~
Zack and Anna were unable to sleep. They had gotten into the van and zoomed through the fence, passing through the barricades to the school. The only things they said amongst each other were directions to the hospital (which, as Anna said, wasn’t too far) and their plan on what would happen in the hospital.
While the hospital that Anna described was indeed smaller than the facility where Zack had his transplant, it did have the medications he needed in stock. Few zombies seemed to stalk the grounds, but Anna was on alert as Zack made sure that he packed enough medication that would last him awhile. He not only had to restock what he took from the pharmacy earlier that day, but also his entire intake. While the list was hazy in his mind, he was able to remember the vast majority of what he needed correctly. When all was said and done, he had enough medication to last him three months at the very least. It sort of felt silly to him to have waited this long to visit a hospital for medication.
The two of them drove off in what seemed to be like a deserted parking lot on the outskirts of town. The two of them tried to sleep. The events of the day had surely drained a lot of their energy, but they felt wide awake. They were definitely in some kind of shock. They sat there in the van for about an hour, discussing minor things, similar to what they did several nights ago; what life was like before the virus took over, what course of actions they should take next, but both of them were thinking about the same thing.
“Hey Anna,” Zack began, staring into the darkness, “what exactly do you think of me?”
“What do you mean exactly,” Anna asked, pretending to be dumbfounded.
Of course, Zack was thinking about all the tiny things that she had done for him. It seemed that the genesis of all of this was that night when they kissed, but that was only the event that sped things up. The genesis was the day they met, where she bugged to be his companion. They had become close, but never identified what their relationship was. And then, when they were held up by Nicolas at the school, her main concern was to make sure he was okay. At that moment, she wasn’t worried about the zombies, but making sure that he had his medication.
And Zack felt the same towards her. She had melted the numbness that he had been feeling for a long time, long before the zombies or the transplant. While he wasn’t too sure if he was willing to die for her, his main concern was to make sure that she was safe and happy. She was his friend, but at the same time, it was something much more than that. It was complicated; he couldn’t call it love, or at least not that cheesy Hollywood stuff. It had to be better than that.
“Do you think, back when the world was ‘normal’, that we would have met and been good friends,” Zack asked, unsure if that was the proper way to put it.
Anna had to think for a second. It was something that she felt deserved pondering. She also felt that there was no reason to lie to him. “Honestly, I’m not sure,” she answered, her voice filled with light melancholy. “We…were different back then; we were different people and we knew different people. I can say that since the world turned to crap, I’m really glad I got to meet you and celebrate a great apocalypse.”
They laughed. That was their friendship. Anna leaned over to Zack and gave him a small kiss on the cheek. It was very different than the ones he had been used to, but it was also much better than their first kiss together. They let the moment settle in, and then moved onto whatever else was on their minds.
“Maybe we should find an actual house to stay in this time,” Anna suggested, trying to find some sort of conversation that had substance.
“Yeah; we’ll be homeowners,” Zack joked. “I always liked apartments because they were easy to close off from the rest of the zombies. You can go onto high floors and completely isolate yourself.”
“That does sound pretty smart,” Anna replied as if it was something that never crossed her mind in the past.
“A house has its dangers, but it can also be rather nice,” Zack commented. “It has a lot more room to move around in. We can use different rooms for different things. And you can fit a much bigger television inside a house than an apartment.”
“You can have an entire entertainment system,” Anna laughed. Zack joined in, his shoulders becoming less stiff.
“And it offers up plenty of space for other people that come across our path,” Zack said.
“You really think there are other survivors like us,” Anna asked, surprised by his optimism.
“It’s possible,” Zack answered. “I mean, the two of us found each other within all this mess and I think we’ve done pretty well for ourselves. There’s always a chance for someone out there who needs our help.”
“That would be nice,” Anna added. “It’d be nice to have someone else on the team so I wouldn’t have to cover up all of your slack by myself anymore.”
The two of them laughed as they looked across the horizon. A small glimmer of sunlight was breaking through. The two of them couldn’t believe that it was already dawn. Zack stepped out of the car, Anna following him in a puzzled look. It was just then that they were sitting on a parking lot that connected to a beach. The light was shining against the seawater. All the time that Zack had lived in Los Angles, never once had he ever watch the sun rise or set against one of the beaches. Waves crashing against the yellow sand, his feet probably being the first human impression on the beach for who knows how long. The smell of salt water used to make him sick, but now it was a very refreshing and familiar scent to him, back to when the days used to be normal.
Nothing was ever normal for Zack though, or how other people saw as normal. Even before the virus came about, Zack had another person’s heart in his chest. He had to constantly maintain the health of his body to make sure nothing went wrong. Even before then, his medical problems made him limited in what he could do with himself. Zack’s life was always very different. Unlike other people, what determined how long he had left in this world was how much medication he had.
As of now, he had roughly three months to live. Sure, there would be more raids at pharmacies and other hospitals, but the medication would eventually run out one day. He would have to die sometime, and he was fine with that. Although, meeting Anna had definitely made his life more exciting than he thought it would be living in this wasteland. She was a companion to him; someone that would keep him company and always have his back. She was someone who he could joke around with, but also hold onto when he needed it. And he was that for her.
Zack was fine with death, as long as he got to stay friends with Anna for even a while longer. He looked out at the sun rising above the sea, etching the picture into his memory. There wouldn’t be many more moments like this.
“Zack,” Anna called.
Zack turned to see that Anna was following him, holding both her axe and his katana. “We have to get going! Now!” As she was yelling this at him, a trio of zombies were not that far behind them. It would seem that they had awaken some hungry monsters who were very keen to the scents of humans. Anna sprinted, catching up to Zack. It was funny to him because although they were running from these creatures, the two of them were smiling.
Zack drew his katana and Anna put her axe in a ready position while the three zombies came sprinting at them as fast as they could. The sun reflected against their blades as the two of them smirked at each other, having already been through this situation, and were exhausted beyond hell, but they always fought for the survival of each other. It would be a fight to see who got to finish off the third one.
THE END