When Earth Stopped Moving

Chapter 1 : COUNTDOWN / Final Part : The final countdown

I couldn't possibly believe what I saw .The best explanation I could come out with was that I was having an incredibly realistic nightmare.

Among all of the made-up scenarios I expected experiencing, this desolation was the last thing I would have thought of .Despite being in a state of half consciousness , I could feel my ice-cold blood running through my veins. They were looking at me as if I was a murderer. Their skinny hands trying to reach me only added terror to the situation. I wanted to say anything , to check if I was still alive, but I couldn't emit a single word . They were not dead ...but seeing them like this was worst than anything else.

-"D...Dave ...please ....help ..., whispered a cracked voice behind me that I could instantly recognize.

The few seconds I spent turning around to check who it was seemed like an eternity.

-"Please ...help ..." .
When I finally did turn around, I did not even have the courage to look in front of me and stared at my knees instead. I did not need to look straight anyway ;I already knew to who that voice belonged .

-"A...ADAM ? I said in surprise , still on the edge of falling apart , slowly raising my eyes.

Hopefully , his hands weren't all covered in blood like the others and he was wearing some torn clothes, which was a good sign-relatively speaking because this was far from being a good thing to see. I couldn't help but notice that that same hand was heavily shaking .When I took a closer look , I found out it wasn't only his hand : all of his body was a victim of terrible shakings.

-"Thankful...he said in what resembled more to a whisper than normal talk. Please...he added with the same cracked and weak voice, get...out of here...I can't stay here anymore...

Aware that this might be my one and only opportunity to save the last survivors among my comrades , I approached the barrier and almost instinctively tried to push it and pull it , in some desperate attempts to break it ...but when I got close enough to the cell , I finally understood .

I understood what Adam went through and meant by " not being able to stay here anymore ".

What I saw when I opened my eyes after the fall in the stairs was just a part of the worst , as the little light that shyly brightened the hall only showed those who were in front ...behind them , in the darkness of their rooms ,  almost entirely desintegrated corpses were lying on the ground , only half-covered with some torn old clothes ...and if blood were covering the ones still alive was almost dry , these corpses had blood traces litterally printed in their bodies , making one think that they have been here for a very long time . The smell of death itself was intensified when I approached .

The horror of the image I saw right there couldn't be described  by just a bunch of worlds.

I couldn't help but scream ...scream because of the intense feeling of devastation that ate me from the inside ... I immediately stopped trying to push and pull the barrier , completely paralyzed of chock.

-"Please ...Dave ...save me...

When I looked back at Adam Dragger , however , I hopefully realized he looked a bit better than the others , as no other words could be the best to describe it without being too optimistic .Beside his torn clothes and some minor injuries, I could guess only the chock and trauma weakened him and rendered him in such miserable state . I did not even want to imagine what he saw and endured while I was absent .

-"What the f*ck happened here ? I said surprised but I could only whisper out of fear.

-"Please ...I can't even ...with these ...he added pointing one his wounded fingers at the dead bodies behind him .