My Departure

The year is 2052. The population: who knows anymore. The Departed, a new breed of monster, has taken over the entire world and destroyed everyone's humanity.

Tragedies really bring out the worst in people. Fear is the strongest emotion. It can take over a single person and completely change who they are and what they stand for. Fear also brings out other emotions including anger, hatred, and even violence. It can justify any inhuman act and can turn people cold and heartless. And that’s more dangerous than even the strongest Departed.

 

    The virus took the world by storm and not even the CDC could stop it. It spread too fast. I tried to stay out of sight the best I could. Once society died so did humanity with it. There weren’t enough people still alive to have a functioning government. Not even the secret service could stop the hundreds upon thousands of Departed storming the White House. The president only lasted a month. The Queen of England, only a week. It wasn’t surprising though. Their posh life was no match to the flesh eating populis. Now everyone was food, it didn’t matter what your wealth was or what social class you were in. The only thing that matter was that you were food to them. Flesh and blood, a meal on wheels. I was on the same food chain as the next guy. Even if he made 100,000 dollars more a year than me.

 

Most would think that would band humanity together. That we would somehow stop our fighting and learn to work together. Too bad it did the exact opposite. It made us greedy and violent. Fear overtook logic and now someone wouldn’t hesitate to kill you for a can of beans. That’s why I stay alone. I never needed anyone. I was practically a hermit. Sure, there were some dead bodies, and some undead bodies but in all reality I was completely alone. Being completely alone in a devastated world was rather soothing to a coping mind. I was a girl with a plan and that plan didn’t concern anyone else. I knew how to fight, I knew how to hunt for food, and build a shelter. I fully operational by myself.

 

    “Mom?” a small child’s voice echoed through the forgotten streets of the town.

 

I knew with the amount of dead bodies flooding the streets there had to be at least one Departed, if not more. I jerked my entire body around trying to pinpoint where she was. The voice was crying out, trying to attracted attention. Sure, it did sound like an innocent little girl but children didn’t exist in this life anymore. I warily walked around checking every building. I couldn’t let the Departed catch me by surprise. It was hard enough to kill one upfront but killing one when they jump you was downright impossible.

 

    The pistol rested in my dirty, calloused hands. After three months of holding nothing but this pistol, it was practically glued to my fingers. Small impressions of the pistol’s trigger was etched into my fingers. The grainy surface of the handle was now replicated on my palm. This pistol was now a part of me, another appendage.

 

    “Mom?” the child’s voice called out again. It echoed from building to building. I gripped the gun tighter and stayed alert.

 

    My feet shuffled through the broken roads, avoiding fallen telephone poles and fallen people. I couldn’t help but stare at them. Empty eyes looking back at me, haunting me. One woman caught my eye, or what was left of a woman. Her eyelids were wide open, eyes vacant and lifeless. Spots of blood were sprayed onto her bare neck. A single bullet hole in the frontal lobe of her brain. Examining her more I noticed the brown satchel attached to her side. Bending over I pulled on the magnetic buttons and opened the bag. Reaching my hands into the bag I came across a crinkling, plastic material. I pulled one out and the peanut butter bar was resting in my hand.

 

    “Finally,” I whispered to myself. A smile arose onto my face as I quickly ripped open the plastic to uncover the peanut butter bar. The smell of peanut butter was unnerving. I stuffed the entire bar into my mouth, wanting to savor the food but was too hungry to even try. It had been two weeks since I had last ate anything. I was starting to feel delirious from malnourishment.

 

“Mom,” the child’s voice called from right behind me. I slowly turned my head around and out of the corner of my eye was a blood soaked child. Her once princess pink nightgown was now a dark crimson red. Glossy eyes stared intently at me as drool dripped out of her mouth. Her bare-feet were caked with mud and in her tiny, right hand held tightly to a unkempt teddy bear. She was hungry and I was dinner.

 

Slowly standing up I tried not to irritate her. With every movement I made she cocked her head back and forth. It wasn’t long until she began to sprint at me. I quickly dropped the plastic wrapper and started to race away. The Departed followed close behind me, running her rabid mouth ready to eat. I dodged cars and hurtled over telephone poles trying to get to safety. In the back of my mind I knew running was no hope to getting away from a Departed. Once they caught a scent, there was no way out except for one of us to die and I had to make sure it wasn’t me. This was a race for survival and I was on the losing end.

 

I gradually felt my body moving faster than my legs and there was no way to stop it. My entire body slammed into the concrete streets. Pain jolting into every inch of me, the wind retreated away from my lungs. I couldn’t gather my thoughts fast enough until the Departed was right on top of me.

 

Gnawing her gruesome, pointed teeth, trying anything to get a bite I held her back, praying for dear life. One bite was all it took. One bite and life would be over. I would become her. A mindless drone with only one goal, to eat. No desires or emotions. No memories or sympathy. Just cold, emptiness with only one craving, flesh. I held my arms out trying to keep her a distance away, far enough that she couldn't get a bite. Saliva oozed from her rabid mouth. Fatigue raced through me. My arms weaken with every jolt from the Departed’s rapid movements.

 

I tried to reach for my pistol but it was out of reach. There was nothing I could do but hold her back and that wouldn’t last forever. Departed don’t get weary but humans definitely do. There was no way I would survive this.

 

Suddenly a mind numbing bang echoed in my ears and throughout the empty town. The Departed dropped onto me without movement. It was the only way to kill one, a bullet or any weapon into the frontal lobe. Her ebony blood cover my entire body as it drained from the bullet hole in her head. Startled, I laid there, daring not to move a muscle.

 

“Hey, I know you're alive,” the raspy voice of a stranger called my bluff. I debated whether I should stay motionless on the ground or get up and face a death better than becoming a Departed. I decided to take the high road.

 

I pushed the Departed’s limp, lifeless body off me and slowly arose off the ground, hands held in the air. My dirty, matted hair brushed into my face. It was hard to tell what color it was anymore. It used to be bright, orangish auburn but now it was just caked with dirt and other unknown substances causing an ashy, brown color. My body ached as I tried to stand, using the last of my energy to raise myself off the ground. It was hard to see the man standing in front of me with the mixture of the sun in my eyes and my vision being blurry.

 

“Pl...please,” I managed to say before my body gave out and I collapsed to the ground. The man rushed to my side and kept me lying upright.

 

“Hey, hey! Come on, you’re fine. Bit, are you bit?” he tried to keep me awake long enough to ask the important questions. My eyes shifted back and forth across his face. It was still hard to see him in the entirety since my vision was so impaired but he couldn’t have been older than twenty-five at least.

 

“No,” I answered him. He seemed a little more relieved but still untrusting. Lifting up my shirt and checking around my rib-cage, I could tell he was searching for bites. Knowing full well he wouldn’t find any, I let him go. He was just trying to be careful. I can’t blame him for being cautious. I tried to keep my eyes open but the weariness was taking a toll.

 

“Alright. Come on sweetheart. Let’s get you some help,” he grunted as he lifted my helpless body off the ground and into his arms. I wanted to tell him I was fine, push him away but I couldn’t even manage to keep my head up without feeling like I was going to pass out. Instead I rested my head onto his shoulder, hoping, praying, he was one of the good guys.

 

“Noah what the hell? We said ‘no guns’!” I heard another man angrily yell as we approached a group of people. I opened my eyes just enough to see but not enough for them to notice I was awake. There were four people. From what I could tell, three men and one woman.

 

“Now every Grim from miles is going to come and get some dinner. This town is lost. No chance of getting any of the supplies,” the woman mocked. In a fit of rage she kicked the tire of their jeep and rested her hands on the hood.

 

This group must have called them Grims. I had heard every name in the book: biters, eaters, the expired, necros, and now Grims. Since the virus spread so fast no one ever gave a proper name to them. I called them the Departed. It seemed rather appropriate since they departed from humanity.

 

“How else was I going to kill the Grim trying to eat this girl!” the man holding me retaliated. He slowly laid me on the ground, using his jacket as a pillow for my head. I laid completely still, arms crossed over my body.

 

“I don’t care, Noah! You were only supposed to scope the town, not save the damsel in distress,” the woman shot back. “Let’s get outta here.” I heard the door of the jeep open, then slam shut again. Noah bent down and lifted my body up once again and slowly laid me in the back seat of the jeep, heading resting on him.

 

The cracks in the road made the jeep bump. It was a tranquil feeling of driving away. I had been alone for so long that I forgot what it felt like to be with people. I could feel Noah’s arms clinging around me almost like he was making sure I wouldn’t go anywhere.

    “Hey,” I heard Noah whisper in my ear. I slowly opened my eyes and saw him staring right at me. “Alright, you’re alive,” Noah greeted with a smile. His smile was contagious, with perfectly deep dimples and lavish green eyes, I couldn’t help but grin back.

 

“The damsel is awake?” the woman in the front seat call out. She shifted her body so she could  see behind her. She looked pretty cleaned up. Her hair was a platinum blonde and was actually clean. Her clothing was washed and her face presented no blemishes. My eyes wandered around the rest of the group noticing their clean clothing and regularly washed hair. I sat up on my own but Noah left his arm around me.

 

“Vince, stop the car!” Noah screamed. My eyes shot up front and saw half a dozen Departed roaming the street ahead of us. They must have heard the gunshot and came around looking for dinner.

 

Noah grabbed ahold of me and held me closer to him than before. The voices of all the Departed rang through the streets, all calling their last words. That’s what the Departed did. The last words they say as humans is the only word they can say as a Departed. I had some experience with it. Most called out common words like help or stop. Many called out names though. The names of loved ones, the names of group members, even the names of the ones who killed him.

 

“Everyone, guns,” the woman announced. Noah took ahold of an AK47, I reached into my holster for my pistol but it was gone. ‘I must have left it in the town.’ I thought to myself.

 

“There are only six of them outside. We each take one and I’ll take two,” Noah ordered. Then he turned to me, “stay here. I’ll be back. Trust me,” he reassured. I didn’t want to be the useless one but I was still too weak to do anything. Uncomfortably, I nodded my head in agreement, secretly wishing I could do something to help.

 

Each of them left the jeep with guns in their hands, ready to blow the Departed into oblivion. Gunshots resounded throughout the entire Nevada desert. I covered my ears to stop hearing it. I still had a ringing in my ears from when Noah shot the Departed on top of me. Slowly I heard the gunfire cease.

 

“Noah!” I heard one of the other guys scream. Without hesitation I opened the jeep down and ran into the street. All the Departed were dead but not without taking a casualty. Noah laid in the middle of the street, blood racing out of his neck. He was still alive but not for much longer. Tears streamed down my disheveled face.

 

“They got him,” the woman tirelessly announced. Noah choked on his own blood while laying on the ground.

 

He was all alone. Everyone kept their distance since they knew what was coming next. I couldn’t do it. He didn’t leave me alone to die, why should I let him die alone. I ran to his side and held his hand in comfort. His once wonderful green eyes were now dark and scared. I felt completely empty watching the life leave him. He saved me from certain death and now all I could do was hold his hand during his. Self-loathing took up the entirety of my mind. Gently, I felt Noah’s grip on my hand cease as his remarkable green eyes turned away. He was gone.

 

I rested my head onto his chest and cried. I couldn’t stop myself. I didn’t even know Noah but the feeling of almost getting something good and having it ripped away from you was enough to destroy anyone’s emotional state. I was alone for so long and a fantastic human being shows up and gives me some faith.

 

“Trust me,” I heard a faint whisper come from Noah’s pale lips. My heart suddenly stopped. Unexpectedly I felt Noah clutch onto my arm. I turn my head toward him and he had the most gruesome look on his face. He was a Departed. His teeth lashed at me trying to get a bite. I kicked him away and tried to run but I was still too debilitated from my last encounter that I couldn’t go very fast.

 

“Noah, please! Stop!” I screamed hoping it would stop him. I knew it was no hope. His teeth ripped through the skin on my arm. I let out the most blood curdling screech from the pain searing through me. Everything was in slow motion. His teeth were latched onto my arm with no chance of letting go. I kept tugging on my arm knowing it was no use. I was dead either way.

 

Eyes fluttering around I noticed Noah had a bowie knife attached to his belt. I tirelessly reached for it but it was no use. The relucting agony diminished my drive. I couldn’t get myself to reach for the knife. Thoughts raced around my head. I couldn’t organize my thoughts. The empty screaming filling my head was prohibiting me to even latch onto one idea. Noah’s stinging teeth inched it’s way deeper and deeper into each layer of my skin and I was paralyzed. I couldn’t do anything to save myself but sit there in incapacitating misery and scream. The years of survival I had under my belt were destroyed in one bite. I had killed departed women, children, and even my family but I couldn’t rip my arm away from someone trying to eat me!

 

Abruptly I heard another ear ringing gunshot. The hopeless suffering finally ended as the man who was once my savior dropped to the ground. His teeth dislodged from my shaking arm and his entire body fell lifeless to the desert sand. For the moment I couldn’t move. My entire body shut down as the throbbing of my arm matched the thrilling, beating of my heart. Sweat lined around my forehead and slowly dripped down around my stone cold eyes and past my cracked, dry lips. I tried to get myself to do anything, scream, cry, even move but I couldn’t do anything. My body was not connected to my mind. I could think freely but I could not get myself to move.

 

I felt the clammy hands of a woman reach for my back. She and the three other men helped lay me down on the sand. They were all talking but I couldn’t hear a single thing, the ringing in my ears was too loud. I stared aimlessly at their facial expressions and the inaudible yelling. The woman caressed my hair and tried talking to me but I still heard nothing. Her groomed, blonde hair surrounded her rosy cheeks. I smiled at her, well I thought I was. I didn’t really have any control over my facial muscles. The ringing was growing louder and louder the more she talked to me. I couldn’t comprehend anything she was saying. My eyes fluttered from person to person around me. The one man was tying a cloth around my upper arm. The other held a machete. The blurry sun prohibited my vision every few seconds but I continued looking at the people. The woman finally positioned my face to look at her. She continued yelling at me but I was still deaf.

 

Without warning I was sucked back into reality with one frightening blow from the machete into my limp arm. My eardrums popped and I heard an intense, haunting shrieking resounding throughout the Nevada desert. At first I couldn’t figure out where it came from but I realized it was my own voice. With another few blows my maimed arm was detached from my body. The cream colored sand was now a grim crimson red. The men rapidly covered my mutilated stump to stop the bleeding. I felt my tears streaming down my hot, sweaty face. My chest was heavy and my heart sunk. My entire body turned cold and helpless. Eyes drifting back and forth, open and shut. I couldn’t stay awake any longer.

 

“No, no, no, no! Stay awake,” the woman shook me as she yelled. I wanted to stay awake, I really did but the swaying of my head and the blurriness of my vision was knocking me out. I tried to reach out and grab the woman sitting next to me but I didn’t even get my arm lifted off the ground before I was completely passed out.

 

The jagged twists and turns of the jeep jolted me awake. The familiar upholstery laid under me. I was at first blinded by the evening light but it was short lived once my eyes adjusted. I glanced at my hands, well hand. I only had one hand now. The other was lying somewhere in the Nevada desert next to a great man. The cloth was now stained with cherry red. The stump now throbbed. I lifted myself off the seat and looked at the wayward group sitting in front of me. Each of them with a different expression on their face. I quickly got lightheaded and started to tilt back and forth.

 

“You need to lie back down,” the woman ordered me. She reached in her bag and took out a couple small, white pills. “Take these. It will help with the pain,” she explained.

 

I snatched the pills from her and plopped them in my mouth, forcing myself to swallow them dry. Obeying her order I laid back down on the leather seat and stared at the grey, carpet ceiling. Suddenly I felt my memories fading and my body seizing. All of my childhood was gone in a flash and strange images of horrifying, bloody people overtook my thoughts. I was hungry also, so hungry.

 

I knew something was wrong, so wrong. Chopping off my disease ridden arm was no match for the Departed. I wanted to scream, warn the people who had just saved me. But the only words I could muster were, "Noah, please. Stop."