Wastelands

“How many more hours do you have left?”

This was the only question that was able to come out of Katie Levine’s mouth. There was more she wanted to say but she could not. How could she do? He was dying right in front of her eyes. She closed her eyes not being able to see more, but he still looked at her and just smiled.

How can he smile?

How does he think this is okay?

“About an hour left. Usually, the transformation takes a good ten hours after one gets bitten or scratched.”

Alex Webster. The man in front of her, the love of her life and my only hope during this calamity. He will be gone in an hour.

Fate’s cruel game was. Taking him away from her during a time of survival. When all of them wanted to escape another zombie infested area, when they all fought vigilantly—he still got bitten. And now in front of Katie was the man who always smiled, who always thought the best for all of them, who wanted to protect her—dying.

He was bleeding from the mouth. His face was turning slightly grey while his veins were showing. Signs of what he was going to become soon. The thought of it still broke Katie’s heart repeatedly. She could not save him. She could not take away his pain. She could not do anything.

“Hey, do not cry. You know it will not be easy for me if you cry.”

Alex’s voice was about to elicit a sob out of her, but Katie held it in. Not for her sake but for his because you knew he needed her to be strong.

“Damn it. Why would it have to be you, Alex?”

One of the twins, Danial Albert, spoke up. Usually, Danial was the calmest of the group after Conie Milo. But now, after dealing with the death and upcoming death of two of his best friends from high school, Danial lost his composure too.

“It could have been anyone of us after Conie. Not you man.”

Derrick Albert choked those words out as his tears were already falling. Outgoing, optimistic, and energetic Derrik was also just as broken as the rest of them were. Two deaths, two heartbreaks; it was a lot for all of them after everything. Everything the five of them faced together.

Alex then spoke up as he huffed.

“Bro. I told you all not to cry. We all survived ten days in this apocalypse, Conie’s death, so this should be lightwork. Besides Derrick, isn’t this to be a simulation for you?”

Alex looked at Derrick with a wide and reckless grin as Derrick sniffled with tears he was trying to stop. Still, he gave his longtime friend a lopsided, shaky grin.

But Katie?

This was not a joke for her.

This was real and this was painful.

“Alex. You should not be joking about your situation.”

Alex turned to Katie and gave her the smile he only keeps reserved for her. Katie, on the other hand, still glared at him with the pain that still lingered in her eyes.

“If I make light of it, it can hurt less. Besides, for the days the five of us stayed together, Derrick would not shut up about his simulation theory.”

“Hey! I was just saying that just to block out the actual reality we are living in. Let a guy have delusions!”

Derrick looked away, not wanting anyone to see his tears now. He knew that Alex only said all this, so Derrick could fire back like they did in high school. Danial then placed a hand on his twin brother’s shoulder and looked at Alex with a smile and shook his head.

“It’s always like you to bring up memories from high school.”

Alex just nodded as he turned back to Katie, who smiled too despite the heavy atmosphere in the air. Katie looked up at Danial and smiled.

“You know, what if Derrick is right? What if at the end of all this is just a simulation we must escape? And once we survived all the stages, we would go back to our old lives. Before all of this.”

Everyone around her went silent because they knew, and she knew too that was far from the case. And that was not their reality.

Alex then turns to Katie as his hand itches to hold hers, but he knows he cannot. His bloodied and veiny hand cannot touch her soft and untouched hand. His hand was ruined by the cruelty of their current reality while she was still spared.

“If this was really a simulation, would our relationship even be real?”

Katie looked down and smiled.

“You should ask if we even would have happened. You would still be with Avery.”

Alex laughs at that.

“And I am sure me and her would break up because of how toxic our relationship was. I think I still would have found you after this “simulation” ended.”

Katie smiles sadly.

“You both are so corny. We are still here, you know.”

Derrick looked at the two of them with mock disgust as Danial covered his ears dramatically.

“Are you all sure that Alan and his group won’t be able to make it here faster? If he makes it before Alex can turn, we can still take him to Bassin City to cure him.”

Katie held her breath because she already knew what the twins would say, but she still wanted to keep her hopes up. She wanted to save her boyfriend before it was too late. Danial and Derrick both turned to each other and looked back at her.

“I texted Alan about three times already, but he said that reaching here would take him the entire day. He is on his way through to pick us up, but I do not know if he can make it in time before–”

“Never mind. I understand.”

Katie cut Danial off fast as she blinked away her tears.

“Maybe it really is my time to go.”

Alex’s voice was light but for Katie, his voice opened the dark thoughts deep in her mind. Katie looks down as she clenches her hands as she wonders about a world without Alex. She should have ended it all too, but once again she heard his voice.

“Katie. Do not think about it. You still must survive and see Kevin; he is waiting for you in Basin City. He cannot lose his sister, his only family.”

Katie looked up.

All the dark thoughts that were consuming her went away because she knew he was right. Her little brother was alive and waiting for her. Once again, Alex Webster saved her. He reminded her that there was something even after him, and she could not end it all right here.

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Thirty minutes were left until Alex’s transformation.

The twins were at the far end, away from Alex and Katie to let them have one final conversation.

“I wish we had more time together.”

Katie turned to face him as she saw tears in Alex’s eyes tear up. She shifted closer to him as she tried to hold his hand, but he shook his head and instead asked her a question.

“Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Katie nodded as he looked at the sky.

“If reincarnation is real, I will come back to find you. That is my final promise.”

Katie gave him a shaky smile and nodded.

“I will wait for you then. But it will be hard. Life will not be easy without you, Alex.”

“You must survive, Katie. There is always a rainbow after the storm Katie. Go and enjoy a safe and peaceful life in Bassin City with your brother. The twins will be there, too. I want all of you to be happy……after everything we all went through.”

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Thirty minutes were up.

Danial and Derrick walked to the couple as they had painful expressions.

Alex was coughing blood as Katie wanted to help him, but she was held back by Derrick.

“Derrick let me go! Alex is in pain! I must go help him!”

Derrick let his tears fall, but he held his friend back for her own safety as her painful screams got louder. Alex turned to Danial.

“I will say hi to Conie in the afterlife. When I turn……use the gun and make sure you and Derrick take care of Katie.”

Danial looked away but nodded.

And like that.

Alex Webster was dead.

Katie broke as uncontrollable sobs escaped her lips.

“ALEX! I-I c-c-cannot do t-this……. I cannot live without you…….”

Derrick cried harder than her as he cursed the world. This zombie apocalypse for taking all his friends and loved ones away. Danial reached out to Katie and pulled her in her arms, controlling his own tears.

“You have to stay strong Katie……for Alex……for Kevin.”

But Kaite could not even do what she wanted to do.

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“GRRRAWWWWW”

Danial, Derrick, and Katie turned as they looked at the zombie in front of them. This was not Alex Webster, and they all knew it. Danial grabs his gun ready to shoot its head, but Katie runs forward.

“ALEX!”

Danial looked at his twin brother in alert as Derrick ran to Katie to hold her back.

“Katie, this is not Alex! This is something else that is using his body. We need to kill it….so Alex can finally be at peace.”

But for Katie?

His words went unheard as she screamed, reaching her arm out to the monster in front of her. Her eyes shot Danial, who pulled out his gun and shot the creature three times on the head.

And just like that.

Alex Webster had died a second time.

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When Alan Kent came to pick the three up, his reaction matched theirs. Seeing his longtime best friend’s dead body on the ground made him look away, letting his tears fall. Hearing about Conie’s death was already enough.

But he knew he had to get the three who survived safety, and that safety was Bassin City.

Throughout the car ride, Katie remained silent and had not said a word. She had remembered how she could not let go of Alex’s dead body, and the twins had to physically drag her out of there.

For her, the world had gone quiet. Incredibly quiet.

Until…….

Alan’s van had reached a stop as everyone got out and so did Katie, but her eyes remained downwards. She had not realized that they were in Basin City until she felt Danial tap her shoulder. She looked up and followed the direction his finger was pointed to.

“Katie!”

Fifteen-year-old Kevin could not hold back his tears when he saw his sister as he was running to her.

Katie froze then broke into a smile as she ran to her little brother as both siblings hugged each other tightly, not wanting to let go of him. As they pulled away, Kevin wiped his eyes as he held his older sister’s hands.

“Back at home when we got attacked, Alex was able to get me out first before you and managed to secure me on a bus that took refugees and survivors to Bassin City. He told me that since the bus was about to leave, he will make sure that you will be saved too and he will reunite the two of us.”

Katie’s heart sank at his words because it was obvious to her by now that Alex loved her through his actions and not his words. And he had always chosen her happiness over his.

“Kevin……Alex…. he is an angel now.”

Kevin blinked as he processed his sister’s words as his own heart slightly broke at the implication as he nodded.

“He is in a better place now Katie…. Watching over us. Now that you are back, we can all spend the rest of our lives here, at peace without the fears of the outside world. Bassin city professionals finished making the cure for zombie bites and scratches, and they also are building homes for survivors. We will all be safe.”

Katie nodded as she remembered Alex’s last words to her.

“There is always a rainbow after the storm Katie. Go and enjoy a safe and peaceful life at Bassin City with your brother.”

A rainbow was always waiting after the storm and for Katie, the rainbow was right in front of her. Kevin was alive and well. She then looked back as Alan, Danial, and Derrick approached her as all of them walked forward into their new home.

Throughout this zombie apocalypse when it was the five of them Katie, Alex, Danial, Derrick, and Conie—there would be rules they had to follow if they all wanted to survive.

Do not stay too long in infested places.

Shoot or strike a zombie’s head when you see one.

Always stay together.

But for Katie. All those rules were fulfilled, so as she walked forward with her newfound family, Katie made a last rule for herself…….

Do not forget Alex Webster in this lifetime.