०Tonic०

०Chapter Four०

I returned to the couch in the center of the living room. The others joined me soon after, but said nothing. In the few minutes of confused silence, I closed my eyes and thought about what was happening. Am I dreaming? Is this real?... What if this is real, and I have to live here now... what if I'm dead already and this is all a fake reality?

"Okay..." Taliah mumbled weakly, as if she hadn't spoken in days, "Does anyone know what's happening?"

Nobody responded. I was still thinking, so I barely made out her words. Maybe... maybe someone will come and save us?

"Well!" I heard Myles, opened one eye, and saw him throwing his hands in the air. "It's literally hell outside and no one's doing anything! Haven't you guys ever seen the movies? We'll die if we stay here! Who cares what those damned things are, let's go."

I was utterly surprised by him, so I opened both eyes and gave him my full attention. He hadn't spoken that much to anyone since before this disaster had started. I cleared my throat and spoke, "We need some sort of plan, and freaking out about everything isn't going to do any good." I looked to Myles and continued, "Any ideas, perhaps where we should go and how?"

Tobin raised his hand and replied, "We could use Taliah's and my car for transportation..."

Taliah nodded, "We need to pack up on resources." She added.

I blinked, taking mental notes of what they were saying. "Alright, we should leave as soon as possible and find somewhere that isn't populated by these things..." I looked up at my friends, "I've decided to call them the Endemic."

"Yeah, we can call them the end for short." Myles uttered jokingly, shakily standing up. 

I thought for a second before I walked to the door and opened it a sliver. There were even more out in the roads than before when I had checked. I felt my stomach twist with fear. I heard the others file into a line behind me, silently awaiting my command. I felt a sense of pride, my friends coming to me for orders, but I also felt fright and doubt. 

"Alright," I began, barely having a plan to go by, "I say we go out quickly and enter the cars. Someone grab the liquid crate and bring it, then we'll try to make a stop at my house and get mine." I paused, trying to think of something else to say. "Two people to each car, and you two probably want to drive, right?" I looked to Taliah and Tobin.

They nodded, almost simultaneously. I nodded and looked back through the crack, then took in a few deep breaths.

"Where are we going exactly?" Myles asked. He sounded a bit bad tempered.

I shrugged. "Wherever we end up. We'll most likely stop somewhere there aren't any End prancing around."

"We need to be careful, we don't know what these things are capable of... I assume they're blind, since their eyes are... gouged out? They still seem to have some of their other senses around since they were chasing animals..." Tobin explained, then paused and muttered under his breath, "They're really fast..."

I nodded and held up three fingers. "On the count to three, I open the door and we quickly get into the cars." Taliah grabbed the crate, but struggled to keep a good grip. I nodded my thanks to her and continued, "Try not to make much of a sound, they can probably still hear."

And with that, I started counting down. Three... two... one! I swung the door open and waited for the others to get to their cars. Taliah went into her Jeep and dropped the crate inside while Myles followed her. Tobin flung the passenger side door open and slid to the drivers side, leaving the door ajar for me. I scrambled into it and slammed the door shut behind me. I rolled the window down and looked behind us as we went into reverse. 

The Endemic turned their rotted heads towards us, clearly noticing the cars. Some started sprinting at full speed towards us, then attempted to climb onto the roof. Tobin reversed quickly, jerking my body forwards for a split second. I heard one of the End growl and whiz past the window. For the split second I saw it, its face was made of in-human, very pale skin, almost turning a green moldy color. It had giant patches of skin missing all over its face, mostly on the cheeks. I shivered and closed my eyes, feeling that a few of them had hit the car while we drove.

It seemed like a millennial before Tobin parked in the driveway to my home, told me to hurry, and let out a worried sigh.