RudyGasparrini

People fear death for many reasons. For some, the fear of what comes after. The fear of being forgotten. A threat to the meaningfulness of life. Being forced to stop life projects.
This was what the world feared before. Now, what we fear is what we become 
After Death.

A suspenseful story told by different characters over the years of the zombie apocalypse. The group consists of high school kids and deals with troubling events in which not everyone survives. 

TW: This story contains graphic descriptive content, strong language, and disturbing descriptive images and is intended only for mature audiences.

AFtER DEAtH

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"You have to, before they burn down the town and kill everyone including themselves." 


"They won't kill anyone, they only want to kill me." 


I had gotten trapped in The Big Top with Thomas as the rioting continued. For the past thirty minutes we sat in silence until that was no longer enough for me. He had been staring out a few of the tears in the fabric, watching his people destroy his paradise. The people he once was proud to call his chanted for his execution. 


"So who is he? The man who's wife you killed?" I asked, I knew he didn't want to answer by the way he glared at me but I needed to know. 


"His name was Timothy. His wife's name was Michaela. They had a son but I forget his name, he's probably around your age now." 


"Because I was angry at him. She didn't do anything and I just shot her, just like that," he said as his voice began to break and a tear fell from his eye. 


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When the morning came the fire died down. There were guns and knives left in the streets. The air smelled like gasoline and the smoke made it almost impossible to see. Evelyn and Khai made the smart decision to stay inside but I was becoming restless. I wanted to find Thomas and Ethan, we needed to get this sorted out or there was no longer going to be anything left for this place. Eventually, it would become like Loveland, filled with the dead. 


I shouldn't have gone out there yet. The smoke made it too difficult to see and it wasn't like the people left or anything. I don't even know how far I got before I felt a sharp pain in my back and felt the blood trickle down. 


I heard their footsteps as they ran away, laughing as I stood there letting the pain take over. I fell down in the street, prepared to die but unable to. 


I knew it wasn't going to be the end for me. After everything, this wasn't it. 


It turned out that Dallen was outside as well. He must have saw me as the wind blew because he rushed to my side. He carried me inside but I can't recall much of the rest. I was losing blood too fast and losing contentiousness as well. What I do know though is that I'm still alive and that's what really matters. 


Steve, Airi, and I played board games the whole day that day. I wanted to do something that would distract Airianna from the screams and gunfire. It was better than it had been the night before but we all knew it was still happening, the best we could do was try to ignore it. 


Juna's been learning how to walk. I'm so proud of her and I know Olivia would be too. Sometimes I see Olivia when I look at her and it makes me want to cry. I wish she could be able to see how far her daughter has gotten. I hope she'll get to grow up in a better world then I had to. Her and Airi will have a better life than we have had, I will make sure of it. 


I was sick of sitting inside the house wondering if Ethan and the others were even still breathing. I tried to leave multiple times but Steve always stopped me. At the time, I was angry but now I understand. 


I didn't know if any of this would stop. I knew it would have to at one point but at what cost? When all of us are dead or when we learn to work this out? I wanted to be able to tell my children that everything was going to be okay but I couldn't lie to them either.


Chapter 20 (To make Amends)