AM13 Outbreak Shorts

One Year On - Forty Six (Oliver)

Oliver

"Oliver?" As soon as Ryan slumps to the floor, finally giving up for good, bringing me into her view, she wails loudly. "Oh my God, Oliver, it's you. You're here."

Even though I'm panting and exhausted, I race to her side and tug the restraints off her, trying not to succumb to the sickness that comes from this sight. We all knew that Ryan was slowly losing his mind and becoming unhinged, but I don't think any of us knew how bad he was.

To be honest, we've had too much else to worry about. Losing Danny in the horrific way we did, then Rachael's death, a clear unrest among everyone which has been building for a while, and then the infected...it's left that nasty piece of work to do what he wants, and that seems to be kidnapping my girlfriend while everyone else ends up dying.

But now he's gone. He won't hurt anyone else again.

"Oh, Oliver." As soon as Katie is free, she grabs my cheeks and kisses me like we've been separated for a lifetime rather than a short while. Then again, consider all that's changed in the short period of time, it might as well have been forever. "I was so worried..."

"I wasn't going to leave you." I hold her tight against me. "I love you too much for that, Katie. I would wait for you forever. When I spotted Ryan acting all weird, I just knew that he was up to something. So, I followed him, and thank goodness I did."

I don't even want to think about what could've happened otherwise, it's just too much to bear. Things could've ended up in a really horrible, unbearable way...

But they haven't. I need to concentrate on the good parts.

"What do we do now?" Katie wails sadly as she lies in my arms, pointedly not looking at the body of the man who threatened to destroy us. "We've lost everything."

It leaves me numb, knowing what's gone, what we can never get back. I already miss it. We've been safe and locked away from the outside world for far too long. I don't know how it'll be being back out there again.

I guess we're going to find out.

"We haven't lost everything," I remind her in the calmest tone of voice I can manage. "We still have one another. We still have something to fight for."

Katie pulls back to look at me with tears brimming in her beautiful eyes. "So, we're going to keep going?"

I nod determinedly. "We have to, don't we? We need to keep surviving for as long as we can. We owe to everyone who didn't make it to at least give it a try." I lace my fingers through hers and hold her tight. "That's the only thing we have left. We keep going for each other, and for them."

"Okay." Finally, she agrees with me, she sees what I'm saying. "We'll keep on living until...well until something else changes that. Together. Me and you."

It's scary, this whole world is terrifying, but at least I don't have to go through it alone.

At least I have Katie.

END