

"We should find some food down there. We have just a bit left." I said then, looking into my bag. Only a few cans were left for the both of us. 

"If we can, if it's safe." J said, yawning mid way. 

'Maybe some gas too." I looked to our car, a small black Honda. A couple of days ago, we reached the empty indicator but for some odd reason, the car was stilling moving. 

"Zoe, you're getting a little too ambitious." J warned, narrowing his eyes at me but with a playful smirk on his lips. 

"If we can, if it's safe." I repeated what he said then, putting my hands up in surrender. We let our fire dry naturally, getting the most out of it and then hopping into the car. We locked the doors to all sides and looked out the back window for a bit. 

"When's your birthday?" J asked me abruptly, it almost startled me. 

"I don't know." I replied, closing my eyes. There was a short silence.

"How do you not know your own birthday?" J asked then with a slight amusement in his voice. 

"The days are lost, what's the point of knowing any date?" I said then, opening my eyes to meet his. 

"I know the date." J said then, pulling off his long sleeve shirt. I had never seen J without a shirt so already I was shocked to see his bare skin. But then I saw his arm, tattooed with dates. 

And it started from the beginning- August twelfth. Apparently, it was September fifth now. 

"I've been marking the days ever since." J said, looking down at his arm with a serious expression. If I looked close enough, long enough, he actually looked proud of what he had done. 

"October twenty second." I replied then, giving him my birthday. 

"Not too far away, girly. What do you want?" J's eyes beamed with excitement and hope. 

And I literally laughed in his face. 

"Go to sleep, J, we have a long day tomorrow." I chuckled, reclining the seat back so I could relax. J was silent for the night, allowing me to fall asleep peacefully. 

The sky was still grey as I woke up and although I really wanted to remain in that innocent slumber, I knew that the day couldn't wait any longer. 

"J." I leaned over and gave him a peck on the lips. He slightly stirred in the driver's seat. 

"Do that again." He muttered with his eyes still shut. So I did. 

We drove slowly into the unknown streets of Denver, a town that I didn't even know that well when everything was normal. It was something I never mind for, going downtown but preferred staying to the local towns near my house. As J drove, I kept my eye on the rear view mirror, watching for the monsters if they found us. But so far, this town was truly abandoned. 

"We should get supplies." I spoke up then, realizing how alone we were. 

"Let me pull up to this shopping center." J replied, clearly seeing the outlet mall ahead. He stepped more on the gas pedal, hurtling the car forward faster into the shopping center. We thought it would be a good idea, hoping to find clothes and food. But we just screwed ourselves over. 

"Shit!" J yelled, putting the car in reverse and backing up out of the horde of monsters we just pulled into. They all saw us inside the car and registered that we would be their meal for the day. 

For being sixteen years old, J was a skilled driver. Or at least I considered him to be because of how easily he was able to drive backwards, away from the horde of monsters. They began to run at us, but we had wheels burning rubber. 

Even though we were gaining distance on them, we were blindly traveling through the streets. It seemed like J had no plans to leave Denver, even if it meant that the monsters were chasing us. 

"What the fuck is that?" J whispered to himself, looking in the rear view mirror. He was squinting his eyes. Then there were gunshots coming from a machine gun. In front of us, the bullets were breaching the wall of monsters approaching us. As J kept backing away, the bullets- coming from the roofs of the buildings- were picking away at the horde, decreasing the numbers. 

And eventually, the horde was gone, a trail of dead beings. And the car was out of gas. 

"Get out of the car." A deep voice demanded from a speaker. J and I looked at each other, wondering what to do. 

"We have nowhere to go." I said, seeing that the car we relied on was as dead as the monsters. 

Without a word, J opened his door and got out of the car. We were outside of the car now, meeting at the tail of the car, facing no one. 

"You're young." The voice said. I searched for the voice but found no body that belonged to the man. 

"Up here!" A girl called from up above. J and I looked up at the same time, and saw our saviors. 

Over the ledge of the buildings, strangers looked down at us, guns in their hands. But they had no intention to kill us. Not after they saved us. 

"Since we saved your lives, you must repay us." The voice said and J and I looked at each other, still deciding if this occurrence was a blessing or a curse.