The Light At The End Of The World

What happens next

"June? Where do we go from here?" Jasper asked but I kept my eyes looking forward and on on the road.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "There was this Irish girl I used to know, her name was Katie Kenny she told me about this survival group, well more of a guy who runs a survival group in the capitol. She said that he has supplies and is willing to help anyone whether they want to stay or keep going down the road.. And if you need anything, we can go straight to him and he will supply you with it." I explained to him

"That sounds a little too good to be true, where's this Irish girl now?" He asked

"I killed her.." I said simply.

"Then how are we supposed to find this man?" He said but sounded very annoyed with my answer.

"She marked it on my map, me and Grace were meaning to go there but.. You know what happened.." He grabbed the map from my bag and checked the location and grabbed a pen from the glove box and put a black star about ten miles away from where we were going.

"That's where your brother is. And that's where we're going to kill him. It's the CSX Radnor Yard"

"We're not even close to being ready. We can't kill him just yet, we have to have a plan."

"Here's the plan go up to him and say 'Hey bro, fuck you.' then put a bullet between his eyes."

I laughed. "Only if it were that simple."

I drove through town after town not bothering to remember any of their names. And I kept driving till I saw the darkened silhouette of Nashville. It would be my first time in the city in about three year. I like to stay away from them as much as possible because the larger the city equals more Changed. And my last encounter with a city I almost died.

"This it?" Jasper asked ask I parked the car behind a house at the edge of the city.

"No we've got to go into the city, I just don't want to risk losing the truck to a group of raiders at." I said before heading into the house we parked behind. "We stay here tonight and in the morning we'll get back into the truck and track down the survival group."

"What will I do?" Grace asked as she grabbed her belongings from the back of the truck.

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to teach you everything you need to know and help you do things easier now that you only have one hand." I told her with a slight smile on my face.

"I'll clear the house." Jasper said as he aimed the crossbow at the house and kicked down the back door. It took him five minutes before he came outside and told us that the house was clear and safe enough to sleep in for the night.

"Me and Grace will share a room tonight and in the morning after I teach Grace how to shoot a gun we'll meet in the kitchen to have some breakfast before we leave."

I entered the house with Grace following closely behind and we went up to the second floor and found a bedroom. The room was like a wonderland for comic driven recluses. The walls were a deep red that looked like a shade of pink in the dying light, sprinkled with various posters, mostly of strange Japanese cartoon shows. I doubted the girl that had this room could read whatever was written on the poster. A comforter was pulled over the bed, even though it hadn't been cleaned. The result was lumps of varying sizes and shapes and the comforter was weighed down by a laptop. A desk sat in one corner, littered with wadded up pieces of paper and pens. A few shelves were pushed against the walls and filled with books. Some books sat on the floor in front of the shelves.

I walked over to the bed and opened up the girls laptop and held down the power button, to my surprise the screen actually flickered to life showing a girl staring back at me from screen. I laughed when I realized that the camera was on and showing my own face. I looked like a mess and my hair had grown so long and knotted over the five years the date on the laptop read November, 29th 2021. That made me smile. I powered down the laptop and set it on top of my bag.

"Hey Grace, it's actually my birthday today." I said with a chuckle.

She smiled then gave me a big hug "Really? What's the date today?" She asked still smiling.

"It's November, 29th 2021. Wow.. I'm finally eighteen ..I never thought i would actually make it this far. I am happy because I never thought I'd have another one again but here I am, celebrating it nonetheless. I've come a long way since this mess all started and I can profoundly say that I'm a much stronger person now that I would ever have been if it weren't for this outbreak. I've seen good people die and I've seen terrible things happen, but right now, where I am at this point in my life, I think it's safe to say that I have been through the worst part. I have you right now and a nice bed. Right now, in this moment I wish could last forever.." I said while closing my eyes.

"Happy birthday June, I knew you would make it you are a survivor. And me? Not so much but I have you and that's all that matters I guess." She said before getting on the bed beside me and she leaned on my shoulder, her tiny breaths becoming shallow and I knew that she had fallen asleep.

I smiled and I rolled over and closed my eyes and snuggled in next to grace. Grace opened her green and blue eyes and I sort of smiled. She stared at me in confusion, blinking, her eyelashes brushing against my cheek. "Nothing. I honestly thought I was only sixteen.. Time passes so quickly nowadays.." I tried to hide my smile as best as I could. She rolled her eyes and nuzzled into my shoulder, her dark chestnut hair inches from my nose. I could smell her Grace-like smell, which was too good for words. After a few agonizing minutes, I felt her go limp again and and I smiled huge and big, cradling her to my chest as I closed my eyes one final time before drifting off to a dreamless sleep.