The Beginning After The End

“It’s really creepy when you stare at a girl like that, you know.” Ava gives a faint smile.

“But it doesn’t really matter anymore. So… what do you think about all of this? About the crisis?”

Elias startles at the sound of her voice. He turns away, staring out at the unraveling world beyond them, searching for an answer he isn’t sure exists.

“This is the end of one era and the beginning of another,” Ava continues softly.

“But I don’t think much will really change. Human nature never does. People believe that once a problem is solved, everything will be fine but they forget that new problems always rise. Usually worse ones. It’s a cycle that never ends.”

Elias looks back at her, surprised. The thought had been haunting him too.

“Regardless,” she adds, quieter now, “maybe all we can do is live with it. Accept that this is how the world has always been… and maybe always will be.”

Ava slowly reaches out her hand toward him.

“So what now?” she asks. “Do we endure, step into this new era and try to be better, even while the world rots around us

Elias reaches for her hand, slow and deliberate. He smiles not because the world is better, but because he knows his life is no longer the same.

Ava knew what his answer was without him uttering a word.

a nearby crash echoes through the streets, metal tearing, glass shattering. The sound carried with it the unmistakable chorus of moans. Closer than before. some of the infected and non-infected might've caught up in it

Ava didn't pull away. Her grip tightened.

"let's get out of here quickly", she said.

Elias exhals slowly. The world is still ending. It always would be. But now, the choice is clear.

"We will not fix it" he said "we will not save it."

he met her eyes

“But we keep going. Together. And we don’t become what destroyed it.”

Below them, the dead pressed forward.

Elias turns to the stairs, together with Ava running towards the emergency exit.

as they step outside their school, their eyes widened for they had a closer look than before, of how the world is in chaos.

a pool of blood trying to cover most of the ground, organs scattered throughout the street as others were being snacks to the dead.

elias is momentarily shaken, he shakes it off and refocuses.

"We need to find a secure place", he said. "i know where we can go"

Ava looks at him and nods

They make a run for it, ducking, weaving, refusing to slow down. as they burst out onto the next block, their lungs were burning.

"There," he gasped, pointing at the hardware shop at the end of the street.

The doors were dented, the windows reinforced with metal grates. It wasn’t perfect but it was standing.

They ran harder.

An Undead lurched out from between two abandoned cars, its jaw hanging loose. Ava swerved at the last second, nearly losing her footing, but he grabs her wrist and pulls her forward.

Finally, they arrived at hardware shop, collapsed at the rusted doors as the groans of the undead faded slowly but not completely.

With all the chaos, time had lost its meaning. The sky burned red, reflecting the color of blood.

This marked the day the world they once knew ended, and a new one began.

Meanwhile, deep in a secure command center, the Navy SEAL team stared at the feed in disbelief. Their world was crumbling, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Silence.

Lieutenant Commander Raven didn't move.

"Bring it Back," he said evenly.

The communications specialist swallowed. "Yes, sir." The footage rewound ten seconds. A crowd surged through an intersection. Not running.

Falling over each other. Dragging each other down. Senior Chief Miyuki folded her arms across her chest.

"Thats not a riot."

"No, Senior," said Lieutenant Walker quietly.

On screen, a police officer fired into the mass. One target dropped.

Then rose again.

Petty Officer First Class Cole leaned forward. "Pause it."

The Image froze: the officer staring, backing up, firing again.

The thing kept coming.

Ravens' jaw flexed once. "Zoom." The camera cropped in. Blood coated the man's neck. A strip of flesh hung loose.

His eyes were wrong. Empty. Focused on nothing except forward.

"Sir..." Walker began.

"Quiet."

The Officer on screen tripped. The crowd collapsed over him.

Miyuki exhaled through her nose.

"infection doesn't move that fast."

Cole shook his head. "That guy took two center mass."

Raven finally stepped closer to the display.

"Time Stamp," he said.

"Six minutes from first emergency broadcast, Sir."

"And the National Guard?"

"Overrun in under twelve."

Silence spread through the compartment like a spill. Somewhere deep in the hull, a watertight door clanged shut.

Walker gave a disbelieving half-laugh. "You're telling me the entire eastern seaboard just... what? Lost to a bad flu?"

No one answered.

On the screen, a paramedic tried to crawl away. Something grabbed his ankle.

Miyukis' voice dropped lower. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?"

Raven didn't look away from the feed. "Granted."

"We're not looking at civil unrest."

"No," Raven said.

The paramedic stopped screaming. The crowd shifted. Then several of them lifted their heads in unison. as if listening.

Raven felt it then. Not fear. Calculation.

"How long until we make port?"

"Thirty Six hours, Sir."

"Cancel it."

Walker blinks. "Sir?"

Raven turns to face them.

"We are not docking into that graveyard."

The room seemed smaller.

"What are we calling this?" Cole asked quietly.

Raven looks back at the screen. One of the figures staggered into the camera's view. face ruined, mouth working.

He watches it for a long moment.

then,

"We're calling it a containment failure."

Miyuki nodded once.

And far out across open water, the ship kept moving through calm, indifferent sea.