Meant to be read AFTER the story.....

Thomas poked at the fire a little more to keep it going, contemplating throwing another log on to it. Through the flames he looked over at the young man he had met, a curious thing just older than a boy with a revolver in one hand and a teleporter strapped on to the other. The young man stared back at Thomas and Thomas had visions of his children, each one of them not much younger than this man, cut down by the zombies and dragged away to be devoured.

He had been leading them through an old film lot, the buildings that used to make his favourite films now desolate and silent. And filled with zombies. But how would he have known? How could he have known? When his daughter had tripped and started crying they had come pouring out, each one wild eyed and slobbering like a pack of dogs. He had no choice but to run, while his son tried to pick up his sister off the ground and his wife grabbed at him to wait a moment. An AK-47. How lucky of him to have kept his father’s war relic this whole time, to have kept it in pristine condition and fully stocked with ammunition to remind him of the greatness that was his dad and now Thomas wielded it against things once known as people. People who had taken his family away, who had torn at the ankles of his daughter and ripped his son’s head off before his eyes. And his wife had just stopped. And sat. And cried. And as the zombies came to finish her off too, Thomas had no choice. He shot her in the back, killing her before they could, sparing her the torture of being eaten alive.

Now he was left a hollow man, building fires with strangers wandering by. They had spoken very little since meeting. The young man had come from seemingly nowhere, bursting out from behind a rock and catching him by surprise Surprisingly he hadn’t tried to extort food or supplies from Thomas, just wanted him to comply and not kill him. A fair trade. So Thomas told him to stay awhile. It had been sometime since he had had company that wasn’t chasing him down. Almost as long as when his family had perished...

“How long have you been out here kid?”

“I don’t know. Not very long I suppose. Maybe a year I think. I’m not really sure what time it is or how it’s passing.”

“Hmm, I know how you feel. Some days it passes, other days it...can’t pass fast enough.” The two fell back into silent stares until the young man checked over his revolver, the clicking of the different components ringing in Thomas’ ear. “You know how to use that thing?”

“I’ve shot it now and again. It’s killed a couple zombies. I can’t get used to it though. It’s so weird and slow and heavy for something so small. I like your gun better.” He pointed at the AK-47 propped against the nearby fire hydrant.

Thomas looked over in it and saw his wife reflected in the metal, her sobs her final farewell to him. “I don’t know, big guns aren’t all their cracked up to be. You’ve at least got some mobility with that thing.”

“I guess. I’d rather be able to kill all the zombies coming after me than run from them though.”

“Wouldn’t we all like to have such high aspirations kid? Listen, you’ll never kill them all. Doesn’t matter what gun you got, or even if you have a whole damn army. They’re here and they’re here to stay. This is the world now. And I want you to keep running from them as long as you can. Keep yourself alive, alright?” The young man frowned but nodded. “Good. Now you got a name or anything?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“I don’t have one.”

“Nobody ever gave you one?”

“I don’t remember.”

Baffled, Thomas threw another piece of wood into the fire, this one pried from the rotting, burnt-out frame of a nearby house. “Well do you have any family?’

“No.”

“Never?”

“I don’t have any now.”

Again there was silence until the fire crackled and popped and some of the wood inside split apart and nearly tumbled out. “What happened to yours?”

“They left.”

“They left?’

“They left.” The young man’s face seemed to harden for a moment at the subject, an anger within suppressed beyond even his own knowledge, and perhaps something else locked away with it. And that was all there was. The young man didn’t ask any questions, didn’t ponder anything himself, he simply answered with an emptiness to his voice and soul and played with his revolver.

“People do strange things kid. I’m sure they had their reasons for leaving.”

“I don’t care about why they left. They did so it’s just me out here surviving.”

“That’s the essence of all of our existences. If it makes you feel better I lost my family too, to those cock-sucking zombies. Both my kids eaten away by them. Now it’s just me left, trying to survive.” The young man blinked back in answer, not wishing to stop Thomas in his outpouring of emotion. “But I don’t want to survive anymore.” Thomas stood up and grabbed his AK-47, strapping it onto his back. “I want to kill them. I’m going to charge into the Ravine and take down as many of those motherfuckers as I can before they take me too. Listen up kid, if you ever break down one day and lose it all, I want you to come down into that ravine where they all live so you can fucking kill them with me. And then I’ll see you on the other side.” Thomas turned and charged out into the darkness, away from the warmth of the fire and into the desolate cold of his redemption. And the young man sat there and felt a strange longing to join him for a moment before putting out the fire.