Savage: The End Read online

  Yes, she could do this.

  But she needed to think about gardens, vegetables, figuring out other means that would sustain them out here in the middle of nowhere.

  “You should eat something,” she said softly. Lucy looked up at her and gave Sasha a weak smile.

  “I could say the same thing to you,” she said and looked down at her bowl filled with chili. Sasha chuckled humorlessly and leaned back in the wooden chair.

  “Do you think we’ll get sick?” Lucy’s question came out of the blue and surprised her.

  She sat there not knowing how to respond. Sasha didn’t want to lie to her, but she also didn’t want to make this an even more horrendous situation than it already was.

  “I think we would’ve gotten sick already if it was going to happen.” It had been nearly a week since all of this started, and neither of them were showing any kind of symptoms. But what are the odds that they were both immune?

  Lucy nodded slowly and picked up her spoon, scooping up some of the chili and bringing it to her mouth. Sasha did the same, both of them eating in silence. The sound of their spoons hitting the bowls seemed overly loud in the small cabin.

  Whatever would happen was out of their control. All Sasha could do was be there for Lucy, help her grow, keep her alive. Everything else was up to fate.

  Chapter Five

  One day at a time

  “Do you think we should go in the water?” Lucy asked.

  It had been a couple of days since they’d arrived at the cabin, and so far, things had been going smoothly.

  Staring at the edge of the lake, Sasha thought about Lucy’s question and had her doubts. For some reason, she didn’t feel comfortable getting in the water, but they hadn’t bathed in days. She, herself, was starting to have issues with that. She looked around, everything serene, quiet. In fact, it was far too quiet and still, as if no life was around.

  So far, they hadn’t encountered any other people. With no electric or satellite, she didn’t know what had happened to the world since they’d left.

  Still, every single night without fail, she locked up the cabin in the hope of keeping her sister safe.

  Lucy seemed to be dealing with it well enough, better than Sasha thought she would be, in fact. At least it looked like it on the surface but then, all she seemed to do was remain silent most of the time.

  Their food supplies were going to start depleting and she didn’t like what that meant.

  Either hunting, fishing or gathering what they could, or venturing back to civilization.

  The world that she’d once loved was now a scary, dangerous place.

  “Well?” Lucy asked again. “What do you think?”

  “Why shouldn’t we?” Sasha finally said and looked at her sister.

  “Because, what if the virus is in the water?”

  “I don’t think it is. From what I gathered before we left they said it was airborne.”

  “I don’t know, Sasha,” Lucy said. The fear in her sister’s voice was clear.

  “If you’re scared I don’t blame you.” She stared into Lucy’s eyes. “But I need to get in there.” She placed the soap and razor she’d found in one of the boxes on the edge of a boulder by the lake. She took a deep breath and climbed in. The water was cold but refreshing. Cleansing in more ways than one. Dipping her head back, she allowed the water to wash through all the dirt and grime, literally and figuratively.

  “Ah, that feels so good. So nice and so clean. Just what I needed.”

  “I know what you’re doing.”

  Sasha smiled. Cupping her hands beneath the water, she splashed her face. “So good.” Washing the dirt off, she swam in a circle and then splashed her sister again.

  “I don’t think we should let our guard down.”

  “I’m not,” Sasha said seriously. “But we have to get clean or the stench will be the death of us.” She grinned. “Come on, dusty, get in here. I heard spiders like dirt.”

  “They do not,” Lucy said.

  “They do too. Remember all the times your bed was dirty and one would crawl right out? They’re always in grimy, messy rooms, just waiting to take over.”

  “You’re lying.” Lucy was smiling now.

  “Are you willing to risk it? What if one crawls over your face at night or even worse, into your mouth?”

  “I hate you, Sasha.” Her sister started laughing but did as she asked, getting undressed and slipping into the lake. She squealed out. “Crap, that’s cold.”

  Sasha chuckled and splashed water on her again.

  Moving up beside Lucy, she smiled. “You don’t have to worry about anything. We’re all we’ve got left. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  “I know,” Lucy said and smiled.

  She lightly pinched Lucy’s nose and moved to the edge of the lake. Grabbing the bar of soap and lathering up her hands, she started to clean her body, already feeling fresh and monumentally better. Not being able to bathe properly had been so embarrassing, but washing before now hadn’t been high on her priority list. Each night, before she went to sleep, she’d sit and think about her old life, the one where she was just a regular student with an average life.

  So much had changed. She hated how her life was panning out. Not that she had any control. Taking care of her little sister was her priority now.

  With every passing day, she found herself getting more and more afraid. She no longer had her parents to look up to, to hide behind. There was no one to tell her it would be okay.

  Nothing.

  Lucy depended on her and it scared the living crap out of her.

  “Sasha?” Lucy’s voice sounded so sad.

  Lifting her head up, she looked toward her sister. She was waving her hands back and forth so slowly through the water.

  “What’s up?”

  “Do you think there’s something after it all, like when we die?”

  Staring at her baby sister, she wanted to be optimistic, to tell her there was a heaven for everyone, their very own Elysium, when they died. She wanted to tell her that everything was okay. Tears flooded her eyes. How could she lie like that?

  “You don’t have to lie to me, Sasha. I can take it.”

  She sniffled, looking away from the pain in Lucy’s eyes. “I don’t know, Lucy. That’s the truth.”

  She wiped at her eyes, hating that she was crying.

  “We could have helped them, found a cure.”

  “You know better than that,” she said with sorrow in her voice.

  “You don’t think there is one out there?”

  Sasha shrugged. “Sweetie, I really don’t know, but I hope so. I really hope so.”

  “I miss them,” Lucy said.

  “I miss them too.”

  “It’s never going to be the same, is it?”

  “No,” Sasha said honestly.

  “I’m happy I’ve got you.”

  “Me too,” she said and smiled. “At least we’ve got each other and that’s what counts.”

  Silence fell between them and she used the time to finish cleaning up.

  Climbing out of the lake, she started to dry off with one of the towels she’d found in the linen closet.

  “Sasha?”

  “Yeah, sweetie?”

  “Why did they do it?”

  “Mom and Dad?”

  “No. Why did they let the virus out?”

  She sat down on the edge of the lake and rested her chin on her knee, staring at her sister and sighing. “I don’t know. Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing. Maybe it was a terrorist attack. Maybe it was just a horrible accident. I can’t answer that.”

  “I hope they die.”

  “Lucy.”

  “They took Mom and Dad. They killed a lot of people, Sasha. I hope they die.”

  Lucy was too bitter for her age.

  That’s the world they lived in now.

  “You can feel anger. I get it. I feel it too, all the time. I know what you me
an, but honey, it’s not going to do you any good to be so mad.”

  Lucy didn’t respond, just floating on her back, her eyes closed, her arms out beside her.

  She climbed back into the water. Swimming to her sister with the shampoo bottle in her hand, she made her look at her.

  “This is all pointless,” Lucy whispered.

  “No, it’s not. Mom and Dad wouldn’t want us talking or thinking this way, would they?” Lucy shook her head but still looked dejected. “Listen, you’re going to finish washing up, and tonight you’re going to sleep so well because you’ll know I’m going to keep you safe. I’m going to make sure everything is okay.” Sasha smiled. “We’re going to have to wash that dirt right out of you.” With that, she squirted some of the shampoo onto Lucy’s hair and lathered it into her scalp.

  They could do this.

  One day at a time.

  It’s what her mother said to her on the first day of high school when she didn’t want to go.

  I miss them so much.

  Chapter Six

  Descent into madness

  Malachi finished off the water, crushing the plastic bottle in his hand before tossing it aside. There was a car alarm blaring in the distance, the sound of glass shattering close. He exhaled and sat back in the piece of shit chair, the warehouse he was currently in was run down, the scent of dirt, mold, and age filling his head. It had been a week since the virus had fully taken over, and in that week the proverbial shit had certainly hit the fan.

  His clientele had dropped astronomically in the last week. The majority of them had gotten taken by the virus, and the other part had made a run out of the city when it had been broadcast that the survival rate was pretty much nonexistent.

  “Fuck,” he gritted out and ran a hand through his hair. There was the sound of someone screaming in the distance, long and pain-filled.

  “Malachi, man, I’m thinking of hightailing it out of here.” Robbie, one of his most trusted men, was pacing, sweat coating his temples. “The old lady is freaking out, worried she’s going to get sick.” He walked over to one of the massive busted-out windows, standing there for long seconds before Malachi heard him trying to cover up a cough.

  Malachi saw his reflection in the jagged glass still attached to the window. That’s when he watched Robbie place his hand on his mouth, a smear of crimson on his lips.

  He stood and took a few steps back from where Robbie was. Although they’d been together all day, and if Robbie was sick he would have already infected Malachi, there was no way some fucking virus was going to take him down.

  Robbie turned, more blood smeared on his lips. He started coughing a little more now, and Malachi thought back to their time together today, how he’d heard Robbie covering up his coughing, clearing his throat constantly, this ashen look on his face.

  “Malachi?” He looked down at his bloodied fingers. “What does this mean?” He took another step forward, then another, one more until he was a handful of steps from Malachi.

  Malachi moved back, retreated, his hand going toward the small of his back where the Glock was situated. “Don’t fucking come closer, Robbie,” he said low, deadly.

  “Malachi,” Robbie said and took another step closer.

  “I said fucking stop, Robbie.” He pulled the gun from his waistband and pointed it at Robbie, causing the man to stop in his tracks.

  His nerves made every part of him alert.

  “What the fuck, Malachi?” Robbie started coughing again, more blood spraying out of his mouth.

  Shit, it was like a one-eighty turn in his health.

  Robbie moved forward again and Malachi cocked his gun. “You come any closer and I’ll fucking shoot you, Robbie.” Malachi’s voice was hard, cold.

  “You’d fucking shoot me?”

  “I don’t want to, but if it meant staying alive, yeah, I fucking would. I will.”

  Robbie looked hurt, but in Malachi’s world he didn’t have time for that shit. His emotions were shut off, or maybe they’d never been present.

  “Either leave or get a bullet in your head, Robbie. The choice is yours.” The silence stretched on for a suspended moment.

  “You’ll fucking die just like everyone, Chi.”

  “Maybe, but not today. Not right now.”

  Robbie coughed again but was smart enough to turn and leave. Or maybe he was a fucking fool. He was going home to his old lady, who would get sick, too. They’d both die, just like everyone else getting this fucking virus.

  Robbie had kept the warehouse door partially open after he’d left. The sounds of violence outside came through without the barrier, louder, clearer. Malachi exhaled and lowered his gun, but kept his hand wrapped around the handle, nice and firm.

  Ever since the virus started everything had been going downhill, spiraling out of control. Riots were breaking out, the police unable to get a handle on the shit that was happening. No one knew what the fuck was going on, or if they did, they weren’t telling the public everything.

  And so it caused anarchy.

  He slid the rusted, massive warehouse door to the side even more and stepped into a nightmare. The wind picked up, the scent of something on fire filling his nose. The heavy weight of his Glock was a reassurance.

  Although this world was going to hell, with everyone in it being taken in the most brutal ways, Malachi embraced it.

  Chapter Seven

  All the wild things

  The days were bearable. The one bonus to being stuck in a cabin was that Sasha and Lucy were used to walking all over the place. This was where their parents always took them when they wanted to spend some time together away from all the chaos and problems of the world.

  Sasha recalled many times feeling angry with her parents for pulling her away from her friends. Now she wished she hadn’t wasted any time bitching and moaning while she’d been here with them.

  Their days now were spent either at the lake, cleaning the cabin, or walking around the perimeter to gather supplies and food. Berries were plentiful right now, so Sasha was collecting as many as she could. But that would only sustain them for so long, even if she canned them, which her mother had done a few times and shown her.

  She also walked around to see if she came across any signs of life.

  Nothing yet and she didn’t know if that bothered her more.

  There were no people around and she couldn’t hear anything for miles.

  The loneliness weighed down on her.

  Each time Lucy was asleep, she’d remember covering her parents’ bodies with blankets, their lifeless forms together on the bed … the last time she’d see them.

  She’d been worried that because she’d been so close, sickness would claim her.

  Nothing.

  No virus.

  No cough.

  She was in the clear, which only made her angrier.

  Staring at Lucy, Sasha knew she had to be strong no matter what. Her sister depended on her.

  So Sasha pretended to be happy. To be enjoying their time at the cabin.

  The truth was, she hated her life.

  The nights, though … they were the worst.

  Coming to the cabin, following her parents’ instructions, had seemed right at the time. They knew what they were doing. They were adults and had life experience.

  She was so young in the grand scheme of things, or at least she had been. This new world made her grow up pretty damn fast.

  Lying down on the bed, near the door, she heard a floorboard creak. Gripping the blanket tight to her chest, she kept her eyes open. The moon was up and it cast shadows against the window.

  Earlier today, while Lucy had been coloring in one of the books they’d left behind last time, Sasha had been scouring the cabin. She knew there were weapons here. Her father had hunted with her uncle. She’d seen guns. Her father even took her shooting a couple of times.

  She’d hated holding a gun.

  As the reality of their situation began to sink in,
though, she realized she had to find something to protect her and Lucy.

  The safe in the back of the wardrobe had taken her four hours to open up. She didn’t know the code, then tried prying it open, then took her anger and frustration out on it. Finally, she’d seen a yellowed slip of paper taped to the back, a small sliver of off white that caught her eye.

  The combination was written on it in her aunt’s handwriting.

  Sasha didn’t even wonder why it had been there. It made no difference because it was what she needed.

  Inside the safe were a couple of handguns and shotguns and the bullets that went along with them. A book each. She’d made sure Lucy didn’t see what she was doing but she’d taken her time to put the guns, fully loaded, within reach in case of an emergency.

  She wasn’t stupid or about to take any risks with their lives.

  The world had gone to shit and for all she knew, rules no longer applied. It’s why she saw fear in her father’s eyes the last time they spoke. When you went savage, there was no going back. Rules of the land no longer applied.

  Lucy was young and so was she.

  She wasn’t a fool.

  Men with ruthless natures were not something she wanted to encounter. But it might be inevitable. She couldn’t even believe that she was concerned about this. That her life had become one long day of panic.

  Tensing up, her stomach twisted in knots as she heard scuffling. There was no shadow outside but she’d heard it.

  The cabin was far into the woods so no one should be able to see it, but if they set out to get away, then she had no doubt they’d be found.

  When the sound came again, she couldn’t just sit around anymore.

  The woods housed many scary animals, dangers that lurked in the shadows. She’d been taught how to handle them.