Hope beyond hope

Everything seemed to fall apart so suddenly and without warning. In less then 72 hours since the initial reports of the plague there were widespread blackouts and hysteria that flooded through the streets as the fragile infrastructure built on the connectivity of the internet failed. Cell phones were basically rendered useless, a mere fancy pocket calculator that couldn’t make a call or send a text. No one knew exactly why the internet seemed to shut down in the middle of a crisis. Some talked about this around campfires having to relearn how to do things without the use of electricity. Some speculated it was the blackouts making the internet impossible, others that it was martial law that had been enforced. But everyone agreed that nothing would ever be the same and most would never see their friends or family again.

Jacob and Justine had been together for 2 years before the plague and had only met by chance. He didn’t know exactly why but his eyes couldn’t leave Justine as she sat across the room at a party, Jacob introduced himself and offered her a drink. The next few hours they talked and it almost seemed like they’d always known each other. As the night passed everyone went to sleep leaving the living room to themselves. It happened as if naturally their lips met, their clothes came off and limbs became entwined in an act of passion that seeded the love between them.

Jacob hadn’t heard from Justine in over 2 weeks. The last text simply said ‘the cabin’ and shortly after his cellphone didn’t work but Jake held onto hope as it said delivered. Now as the door to the cabin slowly creeped open to shadows of dusk on the end of the third week since the apocalypse, he saw that his hope beyond hope Justine already been there waiting was only a fantasy. The low light illuminated what had been covered up and left by them last summer when Jake on the dock by the lake had given Justine the heart shaped locket. Jake knew she wouldn’t be there but was still disappointed she wasn’t as their flashlights swept across empty dusty shelves, old oil paintings and a cold wood burning stove. There was nothing there but hollow dreams and distant happy memories.

They settled in and Jake went about starting a fire. Few words were said between them. They made it to their goal but it was bitter sweet, there was no wave of comfort inside them. Their group had started out with five people with a course set to the cabin Jake had inherited from his uncle. Only three made it to the cabin alive and in the process they had witnessed things they couldn’t unsee. Highways were basically impassible, a deadlock of abandoned cars crawling with Fiends hungry for human flesh like out of some B horror movie.

They had knew that highways were death traps but the majority of America was connected through these roadways and at times couldn’t be avoided. Their destination had been around 150 miles away give or take. The current state of affairs prevented them from moving quickly. Other then a few bands of survivors who were on foot and some cars in passing, they didn’t see many people the first week unless close to a city. Then on the 12th day of travel taking back roads and a lot of detours, Jake and his group came upon a road block. There were trucks parked blocking the road outside a small nobody cares town. A big wooden sign said in red painted letters ‘NO ENTRY!! PASSAGE AGREED UPON TRADE.’ Jake looked to his best friend Malcom in the passenger seat. “What should we do?” Jake asked him. Malcolm hesitated, they had nothing to give; very little food, ¾ a tank of gas, and to defend themselves only a shotgun, a handgun, and knives. They had under 25 miles to their destination, on the home stretch. Mal thought for a second and shook his head and shrugged. Then a voice amplified by a bull horn broke the silence and said “Get out of the car and hold ya hands up or scat!”

Jake didn’t know what to do. If they back tracked they’d lose almost a day and would be hard pressed on gasoline and they truthfully had nothing to give. Cash had no meaning now and they had very little of that now useless currency. They had all taken what was needed and what they couldn’t leave behind as per Jake’s own instructions. They didn’t stop moving for days other then to rest and short bathroom breaks. They were refugees in the land of the free, the land they were born in and had no where to go but the hope of a secluded mountain cabin where they could wait and hope for better days.

Jake looked at Mal and said, “Let’s see if we can make a deal.”

Kris spoke up from the back seat, “You’re going against your own rule. Avoid everyone, no confrontations.”

“We have very little fuel. If we pull a detour we will have to find another car or hike the rest on foot to the cabin.” Jake said. It was Mike who spoke up next clearing his throat before he spoke.

“Like you say better safe then dead.”

There was a pause as the comment set in only broken again by the voice over the bullhorn.

“Come out with ye hands up now or leave!”

Jake’s hand subconsciously rubbed the matching golden locket around his neck like he’d given Justine. In that moment she was the only person on his mind, the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Be calm. Maybe they’ll let us through.” Jake said not caring about anyone in the car even himself at that moment. Emotion almost always outweighs reason. He just wanted to get the cabin on the slim chance of their rendezvous. “Be cool.” Jake said as his hand wrapped around the door handle.

“Are you serious?!” Kris said and reluctantly followed suit like the rest. A group of three hicks surrounded them coming from the tree line to the side

“Well now city slickers, what cha got ta offer?” Said the half toothless trucker cap wearing skinny hick nearest to Jake.

“We don’t want no trouble.” Mal said, “We’re just looking to pass through.”

“Whatcha got matters if ya can go.” Said a burly tattooed skinhead nearest to Kris and Malcom on the passenger side. “Looks like ya got somethin pretty ta bargain wit.” Everyone In their group tensed. Jake, Gary, Mike and of course Malcom, Kris’s husband knew and were sickened by the suggestion. The skinhead wiped away a strand of red hair from Kris’s forehead and she slapped him. Everything happened so fast.

“Woowee!! Got us a red hot one here!” The skinhead said as he grabbed Kris’s ponytail.

“Get your hands off her!” Malcolm yelled as he struggled with the skinhead. The skinhead slammed Malcolm into the Jeep knocking him off then there was a deafening bang and a gaping hole in Malcom’s chest spraying blood all over his wife. Kris pulled out a knife and stabbed the skinhead in the throat. Somehow Gary grabbed the shotgun quick enough and shot the skinny trucker cap hick who shot Malcolm. The other camo dressed hick of the group ran as bullets rang through the air.

“Get in!” Jake yelled and then they peeled off the road into the nearby field. In seconds there were two pickup trucks in pursuit. Mike and Gary let off rounds back at the assailants to which a driver got hit and the truck ended up in a ditch. The other truck was hot on their heals and Jake turned onto a main road. Putting the pedal to the metal, he didn’t realize till it was too late that it was a ramp onto a highway. The pickup truck veered off and let them go.

It was nothing but abandoned cars for miles in front of them. Jake tried to reverse but the Fiends were on them in seconds. A horde none of them expected but had been alerted by the gun fire. The Jeep backed over a few, crushing the bodies beneath the wheels. Jake put it in drive and they moved a few feet but the tires spun splashing blood and burning rubber.

“We need to bail now!” Jake yelled and they all exited pushing a few out of the way. Gary got grabbed by one of the Fiends pinned under the car and the rest were on him in seconds. He screamed as their teeth and nails dug into his flesh. Jake saw his friend’s intestines torn from his abdomen as he was lost in a sea of seething bodies. His death actually saved his friends, giving them time to get away as his meat became a meal for the horde.

That was 2 days ago and all they had now was a shotgun and a few canned goods they found in the cupboard. As much as the guilt ate away at Jake he still rubbed the locket between his fingers holding onto that hope beyond hope that is irrational yet comforting. Mike and Kris blamed him just as much as Jake blamed himself. They barely spoke to him in the next few days after they settled into the cabin. The majority of their diet was fish from the lake but there wasn’t much else as none knew what berries or mushrooms of the forest were poisonous or not. A week went by before they abandoned Jake alone in his cabin. No note. No words which made him feel slightly better as they slipped out in the night. He had nothing but a fishing pole and an axe to cut wood and the locket around his neck. The picture of Justine inside was his only comfort. He waited. Living off of only fish for a few weeks. Then it started to snow.

He smiled as the first few flakes fell and wiped some from his face. The snow wasn’t cold and he realized then as he saw the gray smear on his hand. It was ash. No one knew for sure but there was rumors the major cities had been nuked in an effort to stop the spread of the plague. In the next few weeks the leaves didn’t turn their usual yellow and orange hues of autumn but black. Then it got cold and the ash mixed with real snow and thunder rumbled through the skies. By that time Jake hadn’t been outside in days. He didn’t trust the conditions to risk eating fish but luckily the cabin’s well was underground. He had hid a bottle of whiskey he’d left there the year before that he wanted to save for Justine’s arrival. Jake finally cracked the seal and poured himself a glass. Drinking 80 proof whiskey on a three day empty stomach. The wind howled as Jake looked at the picture of Justine in the locket almost as if trying to make her manifest. By the time the bottle was dry he was too drunk to notice the scratching at the door. The knob slowly turned and the door swung open sending a cool chill through the air. It was the sudden cold that woke him.

He looked up from his chair by the wood burning stove and saw in the doorway the woman he’d been waiting for, the one thing he’d held onto. Jake stumbled towards Justine in his drunken stupor saying her name. He hugged her, tears flowing from his eyes not noticing her cold pale skin or milky white eyes as her jaw opened slow and wide. Her teeth pierced his throat tearing muscle, veins, tendons and the chain of the locket from his neck. Even as Jake’s consciousness faded, he felt happy knowing in the end they’d still be together forever.